Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-05-03
CHAPTER XXI.

uc DdlBOHle WHen on Lne evening Oh tue
10Th of September, that which was sub
tequent to the episode at Schlusselburg,
he saw the domes and towers of St
petersburg glittering in gold and bronze
In green and fiery or fantastic colors.
amid the rich glow of a ruddy sunset,
and where rising from the haze Of the
vast city, the polished cupola of ST.
Isaac's Cathedral, and the slender spire
Of the Admiralty, like needle Of fame,
seemed to float in midair.
As he entered the first guarded bar
rier he met party of lancers at trot,
their tall fur caps having large plumes,
their lances each with a long bannerole
waving in the wind. They escorted a
covered wagon. and were led by Bal
main, a Scottish officer, who in after
years stormed Kaffa, in the Crimea.
Whittier 80 your asked Balgonie.
For Schlusselburg-the palace of sor-
row"
With a prisoner, of courseY'
Yes, l regret to say, with the niece
of Mierowitz, with Mile. Mariolizza. She
is to be confined under a warrant from
the Grand ChanceIlor-poor girl.'
Sadder and heavier grew the honest
heart of Balgonie as the escort and its
hearse-like carriage passed on, and as he
looked after it the fair, merry face. the
graceful figure, the gay monner of the
betrothed of poor Basil, as he had seen
her at Louga, came back wildly 20 mem
DRY.
Balgonie was at st. Petersburg when
Mierowitz was executed, when his father
died, and when other horrors followed.
Moreover, he was closely and repeatedly
Intercepted by the Grand Chancellor,
the Privy Councillor and by Gen. Wey-
marn as to all he knew and had seen of
the conspirators-so closely that nothing
surprised him so much as to find that no
suspicion was attached to himself. But
being a soldier Of fortune, who possessed
nothing in the world but his sword and
his epaulets, he was not worth suspecting
by the imperial government.
Ere long the name of Natalie came be-
fore the Secret Chancery as a prisoner
in Schlusselburg, and, like the rest, she
was tried and condemned in her absence,
undefended and unheard-and sentenced,
too, amid the solitude of her prison.
To Balgonie the charm of life seemed
to have passed away, and during the
week or two that followed his return to
st. Petersburg, dreary, weary and I'M
meaning indeed seemed the routine OF
his duties as aide-de-camp at the vast
parades, the brilliant receptions, the
courts martial, and other public affairs
20 which he followed his chief, Gen.
Weymarn, at the palaces of Tsarsky
Selo, or Oranienbaum, and elsewhere,
while ignorant of the fate of Natalie
while the very life of her he loved hung
In the balance.
Charlie, in his desperation, applied to
the ambassadors from France and Brit
ain: and both received his verbal pray
ers; but they were UNDECIDED; and the
ministers replied only by bows, grim
aces and shrugs of their diplomatic shout
ders Their interference was impossible
quite: and, unfortunately, his old pat
ron. Admiral Thomas Mackenzie, was
with the fleet.
Balgonie, returning from Cronstadt
whittier he had been sent by Gen. Wey-
marn, suddenly met Captain Vlasher fac1
face to face near the palace of the
to face near the palace Of the favorite
Lanskoi.
This parsonage he would have avoided
like toad or a leper: but from him only
might he learn something of her he loved
in Schlusselburg. that hateful place to
which the captain was returning; SO
overcoming or rather concealing his re
pugnance, he adjourned with him TO 8
cafe.
II dare say you have heard" said
Vlasfef. with a strange leer in his eyes
Ms he tossed his hat and saber ca the
sofa and deposited his jack-booted limbs
on another, how the estates of the Nile
rowitz and those of Usakof have beer
sold or gifted away; pillaged and raw
aged by Lanskoi with a party OF Cos
sacks: and that the plumber has beer
stored up in SchlusselburgT
Something of all this have heard,
replied Ralgonie. "and-and-but you
have there two ladies of the familyT
"True-one beautifully fair, the other
black-haired like a Pole. Poor girls!
remember them both in happier and
brighter times; but those who play with
fire will, you know, be burned. The SEN
fences on all have been found, recorded
and, in two instances, executed; and they
are truly terrible!"
'.Executed-the sentence replied Bal
gonie, in a faint voice..
Yes: ali. he is stern old fellow
Panimr'
.'How-what? Vlasfef. you JEST"
''Tis no jest; we don't jest on such
matters in Russia replied Vlas6ef
..You are Scot. like Balmain, and as
the Turks say, truly, Those who have
never seen the world think it is all like
their fathers house In short, the-the
two ladies, in the wildness of their grief
-Nariolizza especially-on hearing OF
the death Of Mierowitz permitted their
tongues to run riot. and TO say such
things of her Imperial Majesty and some
of the favorites as no woman would par
don: so they are to be given in success
sion to the master OF the shoulders"
Explain. 1 implore you. explain~ ask
ed Balgonie. with quiyering lips.
"Mademoiselle Mariolizza has received
six blows Of the knout. The torturer
is a new man, and mangled her cruelty
She has had her tongue cut out. and her
forehead branded with the executioner's
mark. aud she goes TO Siberia as soon as
she RECEIVERS; but she will never reach il
alive. The other will undergo exactly
similar punishment. and there ends the
house of Mierowitz, which boasts of its
descent from Ruric the Yaragian of Old
Ladoga"
With wonderful GOODNESS of manner
almost en- ccasional jest, the cruel and
snakelike Vlashef-who, as a parvenu
OF the founding hospital hated the he
reditary aristocracy-Getailed these mat
tiers; and Ralgonie felt as if black cloud
enveloped him. He heard the captain
talking, but his mind and thoughts were
far. TAR away; and after time he found
himself alone.
Vlasfef had mounted and ridden of
and mechanically. like an automaton
Balgonie had hidden him adieu at the
portico OF the cafe. as one in waking
dream; nor was it until the bell OF St
Isaac's tolled midnight, when the lights
were burned low. aud he saw drowsy
waiter lowering near him, that he lose TO
depart; for to him, now, all places seem
ed alike.
In the street a shower OF tears revived
him; and he wept unseen. like a great
boy. while grinding his teeth and twist