Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1889-12-06

who was very i'll, wished 10 see MIN
for few minutes.
Il shall wait here for you" said
Marston, speaking TO Kohl in French
when he understood what the girls
errand was. II can read till you
come back There were some
French and Latin books in the room.
"Very well, - said Kohl, il is only a
few minutes walk from here. / 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 record of the Countess marriage,
and turned over the pages till he
came TO the entry he was in search
of. Yes, there i'm black and white,
was the record of the marriage Of
Sophia Tschakoff with Michael Tokh-
tamish. Mr. Marston looked at the
register intently for minute or two,
during which time he had 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
examined the characters in which
the name Of Michael Tokhtamish was
written with the greatest care for
about a minute. Finally, he TO took
out of his pocket a penknife, bot
tie of ink and pen, which he had
always carried about with him in an
ticipation of an opportunity like the
present. With the penknife he care
fully erased the name of Michael
Tokhtamish. 1t took him sbout
three minutes to do this, so anxious
was he to do the work neatly, and
not leave trace Of the letters he was
removing from the register. When
he had succeeded 10 his liking he put
the penkife in his pocket again, and
having carefully examined the pen TO
see that the nib was in order, he
proceeded 70 write over the erasure
the name Of.
Let me first ask if the reader has
guessed whose name il was that Mr.
Marston wrote over the name he had
been at such pains to eraseG
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 in the same
place and character that il had stood
in before. When he had done this to
his satisfaction he 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 Mr..
Marston found that he had business
which necessitated his leaving for
England, and, very much to the re-
gret Of the inhabitants Of Narovel, he
departed. From Russia he went
straight to Paris where he called up
on Countess Cheraski, with whom he
had held no communication whatever
during the whole time he was living
at Narovel.
You have placed implicit conf
dence in me-" he said, ''you will find
that it has not been abused. / have
told you before that you must not
ask any questions, and | tell you so
again. You must do exactly as i
direct you without asking why. Com
mence 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 tell you, and you will find that
the result will be most satisfactory.
And now goodby. l must get back to
London to see IL | cannot get my
patients again"
The Countess did as he told her to
do. She commenced an action in be-
half OF herself and her children for
the restoration Of the titles and es-
tates. The register Of her marriage
was produced, but when it was ex-
amined 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 Tschakoff
and Michael Tokbtamish. The
natural presumption, 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
that married Sophia Tschakof. Un-
der the circumstances the evidence OF
Michael Tokhtamish himself and the
two other witnesses, who where
present at the marriage ceremony,
together with the evidence OF a num-
Der OF French witnesses, that the late
Count had lived with her for years as
man and wife, was held to establish
fully the claims Of the Countess and
her children TO be the lawful wife
and issue OF the late Ivan Cheraski
Tokhtamish, j may mention, gave his
evidence very willingly, as 1t was per-
fectIy certain that the Countess
would never marry anybody else
while she was supposed to be his
wife.
On the morality Of the transaction
/ pronounce no opinion, and aban-
don that problem to such casuists as
may be still extant.
The Countess left Russia shortly
after she had gained her lawsuit, and