The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1905-04-28
6as Sewers
BY
HENRY sErON hERRlAAN
cr1ehl 1896, BY Hnper q Brothers
CHAPTER XXI.

~"
4 that lie between the Neya and
the Yellow sea; a gray sky wasneo
over as with a huge brush dipped IN
dirty whitening, and the plains OIL
Tyer a spotless, dazzling level OF snow.
The snow was falling softly and
steadily. falling in little more han
fine powder. with a temperature ~
! degrees below freezing point.
Across the plain Of Tver. before the
north wind, a single sleigh was tearing
az fast as horse could lay hoof TO
ground. and the track of it was as a
line drawn from point to point across a
map.
A striking feature Of the winter OF
northern Russia is the glorious uncer-
taintv of its snowfalls. At Tver the
weatherwise had said:
sThe snow has not all fallen yet.
More is coming. 1t is yellow IN the
skv, although March is nearly gone"
The landlord of the hotel "a good
enough resting place facing the broad
volga) had urged upon NJ. lie Prince the
ACCESSIBILITY of waiting, as is the way
of landlords all the world over. But
Eta had shown a strange restlessness,
q petulant desire to hurry forward at
all risks. She hated Tver. the hotel
was uncomfortable. and there was an
unhealthy smell about the place.
The night express from St Peters
burg had deposited them on the plat
form in the early morning. Ste1nmetz
had preceded them. Closed sleighs from
Osterno were awaiting them. A lu1u-
rious breakfast was prepared at the
hotel. Relays Of horses were posted
along the road. The journey to Oster-
no had been carefully planned and ar
ranged by Steinmetz, a king among or
ganizers. The sleigh drive across the
steppe was to be accomplished i n ten
hours.
The snow had begun to fall as they
clattered across the floating bridge OF
Tver. 1t had fallen V since, and the
afternoon lowered gloomily. In Ameri-
ca such visitations are called 'bliz-
zards;" here in Russia it is merely 1.-The
snow The freezing wind is taken as
a matter of course
At the castle all was in readiness for
the prince and princess, their depar-
ture from Tver having been telegraph
ed. On the threshold Of the great house,
before she had entered the magnificent
hall, Etta's eyes frightened. her fatigue
vanished. She played her part before
the crowd of bowling servants with
that forgetfulness Of mere bodily IA
tgue which is expected Of princesses
and other great ladies. She swept up
the broad staircase leaning on Paul's
arm with a carriage. a presence, a daz-
zling wealth of beauty, which did not
fail to impress the onlookers. What
ever Eta may have failed to bring to
Paul Howard Alexis as a wife, she
made him a matchless princess.
He led her straight through the
drawing room to the suit of rooms
which were hers. These consisted of
an ante room, a small drawing room
and her private apartments beyond.
Paul stopped in the drawing room,
looking round with a simple satisfac.
ton in all that had been done by his
orders for Etta's comfort.
"These," he said, ARE your rooms"
He was no adept at turning a neat
phrase, al Keeling off a pretty honey.
noon welcome. Perhaps he expected
her to express delight, to come to him
possibly and kiss him, as some wome1
would have done.
She looked round critically.
eyes," she said, "they are very NICE
She crossed the OOH and drew aside
the curtain that covered the double lat
hced windows. The room was SO warn
that there was no rime on the panes
She gave a little shudder, and he wen
to her side, putting his strong, quie
arm around her.
Below them, stretching away be
meath the brilliant moonlight, lay tn
country that was his inheritance. I'm
mediately beneath them, at the foot O
the great rock upon which the castl
was built nestled the village Of Os
terno, struggling, squalid.
"Oh," she said duly, this Is Siberia
This is terrible!!"
1t had never presented itself to hir
in that light, the wonderful stretch O
country over which they were looking
ut is not 80 bad" he said, "in til
daylight"
And that was all, for he had no pc,
suasive tongue.
"That is the village" he went o
after a little pause. "Those are th
people who look to US to help them i
their fight against terrible odds.
hoped that you would be interested i
them"
She looked down ~curiously at the Ii
tie wooden huts, half buried in til
snow, the smoking chimneys, the twin
king, cu%rtainless windows.
"What do you expect me to do?" sh
asked in a queer voice.
He looked at her in a sort of wol
derment. Perhaps it seemed to hi,
that a woman should have no need /
ask such a question.
ut is a long story" he said. ST wi
tell you about it another time. 70
are tired now after your Journey"
His arm slipped from her wais
They stood side by side, and both we,
conscious of a feeling of differenc
They were not the same as they ha
been in London. The atmosphere Z
Russia seemed to have had some snl
tie effect unon them