The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-01-02

| Ter WIN yott- haSllit- art YOU III! Nu' NJ
to the heart. She tried to pacify them
and to appear cheerful, but she could not.
Evening set in. The idea that she was
passing the day for the last time in the
midst of her family oppressed her. In
her secret heart she took leave of every
body, of everything which surrounded her.
Supper was served; her heart beat viO-
lently. In a trembling voice she declared
that she did not want any supper, and
wished her father and mother good night.
They kissed her; and as usual blessed her;
and she nearly wept.
Reaching her own room, she threw her
self into an easy chair and burst into tears.
Her maid begged her to be calm and take
courage Everything was ready. In half
an hour Masha would leave forever her
parents home, her own room, her peaceful
life as a young girl.
Out of doors the snow was falling, the
wind howling. The shutters ratified and
shook. In everything she seemed to
recognize .omens and threats.
Soon the whole home was quiet and
asleep. Masha wrapped herself in shawl,
put on warm cloak, and with a box in
Eer hand passed out on TO the back stair
case. The maid carried two bundles after
her They descended into the garden.
The snowstorm ragged; a strong wind blew
against them, as if trying to stop the young
culprit With difficulty they reached the
end of the garden. In the road sledge
awaited them.
The horses, from cold, would not stand
still. Vladimir's coachman was walking
to and fro in front of them, trying to quiet
them. He helped the young lady and her
maid to their seats, and, packing away the
bundles and dressing ease, took up the
reins, and the horses flew forward into the
darkness of the night.
Having entrusted the young lady TO the
care of fate and of Tereshka, the coach
man, let us return to the young lover.
Vladimir had spent the whole day in
driving. In the morning he had called
on the Jadrino priest, and with difficulty
came to terms with him. Then he went
to see the witnesses from among the neigh
boring gentry. The first on whom he
called was Il former cornet of horse, Drawn
by name, man in his iorties, who consented
at once. The adventure, he declared, re-
when he was in the Hussars. He per-
suaded Vladimir to stop to dinner with
him, assuring him that there would be no
difficulty in getting the other two witnesses.
Indeed, Immediately after dinner in anne
the Surveyor, Schmidt, with mustache
and spurs, and the son of Il captain-magis-
trate, boy of sixteen, who had recently
entered the Uhlans. They not only accepted
Vladimir's proposal, but even swore that
they were ready to sacrifice their lives for
him. Vladimir embraced them with de-
light, and drove off to get everything
ready.
1t had long been dark. Vladimir de-
spatched his trustworthy Tereshka to
Nenaradova with his two-horse sledge, and
with appropriate instructions for the occa-
sion. For himself he ordered the small
sledge with one horse and started alone
without coachman for Jadrino, where
Maria ought to arrive in couple of hours.
He knew the road, and the drive would
occupy twenty minutes.
But Vladimir had scarcely passed from
the enclosure into the open field when the
wind rose, and soon there was driving
snowstorm so heavy and so severe that he
could not see IC moment the road was
covered with snow All landmarks disap-
peared in the murky yellow darkness,
through which fell the white flakes of
snow. Sky and earth became merged into
one. Vladimir, in the midst of the field,
tried in vain to get to the road. The horse
walked on at random, and every moment
stepped either into deep snow or into a rut,
so that the sledge was constantly upsetting.
Vladimir tried at least not to lose the right
! direction, but it seemed to him that more
than half an hour had passed, and he had
not yet reached the Jadrino wood. Another
ten minutes passed, and still the wood was
invisible. Vladimir drove across fields
intersected by deep bitches. The snow
storm did not abate, and the sky did not
clear. The horse was getting tired, and
the perspiration rolled from him like hail,
in spite of the fact that every moment his
legs We're disappearing in the snow
At last Vladimir found that he was
going in the wrong direction. He stopped,
began to reflect, recolect and consider, till
at last he became convinced that he ought
to have turned to the right. He did so
now. His horse could scarcely drag along
But he had been more than an hour on
the road, and Jadrino could not now be
far. He drove and drove, but there was
no getting out of the field Still snow
drifts and bitches. Every moment the
sledge was upset, and every moment Via
dimir had to raise it up
Time was slipping by, and Vladimir
grew seriously anxious. At last in the
distance some dark object could be SEEN
Vladimir turned in its direction, and
as he drew near found it was wood
''Thank Heaven y he thought, Il am
now near the end
He drove by the side of the wood, hop
| inc to come at once uDon the familiar road