The herald., 1893-10-21

"Ihen L made some attompUs tO TAP
various sources Of honest income COM
patible with an officers dignity. Imight
as well have tried to press oil from q
rock. / called on editors of newspapers
and reviews. They received me with
smiles, but as soon as they knew what 1
wanted seemed to feel on pins andneedles
till the thickness of the door was between
them and me- This drove me into the
clutches of swindling money lender
A Jew? No. wish he had been. He
was what a Chinaman would call a
Christian devil.
s'He lent me money readily. more than
once. Then he assailed my ears with
unceasing talk about bills of exchange,
initiating handwriting, acquiring untold
wealth. etc. I didn't know exactly what
he was driving at, but l was satisfied
that the public prosecutor would know,
and that his vocabulary afforded very
ugly word for it. That alone should
have made me cautious, but it didn't.
Anyhow, it is silly to fight against fate.
AS the provetb has it, ''Move slowly
and you will net elude sorrow; quickly,
and you will overtake misfortune" A
bird is caught by food. and man by
specious words. yielded and wrote a
name which belonged to an absent mil
lionaire, who was not even my friend.
Next morning l awoke to the fact that
| was o criminal.
"Then the scoundrel rubbed his hands
and smiled and wiped his greasy fore
head with greasy handkerchief. and said
he would never tell. He would not even
use the documents. He would sacrifice
his own money for my sake, but on my
marriage | must undertake to give him
100000 rubles in installments. One
morning, after he had been running on
like this for an hour, l got up and
knocked him down, then l shook him
till he was blue in the face, and l was
dragging him to the door to fling him out
when he called me dashed forger and
threatened to send me along the Via
deemer road "a synonym for exile to ST.
beria) I then pushed him violently into
the anteroom, where two comrades of the
regiment stood looking in speechless hor-
ror at the scene.
81 was allowed to send in my resigna-
ton. Otherwise l should have been a
pariah from the beginning, instead of a
slow process of evolution. For man
who quits the army as l did, the only
branch of public service open is the po-
lice. Iapplied for position in the gen
darmerie and obtained it. The letter
which brought that welcome news was
put into my hands on my return from
my mothers funeral. How she died?
For heavens sake, don't ask me. Even
now cannot trust myself to speak of
that. My bride? She is now the wife
of Count Y. and one of the leaders of
fashion,"
Il have put the iron bedstead in the
kitchen, master, and they (the Russian
way of speaking politely Of third per-
son who is presently can go to bed when
they like" said my servant girl, eying
furtively my guest as she entered and
left the room.
81 have little more to add," concluded
Nikolay yStephanovitch. "For time Twas
dazed and moped about. Then l tried
to realize my position by considering
from every conceivable point of view
the fact that was criminal, a forger,
the murderer of my poor old mother,
who adored me, the destroyer of my sis
ter's happiness, human devil, in a
word. There seemed to me to be a mys-
terry as to how it had all come about. l
felt like Gdipus and so many of his
countrymen, who drifted into crime in
spite of themselves, as it were, and
loathed my surroundings, scorned my
coarse companions and cursed my fate.
Then, little by little, grew accustomed
to everything and forgave myself and
forgot my crime in the end assimilated
it, in fact.
"After this I took to cards, drinking
and kindred 'pastimes,' and l might be
playing a game of 'vint' this very mo-
ment had l not taken pity on a day
dreamer who was in danger of transpor-
tation. He was a crack Drained literary
man, who believed in God and the pow
er of ideas, cared about every one but
himself and had an excuse for the worst
criminal. Spit in his eyes, a proverb
says, and he'll call it God dew His
lodgings were to be searched for COM
promising papers next night, and one of
my chums was told off to do the work.
l was sorry for the poor fellow, for he
had done more to give me little peace
Of mind than any priest ever met. |
dropped him line anonymously of
course-and next day was dropped by
the service
Surely the man-was not spy?" !
asked.
Heavens, no! AS true as gold. He
was that sort of man that would
let himself be roasted over slow fire
just to save perfect stranger from a
hogging. afterward found out that he
had been arrested before | ever posted
the note of warning. A trap9 Maybe
They are not all asleep who snore, even
among the Russian police. Or curious
coincidence? The devil knows. l neither
knew nor cared. To me it spelled the
same word both ways, and that was
ruin"
"Ruin?"
aye, ruin. "A olsIn-sSed Benuarme ls
worse than convict. Every door is
shut to him. He is Stunned even by the
convicts wko return from Siberia. For
him, and therefore for me, there is but
one issue-death. London Telegraph.
Squire Osbaldestone's Ride.
Squire Osbaldestone's undertaking tc