The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1905-04-14

stands looking glumly across
~ the river. 1t is suspected
house and watched, for here dwelt
Stepan Lanovitch, secretary and or
ganiZer of the Charity league.
The Countess Lanovitch belonged to
the school existing in Petersburg and
Moscow in the early years of the cen
tury-the school that did not speak
Russian, but only French: that chose
to class the peasants with the beasts
of the field; that apparently expected
the deluge to follow soon.
Her drawing room, looking out on to
the Neva, was characteristic of herself
Camellias held the floral honOrs in vase
and pot The French novel ruled SUI
preme on the side table. The room was
too hot, the chairs were too soft, the
moral atmosphere too lax. One could
tell that this was the dwelling room Of
a lazy, self indulgent and probably ig
norant woman.
The countess herself in nowise con-
tradicted this conclusion. She was
seated on very low chair. exposing
a slippered foot to the flame of q wood
fire. She held a magazine in her haDc
and yawned as she turned its pages.
She was not so stout in person as her
loose and somewhat highly co!ored
cheeks would imply. Her eyes were
dull and sleepy. The woman was an
incarnate yawn.
She looked up, turning laZily in her
chair, to note the darkening of the air
without the double windows.
All" she said aloud to herself in
French, when will it be tea time?
AS she spoke the words the bells of
a sleigh suddenly stopped with rattle
beneath the window.
Immediately the countess rose and
went to the mirror over the mantel-
piece. She arranged without enthu-
siasm her struggling hair and put
straight lace cap which was chronic
ally crooked. She looked at her re-
Election pessimistically, as we'll she
might. 1t was the puffy red face of a
middle aged woman given to petty self
indulgence.
While she was engaged in this dis
couraging pastime the door was open
ed, and a maid came in.
IN. Steinmetz is even now taking off
his furs in the hail. said the maid.
at is well. We shall want tea
Steinmetz came into the room with
an exaggerated bow and a twinkle in
his melancholy eyes.
Figure to yourself, my dear Stein
metz" said the countess vivaciously.
"Catrina has gone out-on day like
this! Mon Dieu! How gray, how mel
ancholy! What news have your"
Il came for yours. countess You are
always amusing, as well as beautiful"
he added, with his mouth we'll con-
trolled beneath the heavy mustache.
The countess shook her head play
fully, which HAD the effect of fitting
her cap to one side.
II! oh. l have nothing to tell YOU l
am a nun. What can one do, what can
one lear. in Petersburga Now, in Paris
it is different. But Catrina is so firm
Have you ever noticed that. Stein
metZ-Catrina'S firmness, / mean? She
wills a thing, and her will is like q
rock. The thing has to be DONE 1t
does itself. 1t comes to pass. Some
people are so. Now, l, my dear Stein
metz, only desire peace and quiet. So
l give in. l gave in to poor Stepan.
And now he is eXiled. Perhaps if had
been tirm-if | had forbidden all this
nonsense about charity-it would have
been different. And Stepan would have
been quietly at home instead of in
Tomsk. Is it, or Tobolsk? / always
forget which. Well, Catrina says we
must live in Petersburg this winter.
and here we aren'
SteinmetZ shrugged his shoulders
with a commiserating smile He took
the countess troubles indifferently, as
do the rest of us when our neighbours
burden does not drag upon our own
shoulders. 1t suited him that Catrina
should be in Petersburg, and it is to
be feared that the feelings of the
Countess Lanoyitch had no weight as
against the convenience of Karl Stein
metz.
''Ah. WELL" he said, "you must con-
sole yourself with the thorglt that Pc