Morris tribune., 1902-03-01

. /
/ every tall"
! "And very handsome lis it not 50
i Come, tell me, my girl
i "He was very handsome" answered
Nadia, blushing deeply.
ct was my son! I tell you it was m.
son!' exclaimed the old woman, EN-
bracing Nadia.
"Your son!' said Nadia, amazed
'Your son!'
'Come," said Maria, t'let us get tt
the bottom Of this, my child. You
companion, your friend, your protector
had a mother. Did he never speak tt
/ you of his mother"
| "Of his motherw said Nadia. 'He
spoke to me of his mother-as I spoke
He adored her."
"Nadia, Nadia, you have just told me
about my son." said the old woman.
And she added impetuously:
''Was he not going to see his mother
whom you say he loved, on his way
through OmskW
"No," answered Nadia; ''no, he was
not" n .'"
''Not!' cried Maria. 'sYou dare to
tell me not?' " ~.
II have said it, but it remains for me
| to inform you that from motives IN
known to me and which had to guide
him before every other consideration
was given to understand that Nicholas
Korpanoff had to traverse the country
in the most absolute secrecy. 1t was
for him a question of life and Of death
and, more sacred still. question Of
duty and honor"
"Of duty in reality, of imperious
duty" said the old Siberian, "of that
kind for which a person sacrifices ev-
erything, for the accomplishment Of
which he would deny himself every
thing, even the joy of coming to give
kiss, the last perhaps, to his old moth
er. All that you do not know, Nadia,
all that l did not know myself at this
moment I know. You have made me
understand all. But the light which
you have thrown into the deepest dark
ness of my heart, that light, alas,
may not cause to enter your own. The
secret of my son, Nadia, since he has
not told it to you, must keep for him.
Forgive me, Nadia. The good deed you
have done me cannot return to you"
''Mother, I ask nothing from you"
answered Nadia. *
All was thus explained to the old ST..
berian, all, even the inexplicable. CON
duct of her son with regard to herself
in the inn at Omsk in presence of the
witnesses Of their meeting. There was
no doubt that the young. girls compan7
ion was Michael Strogoff and that
secret mission, some important dis
patch to be carried across the invaded
country, obliged him to conceal his
quality of the czars courier ~ -
"Ah, my brave boyw thought Maria.
''No, I will not betray you, and fortunes
shall not wrest from me the avowal
that it was you whom 1 saw at Omsk."
Maria could with a word have paid
Nadia for all her devotion to her. She
could have told her that her compan-
ion, Nicholas Korpanof, OF, rather, Mi
chael Strogoff, had not persisted in the
waters of the Irish, since it was some
days after that incident that she had
met him, that she had spoken to him.
But she restrained herself, she was 81
lent and contented herself with saying:
'Hope, my child. Misfortune will
not overwhelm you. You will see your
father again. l feel it. And perhaps
he who gave you the name of sister is
not dead. God cannot have allowed
your brave companion to perish. Hope,
my child, hope. Do as I do. The
mourning which 1 wear IS not yet for
my son."
Such was now the situation of Maria
Stfogoff and Nadia toward each other.
The old Siberian had understood all,
and if the young girl was ignorant
of the fact that her companion 50
much regretted still lived she knew at |
least the relationship which he held
toward her whom she had made her
mother, and she thanked God for hay- |
ing given her that joy and pleasure |
thus to be able to replace at the side |
of the prisoner that son whom she had
lost, .:..- |
But that which neither the one nor |
the other could know was that Michael |
Strogoff, taken at Kalyvan, was one of
the same convoy and was bound like
themselves for Tomsk. <a. y
At length, on the 18th Of August, to- I
ward evening, the convoy reached the /
little town of Zabedeiro, some thirty
versts from Tomsk. At this place the !
route again lay along the course of the |
Tom. 's
All this night the prisoners were to
camp on the banks of the Tom. The
emir, in fact, had deferred until the
next day the entry of his troops into
Tomsk. 1t had been decided that a I
military display should mark the in
auguration. of the Tartar headquarters !
in this important city. Feofar-Khan !
already occupied its fortress, but the
body Of his army bivouacked under the
walls, waiting for the moment to make
q solemn entry.
Ivan Ogareff had left the emir at
Tomsk, where they had both arrived I
y.