Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-07-19

that he soon became fayorite with every l body in the district. The men liked him be- cause he was a capital sportsman and could | take his bottle with the best of them; the | women, because he was good looking for | eigner, who was always paying them such | as circumstances permitted and l who was very fond of children Among | others with whom he shortly became very acquainted was the new priest, 0 young man named Nicholas Kohl Kohl l 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 l him great deal of valuable advice and as- | sistance, 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 ire quently before. and knew exactly where the book in which her marriage was registered lay among some others in a sort of cupboard. Already he 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 a 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 of the marriage of the countess. Now what he had been scheming for during the past five months was to get this book secretly into his possession for about half an hour. Already he had formed q 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 hap pens in such cases, accident gave him the opportunity he sought. On the occasion in question they were going for a long walk, and had only gone into the vestry room to leave & 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 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.
 ''I shall wait here for you," said Marston, speaking to Kohl in French, when he under ytood what the little girls errand was. 1T can read until you come back" There were some French and Latin books in the room.
 "Very we'll, ," said Kohl, sits only few minutes walk from here. I shall not be more than half an hour.'
 When the girl and priest had left the chapel, Marston took out 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 Uschakoff with Michael Tokhtamish. Mir. Marston looked at the register intently for a minute or two, during which time he turned rather pale. Then he 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- amined the characters in which the name of Michael Tokhtamish was written with the greatest care for about a minute. Finally, he took out of his pocket penknife, bottle of ink and pen, which he had always car ried about with him in anticipation of 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, so anxious was he to do the work neatly, and not to leave trace of the letters be 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 the nib was in order, he proceeded to write over the erasure the name of -
 Let me first ask if the reader has guessed 1 whose name it was that Mir. Marston wrote | over the name he had been at such pains to erase2 Some people of whom have asked the question have guessed that he wrote his S<vn name. But why so2 On a subsequent occasion be did write his own name in a marriage register after Sophia Cheraski had written 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. l No. Having most carefully erased the name of Michael Tokhtamish, he proceeded | with the very greatest care to write the name | of Michael Tokhtanish 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.
 | About three weeks afterward Mfr. Marston
 found that he had business which necessi tated his leaving for England, and, very
 much to the regret of the inhabitants oi
 straight to Paris, where he called upon the Countess Cheraski, with whom he had held nc
 communication whatever during the whole time he was living at Narovel
 "You have placed implicit confidence il
 me" he said, land you will find that it ha.
 not been abused. have told you before that you must not ask any questions, and 1 tel you so again. You must do exactly as
 direct you without asking why. Commenc, l proceedings at once for the restoration O.
 your title and estates; and mark me, wher
 the register is produced, insist on having
 every word that relates to your marriag
 most carefully examined. Do exactly as
 tell yon, and you will find that the resul
 will be satisfactory. And now good-by.
 must get back to London to see If canno
 get my patients again."
 The countess did as he told her to do. Sh
 commenced an action on behalf of hersel
 and her children for the restoration of tn
 title and estates. The register of her mar
 riage was produced, but when it was exam
 ined it was found that the name of Michae
 Tokhtanish was written over an erasurs
 This destroyed the value of the register a
 evidence of 8 marriage between Sophia Uschs
 koff and Michael Tokhtamish. Tke naturs
 presumption, in fact, the moral certainty ,ws
 that somebody elses name had been erase
 from the place where the name of Michal
 Tokhtamish was written, and further, ths
 the somebody else was the man who ma
 ried Sophia Uschakoff. Under these ci
 cumstances the evidence of Michael Tokl
 tamish himself and the two other witness
 who were present at the marriage, togethe