The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-18
Maruska, a Modern incident.
tale from Blackwood's Magazine In
Seven Parts.)
PART II.

the very eyes of the poor young VIE,
I suppose. What did she do? How dld
she live through the horror OF 1t?
s'Ah, now we come to one OF the ooo
parts of the story, as it was told 10 me-
replied Mrs. Pierrepont, Though can
never believe that the princess acteo as
she is reported TO have done. The ser
wants declared that from the moment she
was last seen by the peasants, apparently
slipping down the river bank, she utterly
vanished till midnight, when she returned
to the castle, humming a Russian country
song with no trace OF soIro"
or agitation about her. Evident
" she could know nothing OF
the awful calamity that had befallen her-
So they told her as gently as they could
and l suppose she was unable to reallze
what they said, for she was utterly I'M
moved, and only asked to be taken TO the
room where they had lain him. The ser
wants tried to prevent this, fearing the
shock to her seeing poor dead Alexis
so dreadfully changed and distorted. But
she insisted and passed the rest of the
night there singing, they declared, those
wild little Russian songs that people are
so fond of, about the joys OF spring and
more like a moujik mother hushing her
baby, than a wife mourning over her hus-
bands corpse"
ut sounds all very queer" said Lord
Bulverhythe staring hard at the languid.
beautiful princess. Where did she go
to when Alexis fell into the stream. and
why did she not reappear at decent
Christian hour ar her homer
Il believe there is no doubt that she
and Alexis had been quarreling," said
Mrs PierrepoBt. 1.-The servants after
wards reported that, for some days past,
they had heard angry words between the
prince and his wife. 1t seems that he in
tended to return to Petersburg towards
the end of autumn and this his wife de-
clared she could not and would not do.
She absolutely refused to entertain the
idea of leaving the country during the
winter. To Alexis, of course, this sound
ed like utter madness. A Russian will en-
dure a short summer residence in the
country, but no one who can fly from it
would dream of encountering the horrors
of the endless Russian winter there. The
! young princess would give no reason for
! her obstnacy. She was not afraid, nor
| shy, nor likely to be homesick, as she
! had no relations to leave. She had been in
! a miller's house farther down the stream
when the prince first saw her, but neither
! the miller nor his wife knew anything
about her, save that in the early spring
| she had come to their door, ragged and
and shelter, which they had given her. AS
reason for her refusal to go to Peters
! burg, all she would say was, 4 could not
live shut up in walls, and 1 must rest
during the winter
! AS to her disappearing for so long
| after ner husbands sudden death, my
own very simple explanation of the af-
| fair is, that she was angry with him for
urging her to leave her beloved country
home to go to Petersburg, and that she
| turned sharply from him, forgetting she
was so near the edge of the river. Her
| foot slipped, and she fell, half under the
bank and half in the stream, and then
| tainted away. Alexis, seeing her danger,
| dashed down in the river, was caught by
the current, and swept on to his awful
| death. No one saw where the princess
had fallen, and she may have lain fol-
hours, probably till it was quite dark
She must have been half crazed with ter
ror when she did come to herself, finding
she was in such perilous position. Prob
ably in her fright she missed her way
home. And to think of the awful house
Of death to which she returned! Poor
| MaruskaI the only wonder is she did moi
go out of her mind on the spot"
Did the servants notice anything
strange in her looks or behavior when she
did return?" asked Lord Bulverhythe
curiously.
Il believe" said Mrs. Pierrepont, rather
reluctantly, that they told some ridicu
lous stories to the effect that she came
in looking particularly bright and happy
like a deer that, after being hard pressed
by the hunters, has refreshed itself in {
stream and has got new life thereby, wa!
| their exact simile, l believe. One thing
seems to have struck them all alike, anC
that was her hair. She came back witt
it all unbound hanging about her like
glittering cloud, sparkling and dripping
with water The very color of it seemed
to have changed since she had gone on
for that fatal walk with her poor young
husband.
'Of course the servants had never befor'
seen their mistress with her hair loose
but always done up, 1 suppose. as WI
see it tonight. with that pretty old sllVe
comb-so, naturally. they were struck b!
its beauty and profusion. There's nothing
wonderful about that, is there?'
No" said Mrs. Pierreponts Old Friend
Il suppose not. There are two thing
a woman always loses in an emergency
!
failure of their trif1e of brain power seem
inevitable to act on their hairpins. Blu
there is one point in your story l wan
I. TO have cleared up. Who set the waite
wheel going? 1 thought you said it ha
been long stopped for repairs. Now
don't pretend to know much about by
draulics or hydrostatics or engineering
but limited as my capacity is, it grasp
the fact that even a Russian water whee
which has been stopped by human agenc
needs human agency to set it in motto
again
Really. Lord Bulverhythe." said Mrs
Pierrepont, impatiently, you are to
ridiculous and provoking. What do
know about the water wheel, or wha
made ii turn? I only repeat to you tn
story as l heard il, and can't vouch fc
= it's truth in every particular. PerhaT
a miller came and started the wheel,
a rat ran across II. or some water cam
I down suddenly from somewhere an
? mad il move. / declare l believe 70
! wish to accuse my pretty princess
D.. pushing her husband into the stream an
. ! starting the wheel at the same momen
You are so dreadfully insular-you thin
any one capable Of any crime provide
. / he or she is a wretched foreigner"
mo. indeed, I never thought Of sue
a thing" replied Lord Bulverhythe, d
lighted at having slightly angered h
4 dear old friend. Besides. you told n
c the pretty princess had fallen down II
bank and was lying insensihle the
when her husband was 50 unfortunate
active BY the way, did she return to Il
: castle with only her hair Wet? Surely n
5 garments dripped too; or do you thiT
j she took header into that river only ju