Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-05-19
KNOUTED.


haired little Parisian. whoused to dance
lightly in the bathrooms of the Champs.
Elysees. and chatter gayly of the things
of the boulevard; but she now no longer
felt interest in anything. Paris was to
her vanished dream; Siberia an un-
changing reality. Nine months out Of
every year of blank, mournful SHOWS,
white silence, extending from horizon to
horizon then brief respite. when the
fields caught flower, and the color
rushed through every valley and over
every shill, and innumerable insects
buzzed in the green underwood of tho
steppes--such is Siberia.
She had married Count ArdIoff, the
governor of Tobolsk, to save her father
from ruin; but this child of the asphalt
thrived but poorly in the desert. and her
husband saw, and with fierce anger, 4 at
she could not endure her present life /;
saw there was nothing in common be-
tween them but the chain of marriage
by which he held her.
Scratch the Russian and you will find
the Tartar. Nothing can be more true.
Primitive races can but ape the senti-
ments and refinements of feeling which
make bearable our lives. and Count Ard
loft could not pass the gulf-the impass-
able gulf-the gulf made by centuries
of civilization which lay between him
and his wife He could hold her to his
bosom, but even then she seemed nearer
to Vanca. a young Polish officer, than to
him.
And yet no friendship could be purer;
they were merely exiles, who talked of
their distant homes, their lost friends
and their abandoned dreams.
But such sentiments are little under
stood in Siberia, and ugly little rumors
concerning Nine. Ardloff and young
Vanca had begun to be whispered-the
end of a phrase Kissed slightly and
concluding smile turned somewhat SER
pent- -wise-that was all.
Count Ardloff watched and waited, as
suspicious and fierce as a wildcat.
lie was man about fifty, his beard was
strong and gray, and he stood like
Hercules. Five years passed in Paris had
lent him a disguise which, in his ordi.
nary moods, perfectly enabled him to.
hide his Tartar character, and when she
married him the bright French girl lit
tie thought that few glasses Of cham
pagne or slight contradiction would
transform the elegant gentleman on
whose arm she leaned into savage
Cossack.
Now fierce gleam shot from his eyes
as they fell upon his wife, who, lying
back in her easy chair, sat languidly lis
tening to Vanca's clear voice. 1t mat
tered not to the count, what they were
saying. He did not stay to consider
whether they were planning an elope-
ment or talking of the emperor. He
merely hated her for appearing to be so
intimate with one of his officers. She
belonged to him she was his property
a property he had acquired because it
pleased him to do so. What, then, did
she mean by thinking of or Concerning
herself about anyone else?
These were the counts thoughts as he
took the cards that had been handed to
him, and shuffled them through his
strong fingers. Some eight or dozen
gentlemen in the uniform of the Russian
army were grouped around him, a lady
sat at piano, and couples were seated
under the greenery of the exotic plants
with which the recesses of the room
were filed. There was not much con.
versation, the interest of the company
being apparently centered in the count.
Every now and then some one passed
across the room, and. after watching the
cards for few minutes, would cring-
ingly murmur some words Of adulation.
Every phrase began or ended with
@your excellency" and was rounded of
with bow.
But the count paid very little attention
to his fatterers. When he had finished
dealing. as he threw down the last card,
he glanced again in the direction where
his wife was sitting.
As she listened to the young Pole her
attitude grew more and more abandoned.
He spoke to her of his past life, of lost
love and the accents of regret with
which he narrated his experiences re-
minded her of how she had suffered
similar deceptions of how her aspir-
ations and glad visions had, like his,
perished. They spoke. those sad. eter-
nal truths which each pair Of lovers
fancy they alone have discovered, but
which have moved all past generations
as they win doubtless move all those
who are coming to birth, till mans soul
has ceased to be what it is
So absorbed were Vanca and Nine.
Ardlof in the contemplation Of the past
that they were only 50 much conscious
OF each other as each helped the other
to realize their separate lives The outer
world had faded from them and in The in-
sinuating emotion which drew them to-
gether she leaned her hands over the
edge Of the chair, and, following the
movement instinctively, he took up the
glove she had laid down and played with
it
At this sign Of intimacy the counts
eyes flashed vindictively, and he called
TO his wife impatiently:
Marie, win you order some cham-
pagne 2"