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Show -I J.l I Jl i y H' ' V We i Have 1 Changed j I Al! That t Ey Herbert Quick and J Elena Stepanoff Mac Mahon j t Copyright by 1 f The Bobbs-Merrill Co. "WXU Service j THE STORY Commissar Vilinsky's Soviet squad invades the home of Kras-sin, Kras-sin, aristocrat at Kazan. Vil-insky Vil-insky insults the daughter, Mu-sia. Mu-sia. Commissar Loris is urged to confiscate the home. The family consists of J udg-e Krassin, Mrs. Krassin, Ilya, former officer, and Musia. Vladimir, former officer, is Mu sin's fiance. Mrs. K rassin expresses fear for her son's safety. safe-ty. Ilya recognizes in Vilinsky a former dishonest steward. Mrs. Krassin conducts Vilinsky in an inspection of the home and contrives con-trives that he shall not see Ilya. The commissar brutally insults Musia. Mrs. Krassin's thoughts are all of Ilya. Musia feels herself her-self defenseless. CHAPTER V Continued What was to become of her? For the first time in her lite she faced peril. or the first time in her life she pondered deeply her place In the world, and her family und its place. In a way, she knew about her father and her mother. She knew that on her mother's side they were a great family the Vaturlins; and that her mother had married the man fho was known ii all the conversations of her great relatives merely as "this Mr. Krassin," who was only a member of the small nobility. It was difficult to think of the solid plain lady who was hei mother, as a little sir); but yet she had the aid of a pastel hieh hung on the walls of this very room : a picture of Mrs. Krassin Kras-sin as a child in a low-necked, sleeveless sleeve-less dress, with ll::ht brown hair hanging down ner back, and a narrow blue ribbon across her forehead, and with a small dog in her hands and a slightly frightened look in her eyes Mrs. Krassin at thirteen. Now, with the "rightened look occasionally returning, re-turning, she had always been an inevitable in-evitable sort of person, who married "this Mr. Krassin" because other suitors did not sue, and she wished to be emancipated. She had controlled her marriage, her worldly affairs, all her life, with a virile grasp, enormously enormous-ly proud of her wealth, her power, her rank, her family. A hard woman, but with ore absorbing passion, her love for Ilya her son a passion which Ilya seldom suspected ; for her every soft impulse was in the list of Mrs. Kras-sin's Kras-sin's secrets. The only strong person in the family and she had not resented re-sented it when Vilinsky had done that. What, then was to become of . her, Musia, In this earthqiuke of society? As the night wore on, these reflections reflec-tions and the passage of time left her calmer. He was not coming tonight. Her mother, searching for her, finally came and found her daughter alseep by her father's door. She genlly stroked Musia's hair, remembering her as a pretty toddling babe, when she prattled her first words and what those words were. And then she remembered re-membered Low as she grew taller, they had grown apart as the barriers of character and custom separated the older woman from the budding one. A sudden access Oi affection rolled over Mrs. Krnssin's soul as she looked down at the pretly head and face, so . innocent In sleep, at the graceful form and the slim hands as If in anxiety In her lap and she thought of Vilinsky. Vilin-sky. She stooped and gently kissed Musia's forehead. The girl started up screaming. "Do uot awaken your father, Maroosia," said Mrs. Krassin, standing erect. "I I was frightened," whispered Musia. "I thought some one kissed me." "I am the only one here," said her mother. "I must have been dreaming," said Musja. Mrs. Krassin walked quietly into her husband's room and looker! down upon him sleeping. Much gentler was she than usual, as she led the girl to her room and rold her it was time for her to be asleep. "I an afraid to be alone," said M usia. Mrs. Krassin lay on a chaise-longue by the bed and held the young girl's hand. Musia slept will) long quivering quiver-ing sigl s. The sun at last shone in at the window. Quietly she arose, looked down at the girl for a moment, and tiptoed from the room. CHAPTER VI Love and Conspiracy One evening In 11)20, In Vladivostok, an American talked with a Russian noblewoman. She had fled from her Russian home on loot, had walked for weeks, a vncrant, shelterless, often foodless; had caught rides on Siberian railway trains, stowed away in freight cars, or parching on their roofs from a Sybarite to ft tramp! She had become a nurse for Kolt- chnk's army, amid the most horrible conditions of lack of supplies, organization organ-ization and skilled personnel and a mortality which was terrible. She had gone ragged and dirty, and for weeks had not had even a change of underclothing. Her clothes fell away bit by bit. As her stockings wore off at the toes, she cut them off and sewed them up until they were gone and a fellow refugee asked her, after a glimpse below her skirts, where she had obtained her nice, white stockings; stock-ings; and was thrown a bit of American Ameri-can slang derived from Red Cross workers in the Information that they' were her birthday hose. She had worked for the American Red Cross as interpreter, typist, clerk and translator; for she knew Russian, Polish, French and Italian as well as English, and she couid coax wonderful wonder-ful music from the tuneless piano in the Red Cross barracks In Vladivostok. She had lost father, njother, brothers, sister and fiancee, and was now, in what was left of at old ball dress, dancing absorbedly to the jazz music of an American warship's band in the long hall in the barracks. "I constantly marvel," said he, "at the way you refugees mauage to enjoy en-joy yourselves." "Well," said she, smiling up at him, "one can't be always weeping!" So it was with the Krassins: they had already acquired the resiliency of those w-ho walk daily in peril ; and after "the te-ror by night" had passed them, and their little group had gathered gath-ered as usual under Mrs. Krassin, their general, they were in lather better bet-ter spirits than usual. A peril had passed them by. They had not been notified to quit their house. Another in t'i&rW& Vladimir Had Asked for Musia, and Had Gone to Her. day had come. Mrs. Krassin especially espe-cially was in a cheerful frame of mind; for Vladimir had asked for Musia, and Lad gone to her where she sat surrounded by her peculiar household house-hold gods, in a room which was half a study, half a sitting room, the central cen-tral feature of which was great piano, with harp and guitar at hand, and statues, engravings and rare porcelains por-celains scattered about. The selection selec-tion and arrangement spoke of a craving for variety and a restless mind. .Mrs. Krassin had decided long ago, when Musia and Vladimir were children, chil-dren, t' at the two distant cousins were to be married. Both families cherished the wish for the alliance. Mrs. Krassin had never talked to Musia about this, thinking it better to endeavor by indirect and Invisible means to bring the event about, so that It would seem to happen In the natural course of things. For a year or so past, she had begun to feel a sense of disappointment and irritation because these plans were so slow in coming to fruition ; hut she looked upon a talk with Musia as u last resort. re-sort. She had a feeling that she might encounter in her daughter something some-thing tending toward rebellion; and saying to herself, "You never can tell beforehand how things will turn out with Musia." she declined to put the affair to the test of an issue, like the cautious diplomat which she prided herself upon being. (TO HE CO.NTIXL'KD.) |