The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-03-24
MORE THAN CONQUEROR

Winter in Russia is more emphatic
than with us. There is steely glitter
in the ice, barbed arrow in the hail.
Eternal glaciers lie upon the hillside;
at least it seems as il blossom and leaf
and fresh green grass were gone for
ever. The sky, sparkling, blue and
cold as turquoise stone, has only snow
drifts of clouds floating here and there,
illumined by golden light called sun
shine, but totally different from the
life giving radiance we hail with delight.
Beneath such sun we would imagine
only snowAowers could bloom.
Yet young man loiters along the
frozen road as il summer zephyrs were
waiting the subtle odors OF fields Of
violets and roses to his senses. lie
is not mufied in costly furs, yet there is
something within that makes life warm
and ecstatic and full Of rosy bloom, de-
spite the desolate fields about him,
where the snow lies pure and cold as
quarry Of Oarrara marble. He is a
dreamer and he is in love, so the pres
ent does not exist for him. It is
nothing that he has never spoken to
the lady OF his dreams; that she is set
far above him; that his love is like
"The desire of tho moth for the star;
or the day for the morrow"
It is enough that he sees her every
day--and he lives upon that-though
her sky-blue eyes have never rested upon
his face. By-and-bye he will want more
than q glance, and the torment of love
will begin.
In the distance he can see O glimpse
OF the lordly structure that is her
home, and in his mind he contrasts it
with his own humble abode. But he is
q soldier of fortune, and who can say
what the future may have in store for
himp Russia offers prizes to intellect
and zeal, why should he nos gskasns
and make namo for himself, oi, oh,
ecstatic thought, for her-for Vera
That is ber name-it sings itself TO
mystic music in his dreams it is writ.
ten on his soul.
Yet he has only seen her whirling by
him day after day in a sleigh fashioned
like white swan. Sometimes she
drives herself, and he has been devising
means to say some word to her, to
make her look at him once and speak to
him. All | il she is only alone to-day.
1t is coming now. He stops with sud
den flash OF fire kindling his blood. "A
slim, girlish figure, in dark, wine-col
ored velvet skirt trimmed with sables.
Her golden curls are streaming in the
wind; her blue eyes are full of the sun.
shine of youth, that light that is
clouded 30 soon; her lips are scarlet as
pomegranate blossom; on her cheeks
she keen wind has brought vivid roses
Nicole loses Lis head at the sight
He does not note the thin, gray-haired
old man at her side, half-buried in his
furs, and shrinking from the icy blast.
This mans face is cold and hard as il
carven from stone; his lips are stern
and compressed; no kindly light warns
his pale eyes. A man with an iron will,
you would say-no prayers or tears
would avail with such one. Nicole,
blinded by the splendid vision Of the
girl, supreme in her young beauty, sud-
denly stepped forward and took off his
hat.
An idea had come to him-a frenzy
to hear her voice. She had a heart OF
heavenly pity, he knew, and 90 he
would come as O mendicant. He felt
indeed like one who was willing to
kneel before her, il he could win one
smile.
But he merely held his hat as one
that asks for alms-and he looked poor
enough-like poor scholar whose in
tellect is his only wealth, and who
finds it is worth nothing in exchange
for bread and butter.
The girl had no time to act. In a
second her father had noted the move
ment on the part Of the young man, and
at the same instant the lash Of the whip
was laid across his face like living line
Of fire. The Count Semiloff had stopped
long enough for that and to hurl half
dozen oaths at the young mans head,
then the sleigh dashed on like the wind.
Nicole staggered back. He grew cold
and sick from head to foot-cold as q
stone, and with no life in him, save
where the scarlet line on his face
throbbed and beat like wound. he
slowly steadied- himself at last, but he
was deadly pale, save for the crimson
band, and he shook from head to foot
as If with the palsy. "Curse the aris-
tocrat r. he gasped; some day we will
be quits for this. II lived hundred
lives would never forget this moment.
Bah fool that i was TO forget for "A
instant that am one OF the people
that my hand is against such as he and
his. He has brought me to my senses
with vengeance. That blow ought to
kill my love-and it will. Henceforth
live for re- enge. and when that day
comes, Count SemiloH, I will remind
you OF this
The sleigh, skimming along the
frozen ground like bird on the wing.
was mere speck in tho distance BY
this time. Not word had been spoken
since the oaths that the count had
thundered forth with his blow. Thar
was not sound save Q little gasp from
the.young girl, and sfterwArd . mufilsd
sob.
"vers. what do you mean pin I
stern voice. LOOK st me-"
The girl unwillingly turned her fscs
tOWofd tiu-a o0aof faoo NTH tks