The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-02-14
MY EXTRAORDINARY FRIEND.
CHAPTER I

private school in the south of England, but my position was a very comfortable one. My salary was small, but so were my expenses l had sufficient leisure time. The boys were as body of very good class, and best, perhaps, of Sh, ! agreed thoroughly with the head master, who treated me rather as companion and an equal than in the manner usually associated with the profession of usher. believe l was popular with the boys be- cause { entered with rest into their sports and pursuits and having been educated at a large public school myseli,i under stood them, and possessed that tact in treatment and management which so few of the many men who groan at the sla- very of cub tanning seem to possess. Naturally I did not intend to devote the remainder of my life to cub tanning but wat a stern believer in the old axiom, that FAil things come to him who wait" 1" probably because had q very tangible something to wait forin the shape of a little fortune compiled by an old Indian relative, who, humanly speaking, could not possibly live very many years longef
 was popular among the boys, yet think the only real friend had among them was young Russian named Ivan Dolomski. l believe l took fancy to him simply because no one else did. He was very extraordinary being a very intellectual giant with the frame of a boy of sixteen. Why he was stunned by his school-tellows could never satis- factorily make out, unless it was because his ways were mysterious because he took no part in the active sports of the others did not know the difference be- tween square-leg and cover point, or be- tween drop-kick and punt and per haps because he was reputed to be "aw- fully" clever-the word " awfully {" in his case being taken in its literal, and not its colloquial sense.
 The few boys who had been able to get a peep into the desk, which he kept, as a rule, risidly locked up, declared that it was regular engine room inside. While his mates. were reading or sky larking during the hours of indoor leisure, he would be absorbed in the gloom of this de'k, hammering, tinkering, saving, mailing; now and then creating terrible smell, and more than once causing a small explosion. He spent all his pocket money-and he had plenty-in odd bits of iron, tubes, models ofengines, mysteri. ous substances wrapped in paper. In fact, he was as unlike the average Eng. lish school boy of his own age as could be imagined, and was regarded much in the same way as wise man or necro- mancer of the middle ages was regarded by the ignorant populace, saving in one respect-no one dared to interfere with him. Quiet and harmless when left alone, torbearing even when chaffed and taunted, it he was reused by a more than ordinarily bold move on the part of his schoolfellows, such as grab at his keys or the sudden plunging of a head into his desk. his black eyes would flash, his brow would contract into an almost dia. bolical frown, and no matter what weapon was within reach, or who was present. he would use it with the frenzy of a mad man. Hence he was an object of awe and suspicion, as well as of ridicule to the school.
 But to me he was different. I don't think there was much in common be- tween us, for had no taste for me- chanics but used to speak to him, and try to take an interest in his pursuits. used to take his part against the young "buil-dogs" who were everlastinglv yapp.ng and snapping about him; and he would refer to me upon scientific questions iu manner which only served to bring out the astonishing ignorance of one who was supposed to be his teacher but which bound him closely to me. In the school he was sullen, silent, morose. At my desk, at my side. in the play frNRv ARA
 bright, enthusiastic, and cheerful.
 But there was another bond of unity between us. Ivan evidently came of wealthy and patrician parents. Every other Saturday afternoon magniicently appointed carriage drove up to the play ground from the neighboring watering place of Hythe, and the word was passed that "young Bears friends had come for him. In the carriage there was usu- ally an elderly lady and girl of eigh- teen. As wasinvariabiy on playground duty during Saturday afternoons, I be- came in some sort acquainted with Mad anne Dolomski and her daughter Olga, especially as had generally to be em- Ployed as an agent between them and )ivan for if the latter happened to be en- gagged upon some interesting experiment or new problem, the most endearine ma temal messages could not drag him away; and even l, with all my influence, had sometimes to return to the carriage without him. } fa0 -
 My conversation was chiefly with the elder lady but my regards, must say, were entirely for the younger. She was, as have said, about eighteen, the pos. sessor Of one ofthose open, smiling faces which make us resent all that cynics and satirists have said against woman, face set in an anreole of clustering curls; of a figure which some might say was too square and full developed to be within the category of feminine delicacy and grace, but which l rightly estimated to be the outcome of cold water and fresh air; of faultless hands and feet; and perhaps best of all, of the sweetest and most musical of voices. don't suppose she would have been looked at in a Bel gravian drawing-room, but to me, a poor RS<Ga rSsHy sA~ as..F aA A--