The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-13
Copyright 1907 by Max Penn berton, all rights reserved

tera rather than personal.
 1 They dRed with open windows, talsln <
 zakuska in the RusFiau fashion in lieu
 of hors d'oeuvre. and nibbling at smoked
 fish, caviar and other pckled mysteries.
 The Counts ability to drink three or four
 glasses Of liquor with this predatory re-
 past astonished Aiban not q little wlich
 the young Russian observed and re-
 marked upon.
 T am glad that l was born in the
 East. he said lightly, you English hdVe
 no dgestions. When you have them.
 your climate ruins them. Here in Russia
 We eat and drink what We please-that is
 our compensation. Ne are Tartars, l ad-
 mit-but when you remember taet Tar
 tar is q person Who owns no master
 rides like a jockey and drinks as much
 as he peases with impunity. the imputa- i tion is not serious. None Of you Western ] people understand the Russian. None of
 you understand that we are men in a 1 very big sense of tho word-men with l none of your feminine Western weak l nesses-gieat fighters, splendid lovers, | fine drinkers. You preach civilization n- l stead-and we point to your Whitechapel, | yonr Belleville. your Bowery Just think 1 of it, your upper classes. as you your ! selves admit, arc utterly decadent. alike
 in brains and in morals your middle
 classes are snug hypocrites-Your lower | classes starVe in filthy dens. This is what you desire to bring about in Russia under | the name of freedom and liberty. Do 1 you wonder that those of us Who have l travelled will have none of it. Are you | surprised that we fight your civilization I with the whip-as we are fighting it out 1 side at this moment If we fail, very |! well, we shall know how to fail. But do not tell mo that it would be a blessing
 for this country to initiate your institu-
 tions, for 1 could not believe you if you | did."
 He laughed upon il as though dsbeiev- | ing his own words and, giving Alban no
 opportunity to reply, Cell to talk of that
 which they must do and of the task in- | medatey before them.
 We are better in this hotel than at the ! Palace zamoyski. my kinsmans house. | he said, flor here no inquisitive servants l will trouble us. Naturally, you think 1t ] a strange thing to be brought to a great
 city like this and there asked to identify
 n face Let me say that I don't think l it will be a difficult matter. The Chief | of the Police will call upon me in the 1 morning and he will be able to tell us in | how many houses it would be possible
 for the girl Lois Boriskoff to hide. We | shall search them and discover her-and 1 then learn what Herr Gessner desires to | learn. l confess it amazes me that q | man with his extraordinary fortune | should have dealt so cumsily with these | troublesome people. A thousand pounds | paid to them ten years ago might have purchased his security for life. But I there's your millionaire all over. He will | not pay the money and so he risks not | only his fortune but his life Let me as
 sure you that he is not mistaken when | he declares that there is no time to lose. l These people, should they discover that
 he has been aiding my government, would
 follow him to the ends of the earth. They
 may have already sent an assassin after ] hm--it would be in accord with their | practice to lose no time, and as you see l they are not in temper to procrastinate. l The best thing for us to do is to speak of our business to no one When we have l discovered the girl, we will promise her | fathers liberty in return for her silence. 1 Herr Gessner must now deal with these
 people once and for all-generously and | finally I see no other chance for hlin | whatever"
 Alban agreed to this, although he had
 some reservations to make.
 q know the Boriskoffs very well,' he
 said, "and they are kindly people. We | have always considered old Paul bit of | a madman. but a harmless one Even | his own countrymen in London laugh 1 when he talks to them. I am sure fe l would be incapable of committing such a crime as you suggest; and as for his 1 daughter, Lois, she Is quite a little ] school girl who may know nothing about 1 the matter at all. Mir Gessner undoubt-
 edly owes Paul n great deal, and should | be pleased to see the poor fellow in bet | ter circumstances. But is 1t quite fair to ! keep him in prison just because You are
 afraid of what his daughter may say?' .It is our only weapon. If we give him liberty will he hold his tongue then? By your own admissions a louder talker does
 not exist. And remember that it may l cost Herr Gessner many thousand pounds | and many weeks of hard work to secure | his liberty at all. Is he likely to under l take this while the daughter is at liberty | and harbored among the ruffians of this 1 cityX He would be a madnpn to do so. | l. who know the Poles as few Of them | know themselves, will tell you that they | would sooner strike at those whom they l call traitors in exile than at their ene- ! mics round about us. If the girl has told | them what she knows of Herr Gessner
 and his past, I would not be in his shoes | tonight for a million of roubles heaped l m upon the table. No, no, we have no | time to lose-we owe it to him to act with great dispatch
 Alban did not make any immediate re- | bly, Hopeful as the Count was, the diff | faculties of tracking little Lois down in | such city at such a time seemed to him
 well nigh insuperable He had seen hun- 1 dreds of faces like hers as they drove | through Warsaw that very afternoon | The monstrous crowd showed him types [ both of Anna and of Lois, and he won | dered no longer at the resemblance he | had detected between them when he first
 saw Richard Gessners daughter on the
 balcony of the house in St. James Square. | None the less, the settlements of the task
 continued to grow upon him. How would
 it all end, he asked impulsively. And | what if they were too late after all and his friend and patron were to be the VIC 1 tim of old Boriskoffs vengeance? That | would be terrible indeed-it would drive
 him from Lois friendship forever.
 All this was in his mind as the dinner | drew toward a conclusion and the solemn | walters served them cigars and coffee. There had been some cessation of the up l roar in tine streets during the latter mo- | ments; but q new outcry arising present. | ly. the Count suggested that they should | return to the balcony and see what was | happening.
 Q q would have taken you to the thea 1 tre," he said laughingly.. but we snail | see something pretter here. They are l firing their rifles, 1t appears Do not let | us miss the play when we can have good 1 seats for nothing. And mind you bring | that kummel. for 1t is the best in | Europe.
 They were just lighting the great arc | lamps upon the avenue as the tw" l emerged from the dining room and took l up their stations by the railing of the l balcony, In the roadway below the spec
 tacle had become superb in It's weird