The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-23
"What do you want?"

WHaG ABOUT FOUR SOn!"
"Hein come out directly; he is putting
warm YOURSELF"
Thanks; send out your son QUICKLY"
The gate creaked; the youth came out
with a cudgel, and walked OF in front, AT
one time pointing out the road, at another
looking for it in the mass of drifted snow,
What O'Clock isit?" Vladimir asked him.
ut will soon be daylight replied the
young peasant. Vladimir spoke not another
word.
The cocks we're growing and it was light
when they reached Jadrino. The church
was closed. Vladimir paid the guide, and
drove into the yard of the priests house.
In the yard his two-horse sledpe was not to
be seen. What news awaited him!
But let us return to the kind proprietors
of Nenaradova and see what is going on
there.
Nothing.
The ola people woke and vent into the
sitting room. Gavril in a nightcap and
flannel jacket, P~raskovia in a wadded
dressing The samovar was brought
in, and 'Gavril sent the little maid to ask
Maria how she was n how she had slept.
The little maid returned, saying that her
young lady had slept badly, but that she
was better now, and that she would come
into the sitting room in a moment. And
indeed the door opened and Maria came in
and wished her papa and mamma good
morning.
How is your headache, Masha % Unfamiliar
for Nary, inquired Gavril.
Better. papa" answered Masha.
"Th fumes from the stoves must have
given you your headache remarked Pras-
kovia.
Perhaps 3d." replied Nasha.
Theday passed we'll enough, but in the night
Masha was taken ill. A doctor was cent for
from town. He came toward evening and
found the patient delirious. Soon she was
in a severe fever, and in a fortnight the
poor patient was on the brink of the grave.
No member of the family knew anything
OF the flight from home. The letters writ
ten by Masha the evening before had been
burnt, and the maid, fearing the wrath of
the master and mistress, had not breathed
a word. The priest, the ex-cornet, the big
mustached surveyor. and the little lancer
were equally discreet, and with good reason.
Iereshka, the coachman, never said too
much, not even in his drink. Thus the Sc
cret was kept better than it might have
been by half a dozen conspirators.
But Maria herself, in the course of her
long fever, let out her secret. Nevertheless,
mother, who never left her bedside, could
only make ont from them that her daugh.
ter was desperately in love wit Vladimir,
and that probably love WAS the cause of her
illness. She consulted her husband and
some of her neishbors, and at last it was
cSANS tl1L tAo VT ol b1uElH
ought not - be interfered with. that a wo-
man must not ride way from the man she
is destined to marry, that poverty is no
crime, that a woman has to live not with
money but with p man. and SO on. Moral
proverbs are wonderfully useful on such
occasions, when we can invent little or
nothing in our own justification.
Meanwhile ths young lady began to re-
cover. Vladimir had not been seen for a
long time in the house OF Gavril, SO fright
ened had he been by his previous reception,
1t was now resolved to send and announce
to him the good news which he could
scarcely expect: the consent of her parents
to his marriage with Maria.
But what WAS the astonishment of
the proprietors of the Nenaradova
when in answer to their invitation
they received an insane reply. Vladi-
mir informed them he could never set foot
in their house. and begged them to forget
an unhappy man whose only hope now wns in
death. A few days Rfterward the heard
that Vladimir had left the place and joined
the army.
A long time passed before they ventured
to tell Masha, who was now recovering.
She never mentioned Vladimir. Some
months Inter, however, finding his name in
the list of those who had distinguished
themselves and been severely wounded Mt
Borodino. she tainted, and il WAS feared
that the fever might return. But heaven
be thanked! the fainting lit had no bad
results.
Marin experienced yet another sorrow.
Her father died, leaving her the heiress of
all his property. But the inheritance could
not console her. She shared sincerely tho