The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-02-17

! home about the end of January"
! NO said Mrs. Pierrepont, smiling at
the energy with which Lord Bulverhythe
spoke. Il did not go crawling about the
world in pursuit of the sun. l did quite
! the opposite; I went to Russia and brought
/ back a treasure with me-a friend. You
were so late in getting here this evening
| that I know you had no time to look at
any one in the drawing-room. and since
we have come in TO dinner you have been
! too busy abusing the orb of day to use
your eyes. But please do so now; look
down the table on the opposite side and
tell me what you think of my lovely Rus
| sian friend
| Lord Bulverhythe obeyed. He looked
quickly along the line of faces, most of
! them well known to him, and stopped
| suddenly, with a sort of mental jerk, as
| his eyes fell on a lady who sat near the
| end of the table. In an instant he knew
that he was looking at the most beautiful
| woman he had ever seen.
And yet only in one particular could he
| he have said wherein her extraordinary
| beauty lay-and that was in her hair.
| Features form, complexion, were unheed-
ed; his eyes, his mind, were entangled in
| that hair. He could take note of nothing
| else. AS he gazed there seemed to rise
| before him the vision of a sparkling
stream, in which the sunshine lay, brown
| in its swirls, clearest amber as it slipped
more slowly over it's bright pebbles, here
and there "languid amid lilies and
sedges," murmuring-danc along-a
dream of beauty and delight.
well" said Mrs. Pierrepont, with mild
| triumph, as she watched her old friends
| intent look of admiration. well, was 1
not right? Is she not a bewitching-loOk-
| ing creature? Did you ever see more
lovely eyes?"
| Eyes," said Lord Bulverhythe, start
| ing as if he had suddenly been awOke.
"Eyes-has she got any? I can think of
nothing but her hair-never saw such hair
in my life. l declare at this distance,
even, I feel as if that hair of hers would
draw me to follow her down a well if she
pleased. or any nonsense of that sort.
| Who is she? Where did you pick her up?
and what's her name? OF course, she's
! a princess-all the Russian women one
meets are princesses; and of course she's
widow-somehow all pretty young Rus
| sian women are widows; and of course
she has estates-hundreds of enamel
pated serfs and cart-load of relations
! in Siberia-all Russians have those. But
go on Mrs. Pierrepont tell me all about
her: did she come back from Russia with
your
yes. she did, and she is a princess, and
she is a widow. and she is young, and
she is pretty. But she has not immense
estates-indeed she is poor; and as for
having relatives in Siberia, 1 never heard
of her having any relatives of her own
at all. We met in this way. l went, as
I told you, to Petersburg last January and
Cd fn- irna cot n
know some pleasant people and meeting
some old acquaintance. Amongst these
was Prince Oustreloff, whom Harry and
l used to know pretty we'll when we were
in Paris. His wife had died since then,
and at first l thought 1t was her loss
which had so broken him down. He had
became quite an old man, shrivelled and
shrunk, with look of settled fierce mis-
cry which was dreadful to see.
''By and by I heard the Oustreloff story
and was told that the only son Alexis
had died some months before in a very
sudden and awful manner. l remembered
him quite well, years ago, as pretty lit
tie boy in Paris. He used to come in his
goat-carriage to see me, smothered in
furs. chattering broad Worcestershire
English in a shrill little voice.
prince Oustreloff owns two estates, one
of which is called Bielo Ozero. lying far
beyond Vologda. This estate he had never
visited. Last year. however, Alexis made
up his mind to go and see it for week
or two, just as the spring was coming
on. Weeks and months passed. and he
gave no sign of returning. He wrote very
seldom, and then in a hurried, confused
way.
AT last his father became alarmed and
wrote, ordering him to come home at
once. Alexis took no notice Of this letter,
but. after a considerable delay, sent
hasty note, announcing his marriage with
a lovely girl, whom, he said. he felt sure
his family would receive with pride and
pleasure on account of her beauty and
virtue, though he acknowledged she was
not his equal in birth.
You can imagine. or rather you can
not. the feelings of the old prince on
getting this letter. IN Russia the defer
enCe paid TO shin, or rank. amounts 10
a worship. Till you have been there and
lived amongst Russians. you can have
no idea of the intensity of this feeling.
Prince Oustrelof, I was told. almost
lost his reason. He cursed his son IN
the most awful way, and forbade him
ever TO enter his presence again. In a
week, is il in answer 10 this angry mes
sage. came a courier from tblcIQ OZEr0s
bearing the intelligence that Alexis was
dead. He and his wife had been walk
ing together by a little stream that ran
close to the OLD castle. Some moujiks
had seen them from short distance, and
bad gathered from their gestures that
they were quaTrellinE. Suddenly the
Princess Alexis ran, or. as the peasants
afterwards described il, rather appeared
70 glide down the bank Of the stream and
disappeared. The prince remained. looking
after her. but not moving. There was
great wateT-whesl lower down the stream.
which had been stopped for many weeks
for repairs
Suddenly this wheel began TO turn.
and the plash Of It's turning reached the
ears OF the men ike the sound % nip
ping laughter. IN an instant, as II some
one had called TO him, the prince daTted
down the river-bank. crying out some
words which were UniujellIGihie 10 the
peasants They saw him for a few mo-
ments in the current. not struggling ar
trying 10 swim. merely moving with the
stream. and then-before they could rush
10 the sPot-the great cruel wheel had
caught and torn and crushed him 10
de-