THE LOVERS OF NATALIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4715, 5 August 1893, Page 1

THE LOVERS OF NATALIA.

fBT H. SUTHERLAND EDWABDS. Author of " Malvina," " The GermaQß in Prance," etc., etc.] (All rights reserved.) After making one last passionate appeal to Natalia Gontcharoff, who, unaffected by the young man's agitation, remained perfectly calm, Anton Ivanovitoh Borodin resolved to throw up his appointment as tutor in. General Gontcharoff's family, and enter the army. "There will be war with Turkey before long," ho said to himself, " and I will get my , oommiesion or a bullet in the body the day we cross the Danube. The prejudiced old General will think better of me then; and if before the end of the campaign, I get made a superior officer*— which iB more than possible—he will perhaps listen to my prayers and give me his daughter. As chief of a regiment he may respect me. But what does he care for a tutor? I am liko the dirt benoath his feet." Then speaking aloud, he exclaimed, "You will hear of me again, Natalia Ivanovna." "Good-bye, Anton Borodin," was her only answer. "My brother ia about to enter the cadet sohool," ahe added, after a pause, " and my father will probably not want your services any longer." Those words deprived Anton Borodin's departure, as they were intended to do, of all tragic significance. Leaving Natalia's presence with a fiual gesture of despair, the young man hurried to Ihe General's studio, told him that for certain family reasons of the first importance he must ask permission to give up his engagement at once, received a cheque from the General, whom this proposed arrangementsuited perfectly, and after a few words of farewell to the boy who, until now, had been under his care, went to his bedroom, paoked up his not very burdensome supply of clothes, rang for the servant to oarry his trunk downstairs and place it on a droschhi, gave the man a few roubles, and* then drove to the nearest Bußßian hotel. Not, that iB to say, to a cosmopolitan hotel, such as may now be fonnd in every large oapital, but a sort of caravanserai, where rooms with bare wallß, scanty furnitnre, and questionable beds, were all that the visitor could obtain. Borodin dined at a restaurant, ordered a Jew clothier to call upon him at his caravanserai, and in the evening sold all his wardrobe --everything, indeed, that he possessed, except his oldest Buit. Attired in this, he went the next morning to the barracks of the Preobrajenski regiment of the Imperial Guard, and offered himself for Bervice in the rank 3. Being young, tall and strong, he waß at once accepted. Then, casting aside hiß well-worn civilian olotheß, he put on the uniform of the historic corps

he had now joined, and, with some other recruits, all of them peasants, was taken into the barrack-yard for his first drill. It happened strangely enough, that on that same day Colonel Miliutin, of the General staff, was transferred iot regimental duty to the Preobrajenskis. His rank was that of Lieutenant-Colonel, and he j had been plaoed in command of one of the battalions, the very one to which Anton , Borodin had been assigned. Borodin knew Colonel Miliutin a little from having seen him at the house of the ! Gontcharoffs, where he was one ofthe numerous admirers by whom Natalia, in her oharaoter of pretty girl, was constantly surrounded. Among the other men moat conspicuous in their attentions to her was an enterprising sneak named Goraki, one of tho newly-made order of barristers, and, ' as before mentioned, Borodin. The most demonstrative of the three was certainly the barrister. Miliutin - maintained a •certain reserve, from good taste, while Borodin kept comparatively in the background from timidity. Colonel' Miliutin had never paid much attention to Borodin, whom he regarded with absolute indifference ; and now, in his green uniform, his helmet and his cropped bair, thero was but little chance of the new recruit's being recognised by his commanding officer. For sometime* they did not even meet. Borodin waa not yot sufficiently trained to do duty with the battalion, and he would not, perhaps, for many a day, have been brought into contact with his battalion chief but for the acoident of his being placed one afternoon on sentry duty, outside the left wing of the barrack 1 .. It was a fine day, and as the offiearß strolled about the open apace in front of their quarters they conversed with one another in the French language, never pausing for one moment to consider whether anyone might be within earshot who could understand them. . Borodin was not much astonished at what he heard, though he was, a little surprised at the freedom with which it was expressed. Again and again such things had been' said in his presence at General Gontcharoffs. But to talk Liberalism, incendiarism, progress, revolution-— what- | ever name might be given to such things— in a barraok yard; this, indeed, made him wonder.' Among the talkers was Colonel >Milintin himself r and Borodin listened with the greatest attention to every word that fell f rom'hia lips! He uttered nothing which was reprehensible in itself, but much that could, be co considered were it reported in certain quarters. Why not ''denounce him P This was the man, or, at least, one of the meni, who stood between him and Natalia; Pondering over the matter, Borodin oould not make up his mind .what to do until he' heard, in the evening, that next day Colonel Miliutin was to marry General Gontcharoff's rich.and beautiful daughter.' Colonel Miliutin's battalion wa9 to furnish' a guard of honour for the ocoasion; and Borodin, in his' bitter mortification, was one of the men told off to line the church. All Borodin 'had heard Colonel Miliutin say was that, as long as soldiers were brutally treated they would behave like brutes, and that tho first thing for the officers to do towards their elevation was to establish schools in every barracks. This ■■ had already been done in the b&rrask-irodm of the artillery of the Guard, and Colonel Miliutin declared that he would not rest until it was done in the barracks of the Guard generally, or, at least, of the regiment to which he himself belonged. This was not much to report, but it was quite enough for the secret police, and Borodin, when, after the wedding, he was relieved of duty, hurried, sick at heart and full of hatred, to the offices of the '5 Third Seotion," and declaring that he had important news to communicate, obtained an interview with one of the chiefs. In j his rage he made such exaggerated Btate- i ments as to what Miliutin was planning and plotting, that he fondly hoped the Colonel would be arrested that very night. But the practice Of seizing without accusation and Bending into exile withont trial had been discontinued since the accession of the liberal-minded, kind-hearted Alexander 11, the emancipator of the serfs: and there was nothing in Colonel Miliutin's utterances, even aa magnified by his denunciator, to make them the subject of a formal charge suoh as could be brought before a jury. Borodin, however, was commended for his loyalty and zeal, and the police official who had reoeived him enjoined him to observe carefully all . that was eaid and done by the officer against whom he had already raised grave suspicions. The "Third Section" was somehow able to make its mysterious power felt even in the Preobrajenski regiment. So at least it appeared to Borodin; and while he was watching the officers, and especially Miliutin, he felt that there was someone in the regiment who kept an eye on him. He found himself constantly posted for sentryduty in front of the officers' quarters ; and though the men were supposed to be taken turn by turn for this as for other duties, it was undeniable that his turn oame rather often. When the school was at last formed— it waß a Sunday-school, like all the military schools established for a few short months in 1864— the officers of Miliutin's battalion held a meeting in order to ohpose the books. In addition to a number of elementary works of the first necessity, the Colonel presented to the school, " Delolme, on the English Constitution" and "Mill, on Liberty"-— both, of courae, in Bnssian translations j and Borodin, who was one of the first soldiers to attend the officers' classes, made a note of the faot. The former tutor was, of course, muoh better educated than most of the regimental officers ; but he succeeded in feigning ignorance with so muoh success that as the liberal aspirations ot hiß chiefs became more and more pronounced, -very compromising things were sometimes said in his presence, and generally by Colonel Miliutin. Theße were always repeated by Borodin to the official of the Third Section, whom it had now become his appointed task periodically to visit. At laßt it seemed possible to accuse Colonel Miliutin of a seriouß offence. A retrograde movement had set in, and it was rumoured that by order of the highest military authorities the officers' Sundayschools were all to be dosed. So enraged was Colonel Miliutin on this news being repeated to him that he confounded his military chiefs, cursed the Governorgeneral of St Petersburg, and went so far as to cay that the time waa then arriving when force would have to be met by force and tyranny by insurrection. This was quite enough, and on the denunciation of Borodin an order was now made out for Colonel Miliutin's arrest. A fortnight afterwards he was to be brought to trial, and he had, first of all, to determine what counsel he should employ. Why not GorskiP An undoubtedly clever fellow, though Miliutin did not altogether like him. They had not at one time been particularly good friends. But rivals in love might surely forget their animosities when the lady had made a choice, andthe question whioh had divided them was settled once and for ever. Colonel Miliutin was walking Jup and down his little room in the fortreßs, hesitating what to do, when suddenly a visitor was announced. It was Gorski, who had come to place himself at the Colonel's service. .Miliutin, it haa been sesn, had quite forgiven Gorski for wishing to deprive him of Natalia ; hut Gorski had not in the least forgiven Miliutin for depriving him of one whom he loved with an unholy sort of passion, but in any case with deep devotion. 'She case, ho^evc^ of the GoVern-v

ment against Miliutin was a very important one. This wonld be the first political trial heard in open court, with counsel for the prosecution and counsel for the defence ; and, whatever might be Gorski's own personal feeling towards Miliutin, the case was one whioh might well appeal to his ambition. To win it would be a triumph indeed; and in the actual state of feeling among the St Petersburg publio it was far from impossible that the jury, eloquently and forcibly addressed, might acquit the' accused. Thus argued Milintin with himself, and Gorski had scarcely made his proposal when it was at once accepted. When the day of the trial arrived, the Court was crowded with Generals, high officials, and all the most distinguished people in St Petersburg. The Government Prosecutor had in moderate' language Btated the case against Colonel Miliutin. Instead, however, of doing -nis beßt for the defendant, Gorski' seemed anxious only to make a brilliant and patriotic, not to say revolutionary, speech, on hiß owa account. Colonel Miliutin, he admitted, had in a strictly legal sense done things which, under an arbitrary Government, could scarcely perhaps be regarded as quite justifiable. But the Colonel was a man of heart and conscience, who wished to rise above the existing order of things, and to raise his soldiers with him. He had, undoubtedly, desired to inspire them with free ideas ; and if these ideas diji not suit the ruling powers, then all he could say was, "So much the worse for the powers that rule!" Theße sentiments, expressed with the utmost fervour, carried away the jury and provoked the applause of the - geueral pnblic. Even the prisoner, a sensitive and impulsive man, seemed touched by the eloquence of his own advocate. The Judges, however, could not give their approval to such subversive ideas, which, set forth as if in exculpation of Colonel Milintin, went really to aggravate his offence. Accordingly they ordered silence, and threatened to clear the Court should auy fresh demonßtation be indulged in. They then at once charged the jury, and in such a manner that there was no alternative for the jurymen but to return a verdict of guilty. Gorski had betrayed his client ; had betrayed him deliberately, that the Unhappy man might be sent to Siberia, far away, from his young and beautiful wife. Private Borodin was, of course, in Court, though by previous arrangement with the police authorities he was not called upon to give evidence against hiß commanding officer. The examining magistrate had, indeed, at the preliminary enquiry, obtained a full avowal of the facts from Miliutin himself , who, however, repudiated the extreme inferences drawn from them. Borodin would aot have missed the trial even if his absence from barracks had been likely to bring down upon him the severest punishment. But he had finished his duty early in the morning, and had reoeived permission to go out for a few hours. When Borodin heard the verdiot— exiled for twenty years' to Siberia— he was shocked beyond measure. He had not enlisted in the army with any idea of becoming a spy, but simply in the hope of getting rapid promotion and a commission, so that he might not be deemed altogether •3m»orthy v of aspiring to the hand of Natalia Gontcharbff. In a moment. of spite, enraged at the idea of Colonel Miliutin's marrying the girl on whom he, Borodin, had set his heart, he had informed against him; and though he deeply regretted his baseneßß the moment afterwards, he had then already placed himself, as well as Miliutin, beneath the power of the dreaded Third Seotion. He was filled with remorse when he thought of the mean, dastardly part he had played. "How did you like my speech? " asked Goraki, as, just outside the tribunal, he met the indignant Borodin. "That is how I liked it," replied the young soldier, giving the traitor advocate at the same time a violent blow in the face. Gorski could, had he pleased, have complained to the Colonel-in-chief of Borodin's regiment. But the offioer who had jnst been oondemned to twenty years' exile was much liked by his brother officers, and Gorski knew well that it would be vain to look to anyof these for redress. Besides, he hated Borodin personally, and now more than ever ; and to hate a man thoroughly is to desire his death. He determined, therefore, that Borodin should die. He resolved, that is to say, to kill him. This it would be impossible to do except in a duel; and he accordingly, after returning Borodin's blow, challenged him to fight that evening in a lonely corner of the island of Basil. Eaoh was to be accompanied by a second ; and whilst Goraki took with him a military officer of his acquaintance, Borodin was attended by a senior student of the St Petersburg University. The antagonists, after what had occurred, could not but cordially detest one another. While, however, apart from all question of wounds or death, Gorski was only incurring the danger to which everyono fighting a duel exposes himself before the law, Borodin was moreover setting at nought the discipline of the severe, not to say cruel, servioe to which he belonged. But Borodin was not destined to be punished by his officers. The combatants were to fire at the same moment; and at the first discharge Borodin fell dead with a bullet in his brain. The student who had acted as his second was in despair. He at onoe gave himself up to the police, and this led, naturally, to the arrest of Gorski, and of the officer who had attended him. Poor Natalia was broken-hearted when she heard the verdict on her husband, and on the sentence being pronounoed she fainted away and was carried unconscious out of Court. An aide-de-camp of the Emperor waited npon her the same afternoon to inform her that, in consideration of her husband's distinguished services, the sentence passed upon him would be commuted to exile for seven years. But in the eyes of the newly-married wife, as devoted to her husband as Natalia was to Miliutin, seven years seemed an eternity. " If I could only be allowed to go to Siberia with him ! " This waß now her sole aspiration. "He shall not make the sad journey alone," Bhe said to herself. She would accompany him, if necessary, on foot ; and she would remain with him until the end of his term of banishment. Then they would either depart from the land of despotism altogether, or would remain far away from the central tyranny in Siberia, where.ifnowhereelseintheßusaianEmpire, i evenin themidst of prisoners, the free man is really free. But Natalia's prayer was not to be granted. Concessions enough had | already been made to her. It was felt that to allow the young wife to acoompany i her husband to his place of exile would be to turn a penitential pilgrimage into a pleasure-journey. Natalia, however, was resolved to aocompany him, or, if that should be impossible, to follow him as soon as possible after hiß departure. In her determination to pursue this course, Bhe felt ready, if necessary, to qualify herself for Siberia by committing Borne honourable crime— the publication, for instance, of a revolutionary pamphlet or the commission of some justifiable political homicide. If anyone in this world deserved killing it was that treacherous Gorski, who had so shamefully betrayed her husband. She had never liked Gorski. had never trusted him ; but how could it have been possible to oonceive

him capable of suoh villainy as he had in ; fact committed P He had gained the applause of the Court. Even Miliutin ' himself had given signs Of approval wfcen, i affecting to bo carried away oy his theme, ' the Judas-like advocate had pointed out i for punishment the man he should have i strained every nerve to save. What had > her husband really done P He had striven > to raise the moral and intellectual status ' of- the soldiers entrusted to his charge. i The books he had given them to read were i of an elevating, bnt aot for that reason, ■ aocording to the view of the Government, • of a revolutionary kind. And aow her husband was to pass the seven beat year 3 i of his life in Siberian exile, while his vile i defamer, tradaoer, betrayer, waa to remain i at St Petersburg, to profit by the reputa-' tion for eloquence that he had gained at i her husband's expense. Just then Natalia's maid, Masha, hurried i .in with a newspaper, whioh contained a i brief but sufficient account of the fatal duel between Gorski and Borodin. "The wretch has fought and has not , been killed! Is there-justice ia Heaven?" , she exolaimed. " Not only has he not 1 been killed, bnt he has slain Borodin*— a ■ better, braver man than himself; a ma^i ! who sincerely oared for me, and whom I i perhaps treated harshly. But' what etao i was to be done when I was given np, heart , and soul, to my adored Miliutin P Ar.d why did they fight ? I Bee it all : Borodin i understood the "-rretcfa. He saw ttu-ough ' him and hated him for his perfidy toi wards Miliutin, and for the injury, tbe cruel injury, he was. doing to me. But • Borodin," ahe said to herself, as she looked . once more at the newspaper—" the Borodin I knew, the Borodin that villain Gorski . knew, was a tutor; and this one waa a i soldier. Why oould he have enlisted P Had he not conceived, the last time I saw i him, some ambitious project P It was, , perhaps, for my sake that he joined the ! army." i Happily, perhaps, for her peace of mind, . Natalia did aot know, and was aot destined i ever to learn that it was through Borodin's L jealonsy of her husband that, in his blind , race, he first informed against him j the i subsequent denunciations being reaUy due, i aot to hiß owa initiative, bub to the pressure brought to bear npon him by the ■ terrible Third Seotion. Gradually, as she ' reflected on the matter, Borodin assumed ;. ia her eyeß the oharaoter of a hero, and Gorski appeared to her doubly a villain t . first and foremost for having betrayed , her husband, and secondly, for having , killed a tnaa devoted to her, who had ■ doublets been provoked to indignation by \ Gorsla's perfidy*. Colonel Miliutin waa to start on his : dreary journey in about a week* dnring ■ which time Natalia was permitted to «cc ; him every day. The sympathy felt forthe. young officer by St Petersburg . society— t including even the retrograde portion of i it— waa generall aad endeavours were ■ made in various quarters, since there could be ao question of a full pardon, to obtain for Natalia Milintin permission to : accompany her husband to Siberia. But i all in vain. The. answer given to ; everyone was the sufficiently plausible one ' that enough meroy had already been 1 shown. •' - ##• • • - Some weeks, some months passed. ! Miliutin was now half way oa his road to ; Irkutsk, the grave of Borodin was already [ covered with grass, and Gorski, after . undergoing a comparatively brief term of [ imprisonment, had beea Bet at liberty. . Dnring the whole period of his imprison-' , ment Gorski had never ceased to think of , the beautiful, enchanting Natalia. To ' what crimes his passion for tbis womaa [ had led him ! Aad aow, after he had got . her husband exiled, and had killed one of her most devoted admirers, his suit was no' more advanced than when, in the drawing- | room of her father, General Gontoharoff, he had gazed upoa her for the first time. t If Natalia knew the truth, if she was really aware that he had, of treachery and* | malice aforethought, so defended her has-* band that he was sure to be convicted, if, moreover, she had in aay -way, discovered that his mortal quarrel . with Borodin had its origin ia ' Borodin's knowledge of the shameful betrayal he had practised, theu hi. case would, bf course, be hopeless, aud Colonial Miliutin's wife would at onoe despise and loathe him. But he wonld assure her, he would swear to her by everything she held sacred, that he had defended her husband in all sincerity, and that if he had allowed himself to be carried away into aa imprudent bunt of passion, the origia of this purely tactical error waß the profound sympathy with which her husband's oaae :; had inspired him. If he had afterwards quarrelled with Borodin, the cause of their falling out was one which Natalia, of all ! persons ia the world, oould not ignore. It was Borodin who had firat informed against Colonel Miliutin; and Miliutin's wife could scarcely blame him if, ia hia just rage, he had provoked the spy, aad risking life against life, shot him dead ia a duel. This., as he himself would have cut it, was his case; aad with this case he resolved to go to Natalia and throw himself at her feet. One autumn afternoon, at sunset, Natalia Milintin waß gazing from the window of her house on the English quay upon the oold, bluißh waters of tbe fas£fiowing Neva, when a visitor was announced. " Who is it P" asked Natalia. « The man," stammered oot the footman, "the man, madame, you know. who " "What maa ? Has he no card P" . "Allow me to eater without further ceremony," said Gorski, who, forcing his way past the servant, walked into the drawing-room. " Great heavens ! you venture to oome here!" exolaimed Natalia ; "you who are the oause of my husband's conviction, • of his exile, of my despair 1 Leave the room," she added, turning to the servant, who, with an air of misgiving, slowly went away. "Listen to me, Natalia Ivanovna," cried Gorski. "I have beea misrepresented, calumniated— l, who would die to serve yon. It has been my misfortune not to be shot by Jihat villain Borodin, who, as fate wonld have it, fell by my hand. It would have been better had I fallen by his. He was aa informer and traduoer, and 1 slew him. Your husband waß a hero, and ia> stead of lessening the part he played I magnified it, and, inspired by my sympathy and admiration for him, exalted hia heroism." " I have nothing to do with your private quarrels," exolaimed Natalia, "Bat as regards my husband, you gave him deliberately into the hands of his enemies. Villain that you are, you purposely betrayed him." "Yon cut me to the heart, Natalia Ivanovna, by suoh bitter words," exclaimed the barrister. "If in the ardour of speeoh, I lost my head, had I not long before lost my heart P If he had been a stranger, I should have remained oalm; but knowing how dear he was to you, aad feeling how dear you have always been to me I oould hot restrain myself. I was full of indignation, and my indignation spoke in words of its own ; aad you bave notohe. atom of sympathy— not even of pity— for me." £ He approached her.aad made a gesture of seizing her hand, whioh she at onoe withdrew. " Keep off! Leave me," she exclaimed. She glanced at a richly-jewelled Circassian dagger lying on the table before her. It belonged to her husband, and she had been using it aB a paper-knife. Incapable of love, Gonkl nevertheless felt an -oTfltwhebi^^^oloii^i. tha

woman he had so deeply injured. He advanced towards her and, taking her by the band— -his touoh made her shudder as thongh she had oome in contact with some slimy reptile— he plaoed hia arm round her wait-t, and tried to imprint a kiss on her cheek, now soarlet wuh shame and anger. She seized tho dagger whioh, in his blind infatuation, Gorski had not perceived, and : stabbed him to the heart. Then she rang the bell, and on the servant appearing, pointed to the prostrate form of the advooate, and said, " Call the polioe." On the details -of the trial it would be needless to dwell. ,Tbe aot was not to be denied, and the prisoner, for reasons of her own, was not anxious to have it too completely justified. The bairister who defended her, without attempting to emulate the deoeased Gorski, made out*, so poor a ease for hiß client that it was impossible not to send her to Siberia; and four .'months afterwards Miliutin had the happiness of embraoin^ his wife in the top famous oity of exile, where he had now been appointed toa plaoe of some importance in the civil administration.