The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-05-24
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ey THEREsA G. HoLT.

BY THERESA c. HOLT.
copyright, 1909, by American Press Asso-
ciation.1
Anna NlclSalaevna after her days
work-she was a schoolteacher in Ber-
lin-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 a
means TO living in the German capi
tai
Anna Nickalaeyna was an orphan.
| Her father and mother bad died when
she was child. She had had a
brother, but he had been conscripted
| for the Japanese war. She had heard
that he was killed In battle. A young
er sister, Sonia, had disappeared after
Annals fight, supposedly for some po-
litical offense, and Anna had not heard
from her In years. Whether her sister
was in a 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. 1t 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 a family.
l 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 fright-hrst.
because she was made Of sterner stuff.
and. second, the breathing seemed TO
| come from n sleeper. Nevertheless she
\ had always had some expectation of
extradition and had kept a revolver in
her bureau drawer, resolved to die
rather than be dragged back to Rus
sia. Instinctively she pulled the draw
'er 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 I'm her own country,
had made a long and perllous Journey
In constant fear OF capture from east
ern Russia TO the border, and ever
since she had lived In the expectation
Of either arrest by Russian agents un-
der a 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 enemy-if such
It were-was Mt n disadvantage and
aOt likely to be easily awakened, she
'esolved TO make some move TO find
! Jut more about who was I'm the room.
She crept toward the bed, where the
deeper lay. Standing at its foot, she
itealthiy put out her hand TO feel. She
irew 1t away quickly. She felt a
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 fraulein who
rented rooms would only admit men I'm
case they were of the same family as
her women dodgers. As the breathing
continued heavily she resolved upon
further investigation. Going again tc
the bed she put out her hand. One
cannot easily move in a straight line
In the dark, and this time she struck
the other end for, extending her hand
It 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 anC
. struck light. She started. After all
! the sleeper was a woman. One foo
p with mans boot on 1t extended be
! low the skirt-if the tattered carmen
J could be called a skirt--but the sleep
{ er's face was turned away.
= The match burned out. and Annt
5 struck another one, bending over t,
{ get a different view. A start, a sup
> pressed exclamation, the burning mattel
' dropped TO the floor, and again all wa
2 darkness. Scratching another. sh
3 lighted a lamp, and, taking it to tn
|. | bed, she held II before the face OF tn,
t sleeper. The first happiness she ha,
1 known in years was expressed in he
/. own face.
n 1t was Sonia, her lost sister.
a But, oh, that tired. hunted look
$ The cheeks and eyes were suuken, an
the body seemed to be only bones an
rags Anna gazed, and desnite tn