The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-04-19
ROMANCE OF RED RUSSIA

James Hilton. in the Manchester Guardian.
 |NM HEN the whites .s,s entered s1s nsm als.f, fl oyionski had two daughters |-Katerina and Maria. Katerina was pretty and a flirt, and Maria was plain--oh, very plain. Under the old czar, ovlonski had been a high gov ernment official. and owing to his ad- ministrative capacities, the bolsheviki had continued to employ him.
 In his heart he longed for the re- turn of the monarchy and when Deni- kin's men entered Kieff he offered his house, which was moderately large it came about that the place was crowded with officers and their order lies; courts martial were held in the drawing room, and & large coachhouse and garage at the back was used for locking up spies before and after'trial.
 One night they brought in man named Tamovitch. He was a huge crea ture. fully six and half feet tall and as ugly as death. For months, they said, he had been spying for the bol- sheviki in Denikins camp. They locked him in separate room adjoining the garage. Everybody knew that his trial was d mere forma1ity, and that he was certain to be shot the next morning.
 But the next morning when they went to fetch him he was gone. The lock was unbroken .. somebody must have let him out
 Old Ovlonski was nearly beside him. self with rage at the thought that there must be traitor on the premises. He had all the servants searched. but nothing was found to incriminate any, body He suspected everybody.
 One day he found Priiukoff, his sec- retary, talking to Katerina in the con- servatory
 "Prilukoff," he cried shaprly. T pay you to work. not to gossip. Katerina- come here"
 As she obeyed he noticed there were tears in her eyes. This incensed him. for she was his favorite child.
 Whats the meaning of this7" he bell lowed Here, you soldiers-search this man. Search him, I tell you"
 They found on him a note in Tamo- vitch's handwriting. asking for help to escape.
 You can imagine the scene that fol- lowed. Katerina never spoke q word except at the finish, when she said rather casually: Fancy Prilukotf! But then, these Russian Poles. father, you can't trust them"
 They carried Priiukoff away to the coachhouse. Toward evening one of the officers came to say that they hadn't been able to get q word. out of him. So they held hurried trial in his ab- senee and sentenced him to be shot the next morning.
 Katerinas behavior was almost too calious She was unusually warm hearted and sympathetic girl but on this occasion she was too serene-far too serene.
 ..rhe fellow was as obstinate as a mule" said the officer, and katerina nodded and replied. "Yes. he comes from Wilma. you know. All these Rus sian Poles are obstinate"
 At this point Maria, who rarely ven- tured to put a word into the conversa- ton, remarked quietly; That's not true. He isn't Pole at all. He told me he came from Kharkoff."
 Then there started battery of con tradictions between the two sisters.
 "He comes from Wilma, tell you"
 '.He doesn't"
 How can you tell such lies, Maria? He comes from
 From Kharkoff. he told me"
 And why should he tell you where he comes from
 Then Marija stood up in front of them all, with her face flushed and her eyes glittering. Her piainness vas terrible and she forced herself into prominence.
 And I can tell you more than that, she cried shrilly, facing the room full of officers. T can tell you who let ramovitch escape. It was not Prilukoff. It was Katerina."
 Katerina fainted. Maria declared that she had actually seen Katerina un- lock the door of the shed where the prisoner was kept. She said that Prilu- koff was entirely innocent: that Kat srina vas infatuated with this ruf- fan Tamovitch. And when Katerina came to she stammersd . confession and promptly fainted again. They couldn't shoot Katerina- of course. Besides, she was pretty and