Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-08-16

my way to overcome your difficulties.
But you have to exercise great patience.
1t will take me probably a year, perhaps.
more, to carry out my plans. [ shall
have to go to Russia and live in the vii
lage of Narovel, and 1 shall want at least
e400 at once, and probably another e400
in the course of six months. In the
meantime you must be content not to ask
me any questions, and to remain in per
feet ignorance of what am doing. My
word is the only guarantee you can have
that shall be honestly doing my best
on your behalf"
''It is sufficient" said the countess,
"YOu shall have the money. When can
you start?"
Tomorrow" was the answer.
Accordingly next day Mr.. Marston
started for Narovel, which is a village in
the province of Minsk, in western Russia.
Here he took up his abode in the guise of
well to dc Englishman, who wished to
mike himself acquainted with the Ian
guage and institutions of the country,
and who had no election to spend his
money pretty freely. He was a good
shot, was fond of riding, and, apart alto
gether from the necessity of acting
part which was involved by the business
he had on hand, he was really jovial and
pleasant com panion. The consequence
was that he had soon became favorite
with everybody in the district. The men
liked him because he was capital sports
man and could take his bottle with the
best of them; the women, because he was
a good looking foreigner, who was always
paying them such compliments as cir
cumstances permitted and who was very
fond of children. Among others, with
whom ne shortly became very Intimately
acquainted, was the new priest, a young
man named Nicholas Kohl. Kohl acted, as
priests very often do in Russia, the part
both of priest and physician to the dis
trict. And since Marston was able to
give him a great deal of valuable advice
and assistance, they soon became fast
friends.
One day about five months after he
came to Narovsl, he went with Kohl into
the vestry room, or the chapel, where the
countess was married. He had been in
this room frequently before, and knew
exactly where the book in which her mar
riage was registered lay among some
others in sort of cupboard. Already
he had, on the pretense of comparing the
Russian system with the English, examin-
ed several registers Of births, deaths and
marriages, SO that he was familiar with
| the forms, and on looking at book of
such registers could easily find any par
ticular one he was in quest of. AS yet,
however, he had had no opportunity of
examining the book which contained the
record of the marriage of the countess.
| Now what he had been scheming for dur
| ing the past five months was to get this
book secretly into his possession for
| about half an hour. Already he had form
ed number of plans for getting half en-
hour alone in the vestry room, but these
he had discarded one by one as being I'M
suitable. At last, as often happens in
such cases, an accident gave him the OPP
portunity he sought. On the occasion in
question they were going for long walk,
and had only gone into the vestry room
to leave parcel, which the priest had in
his hand. Scarcely, however, had they en-
tered the room when they were followed
by little girl who had seen them go into
the chapel. She had been to the priests
house to look for him, as her mother, who
was very ill, wished to see him for a few
| minutes.
81 shall wait here for you," said Mar
ston, speaking to Kohl in French, when
be understood what the little girls errand
| WdSs eau TSdu uutjl yOu COmS UdCA.
There was some French and Latin books
in the room.
every WE'LL" said Kohl, otis only few
minutes walk from here. [ shall not be
more than half an hour"
| When the girl and priest had left the
| chapel, Marston took out of the cup
board the volume that contained the
register of the countess marriage and
turned over the pages till he came to the
entry he was in search of. Yes, there, in
black and white, was the record of the
marriage of Sophia Uschakoff With
Michael Tokhtamish. Mr.. Marston
looked at the register intentIy for min
ute or two, during which time he turned
rather pale. Then he got up and looked
| out of the vestry room to sse that there
was nobody in the chapel. Having salts
fed himself that he was quite alone, he
sat down again and examined the charac
| tiers in which the name OF Michael
Tokhtamish was written with the great
est care for about minute. Finally,
he took out of his pocket penknife,
bottle of ink and g pen, which he had al
| ways carried about him in anticipation
of an opportunity like the present.. With
| the penknife he carefully erased the
name Of Michael TOkhtamish. It took
him about three minutes to do this, so
anxious was he to do the work neatly,
and not to leave trace of the letters he
was removing from the register. When
he had succeeded to mis- liking he put the
penknife in his pocket again, and having
carefully examined the pen to sac that
the nib was in order, he proceeded to
write over the erasure the name Of
Let me first ask if the reader has CUES
ed whose name it was that Mr.. Marston
wrote over the name he had been at such
pains to erase? Some people of whom l
have asked the question Rave guessed
that he wrote his own name. But why
so? On a subsequent occasion he did
write his own name in marriage regis
ter after Sophia Cheraski had written
hers. But on the present occasion he had
nothing to gain by doing so. And the
same objection will apply to his writing
most names over the erasure.
No. After carefully erasing the name
of Michael Tokotamish, he proceeded
with the greatest care to write the name
of Michael Tokotamish, as nearly as
possible in the same place and characters
that it had stood in before. When he had
done this to his satisfaction, he let the
ink dry, and then restored the book to
its place. Kohl came back presently and
they went for their lorg walk.
About three weeks afterward Mr.. Mar
ston found that he had business which
necessitated his leaving for England, and
very much to the regret of the inhabi-
tants of Narovel, he departed. From
Russia he went straight to Paris, where he
called upon the Countess Cheraski, with
whom he had held no communication