Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-22

will return. who can say? Long ago I
made ready a package which ] hoped to
be able TO reach If an emergency should
come. At home, in Petersburg. there is
an old servant TO whom 7 sent a few
lines by my coachman. Some time in the
future l might commission trusted
friend to get that little bundle. but in the
meanwhile | must live. Otherwise 1t
would not have been worth while to run
away from Russia" Again she smiled en-
gagingly.
| knew that some strange perfumed in
toXlcatlon was taking possession of me-
and that under its influence my staid New
England common sense was evaporating.
but il was already too late to catch de-
liberation by the tail. SO | let myself go.
There is, then. n package waiting for
you that would make you independent?
Two necklaces" she said. ''one of Ola
monds. q gift from the First Nicholas TO
my grandmother 1t IS of great value.
The other. rubies and diamonds hung
bring easily 10000 roubles. I do not vet
calculate in dollars. 1t is not much. but
1t ought TO pay for maid to brush my
hair.
And this package your servant would
hand over to your emissary?"
ITO get it would be difficult perhaps
dangerous, she answered. She was study
fng me. and was every inch of her mature
woman now.
Very likely Yet you would feel CRATE
full to the man who made the attemnt-
even if he failed,
Il should adore him. she exclaimed
fiinging back her head and closing her
eyes only to open them again and fix
them on me. poor lost soul that T was.
OLIVIA" I said. turning toward my sis
ter. Il have needed vacation for some
time. and l think a trip abroad would fix
me out / shall leave you and the count
ess together. SO that you need not feel
lonely
Olvia's lips were white and she put
her arm through mine and drew me into
a corner.
"Geoffrey," she said very low, "you have
lost your head
IT'S worse than that. dear I answer
ed. II have lost my heart
Il pray you may not lose your life,
too she reioined with a little gulp. ooh.
why did I begin this intimacy with Olga
Strogoff?''
Because you love her. too" / whis-
pered. You can't help yourself. olivia
| turned back to the center of the room.
where our small guest stood leaning her
hand upon table and smiling inscruta-
bly,. l could not tell what she was think
ing. for it was plain that she had learned
to hide whatever went on behind those
deep eyes. Yet I would have taken my
oath that it was no evil that she con-
cealed.
Il am about to sail for Italy I said to
her. eff. by little extra travelling. I
can be of service to you. it will give me
great plea sure.''
She tucked a slender forefinger inside
her collar and drew up first a thread of
gold and then clumsy ring that looked
though it had been made by hand. a
thing of pale gold, on the one nat side Of
which was carved curious figure.
1T is the bears paw she said DO
not wear it except when you stand at the
door of 81 Ulitsa- You have been in Pc
tersburg?''
1 shook my head.
hon, will CHI
must find the place without asking ques-
tons that invite questions in return But
that is easy. I could draw you a map so
that You could go blindfOlded."
In another week / was actually under
way. The week had hardened what was
at first. I confess. a mere ebulltion Of
passion into fixed principle of my life.
1t seems extraordinary that seven days
could play such hub with a Steady-going
man. who should. by all proprieties. have
wooed and married well-b-ed. well-edu-
Gated Puritan maiden of the type that
was common enough in Worcester. But I
was done with proprieties. / loved an
enigma with a volcano beneath.
Meanwhile Natalie Il could call her
nothing but Natalie IN my thoughts. in
spite of much state and ancientry in my
outer behavlor) was never two minutes
the same. She laughed: she sang queer
jerky don't care little songs that made
her toss her head from side to side: with
tears in her eyes she told us OF cruelties
and sufferngs that she had seen: she de-
SPARED and then became the prophecies
of new order. divine. inspiring. touched
with a piety more profound than I had
ever known: she danced hnkempt Polish
dances, and dropped down to discuss
Hauptmann and Hervieu. To me it was
d week of wonder and of love.
When l found myself placidly sailing
out Of New York harbor on the Kaiser
Fritz for Naples 1 wondered whether I
had had a celestial vision or a nightmare
1afn hat ha haSf
to Petersburg by circuitous route. as it
were. to straggle about Italy. north into
Switzerland. further up into Poland. and
with fine indirectnoss up into the northern
capital. 1t must have been the leftover
instinct of savage hunter ancestors that
led me to choose roundabout "A path
though goodness knows how that kind of
an instinct survived eight generations of
Puritanism. not to mention what went be-
fore. At any rate. that IS the way l went.
l am not going to tell of my eXpe-
riences in Rome and Florence and Venice.
because if you've been there you know
for yourselves. and if you haven't been.
there's nothing you so dread as to hear
about it from returned travellers. | shall
not even expatiate on Switzerland. where
the landscape is so humpy and buInpy
TO seem to justify them in talking three
languages at once. The round pink eX-
pressionlnss faces and mclasses candy
hair of the nurthland failed to penetrate
TO the inner sanctum of my imagination.
But when | stood III st. petersburg 1T
was different. From the moment I ar
rived ii was different. There was an cleo
trio something in the air. I half expected
to her in one of those gay carriages
with brilliant looking women that dashed
by me so alluringly; certain it was that
she, too, had once flashed through the
streets
There was nothing about Petersburg
that made me feel that / was engaged in
a deep and deadly plot. 1t was charming
orderly. above board. singuary frank
and most of the people were away for the
summer 1t would have been the easiest
thing in the world to walk up to q certain
house and say to the aged chelovik will
you kindly give me package for the
Countess GalatZin - Thank YOU, good
day" l had no inclination to get a dark
lantern. "A big cloak and say Hist" And
yet there just enough sharpness in
the eyes of the officer who examined nv
passport al the frontier. and in the ulles-
tions that were put to me at the Hotel de
lEurope. to suggest that | should temper
the raightfOrwardness OF American di-
plomacy for the present. l again be
came crcuitous.
Frank Essington. who had been in ny
class at Yale attached TO the Ameri-
cansky Postannik. and took pains to ask
in loud tones and hating French from
should find our national headquarters
And so l spent a week i'll Petersburg
the manifestly conventional young Ameri-
can tourist guaranteed harmless b. the
whole of the United States embassy
70 l-,.n, fL.a iii;