Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1904-04-07
THE PRINCESS AND The ;
4 JEWEL DOCTOR. x f;
BY LEONORA HALLOwELL.

i be met at the present Time a GER
tain Russian princess, who is noted
for her beauty, for an ugly defect
she has lost the forefinger of her left
%hand-and for her extraordinary at
tachment to the city of Tunis, where
she has spent at least sthree months
of each year since 1890-the year in
which she suffered the accident that
deprived her of a finger. What that
accident was, and why she is so pas
sionately attached to Tunis, nobody
in Russia seems to know, not even her
doting husband, who bows to all her
caprices. But two persons could ex-
plain the matter-a Tunisian guide
named Abdul, and a mysterious indi-
vidual who follows a humble calling
in the little Rue Ben-Ziad, close to the
Tunis bazaars. This latter is the
princess personal attendant during
her yearly visit to Tunis. He accom-
panies her everywhere, may be seen
in the hall of her hotel when she is at
home, on the box of her carriage when
she drives out, close behind her when
she is walking. He Is her shadow in
Africa. Only when she goes back to
Russia does he return to his profess
sion in the Rue Ben-Ziad.
This is the exact history of the ac-
cident which befell the princess in
1890. In the spring of that year she
arrived one night at Tunis. She had
not long been married to an honorable
man whom she adored. She was rich,
pretty and popular. Yet her life was
clouded by a great fear that sometimes
made the darkness of night almost in
tolerable to her. She dreaded lest the
darkness of blindness should come
upon her. Both her mother, now dead,
and her grandfather had labored under
this defect. They had been born with
sight and had become totally blind ere
they reached the age of 40. Princess
Danischeff-as we may call her for the
purpose of this story-shuddered when
she thought of their fate and that it
might be hers. Certain books that she
read, certain conversations on the sub
ject of heredity that she heard in st.
Petersburg society fed her terror. Oc-
~casionally, too, when she stood under
a strong light she felt a slight pain in
her eyes. She never spoke of her fear,
hut she fell into a condition of nervous
exhaustion that alarmed her husband
and her physician. The latter recon-
mended foreign travel as a tonic. The
former, who was detained in the cap.
ital by political affairs, reluctantly
agreed to a separation from his wife.
And thus it came about that, late one
might of spring, the princess and her
companion, the elderly countess de
Rosnikoff, arrived in Tunis at the close
of a tour in Algeria and put up at the
Hotel Royal.
The bazaars of Tunis are among the
best that exist in the world of bazaars
and, on the morning after her arrival
the princess was anxious to explore
them with her companion. But Nine
de Rosnikoff was fatigued by her jour,
ney from Constantine. She begged the
princess to go without her, desiring
earnestly to be left in her bedroom
with a cup of weak tea and a French
novel. The princess, therefore, or
dered a guide and set forth to the
bazaars.
The guides name was Abdul. Hi
was a talkative young eastern, and az
he turned with the princess into the
network of tiny alleys that spreads
from the Bab-el-bahar to the bazaari
he poured forth a flood of informa,
tion about the marvels of his native
city. The princess listened idly. Tha'
morning she was cruelty preoccupied
AS she. stepped out of the hotel into
the bright sunshine she had felt {
sharp pain in her eyes, and now
though she held over her head a large
green parasol, the pain continued. Sht
looked at the light and thought of thu
darkness that might be coming upo1
her, and the chatter of Abdul sounded
vague in her ears. Presently, however
she was forced to attend to him, fol
he asked her a direct question:
To-day they sell jewels by auction
near the Mosquee Djama-ez-Zitouna,
he said. would the gracious princess
like to see the market of the jewels?"
The princess put her hand to he
eyes and assented in a low voice. Alb
dull turned out of the sunshine into
narrow alley covered with a woodel
roof. At a little distance a gray
man was noting down something in
book. But the princess scarcely OBJ
served the progress of the jewel auc
ton. Her attention had been attracted
by an extraordinary figure that stoot
neal her. This was an immensely tai
Arab, dressed in a dingy brown robe
and wearing upon his shaven head
which narrowed ALMOST to a point a
the back, a red fez with a large blacl
tassel. His claw-like hands were GOV
cred with rings and his bony wrist
with bracelets. But the attention o
the princess was riveted by his eyes
They were small and bright, an
squinted horribly, so horribly that !
was impossible to tell at what he wa
looking. These eyes gave to his fac
an expression of diabolic and ruthles
vigilance and cunning. He seemed a
the same time to be seeing everythin
and to be gazing definitely at nothing
'That is Safti, the jewel doctor,
murmured Abdul in the ear Of tn
princess.
"a jewel doctor! What is that?
asked the princess.
when you are sick he cures 20
with jewels"
"And what can he cure?" said tn
princess, still looking at Safti, VIII
was now bargaining vociferously wit
a fat Arab for a piece of milk whit