Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-09-02
vas loath to reveal to US The absolute

was loath to reveal to US the absolute
truth.
Muriel. standing behind her chair.
tenderly stroked back the wealth OF
chestnut hair from her white brow.
Her complexion was perfect. even
though her face was pale and faded.
and her eyes heavy, consequent upon
her long. weary journey from the now
frozen North.
Presently. when by signs both Jack
ami Olinto had urged her to write.
she bent suddenly. and her pencil be-
gan to run swiftly over he paper.
All Of US stood exchanging ~glances
in silence, neither looking over her,
but each determined to wait in pa
thence until the end. Once started,
however. she did not pause. Sheet
;.fter sheet she covered. The silence
for a long time was complete, broken
only by the rapid running of the PEN
ell over the rough surface Of the pa
per. She had apparently become
seized by a sudden determination to
explain everything, now that she saw
We we're in real. dead earnest.
1 watched her sweet face bent so
intently, and as the freight fell
across it found it Incompatible. Yes;
she was afflicted by loss Of speech. 1t
was true, yet she was surely mex
pressibly sweet and womanly, peer
less above all others.
With a deep-drawn sigh she at last
finished, and, her head still bowed In
an attitude of humiliation, it seemed,
she handed what she had written to
me.
In breathless eagerness l read as
follows:
as it true, dear love = for | call
you so in return-that you were i'm
PEELED towards me by the mysterious
hand that directs all things? You
came in search of me-, and you risked
your life for mine at Kajana, there
fore you have a right to know the
truth. You, as my champion, and the
princess as my friend, have contrived
to effect my freedom. Were it not for
you, l should ere this have been on
my way to Saghalien, to the tomb to
which Oberg had so ingeniously con-
trived to consign me All! you do
not know-you never al know-all
that l have suffered ever since was
a girl"
Here the statement broke off, and
recommended as follows:
"In order that you should under
stand the truth, l had better begin at
the beginning. My father was an Eng.
lish merchant in Petersburg, and my
mother, Vera Bessanoff, who, before
her marriage with my father, was
celebrated at court for her beauty,
and was one of the maids of honor to
the czarina. She was the only daugh'
ter of Count Paul Bessanof, ,ex-gov'
ernor of Kharkoff, and before marry
ing my father she had, with her moth
er, been a well-known figure in SO
ciety. Immediately after her mar
riage her father died, leaving her in
possession of an ample fortune, which
with my fathers own wealth, placed
them among the richest and most in
fiuential in Petersburg.
Among my fathers most intimate
friends was Baron Xavier Oberg-
who, at that time, held a very sub
ordinate position in the ministry O
the interior-and from my earlies
E~recollections | can remember hin
coming frequently to u house ant
being invited to the brilliant enter
tainments which my mother gave
When I was thirteen, however, my ia
Their died of a chill contracted Will
boar-hunting on his estate in Kiev
and within a few months a further dis
aster happened to us. One night
while l was sitting alone readinj
aloud to my mother, two stranger
were announced, and on being show
in they arrested my dear mother on
charge of completely in a revolution
airy plot against the car which ha
been discovered at Peterhof. l stoo
defiant and indignant, for my mothe
was certainty no nihilist, yet the
r said that the bomb had been Intro
duced into the palace by the Counties
Anna Shiproff, one of the ladies-ii
= waiting, who was an intimate frien
! of my mothers and often used t
: visit her. They alleged that the col
/. spiracy had been Matched in on
: house, color Icing lent to that theor
! by the fact that a year before a wei
I known Russian with whom my fatht
had had many business dealings ha
been proved to be the author of tn
! plot by which the cars train wa
blown up near Livadia. They tore m
mother away from me and placed ht
= in the gray prison-van, the sight
:. which in the streets OF Petersbui
strikes terror into the heart of evel
= Russian, for a person once in tn;
i rumbling vehicle is, as you know, 10
forever to the world. ! watched h
!, from the window being placed in thi
= fatal conveyance, and then | think
- must have tainted, for l recollect not
- ing more until l found myself upc
= the floor, with the gray dawn sprea
!. ing, and all the horrible truth can
1, back to me. My mother was goi
% from me forever!
10