The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1909-12-16

er trying to pass yourself of as her
dead husband No. I won't let you
of Boatswain, I want this man ar
rested, and Wen take him and all his
belongings before the British consul
in Messina in less than an hour. You
just attend to that, will you? Some
body go and tell the captain
Aye, aye, sir"
The rest is soon told A long in
qufry followed, which led to the solu-
ton of the mystery and sent Count
Yuryi Leven to Siberia; for he was
Boris Leven's twin brother.
The truth turned out to be that there
had been three brothers, the youngest
being Ivan, and they had all entered
the same Cossack regiment, and had
! served in the Caucasus, where most
officers learn the Tartar language,
which is spoken by all the different
tribes. It will be simpler to designate
them by the English equivalents for
their names.
DOA ID OC4AdfCQ AiAA-loCAA NOANA any
well in the army, but both his broth
ers, John and George, who was his
twin, were broken for cheating at
cards, and emigrated to America. So
long as they all wore their boards as
officers of COssack regiments usual
ly do, they were very much alike
They were all educated men of refined
tastes, and particularly fond of music.
When his two brothers were cash
/ tered Boris resigned, entered the dip
lomatic service, married Lady Maud
! FoXwell, and was killed by a bomb
in St Petersburg
John and George separated in
America when they were tired of
punching cattle.
John was something of naturalist
( and was by far the most gifted of the
/ three as well as the most daring. He
! gravitated to China and at last to
Mongolia, wandering alone in search
/ of plants and minerals, and it was to
/ him that Baraka showed the ruby
mine He got back to civilization
with his treasure and took it to
Petersburg unmolested.
There he found George earning
poor living in an obscure position in
the public service. his conduct in the
army having been condoned or over
looked. John. who was the incarna-
ton of selfishness, would do nothing
! for him. George, exasperated by him.
and halt starved. murdered him in
such way that he was supposed to
have died by an accident, look posses
sion of his hoard of unSold rubies, and
wrote to his twill brother to come and
share the fortune John had left them
George and Boris had been in con
slant correspondence. and had even
helped each other with money from
time to time Some weeks elapsed
after Boris return to St Petersburg
before his death, and during that time
he told George, who knew London
we'll and had, moreover, helped him in
his attempt to get a divorce. a vast
number of details about his married
life and his wife's behavior, her char
acter and tastes. Then Boris was
HhiAAtN III liz oti CT. anu Nf0Oi * iclt
the country and changed his name
with the vague idea that his own was
not a very creditable one and that if
he kept it he might be troubled by his
brother Boris numerous creditors He
began life over again as Kralinsky.
/ He had not entertained the least in
tention OF passing himself for Boris
and claiming Lady Maud as his wife
till he met her. and her beauty made
him lose his head completely when he
saw that she took him for her hus-
band He would have been found out
inevitably sooner or later, but Van
Torp's vigorous action shortened Lady
Maud's torrents
George was tried, and Russian JUS
/ tice awoke. possibly under pressure
/ from England The family history of
/ the Levens was exhumed and dis
: sected before the courts. The creditors
OF Boris Leven appeared in legions
and claimed that in proper course
he should have inherited the rubies
from his murdered brother. and would
/ then have been able to pay his debts.
! The court thought so too. and ordered
the cOnfiscated treasure to be sold.
But since it had been Boris, the
law was obliged to declare that the
! residue of the money, after paying the
debts, was the property of Countess
Leven, Boris widow.
Lady Maud thus found herself in
! possession of a considerable fortune.
! for she accepted the inheritance when
she was assured that it would go to
the Russian crown if she refused it.
The wealth Lady Maud thus com
mands enables her to carry much
further than formerly the peculiar
/ form of charity which she believes to
be her own invention. if it may be
properly called charity at all. and
which consists in making it worth
while and agreeable to certain unfor-
tunate people to live decent lives in
quiet corners without starving In