A Cigarette-Maker's Romance

of the room. Dumnoff lay like a log upon his pallet, his head thrown back, his mouth open, snoring with the strong bass v

een, certainly more so in his judgment than the visions of unlimited cabbage sou

o repair the damage done to his coat and collar before the earliest hour at which the messengers of good news could be expected at his house. Meanwhile he cared little whether he spent the night on a bench in the police-station, or on one of the rickety wo

d glass of the lantern was illuminated otherwise than by the little flame within. The high window,

esday at last!" A gentle smile spread over his tired face,

tinuous strain of sound, loud, clear and jubilant. The soft spring air seemed to awake, as though it had itself been s

he listened to the pleasant sounds, and then held one of his yel

er, as the Count knew better than any one else, Akulina would be rejoiced to hear of the misadventure which had befallen her enemy and would in no way hurry her husband upon his mission of justice. She would doubtless consume an unusual amount of time in the preparation of his coffee, she would presumably tell him that the milkman had not appeared punctually, and would probably asser

was as pleasant to sit still and think of the glorious things in the future, as to do anything else, until the great moment came. Here, at leas

iece of crumpled newspaper which held his tobacco. The supply was low, but he consoled himself with the bel

to be expected, the good man stated his intention of immediately procuring the Count's liberation, and was only prevailed upon with difficulty to taste his breakfast. One taste, however, convinced him of the necessity of consuming all that was set before him, and while he w

ht that he would pay you the fifty marks to-day, and, in my opinion, since he has been

ks to pay me?" inquired Fischel

ulina, triumphantly completing the vicious

ushed away his cup, rose an

Akulina, my love," he observed. "Y

lina. "But never mind, Christian Gregorovitch, your wife is

he police-station in the month of May seemed by no means such a terrible affair, certainly not a matter involving any great suffering to any one concerned. Moreover it could not be helped, a consideration which, when available, was a great favourite with the rotund tobacconist. Whatever the Count had done on the previous night, he said to himself, was done past und

icemen upside down in the public room of an eating-house. It was, indeed, reckoned as favourable to him that he had returned and submitted to being handcuffed without offering further resistance, but it might have gone hard with him if Fischelowitz had not procured the co-operation of a Munich householder and t

street together. Dumnoff had made off in the opposite direction, in search of breakfas

eresting day before me, I should not have slept if I had been at home. I have so much to think o

helowitz, serenely. "I suppose

ds without delay, or with as little delay as possible. My friends will in all probability arrive by the mid-day train and will, of course, come to me at once. An hour or so to talk over our affairs, and I shall then have leisure to come to you for a few moments and to settle that unfortunate affair. Not indeed, my dear Herr Fischelowitz, that I have ever held myself responsible for the dishonest young man who wore green spectacles. I was, inde

ner in which the promise was made. "But of course, Count, if anything should prev

emarks last night, I do consider binding upon my honour. And now, Herr Fischelowitz, with my best thanks for your intervention this morning, I will leave you. After the vi

equented street. Fischelowitz looked after him a few seconds, as though expecting that he w

g forth volubly in her thick, strong voice, giving her very decided opinion about the events of the previous evening, the Count, considered in the first place as a specimen of the human race, and secondly, as in relation to his

s been talking lately of getting a new workman from Vilna, and if he turns out to be all that we expect, why the Count may go about his business and we shall be left in peace at last. Indeed it is high time. My poor nerves will not stand many more such scenes as last night, and as for my poor husband, I believe he has lost as much money

the shop and the last wor

straight here, removing an empty one there, opening the till and counting the small change, and

ll night, and she found herself reviewing all the hideous visions of his cruel treatment which she had conjured up since the previous evening. Akulina of course hastened to say that Fischelowitz had lost no time in having the poor man set at liberty, and this at least was a relief to Vjera's great anxiety. But she wanted to hear far more than Akulina could or would tell, she longed

of her heart, she had also done something against the dignity of him she loved. She herself felt no superiority over Johann Schmidt; they were equals in every way. But she did feel, and strongly, that the Cossack was not the equal of the Count, and she reproached herself with having made a confidant of one beneath her idol in station and refinement. This feeling sprang from such a multiplicity of sources, as almost to defy explanation. There was, at the bottom of it, the strange, unreasoning notion of the superiority of one class over another by right of blood, from which no race seems to be wholly exempt, and which has produced such surprising results in the world. Poor Vjera had been brought up in one of those countries where that tradition is still strongest. The mere sound of the word "Count" evoked a body of impressions so firmly rooted, so deeply ingrained, as necessarily to influence her judgment. The outward manner of the man did the rest, his dignity under all circumstances, his uncomplaining patience, his unquestioning generosity, his quiet courtesy to every one. There was something in every word he spoke, in his every action, which

ts into a channel not always smooth indeed, but long familiar and never wearisome to follow. The stream emptied, it is true, into the dead sea of doubt, and each time, as she ended the journey of her fancy, she felt the cruel chill of the conclusion, as tho

e narrow room, trying to give it a feebly festive look in accordance with his own inward happiness. He would forget to eat, as he sat there, hearing the hours chime one after another, seeing the sun rise higher and higher until noon and watching the lengthening shadows of the chimneys on the roofs as day declined. More than all, she wondered what that dreadful moment could be like when, each week, he gave up hope at last, and saw that it had all been a dream. She had seen him more than once, towards the evening of the regularly recurring day, still confidently expecting the coming of his friends, explaining that t

much more to be earned. There were times when the demand was slack and when Fischelowitz would not keep his people at their tables for more than two or three hours in a day. They might occupy the rest of their time as they could, and earn something in other ways, if they were able. When those hard times came poor Vjera picked up a little sewing, paid for at starvation rates, Johann Schmidt turned his hand to the repairing of furs, in which he had some skill, and which is an art in itself, and Dumnoff varied his existence by exercising great economy in the matter of food without making a similar reduction in the allowance of his drink. Under ordinary circumstances Vjer

better than usual," remarked t

r. "I feel as though I had been ha

It is hard for a man of your constitution to be shut up day after day as you are here. A little bear-fi

the assembled company. "That is true-and then, those green cloth po

schelowitz, who was standing in the doorway. "If I had not got

observed Schmidt. "If he were

be asleep," said Dumnoff. "That

z. "You know there is to be an inquiry. I only hope you wil

n prison," answered Dumnoff, indif

lready explained at length, was so much s

in prison?" she aske

"always for that sort of thing-for upsetting somebody who did not want to be upset. It is a curious thing-I always do it in the

always the same people

mething to do with it." The ex-

in prison?" asked Vjera rather

asantly. Of course, one is not always as comfortabl

exclaimed the g

y and clean and well furnished-rather hard beds, I believe, though I scarcely noticed them. We smoked and ta

hat she was going to say something foolish. "I though

seemed so natural and had been in her mind a long time. It was an immense relief, however, to know that things had no

expected for several hours. But to-day he did not come, to-day when Vjera would have given heaven and earth for a sight of him. Never, in her short life, had she realised how slowly the hours could limp along from sunrise to noon, from noon to sunset, never had the little spot of sunlight which appeare

ht. When we are absorbed in work, in study, in the production of anything upon which all our faculties are concentrated, we say that the time passes qu

e slow rise in the pile of paper shells before her and comparing it with that produced by the girl at her elbow, longing for the moment when she would see the freshly-made c

seemed as though the accidents of the night had made it by con