The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-01


 made for him in Berlin, In Vienna and l Paris The years were not too swift for l my patience but the harvest went un- i gathered. came to London and bent my | neck tc this yoke of starvation and eter-
 nal night. I have worked sixteen hours 1 a day in the foul holds of ships that
 l might husband my desire and repay, 1 Friends ten days ago in London passed 1 the man I am seeking and knew him
 for my own. Maxim Gogol may hide from me no more. With these eyes have 1
 seen him-ah, God give me strength to speak of it-with these eyes have l seen l him, with these hands have I touched him, with this voice have l accused him. He lives and he is mine-to suffer as have suffered. to repay as I have paid
 until the enternal justice of God shall decide between us both"
 in any other assemgly upon the conclusion of such an impassioned if verbally con- ventional an harangue; but these Asiastics who heard Paul Boriskoff who watched the tears stream down his hollowed cheeks and beheld the face
 uplifted as in ecstacy, had no applause to give him. Had not they also suffered as he had suffered? What wrong of his
 had not been. in some phase or other,
 a wrong of theirs? How many of them had lost children well beloved, and known starvation and the sweaters block? Such
 sympathy as they had to give was rather the cold systematic pity of their order
 which ever made the individuals cause
 it's own. This unknown Maxim Gogel, if he were indeed in London so much the wor~e for him. The chosen hand would strike him down when his hour had come even if it were not the hand of man he had wronged. In so far as Boriskiff betrayed intense emotion before them, 1t may be that they depised him. What na- ton had been made free by tears? How would weeping put bread into the chill dren's mouths? This was the senti- ment immediately expressed by a lank- haired Pole who followed the speaker. Let Paul Boriskoff write out his case and the Committee would consider 1t, he said.
 If Maxim Bogol were adjudged guilty, let him be punished. For himself he would
 spare neither man, woman or child shel- tered In the house of the oppresSor. A story had been told to them of an un- usual order. He did not wholly regret
 that Paul Boriskoff had not made a for
 tune, for, had he done so. he would not
 be brother among them tonight. Let
 him be assured of their sympathy. The 1 Committee would hear him when and where he wished.
 There were other speakers in a similar
 mood, but the immediate interest in the
 dramatic recital quickly evaporated. A little desultory talk was followed by the
 
 coffee to the women. The younger peo-
 pie at the far end of the hall, who had been admitted to hear the music which
 should justify the gathering, grew weary
 of waiting and pushed their way into the
 street. There they formed little com panies to speak, not of the strange enter tainment which had been provided for them, but of commonplace affairs-the el- der women if infantie sufferings, the girls of the songs they had heard on Saturday at Aldgate Empire or of the shocking taste in feathers of more favored rivals. Bpt here and there a black-eyed daugn- ter of Poland or fair-haired Circasslan edged away discreetly from the company and was followed by the necessary male. The dirty street caught snatches of mus ic hall melodies. Windows were opened above and wit exchanged. A voice, that of a young girl evidently, asked what had become of the Hunter, and to this an-
 other voice replied immediately. as though
 satisfied. that Alban Kennedy had gone
 down toward the High street with LOIS Boriskoff.
 "As If you didn't know, Chris. Gwash, you should ave seen her feathers wf>< gin at the union jess now FaWther took wiv the jumps, hear, and AIDS gone to the Pay to give her hair. oh'
 the fine gentleming-I seed his poor toes
 through his bloomin' boots this hlght' s'welp me Gawd l did"
 The admission was received With a
 shout of laughter from the window above, where a red haired girl leaned pensive- ly upon the rail of a broken balcony. The speaker, in her turn, moved away with a youth who asked her. with much
 unnecessary emphasis what the ell she had to do with Albeys feet and why she couldn't leave Chrls DehilaiH alone"
 If I aint 'xactly gawn on Russian taller myself. wot's agen Abbey a-doin' of
 it." he asked authortatively. Leave the
 lidy alone and don't arst no questions. They say as the old man Is took with
 spasms round at the Union. welp me If Abbey ain't in luck-at his time of life, too."
 He winked at the girl, who had put her
 arm boldly round his waist, and marched
 on with the proud consciousness that ms cleverness had not failed to make just impression. The red-haired girl Of the
 pensive face still gazed dreamily down the court and her head inclined a little
 toward the earth as though she were listening for the sound of footstep. Not only the dreamer of dreams in that den
 of suualor this Alban Kennedy was her idol tonight as he had been the idol of
 fifty of her class since he came to live
 among them. What cared she for his ragged shoes or the frayed collar about his neck% Did not the whole community admit him to be very aristocrat Of aristocrats, diamond of class in quarry
 flashes, a figure at once mysterious and heroical? And this knight of the east.
 what irony led him away with that white
 faced Pole, Lois Boriskoff? What did he
 see in herr What was she to him?
 The pensive head was withdrawn sadly from the window at last Silence fell in
 the dismal court. The Russians who had been breathing fire and vengeance were now eating smoked sturgeon and drink
 ing vodki A man played the fiddle to them and some danced. After all, life has
 something else than the story of wrong to tell US sometimes.
 CHAPTER II.