A Cigarette-Maker's Romance

proportion as he was more intelligent, and though of a very different temper, by no means averse to a fight if it came into his way. He had foresee

as quickly as he could where there were many people and running at the top of his speed through such empty by-str

owitz should have come himself, though he managed to live on very good terms with Akulina. Though far from tac

he door wide after she had recognised the Cossack in the feeble lig

appear as calm and collected as possible. "I would like t

me yet. I left h

Schmidt had turned and was running down the s

the hand-rail on the landing. "What in

l," answered the man, sudde

held her head a little on one side. She

about anything, you are uncommonly brisk with your feet. If it is o

atching his head. "But this is rather

some money, I suppose," sugg

see Schmidt's face better now, as he looked up to her, facing the gaslight that burned above her own head. Having been violently angry not more than an hour or two earlier, her nerves were not altogether calmed, and the memory of the scene in the shop was still vividly present.

he inquired, just as Schmidt

ssume a doubtful tone of voice. "I beli

herself, proud of

And he has made some troubl

hmidt, turning and ascending a few

a glass of tea. Fischelowitz will be at home in a few minutes, and you see I have guessed half your story, so you may as well tell me the other half and be done with it. It is of no use for you to go to the shop afte

to wait for him in his house, and so the Cossack reluctantly accepted the invitation, which, under ordinary circumstances, he would have regarded as a great honour. Akulina ush

uble some day. I suppose people cannot help behaving oddly when they

He has had one of his

ld have seen him and heard him in the shop this e

d he do

y and soul together! It is enough to irritate the seven archangels, Herr Schmidt, indeed it is! And then at the same time there was that dreadful Gigerl, and my head was splitting-I am sure there will be a thunder-storm to-night-altogether, I could not bear it any longer, and I actually upset the Gigerl out of anger, and it rolled to the floor and was broken. Of course it is very foolish to lose o

o had listened attentively, "he did n

once in a year or so. It is very wearing on the nerves. Every Tuesday evening begins the same old song about the for

tead of coming home?" asked the Cossack, finishing the glass of tea,

a good husband he is, and what a good man-though I daresay you know that after being with us so many years. Now, I am sure that if he

ith a quiet smile and shredded a fresh piece of lemon into it and filled it up agai

serious, is it? I daresay the Count has told you that he would not work any more for us, and you are anxious to arrange the mat

ed Schmidt, with a glitter in his

the truth,

is, as we were at supper, a man at another table saw the Gigerl in

hen?" asked Akulina

de a great deal of trouble and at last the police were called in, and I came to get Herr Fisc

they have arre

e concerned would be tak

d t

ir is cleared up, they wil

real or affected horror. "Poor Count! He will be quite c

ed Schmidt in a tone of decision. "He

ght look for him at the Café Luitpold, and if he is not there, it is just possible that he may have looked in at the G?rtner Platz Theatre, for which he often has free tickets, and if the performance is ove

said you were quite sure he was coming ho

et, in considerable anxiety and has

oyed with me for being sharp with the Count, he may have gone somewhere without

ll tell him, will you not? Thank you, and good-night, Fra

tell him that her last speech was not merely founded on a supposition, since Fischelowitz had really been very much annoyed and had declared that he would not come home but would spe

is chief idea seemed to be to gain his living quietly, owing no man anything, nor refusing anything to any man who asked it. This last characteristic, more than any other, seemed to prove the possibility of his having been brought up in wealth and with the free use of money, for his generosity was not that of the vulgar spendthrift who throws away his possessions upon himself quite as freely as upon his companions. He earned enough money at his work to live decently well, at least, and he spent but the smallest sum upon his own wants. Nevertheless he never had anything to spare for his own comfort, for he was as ready to give a beggar in the street the piece of silver which represented a good part of the value of his day's work as most rich people are to part with a penny. He never inquired the reason for the request of help, but to all who asked of him he gave what he had,

nected with the Gigerl's first appearance in the shop had been of a nature to irritate Akulina still more. The dislike nourished in her stout bosom through long months and years now approached the completion of its development, and manifested itself as a form of active hatred. Akulina was delighted to learn that there was a prospect of the Count's spending the night in the police-s

e to time, upon some merry company assembled in a warm room under a brilliant light, the anxious search among the guests for the familiar figure, the disappointment, as each fancied resemblance shows, on near approach, a fac

or shut and the whole house was dark. Nevertheless, he pulled the little handle upon which, by the aid of a flickering match, he discovered a figure of three, corresponding to the floor occupied by Fischelowitz. Again and again he tugged vigorously at the brass knob until he could hear the bell tinkling far above. No other sound followed, however, in the silence of the night, though he strained his ears for the faintest echo of a distant footfall and the slightest noise indicating that a window or a door was about to be opened. He wondered whether Fischelowitz had come home. If he had, Akulina had surely told him the story of the evening, and he would have been heard of at t

on the distant rising ground, the voices of greeting, the bubbling of the soup kettle, the grateful rest, the song of the wandering Tchumák-the pedlar and roving newsman of the Don. He remembered on holidays the wild racing and chasing and the sports in the saddle, the picking up of the tiny ten-kopek bit from the earth at a full gallop, the startling game in which a row of fearless Cossack girls join hands together, daring the best rider to break their rank with his plunging horse if he can, the mad laughter of the maidens, the snorting and rearing of the animal as he checks himself before the human wall that will not part to make way for him. All these things he recalled, the change of the seasons, the iron winter, the scorching summer, the glory of autumn and the freshness of spring. Born to such a liberty, he had fallen into the captivity of a common life; bred in the desert, he knew that his declining years would be spent in

ching in the night. Still he sat upon his doorstep, watching star after star as it slowly culminated over the narrow street and set, for him, behi

ieving, indeed, that the newcomer could be the man he wanted, but anxious to be fully satisfied that he was not mistaken. He found himself face to face with a young girl, who stopped at the street door of the tobacconist's hous

ng," he said, quietly.

med the girl in eviden

are you doing here at this hour of the n

ss. "Oh, if we cannot get in here, come with me, for the love of Heaven, and help

reason why I am here. I was with them when it happened and I ra

affair and told of his own efforts. Vjera

hat is to be done?" She wrung her hands t

ere is nothing to be

ey will drive him mad in that dreadful place-he is so proud and

They assured me that he was treated with every consideration, you know.

a's tone expressed no c

eally suspected of anything serious-only,

e him up-of course we can. He cannot be sleeping so soundly as not to hear

d not. I ha

would come and letting it fly back again with a snap. The same results followed as when Schmidt had mad

aid her companion, leaning his back agai

t to do

, Vj

to you or to any of the rest,

d Schmidt, surprised beyond measure by the girl's wor

eady led into saying more than she had

n a musing tone. "But he is mad, Vjera, the poor Coun

cried Vjera, imploring him to be silent

imself, "there are things that go beyond all imagination in t

equest. But as she tugged with all her might at the brass

der. "Poor child! I am very sorry for you, poor Vjera-I would do an

" answered the girl in a shaken voice.

ad out of the window, which is much the same thing so far as we are concerned. By the bye, Vjera,

some one in the crowd and learned the story. But it was late when he came home, and he told us-I was si

ing up the flat walls of the house

together," suggested Vjera, drawing back into the middle of th

n a shrill, weak tone that seemed

k, taking up the idea and putting it into very effective execution

he observed and cleared his

of the yell, two or three windows were angrily opened. A

f the night?" asked the owner of

who lives in this house," a

here? Are y

only

ain with a vicious slam. A grunt of satisfaction from other directions was f

back of the house," said Vjer

ly conscious that the noise he had made would have di