The herald., 1893-10-21

seemed to me, for although had not
broken my arm had hurt it, and did
not relish being laughed at by o beggar.
bottled up my rage, however, by way
of giving him an object lesson in self
mastery, and we soon came up to
sleigh, the driver of which was wildly
dancing in order to keep away the bitter
cold and treacherous sleep.
IN hour later we were comfortably
seated in my dining room at table
adorned with big, bright samovar,
sweetly singing CT the joys of domestic
ity, as no kettle on the most blazing fire
in the coziest of rooms ever yet sang.
My strange guest-Nikolai Stepanovitch
Maikoff was the name he gave-had
frightened up bit, but only as to his
brain. His MOD remained as despond-
ent as before. He was tall, spare man,
with long, pinched face, high cheek
bones, hollow cheeks with hectic flush,
sunken eyes and shaggy red beard. His
bearing was as naughty as that of
Spanish beggar, his tone frank and fa-
miltar almost to the point of cynicism,
and he had an awkward habit of talking
loudly and interrupting others.
He was an old man of 90 or there
abouts-e<o oerience being the stuff that
age is made of, and he, having deal
more than his share, had burned life's
candle at both ends and scoffed at the
idea of economizing now. l felt pity
for the man ON abstract principles, for l
was fresh from the university and full
of the idea of regulating society and in
fusing what we labeled ''the quintes-
sence of Christianity, or the gospel ac-
cording to Dostoleffsky," into my life. /
mentally set myself to the task of rescu-
ing this outcast from the jaws of spirit
ual death and smuggling him once more
into decent society through some back
door, for Iheld that every fallen man is
better than he fancies.himself. l am of
the same opinion still only would now
add-if not good deal worse.
81 suppose You don't mind my asking
you something about your antecedents-
Just enough to guide me in my choice of
ways and means of helping you" said
as I pushed the second tumbler of piping
hot tea toward him, the delicious fra
GRANGE of which he speedily dispelled
with q thin slice of lemon and was about
to annihilate utterly by adding a sus-
picion of rum-a very heavy suspicion, 1t
seemed to me at the time.
"Ah, batyaoshka" Qittle father), he
exclaimed, waving his hand despairingly,
''the mere thought of disturbing the
ghosts of the past makes my flesh creep.
They seem to stare at me like deserted
images of myself, and they often haunt
and mock me till death would seem a
relief if / were sure of not meeting them
as torturing fiends down there. The
moth eats stuffs, and sorrow gnaws the
heart of man. says the proverb, and
some mems hearts were made only to be
gnawed perpetually like Prometheus'
liver. Mine is one of the number. l
never had what's known as luck, but an
invisible luck conductor instead. The
pleasant thing that l saw only in dreams
happened every day to other people when
they were awake"
And having emptied his glass he push
ed back the saucer on which 1T stood SO
violently toward me and the samovar
that the tumbler fell out and stained the
white tablecloth. l cut short his apollo
gies by ignoring the incident altogether
and returning to the previous question.
lyon are pessimist, Nikolai Stepan-
ovitch," exclaimed, "and"-
believe me- he broke in, 'fd gladly
win the game, but have neither trumps
nor a long suit, as the saying is, and
must needs let things slide. When the
lemons squeezed dry, it's high time for
the peel to be flung away and that's
my case"
.'Well, tell me how it all came about
anyway. You say you were at the uni
versity. Did you take your degree?"
"Not l. never took anything worth
having. My lot has been that of the
Tartar in the story. When he saw the
delicious kissell Ga kind of jelly in his
dream, he had no spoon to eat it with,
and when he went to bed with a spoon
in his hand he saw no kissell. left the
university when my father lost his for
tune, of which we were ignorant until
he lost his life too. My sister and myself
We're then for turning our hands to some
lucrative work so as to keep the mill
turning. But my mother would not
near OI IL. lOuo dQOTtu LILO DIS sli 1OOu,
and she wanted golden frame to put
me in. was to enter high society and
play lions part therein. The shortest
cut to the salons being through the Of
ficers' messroom of a crack regiment,
entered tho Preebnoshensky regiment as
volunteer and in IA months had passed
my examinations and won my epaulets.
Life there is an expensive luxury
Ones pay falls short of e10' a year, and
money must never seem consideration
to an officer. My mother had little an
nuity of her own, not enough to support
me alone, and how she managed to
scrape together the money l squandered
was mystery which I did not seek to
clear up. Her life, / could see, was
tissue of physical privations. My sister
limited that it was also series of more
tortures. OF that, however, | never saw
any signs. But it was balm to her heart
to know that I,was invited to every big
function of the city, beginning with the
court ball Of the winter palace and end
ing with the private theatricals at Prin-
cess KS. Being an untiring dancer and
a fair talker, was in great demand ev-
erywhere. That was the first point in
the programme drawn up by my mother,
who lived on the tales of my success.
"In time was booked through for the
haven of matrimony to take in precious