The record-union., 1891-09-04
He KILLED HIMSELF
Remarkable Death of Russian Prime
Who Cheated at CnrdS.

Remarkable Death of Russian Prince
Who Cheated at Cards.
These Russians are certainly different
ly constituted from us. With their tenn
perament of refined civilization and saw
age barbarism they do the most astound-
ing things in the most unexpected way.
1t was thus Boris Mirskow amazed me
yesterday by relating in the coolest, most
nonchalant manner the strange end of his
Irritation with the Princess de 2.
Now this handsome blonde Boris is a
delightful cOmrade, charming, suave,
with the doll-baby face of woman, the
last one in the world would ever imag-
Inc such wild. extraordinary adventure
could happen to. 1t makes me shudder
to think Of it.
You knew the Prince de T." he
said; ''at least you knew him by reputa-
ton. A cripple from birth, nailed to his
chair, he had but one passion in life
gambling. His feeble hands had barely
strength sufficient TO hold and shuttle the
cards. In return, his head was extremely
cool, his Intelligence more than ordinary
clear. No one knew him better than he
the combinations of ecarte. He was called
the Moltke OF gamblers.
las TO the Princess, what Partisan
dOes not know her end and her history?
When l was taken into her favor they
said | was the twentieth, only counting
the distinguished ones.
The Prince took everything in the
most philosophical manner. He made a
point of seeing nothing. When they
| spoke Of deceived husband before him
he would always ask, Was he aware of
it? Did he know it?' If they answered
No. then he would say, He was not de-
celVed; 1t is in this as in play; one is not
cheated IL he doesn't know it,
III the Prince was the Won Moltke of
ecarte, the Princess was the Robert Hou-
din of coquetry.
There are no jugglers so sl1iIlfuI but
what they miss the mark sometimes.
Our mlschance was caused by maIevo-
Ience.
The Princess had !, favorite maid,
Tzigane, as devoted as Il tame panther.
but, alas! cruel panther still!
"One evening as this girl was showing
me TO the boudoir of her mistress she said
Il know not Why, L love you.' [ burst
out laughing. She repeated, I love YOU.
and have loved you for a long time. |
am determined you shall not see the Prin-
| cess any more
In spite OF her sharp accents and the
savage light III her yellow eyes, could
| only see her ugly, tawny face, and laughed
more and more, gently repulsing her, for
l thought she had taken too much kOu-
| miss and felt very indulgent to her fault,
as my own head was a little aStray from
too much champagne
''Y ou will not listen to me?" she said,
clinglng to my arm and kissing my
| hand.
''As laughed still more. she suddenly
raised up, grinding her teeth, and said in
low, determined tone, as she threw
open the door Of the boudoir, you will
repent this, monSieur'
AN hour later, as l was sitting beside
the Princess on "a grand divan, covered
with blue fox, we heard great clanOr in
the ante-room which preceded the bou-
doir 1t Is the voice Ire Prince. Can
it be possible?' said incess. Yes. it
was the voice of The .ince, excIaiming
in sharp tones: Come, put me down:
you are mad; you make me i'll. Put me
down, [ tell YOU
"Other voices were heard, a confused
noise OF cries and approaching footsteps,
but above all this buzzing uprOar could
be heard the furious faIsetto of the
screeching Tzigane: You shall see.
! Everybody shall see Don't dare to
! touch me, not one Of you. If YOU do I
| will strangle him. Quick, open the
| door,
The door was violently thrown open.
About dozen people entered the room.
! friends of the family and domestics. TZi-
game in the midst of them carving the
/ Prince in her arms like a puppy child. |
understood it all. In her lit Of rage, with
| the violence Of a tempest whirIinp q
! broken leaf, she had brought the Prince
here by main force, and, throwing him
self. Say, do you see?'
Seize her. said the Prince, and send
her TO the Mines
"'What does that matter?' she cried.
holding her wrist for the manacles. What
do l care now that | am revenged?' Then
turning to me she added: 1 told you |
would never allow you to see the Princess
again.
They raised the Prince and placed
him in an armchair. He ordered every
one to leave the room except two friends
he begged to remain, then turning to me
said:
81 could kill you, monsieur, as 1 have
a right to do. But L do not wish to pun
lsh you in that way. l demand repara-
ton by arms
II had desire to laugh. A duel with
that poor cripple? and what kind of
duel, as he could hold neither sword nor
pistol in his feeble hands
The Prince understood my thoughts
and replied: DO not think me mad or
more generous than 1 am. The duel I
offer you is very possible, as you will
see Touching a bell servant entered.
90 and bring me q pack of cards
from the salon, he said.
when the cards were brought and the
armchair Of the Prince had been drawn
I
and with calm, almost affable air. said
We are now going to play game of
cards, monsieur, and the one who loses
shall kill himself before Il O'Clock to-
morrow. Do you accept, monsieur?'
accept. What game shall we play?''
'Ecarte, if you please so be it. For
how many points?' Five
'The game commenced, witnessed bv
the two friends and the Princess, who
drew near, drawn in spite of herself by
the singularity of this strange duel.
The Prince was my master: that was
plainly to be seen, but chance favored
me in the most surprising way, Soon
we were four to four
''Parbleu," said ] to Boris, ''no need to
| finish your story. / can guess it; as you
are here the Prince lost"
Not at all; the Prince Won"
But how
My lip turned with scorn, for I thought
Boris had been too cowardly to carry ont
the wager. He smiled maliciously and
continued:
Hold! read this, which I received a
quarter of an hour after the game. as
was examining the chambers of my re-
volver''
lie. handed me an ace of hearts. unon
whicb the Prince had written:
io4SteNI'-According to my theory YOU
| nave not been cheated, as you did not per-
celVe 1t. But l feel from this time it will
| be impossible for me TO touch cards after
| having dishonored them, and to live
without them | cannot | cheated awhile
ago, monsieur, for the first and last time