The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-04-14

sent us back to the prisons of the czar."
 Yes, they were revolutionists, these pleasing, interesting women-refugees from Russia. Husband, son, lover, all had joined the ranks of the secret brotherhood.
 The head of the family, Count Ip- siloff, was an exile. The son had died upon the scaffold. The fate of the lover was still uncertain. He was Olga's lover, this young man, whose features so strongly resembled my own, certain Count Loris Malakoff, noble, rich and generous, who had sacrificed everything for the cause.
 And yet some of the brotherhood suspected him, and as a test he was selected for an enterprise of great peril, the nature of which we need not in- quire about. But, on the eve of the appointed day, Loris disappeared the clue to the whole conspiracy was in the hands of the police wholesale arrests were made; numerous execu- tions followed, and among them that of Olga's brother, Stephen. But of Loris nothing was known. Only a terrible report had been circulated, on the authority of a prison official who was secret sympathizer, to the effect that Loris had been the traitor, that his heart had failed him at the last, and that he had given himself up to the police, and had revealed the whole conspiracy.
 It was also said that he would be soon liberated, and to save him from the vengeance of the brotherhood, con- veyed secretly, in disguise, probably in the character of an Englishman, as far as London, where, lost in the inn mensity of the crowd, he might best hope to escape the fate that would surely dog him as long as he lived.
 Hence, when the Russian ladies saw the very facssmsle of their former friend on the quay, the sight seemed to confirm the worst suspicion that had been entertained about him.
 Olga loved him, but she would rather that he should be dead than SO dishonored. She had always refused to believe that he had been traitor.
 "Now," concluded Mime. Ipsiloff, ''I am hoping to join my husband in Holland. He is growing old, alas like myself, and has been compelled to retire from the active list of the revo- lutionary band"
 They proposed to take ship for America, there to end their days in poverty and exile-they who had been once rich, honored, and happy.
 All this, whispered rather than spoken in low, earnest tones, produced a profound feeling of sorrow and de- pression. But just then the sun, which was not far above the horizon, burst out from among the clouds that had hitherto concealed it, and lit up all the surrounding scene. Olga reused herself from her attitude of mournful depression, and, as if in- spired by the sunbeans, like the vocal Egyptian statue, burst into song. She had charming fresh contralto voice, and the old Russian hymn that she sang, addressed to the rising sun was full of pathos and charm.
 Soon after the town of Nimeger came in sight, quaintly perched upon solitary bluff by the river bank. A number of people were awaiting the steamer on the quay, and, among them one who raised his hands and made a peculiar signal in the air "Ah, we are awaited here; good friend, we must part, never to meet again." A hurried leave- taking fol- lowed, warm pressure of the hand fervidsgood wishes. They were gone and left behind them blank sense o1 loss and pain-these people, whom l had known only. for short summers night.
 After my companions had left, remember little about the voyage down the Rhine, till towards the af- ternoon, when the conductor warned me, asleep on one of the sofas in the saloon, that Dordrecht was close at hand. Here I met with disappoint- ment. The porter of the hotel was awaiting me with letter from my mother. Bad news had come from England-my sister Bells fance had broken or otherwise damaged his leg and my mother had started with her for home early that morning, by way of Brussels, Paris, and Dover. Well there was no need for me to follow them in haste. I would go on tc Rotterdam by the steamer, and takt the boat for Harwich on the follow ing day. It was not till we had left the old town far behind, and had en. tered the maze of waters about Rot. terdam-crowded with steamers an6 gay barges-that I remembered that was vexatiously short of money. had relied on getting a supply iron mother; and now I found, after searching all my pockets, only jus enough, with a very trifiing margin tO nav my fare h0mo