Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-10

was accustomed and which no one feared, were
no longer heard about the house.
He was visible to every one-wife,
children, servants-but no one seemed to
outer world was closed to him. Between 1t and
them rested q veil of abstraction. He moved
about the house like q man imprisoned in q
narrow cell and yet apparently unconscious Of
and broke out into noisy wrangling, but single
one Of Kirilfs lowering glances sufficed to
bring them back to silence. At first the gentle
Tatinna accused herself Of some neglect and
strove to win a smile from her husband by the
use Of her old-time bits Of coquetry and devices
to please. but she soon abandoned the task.
| The truth seemed loath to break upon her.
How could her thoughts dare, after fifteen
years OF happiness and devotion, to turn toward
such terrible suspicion as her husbands inf
deity? And yet they did, and suddenly, too.
The fact came home to her with a cruel and
| desolating violence. It struck her like o
bludgeon. She looked up and Sophie Savichna,
the schoolmistress stood before her o vision Of
loneliness. Tatiana gasped and instinctiyely
reached out to lay hold Of this creature OF her
overwrought imagination, but it was gone.
.'Oh, God! Sophie Savichna," murmured
Tatiana, 'thou art the woman he loves!"
Tatiana was right He loved the schoolmis-
| tress with passion that was devilish in its in
| tensity. Who she was, to what family she be-
longed, what the history of her life might be
all this was nothing to him. He coveted the
1 pOsstSsiOu VI ueT love VIII u ueIceueSS tuat
bordered upon insanity. At certain moments
this passion took on q murderous tendency, and
he yearned for an opportunity to strike her
down, to trample upon her.
Sophie Savichna had dismissed the army off,
| Ger from her mind, save silently to vent her i'll
| will upon him for being the cause of an illness
| which confined her in bed for three days. His
declaration Of love had not even been potent
enough to touch her vanity. He seemed ridicu-
| lous to her.
Il love yon, love your she repeated mock
insly. "a pleasant prospect for me! What
good would the love Of this old officer do me?
| A married MANI
| But as her illness spent its force she softened
bit After all, he was an object Of pity, poor
! man. She was still very young. She had been
I in love herself once with o student who didn't
even condescend to feel aattered It was pain
full thing, this disdain.
For two weeks now she had not met Tatiana's
husband A vague instinct restrained her from
INDUCING in her favorite pastime of tramping
about the country. She felt that this man was
logging her footsteps. One day, however, she
| forgot herself 1t was a sort of half holiday
one Of those saints days which you may keep
or not. just as you please. The weather was
beautiful. The deep azure of the sky was in
snow balls.
"Come, Fekloncha," she cried to her little
servant, girl of fifteen; ''lets go out and see
| them gather fax"
Away the two went across the fields, bare
| footed like the peasants. A broad-brimmed
straw hat. wild and rustic, shaded Sophies fea-
lures and added a deeper mystery to her
round, wide-open eyes, There was an indie
scribable charm in the womans personality
and 1t was heightened by the presence of the
| frail little yellow-haired being, who, like an
attendant sprite, walked beside her glorious
| mistress.
yet timidly, for they instinctively felt the
power of her strange and unique beauty.
The open air acted like an intoxicant upon
Sophie Savichna. She stood on tiptoe and
drank it eagerly in, as convalescent might
empty goblet of life-giving cordial, and then,
bending her 1.-THE and slender body, she caught
| up some of the fax and burst out into song,
caroling one of the popular harvest chants.
Anal f % GSH shs n sunsa ns
But this flow Of spirits soon exhausted her
| store Of strength, sapped as it had been by her
| recent illness, and such feeling of lassitude
came over her that she was forced to lean upon
| the fral shoulder of her attendant upon turn
ing her steps homeward.
| The sun was nearing the horizon and long
| dark shadows already lay across her pathway,
but suddenly figure emerged from one OF
\ these outposts Of night. 1t was Tatiana's hus-
| band.
sophie Savichna," said he, ''come and take
supper with us. You have not been to see Us
| for a long WHILE"
Then his voice seemed to sink in his throat,
and with an effort he added: my wife expects
you"
| The covert craft of these words seemed to
| sting Sophie, for she broke out with:
Have you told her why don't 60 to the
house any moreY'
Rouskines swarthy face hardened and he
glanced nervously at the maid, whose presence
seemed to paralyze him. But the ingenuity of
the evil doer came to his rescue.
do you speak French9" he inquired in that
| Sonh?a ho,;xo4oa Oh. 49,. 4.
| Rouskine saw her honest eyes take on q
| troubled look.
| "Oh, Sophie Savichna, love you, love you;
do not harden your heart against me-"
| They were now nearing the village, and had
| it not been that the houses were already lighted
up by the blaze of the wood fires the inmates
| might have seen the officer and schoOlmistress
| together.
| Sophie was unwilling to take another step in
Robustness company, and, turning to her little
| maid she called out:
Run on ahead and get the samovar ready,
and then addressing herself to Tatiana's hus-
band she said
| 'Speak in a Christian tongue There is no
need OF our making use Of a foreign jargon. You
say you love me. To pronounce such words is
to insult me. II your wife suspected such a
| thing she would wish me dead and as God is
| my witness / wish her no harm. Go, Kirill
kirilluitch, married man owes his whole
allegiance to his wife. If what you say is true
| 1 pity you, but can do nothing for you. I'm
on my way home. Return to yours and pray
God for help"
1t was now growing dark. Rouskine seized
| Sophie's hand. It was almost crushed in the
convulsive grip with which he chung to it. The
young woman struggled to withdraw it. but it
was impossible.
listen, Sophie Savichna," he pleaded pit
| eously. You do wrong to mock at man who
| is suffering as l am"
Il do not mock at YOU" she replied. "Re-
lease my hand"
But Rouskine was now beside himself
'K l were handsome" he whispered half
| repulse me-"
Before high heaven swear that would ~
exclaimed Sophie. "You are married man;
| that's the reason why must repulse you"
THE only reason why?" he murmured, max
| ing terrible effort to get the words over his
lips
How can I answer such question as that?'
she replied, stamping her foot with ever-in-
| creasing anger. II can only say one thing: For
me married man has no existence-he is not
man at ALL"
"And if had not had a wife you would have
married me, wouldn't you? he stammered out
| in a tone of apparent despair, the words rat
| Ting in his throat like the breath of a diving
| man, as he reeled backward step or two. while
| his hands seemed to be cropping behind him for
| a support. The wall Of the building in front
Of which they had halted held him up or he
would have gone to the ground.
''HOw can l tell?" answered Sophie, with Just
an appreciable softening in her manner. "Can
Il III -1.-A. n -