Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-07-20

/ nd n he
recovery of her title and estates.
! More than month passed away, during
which she did not hear from him, and. CON
sequently, was beginning do think that he
had probably forgotten all about her, or he
WonId nave written, when one evening the
3 servant came upstairs to say that Mr. Mars
ton was in the parlOr on the ground floor
/ and would ike to see her.
Il have been thinking ever since IIeftvor -
! ne SAID, when they had greeted each other.
| ''OI The extraordinary history YOU told mo
ana 1 thlnk now that see my way to over
/ come your difficulties. But you viii have
| to exercise great patience. 1t will take me,
probably year. perhaps more. to carry ont
my plans. shall have to go to Russia and
live in the village of NarOVel and l shall
| want at least E4OO at once. and probably
| another &4OO in the course of about six
/ months. In the meantime you must be con
tent not to ask me any questions. and to re-
main IN perfect ignorance of what I am do
] ing by word is the only guarantee YOU can
! have that shall be honestly doing my best
/ in your behalf"
1T 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 a Well-tO-dO Eng
/ llshman, who wished to make himself ac-
quainted with the language and institutions
/ OF the country, and who had no objection to
/ spend his money freely. He was a good shot,
| was fond of riding and. apart altogether
a
/ involved by the business he had on hand, he
was a really jOviRl and pleasant companion.
I The consequence was that he soon became a
faYOrite with everybody in the district The
men liked him because he was a 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 giving
them such compliments as circumstances per
mitted and who was very fond of children.
Among Others with whom he shortly became
very intimately acquainted was the new
priest, young man named Nicholas Kohl.
Kohl acted as priests very often do in Russia
the part both of priest and physician to the
district And, since MarstOn was a bic to give
him a great deal of valuable advice and as
sisJance, they soon became fast friends.
One day, about FIVE months after he came
to NarOvel. he went with Kohl into the yes
try room of the chapel where the countess
was married. He had been in this room fire.
quently before, and knew exactly where the
book in which her marriage was registered
lay among some Others in II sort OfcupbOard.
Already he had, on the pretense of cOmpar-
ing the Russian system with the English. ex-
amlned several registers of births, deaths and
marriages, so that he was familiar with the
forms, and on looking at a book of such reg
lsters could easily find any particular one
that he might be in quest of. As vet. how
ever, he had no opportunity of examining the
book which contained the record of the mar
rage of the countess. Now what he had
been scheming for during the past five months
was to get this book secretly into his posses
sion for about half an hour. Already he had
found a number of plans for getting half
an hour alone in the vestry room,
but these he had discarded one by
one as being unsuitable. AT last, as often
happens III such cases, an accident gave him
the opportunity he sought. On the occasion
IN question they were going for long walk,
and had only gone into the Vestry-rOom to
leave a parcel which the priest had in his
hand. Scarcely, however, had they entered
the room when they were followed by a little
girl who had seen them go into the chapel.
She had been at the priests house to look for
him, as her mother who was very III. wished
to see him few minutes.
Il shall wait here for you" said MarstOn
speaking to Kohl in French, when he under
stood what the little girls errand was. II
can read till you come back" There were
some French and Latin books in the room.
Very we'll " said Kohl, ''it's only fey,
minutes, walk from here. I shall not bemor0
than half an hour"
When the girl and priest had left the chapel,
Marston took out Of the cupboard the vol
ume that contained the register of the cOun-
tess marriage, and turned over the pages till /
he came to the entry he was in search Of
les there, IN black and white, was the record
of the marriage of SOphia TschakOf with
Michael TOkhtamish Mr. Marston looked
at the register intently for a minute OF two
during which time he turned rather pale
Then he got up and looked out of the vescry
room TO see that there was nobody in the
chapel Having satisfied himself that he was
quite alone, he sat down again and ex-
ahmed the characters IN which the
written with the greatest care for about IA
a minute. Finally, he took out of his pocket
a penknlte. Il bottle fink. and q pen which
he carried about with him in anticipation Of
an opportunity ike the present. With the pen
knife he carefully erased the name of Michael
Iokhtamish. 1T took him about three miu-
utes to do this. SO anxious was he to do the
work neatly, and not TO leave ii trace of the /
letters he was removing from the register
When he had succeeded to his liking he put
the penknife III his pocket again. and having.
carefully examined the pen to see that the
mo was IN order to proceed to write over the
erasure the name Of
Let me first ask if the reader has guessed
whose name it was that Mr.. MarstOn wrote
over the name ne had been at such pains to
erase Some people of whom have asked /
the question have guessed that he wrote his
own name. But why so? On a subsequent
occasion he did write his own name in mar
rlage register after Sophia Cherasi had writ
ten hers. But on the present occasion he could !
not have gained anything by so doing. And
the same objection will apply to his writing
most other names over the erasure.
No. Having most carefully erased the
name of Michael TOkhtamish, he proceeded
with the very greatest care to write the name
OF Michael Iokhtamish as nearly as possible
IN the same place and characters that it
stood before. when he had done this to his
satisfaction, he let the ink dry, and then re-
stored the book to its place. Kohl came
back presently, and they went for their long
walk.
About three weeks afterward Mr. Marston
found that he had business which necessiated
his leaving for England, and, very much to
the regret of the inhabitants of NarOvel. he
departed. From Russia he went straight to
Paris, where he called upon the Countess
Cheraski, with whom he had held no cOmmu-
nicatiOn whatever during the whole time he
was visiting at NarOvel.
you have placed implicit confidence in
me, he said, ''and you viii find that it has
not been abused. 1 haye told you before
that You must not ask any questions; and
tell YOU again. GU must do exactly
as 1 direct you without asking why. Com
mence proceedings at once for the restoration