Milford chronicle., 1888-07-27
SCRATCHED OUT.

During the earlier years of the present cen
tury the Russian mobiles ruled their house
/ holds with high hand Accordingly. VIXEN
/ the Dowager Countess Cheraski found that
/ her only son Ivan. a young man Of about ..
/ years was engaged to marry beautiful seri
on bis estates, she forthwith banished him "a
France. and ordered the gill, to whom be was
engaged. to marry another serf immediately.
As her commands had to be obeyed poor
Sophia UschakoH for that was the girls
name, went with her father, some six DAYS
after the counts departure to the chapel
where the marriage service was to be per-
formed. There were present, beside her
father and herself, Michael Tokhtamish the
bridegroom, his father and the priest, an
Old man who was upward Of 20 years Of age
The service had scarcely commenced when
the door of the little chapel opened, and Ivan
Cheras1i, the young count, entered with a
revolver in his hand
You thought was out of the country, p
be said, ''but not so; have been biding my
time not far away from here. knew all
about the infamous attempt to marry my be
trothed to this clown, and ! have come to
prevent it. Everything is ready-the priest
the altar and the bride So, my good father
you viii please marry me to Sophia Uscha-
kof at once, or You and Michael Tokhtamish
shall die before five minutes are over"
do not know what would have happened
If the priest had refused to obey the counts
order. As 1 have said, Russian mobiles used to
be. and very likely still are. rather high
handed, especially in dealing with .their de
pendents. At all events, Ivan Cherasli was
nobleman armed with a revolver, Michael
Iokhtamish was only n serf who might have
been shot for the fun Of the thing, while the
priest was very iniirm old man, and bound,
moreover, by his religion to diseountonance
bloodshed. So the serf stood aside, the no
blenan took his place, the priest performed
tine service, and in few minutes Ivan Che
raski and Sophia Uschalsof .vsro man ai.i
wife. The service over, the company entered
the vesty room, where the priest proceeded
to enter the particulars relating to the mar.
riage in the registry book.
Now l must pause here to inform the
reader that in Russia it was the custom for
the priest, and not the parties who were mar
ried, to sign the names Of the bride and the
bridegroom in the marriage register. Alex
ander Troubetskoi the priest. was placed. as
the saying is, between two fires If he had
not obeyed the counts orders he would have
been shot On the other hand, If the countess
dowager found out what he had done, some
thing else as bad, or worse, would probably
happen. To escape from the dilemma Lc en-
tered IN the register Michael Tokhtamish
instead OF Ivan Cheraski as the name Of the |
bridegroom. The parties who were inter
e5ted did not observe the substitution The
register was restored TO its place, and the /
Count ami Countess Cheraslli left secretly /
for Paris that cvering.
For five years they lived very happily in |
France, and then the count died, leaving tho /
countess a widow with two children. His /
mother had died about a year before and /
Troubetskoi expired shortly after they left 1
the village Of Narouel, where the marriage /
took place. On the death of her husband the /
countess went to the province Of Minsk in 1
Russia, 70 claim his estate on behalf Of her /
self and his children. The claim was op /
posed by his family, who produced the reg. /
ter which bore evidence of her marriage,
not with Ivan Cheraslsi. but. with Michael
Iokhtamish. There seemed, then, TO be no
use IN resorting to legal proceedings, as the
evidence Of the witnesses 70 the marriage,
who were all serfs, would be worthless
against the evidence Of the marriage regis
ter Accordingly the countess, as she was
de jure, If not de facto, returned to France.
Partly by the sale Of her iewelry and partly
owing to her husband having invested some
money IN their joint names Ia French per
sent rentes she had little moro than e.. COO.
and with this capital she opened a sort of
boarding house in Paris. Here she had been
living for about two years when a Young
Englishman named Edwin Marston came to
stop at her establishment for a few day