The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1910-09-16
ACurious Courtship
By SARA TREAT BINGHAM
Copyright, 1910, by American Press
Association.

most strange | ever heard of. They
were both Russians by birth and both
of the higher class. The husband told
me the story one evening while we
were smoking on his piazza overlook
ing the water. 1t was this:
am now man Of seventy, and DUR
ing my long life there has been
great change in the political condition
Of my native country. Were 1t not for
this change instead of telling you my
experience would be deathly afraid
Of your knowing it. Indeed, / should
be living, as it were, in oblivion. l
was one Of the original nihilists. The
word Is no longer used in speaking of
Russians who oppose the government,
for there is nothing 1t stands for.
1t is the Latin word nihil, which
means nothing, the nihilists believing
that nothing, governmental or social,
that exists should eXist-all should be
destroyed Today there is a process
of building up Russia, and even the
term revolutionist there is at present
confined to few.
The belief of the circle that | be-
longed to was, among other things,
that adj property should be held in
common. I was then but twenty years
Of age and was caught by this idea.
Indeed, young as l was, l became a
leader among the nihilists. But my
principles underwent sudden change
A brother Of my father had emigrated
to America and had made fortune.
He died a bachelor when | was TWEEN
ty-five years old and left me his prop
erty, amounting to more than half a
million dollars.
This acquisition of wealth will turn
the head of any communist from his
principles. no sooner learned that l
was heir to a fortune than I saw all
the social problems l had studied in a
different light. But one object took
possession Of me-to conceal the news
Of my fortune from my associates,
hiding myself from them that l
might enjoy it. One night I left one
of their meetings to disappear from
them forever. Disguised, 1 left at
midnight for America, and in a few
months my property was turned over
to me.
In time the cause Of my absence
would be known. should be tried
and condemned to death. I turned
over my property and the collection
of my income to an agent, with in
structions to send the latter to an an
other name than my own, which as
sumed, and attempted to lose my iden-
tity in travelling from place to place.
l never dared stop anywhere more
than month at a time, and before
long began to experience that tired
feeling which induces criminals who
know the police are hunting them to
give themselves up and suffer the pen
atty Of their crimes.
Especially did suffer from being
cut off from my own countrymen. l
dared not associate with a Russian
lest through him my identity and
whereabouts should be communicated
to those who were looking for me. For
ten years l lived a life in death. l
have often since wondered how the
car, knowing all the while that there
are many persons seeking to kill him,
can live without breaking down with
nervous prostration.
As time passed and I still lived If l
did not feel easier at least took fewer
precautions against being found by one
sent to kill me. In fact, l felt that l
would rather die than suffer myself to
constantly fear death
One day l was introduced to lady
from Russia, who on learning from
something l inadvertently dropped to
reveal the land of my nativity that l
was a Russian took an interest in me.
Hounded as l felt sure had been for
many years, l gave myself up to the
companionship of this woman, who
seemed to have been sent to me in my
Punishment to comfort me. Indeed,
was falling into that condition we call
love when one moonlight evening at
house where we were entertained she
suggested that we walk In the garden
When out of sight Of the house she
suddenly faced me, drew q dagger and
with the words Forgive me-" attempt
ed to plunge 1t into my heart. l was
too quick for her, springing backward
Then said to her:
"Try again. Another time / will not
oppose you. l have lived so long in
this dread that welcome DEATH"
1 threw open my coat and presented
my breast to her,
For moment she stood irresolute
then handed her dagger to me.
81 cannot do It," she said. But If
don't l will be killed. Do the work
yourself; it will be mercy to me-"
What had prevented me from follow
ing the work l had taken upon myself
was a fortune; what prevented this
woman from obeying the commands
she had received and taking upon her
self the blight of an overhanging dealt
was love. From this time the arrow
of the little god, instead Of the assas
sins knife, was between us. The for
mer united us, preventing the lattel
from separating us. For ten years a:
man and wife we hid ourselves as bes
we could, making the second decade
for me Of such a life. Then gradual!
the social upheaval in Russia took oil
another form-the form Of revolution
and now we are contributing our means
toward 1t.