Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-11-30
A MARROW ESCAPE.
How Alexander stopanovitch Extricated
Himself from an Embarrassment.


II was already late in the morning, or
rather it was very close to noon, wheh
.,exander Stepanovitch awoke with a
heavy feeling in his head and a sensa'
ton ms if something had happened. But
though he racked his aching brain, IL
was absolutely impossible for him to re-
member anything of what had taken
place the night before. ,
He got up and slipped into ms bath'
robe. went over TO the sideboard, fortl.
fed himself with glass Of brandy ana
then sat down TO try TO remember what
ne had done the previous night.
The brandy seemed to have oiled up
his mental machinery, for he suddenly
did remainder that he had, visited the
ropofs. 40,
but what did ] do therel' he asked
himself. "What happened ~
And suddenly the memory of IT all re-
turned, and he buried his head in his
hands, groaning:
GOOD God! how am | to get out Of
that! How in the world could be such
an idiot?'
He remembered everything only too
well. He had proposed to Popoff s
daughter. Maria Miehallowna, fat, in.
sipid and insignificant goose of girl OF
%. who was forever suffering with a
cold in her head, who lisped, and to
whom he simply could not bear TO listen
for more than 10 minutes at time.
He remembered, too, how the Popoffs
had kept ON filling mis- glass during din
ner. and how they had left him alone
with Maria when they thought that the
wine had heated him to the proposing
point.
Then there was blank space in his
memory; but, skipping that, he saw
himself kneeling before the girl whis-
pering sweet nonsense in her ears, when
the Popoffs broke into the room and out
in congratulations He had fallen into
the trap very neatly indeed.
But what could he do nowl He knew
he could not bear the girl, but to write
to her that he could not marry her was
out of the question: she would never let
him CO. He must find some other way;
he must use diplomacy.
And suddenly bright idea shot
through his brain, and he jumped to his
feet with an exclamation of joy.
II have it. Yes, by Jove. that is the
only way out of it.
When he entered the Popof residence
at o clock in the afternoon he was re-
ceived literally with open arms. Papa
and Mamma Popoff were beside them
selves with delight, and as for Maria,
she nearly smothered him in her fat
arms.
After dinner he went into the library
to smoke cigar with his future father
in-law Then, as they sat there, his
good humor seemed TO vanish, and, try
ing to look miserable, which under the
circumstances was not very hard, he
said:
" Michael Ivanovitch, | have great
favor to ask you, and hardly know how
to begin. 1t is very delicate affair,
but | see no other way-could you lend
me a couple of thousand roublesg | am
temporarily embarrassed, having paid
every rouble l had to the bank. Inter
est due, you knowl'
"'Then you mean to say your property
is mortgaged9"
"Well have taken up small mort
gage. nothing to speak of; but you
know the rate of interest is very high.
And besides, / must admit that | have
gambled little, and have some notes
must pay.
~ did not know that you gambled. y
"Well, really, do not care for cards,
but YOU can imagine that, living alone
on my estate far from the city, with
only my neighbors for company, it is
hard to make the long evenings pass
without drinking and gambling. | sim
ply had to. -
But
"No butts, my dear Michael Ivano-
witch. | know can count on the
money. You would not think of refus-
ing me such tritle. -
~ will think it over his would-be
father-in-law replied, without any show
of enthusiasm.
Leaving the library, Alexander ran
against Nine. Popoff. He kissed her