The daily Alaskan., 1909-07-08
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By THERESA c. HoLT.

work-She was schoolteacher in Der lln-climbed the stairs to her garret. The days were short, and the twilight had died away. An exile from Russia for the crime of educating the peasants, she now used her own education as q means to living in the German capi- tai
 Anna Nickalaevna was an orphan. Her father and mother had died when she was child. She had had a brother, but he had been cOnscrlpted for the Japanese war. She had heard that he was killed in battle. A young CT sister Sonia, had disappeared after Annals flight, supposedly for some po- | litical olfenSe, and Anna had not heard from her in years. Whether her sister was in Siberian prison or dead she did not know. One who had been In the prisons of Siberia had told her that her sister was not there. It was there fore to be supposed that she was dead. As one year succeeded another and none of her relatives could send any word of the missing girl Anna at last came to consider her sister dead. She experienced that awful loneliness one feels at being the last of family.
 The exile opened the door of her room and was about to strike light when she heard some one breathing. She did not give way to frlght-tirst, because she was made of sterner stun, and, second. the breathing seemed to come from sleeper. Nevertheless she had always had some expectation of eXtraditiOn and had kept revolver in her bureau drawer resolved to die l rather than be dragged back to Rus SIa. InStinctively she pulled the draw CT open and grasped the weapon. Then she stood and listened. The breathing was evidently that of one sleeping.
 Another would have inferred that some one had come into her room and fallen asleep. But Anna Nickalaevna had been hunted in her own country, had made long and perilOus journey In constant fear of capture from east eru Russia to the border. and ever since she had lived in the expectation of either arrest by Russian agents un- der trumped up criminal charge or spirited away by them illegally. As she listened to the breathing she formed plans for action in case the sleeper were an enemy.
 But, feeling that the cnemy-lf such it wcrc-was at a disadvantage and not likely to be easily awakened, she resolved to make some move to find out more about who was in the room. She crcpt toward the bed, where the sleeper lay. Standing at Its foot, she stcalthily put out her hand to feel. She drew 1t away quickly. She felt n mans boot.
 Anna thought of every probable or possible occurrence to account for a man sleeping in her room. She did not understand how one could have gained access there. The frauleln who rented rooms would only admit men in case they were of the same family as her women lodgers. AS the breathing l, continued heavily she resolved upon further investigation. Going again to the bed. she put out her hand. One cannot easily move in q straight line in the dark. and this time she struck the other end, for, extending her hand, 1t rested on a face. She was relieved that there was no beard on it.
 All fear of danger was now gone. Going to where she kept her matches, she took the box and, again approach ing the bed. stood near the sleeper and struck light. She started. After all, the sleeper was a woman. One foot with a mans boot on 1t extended be- low the Skirt-if the tattered garment could be called a Skirt-but the sleep CTS face was turned away.
 ; The match burned out, and Anna struck another one, bending over to get a different view. A start, sup pressed exclamation, the burning match dropped to the floor, and again all was darkness. Scratching another, she lighted a lamp. and, taking 1t to the bed, she held 1t before the face of the sleeper. The first happiness she had known in years was expressed in Ter own face.
 It was Sonia, her lost sister.
 But, oh, that tired. hunted look! The cheeks and eyes were sunken. and the body seemed to be only bones and rags. Anna gazed, and despite the gladncss in her heart she sighed. But she had been through all this herself and was now strong. Sonia, now that there were no more weary night jour neys under the stars, hidings in huts or snowdrifts by day, would be herself again and-the loneliness that was breaking down Anna would be no more.
 Leaving her treasure to sleep on, she opened her larder, put the samovar on the stove and stood ready to fur |, nish food when Sonia should awaken. Then she went back to the bed and feasted on the loved one with hungry eyes.
 She did not intend to awaken her sister, but she could not help taking