Sharp County record., 1881-07-14

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answer such an inquiry put in such tome
| The Young lady, blushing and stammerlng,
/ and trembling with lear, mufmured,
| A lizard was almost upon me. Lieutenant
! Kbaryieff heard me shrek If Lieutenant
! nf Cuirassiers KharyiefT uad not been treSpasS-
inc on my property, he would not have heard
YOU shrek, he would not have jumped the wall
| and thereby found h mself where he Is n0i
wanted.' At that | turned to Narya. Retire,
said |. what have to sayto tins gentleman
| is not for your ears | kissed her hands re-
spectfully. Il will make him repent, but will
not hurt him. Varva burst into tears and
| sobs and rushed toward the house. Monsieur
the gentleman Count burst into ahyena laugh;
| DO YOU say YOU will not hurt me! Thanks,
my Gay Young cock / unbuclled my sword
and handed it to him. Sir, said |, give me
| YOUR stick and let me see whether you can
| fence or not He exchanged at once and we
| took position. Don't be afraid because the
blade is sharp / said. He made several
passes at me with no inconsiderabl5 Skill;
almost repented of my rashness-when |
made one of my lucky hits. The sword
flew out OF his hand, and the next min
ute | had him on the ground, my knee
on his breast, and my hand twisted in his col
| lar. 'ApolOgize,' said |. 81 apologize he
managed to gurgle Thank me for saving
your daughters ,ife.' You did not save my
| daughters life. The lizard was not pois-' l
gave his neck wrench. i thank vou,' nc
said, with difficulty. Now invite me and my
| friends to come to your house as often as we
like He looked rebelliOus. | gave him
look, and my hand an additional twist, and he
Welded. | then let him up. In few minutes
| he recovered his breath, and then, uneXpect-
| edly, shook my hand warmly. You have
conquelpd,' said he. You may come to my
house, but you will be the first gentleman who
has set foot within it for twenty years.
The fever of excitement into which this ad-
venture threw us is not to be described. we
felt as if the regiment had gained victory,
| Wet Dr Kharvieff was determined to push his
advantage, and by way of beginning invited
six of us to 60 to Bolarotf's house that very
evening" and sent a messenger to announce
our tended visit. We were all full OF curl
Osity about the Young girl, whom Victor Ce-
! srribed s charming, and we, who had formerly
| boosted ourselves more than match for the
most bri liant women in st. Petersburg, were
actually nervous at the prospect of meeting
this provincial girl.
We were in great doubt as to what kind OF
| a reception we should meet with from BolaEott,
but were agreeably surprised. The shabby
| old house had an air of hos tality when 1t was
well lighted, the stoves we're glowing brightly,
and Bolarotf himself, though no better dressed
than usual, and still holding on to his knott"d
stick, was tran formed into a gentleman. His
manner was extremely polished, and, like all
Russian gentlemen, he made an admirable
| host.
We were invited, upon our entrance, into
large room on the ground-foor, in which was
what had once been a magnificent billiard
table, still in tolerable order. Cards
were, of course, produced, and,
| to our astonishment and delight,
some long-necked bottles filed with Tokay fit
for the Emperor himself.
| Kharvietf, after presenting us to our host
and paying the compliments of the evening,
said, "Count Bolarof, may | have the honor
of seeing the Countess Bolarotf this evening?n
Now, it was well known that any allusion to
his title was sure to make Bolarof curse and
swear most frightfully. He scowled at Khar
vietf, but said in tOlerably courteous tone
that Mademoiselle Bolaroff-emphaszin the
| Mademoisee-was entirely alone this even
ing, her governess being i'll. The governess
was purely mythical parsonage, invented for
the occasion.
"That makes no difference, my dear Count"
said Kharvieff with the gracious air of one
wiling to overlook everything "We are not
now in tue Nevskoi Prospekt; we are in Kiev
Yonder, believe, is MAIDEN isele's sitting
room. With your permission"
stick descend upon his head is 10 exaggera-
tom but we saw our friend walk out in the
hail. try several doors, and at last open one
| and sappear, Bolaroff watching him silently
all the time with look of hel Jless rage that
was utterly ludicrous. We became very ioyiil
In about half an hour Kharveff reap cared.
This time we had a glimpse of a pretty girlish
! figure through the half-open door.
| He declined to join us at cards, and stood
| ..a1r@ a. - f..
conversing with Bolaroff in an off-hand man
ner that was simply startling While the rest
of us treated him with studied Difference,
Kharvef assumed the airs of privileged per-
son, and, strange to say, instead Of drawing
down upon himself an ebullition of fury from
BOlaroff, he rather seemed to advance in his
good opinion. Bolarotf laughed at Kharvieff's
fiat contradictions, took all his badinage with
perfect good humor and received all his sug-
gestions with the utmost amiability. Victor
told him that he ought to have fine house;
also, that he ought to cultivate the society of
| the officers who were from time to time sta
toned At Vladi Kavkoss. Bolaroff agreed to
everything, and promised to take his PROPOSE
tions into consideration.
The evening appeared delightful to us, and
it was past midn ght before we reached our
own quarters. AS soon as we were assembled
in the mess-room smoking around the stove
| before separating, we began to question Khar
veff about the young Varva; but he remained
obstinately mute. "She is charming,n was
all that he would say of her, and not another
word could be got from him.
This was only the beginning Of many even
| ings at Bolaroff's. Whetherit was Kharvieif's
ascendency over him, or that he rea ly enjoyed
the society Of educated men, certain it is that
we had no reason to complain of our treat
meut Not only did a supply of wine come
from some unknown quarter, but sterlets from
the Volga and sturgeon from the Dnieper,
besides other mysterious luxuries, appeared
| from time to time.
But whatever advances we made in the re-
gard of LoriS Bolaroff, we made none with
| Varya, for, with the exception of Kharvieff,
she was as jealousy secluded from us as ever.
| By tacit agreement it was understood among
us that, as Kharyietf had made us sharer in
all his other privileges in Bolaroff' house, her
acquaintance was reserved for himself. As for
asking Bola off himself to present us to h
daughter, we should just as soon have asked
the Emperor for similar honor.
One day, chatting with Kharvieff, alluded
IN laughing manner to this selfshness of his.
Seriously" said he, "do YOU suppose
would make all the coxcombS in the regiment
acquainted with girl like Varva BolarOff-so
innocent, so ignorant, and the only heiress of
a very rich man? They would be making love
70 her in a week.
1t occurred to me that there was more dan
ger to this yosng girls peace from the society
of this one fascinating man than there would
have been from all the young rattle-brains in
the regiment.
" | firmly believe" he continued "that
she never saw man of refinement in her life
until she saw me. But she has wonderful