Wichita eagle., 1888-07-19


apart elto~~ther from thr r,e9eesf-v OF acting
part which wa involved by the busiuess
he had on hand, he was . really jovtal and
pleasant companion The consequence WA
that he soon became favorios with every
body In the district The men liked him be-
cause be was capital sportsman and could
take his bottle with the best OF them, the
women, because he was a good looking for
.igne-, who was always paying them such
compliments as circumstances permitted and
who was very fond Of children Among
others with whom he shortly became very
intimately acquainted was the new priest, q
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 Narston was able to give
him a great deal Of valuable advice and as
sistance. they soon became fast friends.
One day, about flve months after ne came
to Narovel, he went with Kohl into the YES
try room of the chapel where the countess
was married rs had been in this room fire.
quentiy before. and knew exactly where the
book In which her marriage was registered
lay among some others IN a sort Of cupboard
Already be had. on the pretense Of compar
ing the Russian system with the English, ex-
amined 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 particular one
that he might be in quest of AS yet, how
ever, he had had no opportunity Of examin-
ing the book which contained the record ct
the marriage Of the countess Now what he
had been scherning for during the past five
months was TO get this book secretly into his
possession for about half an hour. Already
he had formed number of plans for getting
half an hour alone in the vestry room,
but these be had discarded one by one as
being unsuitable. AT last, as often hap
pens in 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 little girl who had seen them
60 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 Marston,
speaking to Kohl in French. when he under
sUotu Lat luC btNo kIl Wds i
can read until you come back" There were
some French and Latin books in the room.
Very well" said Kohl, ''it's only a few
minutes walk from here. l shall not be
more than half an hour"
When the girl and priest had left the
chapel Marston took ont of the cupboard
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 rec
ord Of the marriage of Sophia Uschakof
with Michael Tokhtamish. Mr. Marston
looked at the register intently for q minute
or two. during which time he turned rather
pale. Then be got up and looked out of the
vestry room to see that there was nobody in
the chapel. Having satisfied himself that he
was quite alone, he sat down again and ex-
anined the characters In which tho name Of
Michael Tokhtamish was written with the
greatest care for about q minute Finally,
he took out of his pocket a penknife bottle
of ink and a pen. which he had always car
ried about with him IN anticipation CT an
opportunity like the present With the pen
knife he carefully erased the name of Michael
Tokhtamish It took him about three minutes
to do this. 30 anxious was he to do the work
neatly. and not to leave a trace Of the letters
he was removing from the register. When
he had succeeded TO his liking he put
the penknife in his pocket again, and having
carefully examined the pen to see that tho
nib was in order. he proceeded to write over
the eresure the name Of -
Let me first ask if the reader has guessed
whose name it was that Mr.. Marston wrote
over tho name he had been ut such pains to
erase' Some people of whom have asked
the question have guessed that he wrote his
own name But why 20! On q subsequent
occasion he did write his own name in q
marriage register after Sophia Cherash had
written hers. But on the present occasion
he could not have geincd anything by so
doing. And the same oh lection viii 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 Tokhtamish as nearly as possible
In the same place and characters that it had
stood in before When he had done this to
his satisfaction be let the ink dry, and then
restored the book TO its place. Kohl came
back presently, and they went for their long
walk.
found that he had business which necessi-
tated his leaving for England, and, very
much TO the regret Of the inhabitants Of
Narovel. be departed From Russia he went
straight to Paris, where be called upon the
Countess Cherasd, with whom he had held no
communication whatever during the whole
time he was living at Narovel.
"You have placed implicit confidence in
~ q
not been abused. have told you before that
you must not ask any questions, and | tell
you 50 again. You must do exactly as
direct you without asking why. Commence
proceedings at once for the restoration Of
your title and estates; and mark me, when
the register is produced, insist on having
every word that relates to your marriage
most carefully examined. Do exactly as l
tell yon, and you viii find that the result
viii be satisfactory. And now good-by.
must get back to London to sec if cannot
get my patients again"
The countess did as be told her to do She
commenced an action on behalf of herself
and her children for the restoration of the
title and estates. The register of her mar
riage was produced, but when it was exam
ined it was found that the name Of Michael
Tokhtamish was written over an erasure.
This destroyed the value Of the register as
evidence Of marriage between Sophia Uscha-
kof and Michael Tok ntamish. The natural
in fact, the moral certainty was
that somebody else's name had been erased
from the place where the name Of Michael
Tokhtamish was written, and further, that
the somebody else was the man who mar
ried Sophia Uschakof. Under these cir
cumstancss the evidence of Michael Tokh-
tanlish himself and the two other witnesses