From Belgravia. Annual.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 5477, 7 February 1885, Page 3

From Belgravia. Annual.

CHAPTER 1

Tobolsk, though a Siberian metropolis, is really a very Peasant placo to pass a winter in. Like the western Amorican cities, where ovorybody has made his money easily and spends it easily, it positively bubbles over with bad champagne, cheap culture, advancod thought, French romances, and fI U the other most rocont products of human industry and ingenuity. Everybody cats jwtc do foic gras, quotes Hartmann and Herbert Spencer, uses electric bolls, believes in woman's rights, possesses profound views about tho future of Asia, and hid a grandfather who was a savago Saiuoyedo or an ignorant Buriat. Society isoxtrcmoly cultivated, and if you scratch it evor so little, you soo tho Tartar. Novortheloss, it considers itself tho only really polito and enlightened community 01 tho whole face of this evolving terrestrial P fhoDavidofTd, however, who belonged to the most advanced soetion of mercantile society in all Tobolsk, woro not originally Siberians, or ovon Kussians, by birth or nationality. Old Mr Davidoff, tho grandfather who foundod tho fortunes of tho family in St. Petersburg, was o Welsh Davids; and ho had altorod his namo by the timely addition of a Slavonic suffix in order to ocneiliato the national susceptibilities of Orthodox Russia. His son, Dimitri, whom for the enine reason he had christened in honour of a Russian saint, removed tho Russian branch of the house to Tobolsk (they woro in the Siberian furtrade), and thoro marrying a Gorman lady of the nftino of Freytag, had one daughter and heiress, Olga DavidolY, the acknowledged belle of Tobolskan society. It was gonerally understood in Tobolsk that tho Davidoffs were descended from Wolsh princoa (as may vory likoly havo beon the Cisc—though ono would really like to know what has bocomo of all the descendants of Welsh subjects), if indeed thoy were not even remotely connected with tho Princo of Wales himself in person. The winter of 1873 .(as everybody will remember) was a very cold one throughout Siberia. The riverß froze unusually early, sod troikas had entirely superseded toroases on all the roads as early aa the very boginD |ae of October. Still, Tobolsk was exceedingly gay for all that; in tho warm houses of the groat merchants, with their tropical plants kopt at summer heat b> jiovea and flues all the yoar round, nobody noticed the exceptional rigour of that esvere season. Balls and dances followed one another in quick succession, and Olga Davidoff, just twenty, enjoyed herself as ihe had never before done in all her lifetime It was such a chango to como to the concentrated gaieties and delights of Tobolsk after six years of old Miss Waterlow's Establishment for Young Ladies, at The Laurels, Clapham. That winter for the first time, Baron NiM, the Buriat, came to Tobolsk. Exquisitely polished in manners, and very handsome in face and bearing, there wai nothing of the Tartar anywhere visible about Baron Niaz. He had been brought up in Paris, at a fashionable Lycde, and he spoke French with perfect fluency, as well •3 with some native sparkle and genuine olevernMS. HU taste in music was unimpeachable; even Madame Davidoff, net Jfreytag, candidly admitted that his performances upon the violin were singularly brilliant, profound, and appreciative. Moreover, though a Buriat chief, he. was a most undoubted nobleman; at the Governor's parties he took rank, by patent of the Emperor Nicholas, aa a real Russian baron of the first > water. To be sure, ho was nominally a Tartar; but what of that ? His mother and his grandmother, ho declared, had both boen Russian Indies; and you had only to look at him to see that there was scarcely a drop of Tartar blood still remaining anywhere in him. If tlie half-caste negro is a brown mulatto, the quarter-paste a light .quadroon, and, ..the next remove a practically wlifte octoroon, Mrtlyßaron Niaz, in spite of his remote ■ Buriat great-grandfathers, might well pass for an ordinary overyday civilised Paissian. Olga Davidoff was fairly fascinatld by tho j accomplished young baron. She met him I everywhere, and ho paid nor always the mo3t marked and flattering attention. He was ft Buriat, to bo sure ; but at Tobolsk, you know . Well, one mustn't bo too particular about these littlo questions of origin in an Asiatic city. It was at the Governor's dance, just before Christmas, that tho Baron got his first Rood chance of talking with her for ten minutes alone among the fan palms and yuccas in the big conservatory. There wag a soat in tho far corner beside tho flowering oleander, where tho Baron led her after tho fourth waltz, and leant over ; her respectfully as she playod with her Chinese fan, half trembling at tho declaration she knew ho was on tho point of making to her. "Mademoisello Davidoff," tho Baron began in French, with a lingerint; cadence 'as he pronounced her narao, and a faint tremor in his voico that thrilled rosponrively through her inmost being; " Mademoiselle Davidoff, I have beon waitIng long for this opportunity of speaking to you alone, because I havo something of tome impjrtanoo—to me at least, mademoi-selle-about which I wish to confer with you, Mademoiselle, will you do me the honour to listen to me patiently a minute or two? The matter about which I wish to ■peek to you Is one thai may concern yourleU, too. more closely than you at first Imag'ne." i What a funny way to begin proposing to one I OJga Davidoffs heart beat violently aa>he answered as unconcernedly as pos- ' eiblo, "I shall bo glad, M. le Baron, I'm iraro, to listen to any communication that you may wish to make to mo." . " Mademoiselle," the young man went on almost timidly—how handsome ho looked as he stood there bending over her in his wmi-barbario Tartar uniform!—"Mademoi•elle, the village whero I live in our own country is a lonely one among the high 1 mountains. You do not know tho Buriat country—it is wild, savage, rugged, pineclad, snow-clad, solitary, inaccessible, but »eiy beautiful. Even the Russians do not loyeit; but we love it, we others, who are to tho manner born. We breatho there the air of liberty, and we prefer our own brawling streams and sheer precipices to all the artificial stifling civilisation of Paris and Bt Petersburg." Olga looked at him and smiled quietly, She saw at once how he wished to break it to her, and held her peace like a wise maiden,

"Yea, mademoiselle," the young man Went on, flooding hor each moment with th« flashing light from his groat luminous U:el eyes; "my village in the Buriat country lies high up besido tho eternal ;wows. But though we live alone there, so far from civilisation that we seldom see oven ' a passing traveller, our life is not devoid of {to own delights and its own interests. I have my own people all around me ; I live wmy village as a little prinoo among his own subjects. My people are few, but "ley are very faithful. Mademoiselle has weo educated in England, I believe ?" B}"T eß>" 0!k» answered. "In London, ''«■■ lo Baron. lam of English parentage, tod my father sent me there to koep up tho .Connection with hia old fatherland, whero ,<too branch of our house is still established."

' "Then, mademoiselle, you will doubtless .we read the tales of Walter Scott ?" Olga smilod curiously. " Yes," she said, . &m«sed at his naivete, " I have certainly "ad them." She began to think that after all thehand3omo young Buriat couldn't «ally moan to propose to her. Well, you know, in that case, what WM the life of a Highland chieftain in Scotland, whon the Highland chieftains *ere still practically all but independent. «j' mademoisell«, is exactly the lifo of a modern Bnriat nobleman under the Russian empire. Ho has hia own little territory I J? . °Y a lit.l>lo peoplo, ho lives among them in his own little antiquated fortress, « ™mowledtre!> nominally the sovereignty w the most orthodox Czar, and even perhaps exchanges for a Russian title the Urtar chieftainship handed down to him in unbroken succession from hia earliest forewthora. But in all the rest he still re maiDß essentially independent. He rules °w a little principality of his own, and cares not a fig in his own heart for czar, or urn? or Ksneral, or minister." J-nis is rathor treasonable talk for the uovrrnor'a ptdaco," Olga put in, smiling qvuetly. »lf we wero not n i, eac j y ;„ Tobolsk wo might both, pwhaps. imagine Weßho U idh^t t ,,,Siberi,." >, ■*™ f afon Uugherf, and showed hi* two %S ol Pearly white teeth to the best adTjntega. "they might send ma to the

mines," ho said, "for aught I care, mademoiselle. I could get away easily enough from village to village to my own country; and onco there, it would be easier for the Czar to tako Constantinople and Bagdad and Calcutta than to track and dislodgo Alexander Niaz in his mountain fortress." Alexander Niaz ! Olga Jnoted tho name to herself hurriedly. Ho was converted then i he was an orthodox Christian ! That at least was a good.thing, for so many of these Buriats are still nothing more than the most degraded Schamenists and heathens I "But, madomoisollo," tho young man went on again, playing moro nervously now than ever with the jewollod hilt of his dross sword, "thore is ono thing still wanting ft) my happiness among our beautiful Siberian mountains. I havo no lovoly chutolaino to liolp mo guard my little feudal castlo. Madomoisollo Buriat women are not tit allies for a man who has boon brought up among tho civilisation of tho groat. Wostern cities. Ho needs a companion who can sympathise with bis higher tastes : who can speak with him of books, of life, of art, of music. Our Buriat women aro moro household drudgos ; to marry ono of them would bo utterly impossible Mademoiselle, my father and my grandfather camo away from thoir native wilda to seek a lady wlio would condoacond to lovo tliom, in the polito socioty of Tobolsk. I havo gono farther abroad ; 1

luivo sought in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, St. Potorsburg. But I saw no lady to whoso hoart my heart responded, till I cmno buck onco moro to old Tobolsk. There, madomoisollo, thore I saw ono whom I rocognisod nt onco us fashioned for mo by Hoaven. Mademoisolle Davidoff—l tromblo to ask you, but—l lovo you—will you share my exilo ?" Olga looked at the handsome young man with unconcoaled joy and admiration. "Your oxilo," she murmured softly, to gain timo for a moment. " And why your exile, M. lo Baron ?"

" Mademoisolle," tho young Buriat con

tinned, vory earnossly, "Ido not wish ts woo or wed you undor false pretoncos. lieforo you give me an answer, you must understand to what sort of life it is that I venture to invito you. Our mountains are vory lonely: to live thoro would bo indeed an exile to you, accustomed to the gaioties and the vortex of London." (Olga smiled quietly to horsolf as sho thought for a second of tho littlo drawing-room at The

Laurels, Clapham.) " But, if you can consent to live in it with mo, I will do my bout to make It as easy for you as possible. You Bhali have music, books, papors, amusomenta—but not society—during the six months of summer which wo must necessarily pass at my mountain village: you shall visit Tobolsk, Moscow, Petersburg, London—which you will—during tho six months of holiday in winter) above all, you shall have the undying love and devotion of one who has never lovod another womanAlexander Nlaa. . . . Mademoiselle,

you see tho conditions. Can you accept them. Can you condescond of your goodness to lovo me T to marry me!"

Olga Davidoff lifted her fan with an effort and answered faintly : " M. lo Baron, you are very flattering. I—l will try my best to deservo your goodness." Niaz took her pretty little hand in his with old-fashioned politeness, and raised it chivalrously to his trembling lips. " Mademoiselle," he aaid, " you havo mado me eternally happy. My life shall bo pa^ed in trying to prove my gratitude to you for this condescension." "I think," Olga answered, shaking from head to foot, "I think, M. le Baron, you had bettor take me back into the next room to my mother."

CHAPTER 11,

Oloa Da vidoff's wedding was ono of tho most brilliant social successes of that Tobolsk season. Davidoff pert surpassed himself in the costliness of his exotics, tho magnificence of his presents, the reckless abundanco of bis Veuve Clicquot. Madame Davidoff successfully caught tho Governor and the General, and tho English traveller from India via tho Himalayua. The Baron looked as gorgeous aa he was handsome in his half Russian half Tartar uniform and his Oriental display of pearls and diamonds. Olga herself was the prettiest and most blushing bride ever seen in Tobolsk, a eimplo Ertglish gtrl, fresh* from the proprieties of The Laurels at Clapham, among all that curious mixed cosmopolitan society of semi-civi!i*od Siberians, Catholic Poles, and Orthodox Russians.

As soon as tho wedding was fairly ovnr, tho bride and bridegroom started off by torosa to mako their way across the southern plateau to the Baron's village. It waa a long and dreary drive, that wedding tour, in a jolting carriage over Siberian roads, resting- at wayside postinghouses, bad enough while they wore still on the main line ot the Imperial mails, but degenerating into truo Central-Asian caravanserais when once they had got off tho beaten track into the wild neighbourhood of the Baron's village. Nevertheless, Olga Davidoff bore up against tho troubles and discomforts of the journey with a bravo heart, for was not the Baron always by her side ? And who could be kinder, or gentler, or more thoughtful than her Buriat huaband ? Yos, it waa ft long and hard journoy, up among those bordor mountains of the Chineso and Tibetan frontier; but Ol^a felt at homo at last when, aftor three weeks of incessant jolting, they arrivod at tho Buriat mountain stronghold, under cover of the night; and Niaz led nor strai"htwoy to her own pretty little European 71 boudoir, which he. had prepared for her beforehand at immense expense and trouble in his upland village. The moment they entered, Olga saw a pretty little room, papered and carpeted in English fashion, with a small piano over in tho corner, a lamp burning brightly on the tiny side-table and a rouring fire of logs blazing and crackling npon the simple skono hearth. A book or two lay upon the shelf at the side : she glanced casually a* their titles as she passed, and saw that they were some of ToUrgtSniefFs latest novels, a papercovered Zola fresh from Paris, a volume each of Tennyson, Browning, Carlylo, and Swinburne, a Demikoff, an Emile Augior, a "Revue dcs Deux Mondea," and a late number of an English magazine. She valued those things at once Fer their own sakes, but still more because she felt inBtinctively that Niaz had taken the trouble to get them there for her beforehand in this remote and uncivilised corner. She turned to the piano: a light piece by Sullivan lay open before her, and a number of airs from Chopin, Schubert, and Mendolsßohn were Mattered loosely on the top one above the other. Her heart was too full to utter a word, but the went straight up to her husband, threw her armß tenderly around his neck, and kissed him with the utmost fervour. Niaz smoothed her wavy fair hair'gently with his hand, and his eyes sparkled with conscious pit awe as he returned her caress and kissed her forehead. After a while, they went into tho next room to dinner —a small hall, somewhat barbaric in type, but not ill-furnished ; and O'g i noticed that the two or three servants wera vory fierca and savage-looking Buriats of tho most pronounced Tartar type. The dinner waa a plain one, plainly served, of rough country hospitality; but the appointment* were all European, and, though simple, gaod and sufficient. Niaz had said bo much to her of the discomforts of his mountain stronghold that Olga waa quite dolighted ta find things on the wholo bo 'comparatively civilised, clean, and European. _ A few days' sojourn in tho fort—it waa rather that than a c.istle or a village— showed Olga pretty clearly what sort of life she waa honceforth to expect. Her husband's subjects numbered about a hundred and fifty (with as many more women and children); tliey rendered him tho most implicit obedience, and they evidently looked upon him entirely as a superior being. They were trained to a military discipline, and regularly drilled every morning by Niaz in the queer old semi-Chineso courtyard of the mouldering castle. Olga was so accustomed to a (Russian military regime that this circumstance never struck her as being anything extraordinary; she regarded it o'llv as p »rt of tho Baron's ancestral habits as a practically independent Tartar chieftaWeek after week rolled away at the fort, and trough Olga had absolutely no one to whom she could speak except her own husband (for the Buriats knew no Russian save the word of command), she didn't find time hang heavily on her hands in tho quaint old-fashioned village The walks and rides about were really delightful; the ecenery was grand and be»ut!ful to the last degree; the Chinese-looking houses and Tartar dress were odd and picturesque like a scene in a theatre. It was all so hardly romantic After all, Olga said to herself_with >a smile more than once, it isn * haH had being married to a Tartar ehioftuln up in the border mountains, when you actually come to try it. Oaly, she confessed in her own

heart that she would probably always be very glad when the winter camo again, and sho got back from these mountain solitudes' to tho congonial gaioty of Tobolsk or Petersburg. And Niaz—well, Niaz loved hor distractedly. No husband on earth could possibly love a woman hotter. Still, Olga could nover understand why ho somotimes had to loavo her for three

or four days together, and why during his absence, whon sho was loft all alone at night in tho solitary fort with those droadful Buriats, they kopt watch and ward so carefully all tho timo, and seemed so reliuved when Niaz camo back. Hut whon-

over sho asked him about it, Niaz only

looked grave and anxious, and roplicd with a would-bo careless wavo of tho hand that part of his duty was to guard tho frontier, and that tho Czar had not conferred a title and an order upon him for nothing. Olga felt frightened und disquieted on all such occasions, but soniohow felt, from Niuz's manner, that sho must not question him further on tho matter.

One (lay, after ono of these occasional excursions, Niaz cumo buck in high spirits,

and kissed lior nioro tenderly and affection

ntcly thiin ever. After dinner, ho rend to her out of .■; book of ITi'oncli poems a grand piece of Victor Hugo's, and thon ntado her Hit down to tho piano and play him his fuvourito air from " Dor Froischutz " twico ovor. When she hail tinishod, lio leant back in Ins chair und murmured quietly in French (which they always spolco togother), " Ami thia is in tho mountains of Tartary 1 Ono would say n eoiriio of St. Petersburg or of Paris."

Olga turnod and looked at him softly. " What is tho timo, dearest NiazV" sho said with a smile. "Shall Ibo ablo to play you still that dtinco of Pinsuti's."

N;az pullod out Ills watch and answered quickly, " Only ten o'clock, darling. You have plenty of time still." Something in tho look of tho watch he held in his hand struck Olga as queer and unfamiliar. Sho glanced at it sideways, and noticed hurridly that Niaz was tryipg to roplaco it unobsorved in his waistcoat pocket. " Ihavon't seen that watch boforo," she said suddenly ; "lot mo look at it, dear, will you ?" Ninz drow it out and handed It over to her with affected nonchalanco ; but in the undercurrent of his expression Olga caught a glimpse of a hang-dog look blio had never before observed in it. Slio turned ovor the watch and looked on tho back. To her immonso surprise it boro tho initials "F. do K." engraved upon tho covor. "Thoso letters don't bo'ongto you, Niaz," aho eaid, scanning it curiously. Niazmovoduneasily inlilbchair. "No," ho answered, "not to mo, Olga. It's—it's an old family relic—an heirloom, In fact. It bolongcd to my mother's mother. She wag—a Mdlle. do Kcronac, I bolieve from Morbihan in Brittany.'

Olga's eyos looked at him through and through with a etrango new-born suspioion. What could it mean t Sho knew he was telling har a, f&laohood. Had tho watch belonged—f.o aomo other lady 1 What was tho meaning of hia continued absences ? Could he but no. It was a man's watch, not a lady's. And if so—why, if so, thon Niaz had clearly told her a falsehood in that too, and must be trying to concoalsomething about it.

That night, for tho first time, Olga Davidoff began to distrust her Buriat husband.

Next morning, getting up a little early and walking on the parapet of the queer old fortress, she saw Niaz in the court below, jumping and stamping in a furious temper upon something on the ground. To her horror, she saw that his face was all hideously distorted by anger, and that as he raged and Btampod the Tartar cast in his fnatures, never before visiblo, camo out quite clearly and dwtinetly. Olga looked on, and trembled violontly, but dared not speak to him. A fow minutes lator Niaz camo In to breakfast, gay as usual, with a fresh flowor stuck prettily in tho button-hole of his undress coat and a smilo playing unconcernedly around tho clear cut corners of his handsomo thin-lipped mouth.

" Niaz," his wife s:»id to him anxiously, " whoro is tho watch you showed me last night?" His faoo never £,Uored a moment as ho replied with tho samo bland and innocent smilo us over, " My darling, I have broken it all to little piccos. I paw it annoyed you in some way when I showed it to you yestorday, and tlu3 morning I took it out accidentally in tho lower courtyard. Tho sight of it put mo in a violent tomper. ' Cursed thinjr,' I ?aiJ, ' you shall never a^'ain stop in so cruelly between mo and my darling. There, talio that, and that, and that, rascal !' and I stamped it to pieces under foot in tho courtyard.1 Olga turned palo, and looked nt him horrified. Ho smiled again and took her wee hand tenderly in his. " Littlo ono," ho said, " you necd'nt be afraid ; it is only our quick Buriat fashion. We loao our tempers sometimes, but it is soon over. It is nothing. A littlo whirlwind—and, pouf, it passes." "But, Niaz, you said it was a family hoirloom I"

" Well, darling, and for your gako I ground it to powdor. Voila tout! Come, no moro about it: it isn't worth tho trouble. Lot us go to breakfast."

CHAPTER 111.

Some days later Niaz went on an oxpodition : again, " on tho Czar's sorvico for tho pro-' tection of tho frontier," and took moro than half his able-bodied Tartars on tho journey with him. Olga had novor felt so lonely bofore, surrounded now by doubt and myfitory in that awful solitary stronghold. The broken watch weighod gloomily upon her frightened spirits. Niaz was gono for three days, as often happened, and on tho fourth night, after she had retired to her lonely bedroom, sho felt suro she hoard his voice (peaking low somowhero In tho courtyard. At tho sound ehe sprang from hor bed and wont to tha window. Yos, there, down in tho far corner of tho yard, without lights ornoiso, and trending cautiously, sho saw Niar, and his men filing quietly in through the dim gloom, and bringing with them a number of boxes. Her heart beat fast. Could It bo some kind of smuggling ? Thoy .lay so near the passes into Turkestan and China, and she knew that tho merchant track from Yarkand to Semipalatinsk crossed tho frontior not far from Niaz's villageHuddling on hor dross hastily, sho issued out, alone and terrified, into tho dark courtyard, and sought over tho wholo placo in the black night for sight of Niaz. Sho could find him nowhore. At last she mounted tho staircase to the mouldering rampart. Generally the Tartar guards kopt watch there constantly, but to-night tho wholo placo seemed somehow utterly deserted. She groped her way along till she reached tho far corner by a patch of ground which Niaz had told her was tho Tartar burial-place.

There she came suddenly upon a great crowd of men below on the plain, running about and"shouting wildly, with links and torches. Niaz stood in the midst, erect and military, with his Russian uniform gloaming fitfully in the flickoring torchlight. In front of him six Turcoman merchants, with their hands bound bohind their backs, knelt upon the ground, and besido him two Tartars held by oithor arm a man in European dress, whom Olga recognised at once as tho English traveller from India by way of the Himalyas. Her hoarfc stood still within her with terror, and she hung there, mute and unseen, upoi tho rampart above, wondering what in heaven's namo this extraordinary ficcno was going to end in. What could it mean ? What could Niaz be doing in it ? Groat God, it was too horrible ! A Tartar came forward quietly from the crowd with a curved sword. At a word from Niaz he raised his sword aloft in the air. One second it glancod bright in the torchlight; the next second a Turcoman's head lay rolling in the dust, and a little torrent of blood spurted suddenly from the still kneeling corpse. Olga opened her mouth to scream at the horrid eight, but happily her voice atonco forsook her as in a dream, and she stood fixed to the spot in a perfect fascination of awe and terror. Then the Tartar movod on, obedient to a word and a nod from Niaz, and raised his sword again above the second Turcoman. In a moment the second head too rolled down quietly besido the other. Without a minute's delay, as though it formed part of his everyday business, the practised headsman went on quietly to the next in order, and did not stop till all six heads lay grim and ghastly scattered about unheeded in the dust together. Olga shut her eyes, sickening, but still could not scream for horror.

Next, Niaz turned to tho English traveller and said something to him in his politest manner. Olga couldn't catch the words themselves because of the distanco, but she saw from his gestures that he was apologising to the Englishman for his rough treatment. The Englishman in reply drew out and handed to Niaz a small canvas bag and a purse and a watch. Niaz took them, bowing politely, " Handa off," be cried to

tho Tartars in Russian, and they loosed their prisoner. Then ho made a sign, and the Englishman knelt. In a minute more his head lay rolling in tho dust bolow, and Niaz, with a placid smile upon hie handsome face, turnod to givo ordors to tho surrounding Tartars. Olga could Btand it no more. Sho dared not scream or lot horsolf bo scon ; but she turnod round, sick at heart, and groped her way, half paralysed by fear, along tho mouldoring rampart: and thon turnod in at last to hor own bedroom, whero sho Hung hersolf upon tho bod in horclothos, and lay, tearless but torrifiod, the whole night through in blinding misery. Sho did not need to havo it all oxplainod to her. Niaz was nothing more, after all, than a savago Buriat robbor chieftain.

CHAPTER IV.

What a terribly long hypocrisy and suspense that three months of dreary waiting, boforo nn answer to hor lofctor could como rom Tobolsk and tho Govornor could sond

n dotachmont of tlio military to roacuoher from this nest of murderous banditti !

i 1 o\v Olga lmtod horsol i Forni ill protending to koop on tonns with Niuz! How nho loathed and detested the man with whom sho muni yet livo iih wife for that endless timo till tho day of hor dolivory !

And Nia/. couldn't holp seeing that hor mannor wna changed towards him, though lie fluttered himself that sho had as yet only a'baro suspicion, and no real knowlodge, of tho horrible truth. What a end thing that sho should ever ovon havo suspected it ! What a pity if ho could not koop hor horo to sootho and lighten his winter solitude !— for ho loved lier : yos, ho really loved her, and ho noeded sympathy and companionship in nil the beat and highest iustiucts of his inner naturo. Those Buriats, what woro they ? a misorablo sat of brutal savages: more hard-working robbers and murdorors, good enough for tho practical rough work of everyday life (such as knocking Turcoman merchants on the head), but utterly incapable of appreciating or sympathising with tho butter tastes of civilised humanity. It was a hard calling, that of chieftain to thoao Tartar wretches', especially fov a man of musical culture brought up in Paris; and he hnd hoped that Olga might havo holpcd him through with it by hor frioudly companionship, Not, of oonwo, that ho over uxpec ted to bo ab!o to toll her tho whole truth : womon will bo womon j and coining to a rough country, thoy can't understand tho necessities laid upon one for rough dealing. No, he could never have expected hor to relish the full details of a borderer's profession, but ho was vexed that sho should already begin to suspect its naturo on so vory short an acquaintance Ho had told hor ho was liko ft Highland ohloftain of tho old tiinos : did nho euppoco that tho Rob Hoys and Roderick Dims of real lifo used to treat their Lowland captives with roeowater and chivalry 7 Aftor all, womon hare really no idea of how thingi must bti managed In tbo stern roalitios of actual oilstonco.

So tho threo months passed ulowly away, and Olga waited und watched, with smiles on hor lips, in muto terror. At last, ono day, in broad daylight, without a moment's warning, or a single promonitory symptom, Olga saw tho courtyard euddonly tilled with men in Russian uniforms, and a friend of hers, a major of infantry at Tobolsk, rushing in at tho hoad of hie soldiers upon tho Tartar barrack. In ono second, as if by magic, tho courtyard hnd changed into a roarinp battlefield, the Cossacks were firing at the Tartars, and tho Tartars woro firing at tho Cossacks. There was a din of guns and a smoke of gunpowder ; and high above all, in tho Buriat language, she heuri the voice of Niaz, frantically encouragug his men to action, and shouting to them with wild energy in incomprehensible gutturals. Tho surprise had boon ao complcto that almost beforo Olga roalised the situation the firing began to dio away. Tho fort was carried, and Niaz and his mon stood, disarmod and sullen, with blooding faces, in tho midst of a hastily-formed square of stout Cossacks, among tho dead and dying strewn upon tho ground. Handsome as over, but how she hatod him 1

Vis arm wa3 wounded : and tie Russian surgeon led him asido, to bind it up. To Olga's amazement, whilo tho surgoon was actually engaged in binding it, Niaz turned upon him liko a savago dog, and bit his arm till tho tooth met fiercely in tho very middle Sho shut her oyos, and half fainted with disgußt and horror.

Tho surgeon shook him oil", with an outh ; and two Cossacks, coming up hastily, bound his hands behind Ilia back, and tied his legs, quito rogardlcss of his wounded condition. Meanwhile, the Russian major had sought out Olga. " Madame la IJaronne," ho said respectfully, " 1 congratulate you upon your safety and your recovered freedom. Your fathor is with us ; ho will soon bo horo. Your letter reached him safely, in spite 6f iti roundabout direction ; and tho Governor of Tobolsk despatched us at onco upon this errand of release. Buron Niaz had long boon suspected ; your lottor romovod all doubts upon the subjoct." A minuto or two lator, tho Uoß.sacks raarchod their priaonors out of the courtyard, two and two, into tho groftl hall of tho stronghold. " I wish to bid farowoll to my wifo," Niaz cried to tho major, in a loud voice. "I shall bo sent to tho mines, I snppoeo, and 1 ahull never sco hor again in this world most probably." Tho major allowed him to come no.ir within speaking distanco, under guard of two Cossacks. " Madamo la Baronno, ho lussed out botweon his elenohed teeth, " thin is your hind. It was your hand that you gavo mo in mnrrmgo ; it was your hand that wroto to betray me. Boliovo mo, madamo, como what may, your hand shall pay tho ponalty." So much ho said, passionately indeed, but with tho oflbndod dignity of a civilised boing. Then the Tartar in him broke through tho thin vonoer of European culture and ho lollodhistongueoutatherinßavagodorision, with a hidoous menacing loor liko an untamed barbarian. Till that mornonfr, in Bpito of tho horriblo majsacro sho bad neon with hor Own eyes, Olga had novor suspoctcd whft profound dopths of vulgar savagery lay unporcoivod beneath Alexander Niaa's handsomo and aristocratic European features. Ono moro word ho uttered coarsoly : a word of foul reproach unlit to bo repeated, which made Olga's cheek turn crimßon with wrath and indignation oven in that supremo momont of conflicting paaeions. She buried her faoo between hor two hands wildly, and burst into a flood of uncontrollablo tears. • " March him away," criod tho major in a stern voice. And tboy marchod him away, still mocking, with the othor prisoners. That was the last Olga Davidoff saw of her Buriat husband.

CHAPTER V,

Aftku Niaz had boon tried and condemned for robbery and murder, and sont with tko usual Russian clemency to tho mines of Oukboul, Olga Davidoff could not bear any lonßor to live at Tobolsk. It was partly terror, partly shame, partly pride; but Tobolsk or even St. Peter-burg she folt to be henceforth utterly im] osiiblo to her. < So sho determined to go back to hor kinsfolk in that dear old quiet England, whero thoro are no Nihilists, and no Tartars, and no exiles, and where everybody lived so placidly and demurely. Sho looked back now upon Tho Laurels, Clapham, as the ideal home of repose and happiness. It was not at Clapham, howover, that Madame Niaz (as she still called herself) settled down, but in a quiet little Kentish village whore tho London branch of tho Davids family had retired to spend their Russian money. Frank Davids, the eon of tho house, was Olga's second cousin ; and when Olga had taken the pretty little rose-covored cottage at tho end of the village, Frank Davids found few things more pleasant in life than to drop in of an afternoon and have a chat with his Russian kinswoman. Olga lived there alone with her companion, and in spite of the terrible scenes she had so lately gone through, she was after all still a girl, very young, very attractive, and very pretty. What a_ wonderfully different life, tho lawn-tennis, and the curate, and the Davids' girls up at the big house, from tho terror and isolation of the Buriat stronghold! Under the soothing influence of that placid existence Olga Davidoff began at last almost to outlive the lasting effects of that one great horror. Stamped as it was into tho very fabric of her being, she felt it now less poignantly than of old, and sometimes for an Tiour or two she even ventured to be careless and happy. Yet all the time the awful spectre of that robber and murderer Niaz, who was nevertheless still her wedded husband, rose up before her, day and night, to prevent Iwr happiness from beiri;* ever moro than momentary.

And Frank, too, was bug!) i nins, gond fellow ! Frank had heard from Mme. Davidoff all her Btory (for Madame had coma over to see Olga fairly settled), and he pitied her

for her sad romanco in such a kind, brotherly fashion. Once, and onco only, Frank said a word to hor that was not oxactly brothorly. Thoy were walking together down tho footpath by tho mill, and Olca had boon talking to him about that groat torror, when Frank asked hor in a quiet voice, " Olga, why don't you try to get a divorco from that horriblo Niaz?"

Olga lookod at him in blank astonishment, and asked in roturn, " Why, Frank, what would bo tho uao of that '! It would never blot out tljomemory of tho past, or make that wretch any tho less my wedded husband."

" But, Olga, you nood a protector sorely. You need somebody to sootho and removo your lasting torror. And I think I know someone, Olga—l know someone who would givo his whole lifo to save you, dearest, from a single day's fear or unhappiness."

Olga looked up at him lil<o a startled child. "Frank," sho cried, " doar, door Prank, you good cousin, nover say again another word liko that, or you will mako mo afraid to walk with you or talk to you any longor. You are tho ono friend I havo whom I can trust and coniido in : don't drive mo away by talking to me of what is so impossible. I liato tho man : I loatho and abhor him with nil my heart: but 1 can novor forget that lo is stillmyhusband. 1 havo mado my choieo, and I must abido by it. Frank, Frank, promiso mo—promise me, that you will novor again speak upon tho subjoct." Frank's faco grow saddoncd in a momont with a torriblo sadnoss; but ho eald in a linn voice, "Ipromiso," and ho novorbroko his word from that day onward.

CHAPTER VI,

TiißfiK years passed away quiotly in tho Kontish villago, and overy day Olga's unreasoning torror of Niaz grow gradually fainter and fainter. If she had known that Niaz had oseaped from tho mines, aftor oight months'imprisonment, and madohisway by means of his Tartar friends across thepassos to Tibet and Calcutta, sho would not havo allowed tho soneo o£ security to grow so strong upon her.

Meanwhile Frank, often In London, had picked up tho acquaintance of a certain M. do Vouillcmout, a French gentleman much about at tho clubs, of whoso dolightful manners and wido acquaintance with the world and men ho wua novor tired of talking toOl^a. "A most charming man, indeed, do Vouillemont, and very anxious to come down hore and eoc Hazolhurst, Besides, Olga, ho has been ovon in Russia, and ho knows how to talk admirably about everybody and ovorything. I've askod him down for Friday evening. Now, do, liko a good girl, break your rulo for onco, and como and diuo with üb, although there's to bo a stranger. It's only ono, you know, and tho girls would bo so dolightful if you'd holp entertain him, you know, for hospouks hardly »ny English, and thoir French, poor things, is horribly iiißular and boarding-school}'. At last, with much reluctance, Olga consented, and on tho Friday sho wont up to tho big houso at eight punctually. Mrs Davide and tho girls were not yet in tho drawing-room when sho arrived ; but, M. do Vouiliomont had dressed early, and was standing with his back to tho room, looking intently at some picturos on the wall, as Olga entered. As sho came in, and tho sorvant shut tho door behind her, tho strangor turnod slowly. In a momont fiho recognised him. Ilia complexion was disguised, bo as to mako him look darkor than boforo; his black moustache was shaved off; his hair was differently cut nnd dressed ; but still, as ho lookod her in tho face, sho know him at]onco. It was Aloxander Niaz !

Petrified with foar, she could neither fly nor scream. Sho stood still in tho middlo of tho drawing-room, and starodathim fixedly in an agony of terror. Niaz had evidently tracked hor down, and comeproparod for his horrid revenge. Without a moment's delay, his faco underwent a hideous change, and from tho cultivated European gontloman in ovoning clothes that he looked when she ontorod, ho was transformed as if by magic into a grinning, gibbering Tartar savage, with his touguo lolling out once moro, as of old ia Siboria, in hateful derision of hor speechless torror.

Seizing hor roughly by tlio arm, lio dragged her after him, not so much unrosist' ing as rigid with horror, to the opon fireplace. A marblo fondor ran around tho ti'od hoartli. Laying licr down upon tho rug as if sho was doad, ho placed her small right hand (viths&vagJa gluo u'.mhi that readyinado block, and thon proceededdeliboratcly to tako out a small sharp steel hatchet from inside his ovoning coat. Olga was too terriiiod even to withdraw her hand. Ho mined tho axe on high—it Hashed a second in tho air—a smart throb of pain—a dreadful crunching of bono and sinow—and Olga's hand foil white and lifeless upon tho tiled hoarthplaco. Without stopping to look at her for a second, ho took it up brutally in his own, and flung it with a horrible oath into tho blazing lire. At that momont, tho door oponod, and Frank onterod. Olga, lying faint and bleeding on tho hearth-rug, was ]ust able to look up at him imploringly and utter in n sharp cry of alarm the ono word " NiaK." Frank sprang upon him liko n young lion. " I told hor hor hand should pay tho penalty," tho Tartar cried, with a horrible joy bursting wildly from his livid foatnro3 : '• and now it burns in tho firo over yondor, an sho herself shall burn noxt minuto for ovnr and ovor in liro and brimstono." As ho spoko ho drew n pistol from his pockot, and pointod it at her with his finger on tho trigger. Noxt momont, beforo ho could firo, 1 rank had soized his hand, (lung tho pistol to tho farther end of tho drawing-room, and forced tho Tarter down upon tho floor in a tornblo lifo-and-dcath strugglo. Niaii's faco, already livid, grow purplor and purplor (is thoy wrestled with ono another on tho carpot in that deadly effort. His wrath and vindictivonosa garo a mad onorgy to hid limbs and musclos. Should ho bo baulked of his fair rovongo at last ? I Should tho woman who had betrayed him esc«po scot-freo with just tho loss of a hand, and ho htmsolf merely oxchango a Siborian for an English prison t No, no., novor! by St. Nicholas, nover 1 Ha, madamo ! I will murder you both ! Tho pistol I tho pistol! A thousand dovils I lot mo go ! I will kill you yot! I will kill you ! I will kill you ! Then ho gasped, and grew blackor and purpler—blacker and purplor —blackor—blackor—blackor— ovor blackor. Presently ho gasped again. Frank's hand was now upon his mumbling throat. Thoy rolled over and over in their frantic struggles. Then a long, glow inspiration. Aftor that, his musclos rolaxod. Frank loosed him a littlo, but knelt upon his breast heavily still, lost ho should rise again in another paroxysm. But no :ho lay quite motionless—quito motionless, and never stirred a single finger. Frank felt his heart—no movemont; his pulse—quito quiet; his lips—not a breath percoptiblo I ;Thon ho rose, faint and staggering, and rang for tho servants. When tho doctor came hurriedly from tho village to bandage tho Russian lady's arm, ho immediately pronounced that M, do Vouillomont was doad—stono doad—not a doubt about it. Probably apoplexy under Btress of violent emotion. Tho inquest was a good deal hushed up, owing to tho exceedingly painful circumstances of tho case; and to this day vory few people about Torquay (whero sho now lives) know how Mrs Frank Davids, tho quiet lady who dresses herself always in black, and has such a beautiful softened half-frightened expression, came to loso her right hand. But everybody knows that Mr Davids is tenderness itself to her, and that she loves him in return with tho most absolute and childlike devotion. It was worth cutting off her right hand, after all, to bo rid of that awful spectre of Niaz, and to have gained the peaceful lovo of Frank Davids,