Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-08-28

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tract his attention. Finally be turned
toward her for an explanation of this
singular proceeding. and she beckoned
him to follow her. Alexis, after ask
ing Vera to excuse him. did SO. AS
soon as he was alone with the house
keeper she said to him:
There is a custom of this country
Of which you are not aware. your ex-
cellency. Here 1t is the roman who
proposes marriage to the man, not the
man to the woman. When a woman
wishes to marry a man she goes to his
house and remains there till he mar
ries her. If he refuses he insults her
family, and If she has male protectors
they punish the insult she and they are
deemed to have received. In any event,
the man who refuses the woman is
scorned by the community"
Alexis, amazed. stood mute. The wo-
a continued:
Vera has paid you the compliment
of proposing marriage to you. If you
refuse her she cannot be avenged by
her father. for he is too old. and she
has no brothers. But her father would
not resent the insult even II he were
young and strong enough to do so. He
has never adopted our customs and is
doubtless much displeased that his
daughter should have adopted this one,
so foreign to what he was formerly ac-
customed. But Vera is very dear to
us, and should you refuse her all who
know her would turn away from you,
treating you as one who had insulted
a woman they love and revere. 1t
seems to me, your excellency, that you
have a choice between two actions
either to accept the offer made you or
go away from here"
1t was some time before Alexis made
any reply to this explanation. He was
suddenly thrown under the influence
of conflicting emotions. Following a
custom which had been practiced by
all her associates, there was certainly
nothing immodest in Vera's action. She
was a beautiful girl and beloved by all.
Nothing would be more pleasing to him
than to make her his wife. But, on
the other hand. he 1had come to her
country to remain only a few years,
when he had expected to return to st.
Petersburg. His father had brought
him up with the understanding that he
0he father) would select a wife for
him, and Alexis believed that should
he marry a woman who had been
brought up among peasants and with
out his fathers consent he would be
disinherited.
What should he do? The girl who
had proposed to him was waiting for
his reception of her proposal. 1t SEEM
ed to him that since she had come
there in accordance with the custom of
the country he must either accept her
proposition or turn her out. OF all
considerations bearing on the case this
election was the hardest for him to
think of.
Alexis spent an hour alone turning
the matter over in his mind. Then he
resolved that he would go to Vera and
explain to her that he had been brought
up to understand that his father was
to select his wife for him and he con
sidered 1t his duty as a good son to
abide by his fathers decision. He
went to the room where Vera was
waiting for him. AS soon as he en-
tered she turned from him and stood
with her eyes bent upon the floor.
"vera," he commenced, Maria has
informed me of what l was ignorant,
the meaning Of your coming here.
Your customs of this country are not
our customs in the city. ! have been
brought up to recognize my fathers
right to select a wife for me. and l
consider 1t my duty as a good son to
abide by it. but
She bent lower and lower as he drew
nearer what she knew was coming till
now she was like a plant bent by the
wind. Approaching her, putting an
arm about her and taking her hand in
his, he finished:
"vera. l love you"
The nuptials were celebrated the
same evening. all the people turning
put to do the bride honor.
Alexis wrote his father. a prominent
statesman, that he had married the
daughter of one Trolensko. who had
come from Moscow and had lived for
twenty years apart from the world of
which he had formerly been a part
No reply came for some time: then one
morning a sleigh drove up to Alexis
house, and his father alighted. Alexis
was treasured when his father took
him in his arms and kissed him. He
also embraced Vera and said to her.
"Come; let us go to your good father.
who was my intimate associate in for
mer years when we were both young"
Vera. delighted at the turn the mat