Show we have ca antea all that hertert herliert quick andl ana elena mac malion copyright by the bobbs bobb merrill co service CHAPTER XIII I 1 22 when influence failed mrs krassin rose next morning her usual self pres presiding ling with no alon ailitto as to her reent recent absence over the russian hus breakfast of coffee and bread an and 4 butter which as yet in the kras gras household did not lack the old a id multiplicity of tasty laity appetizers rs distributed trl tri buted about the table shi now felt a lofty sense 0 of victory in that her prayers her schemes her vigils and her ber labors had provided for ilyas liberation and already her eyes were shut as to the price which she fejt had been paid that was something which must be burled in an oblivion among those darker bilings which she accepted as a part of the life of every family and ever every y person there was the necessity for t the be mental dental that that anything had ever or would ever happ happen ell i that was all she knew of auls movements and an 1 I of her appearance when she had re turned she would not allow herself to recognize the fi of feeling sorry she looked over the silver and crys tal service still preserved to them with her old interest and directed the movements of the servants with her usual calm a authority ut hority god was in his heaven all was well with the world ilya was fafel M fa idd ad not expected to see her m mother ott ier at bre breakfast rind and paused whan she saw her as if to return to th her room so averse was she to her society but an impulse impelled her to enter and take her usual seat which ste she did with a cool nod to her mother instead of thetis the usual ual kiss on the cheek she would show flint she could still innocently took look anyone in the face she ehe thou thought glit she did not suspect that her mother knew of her movements last evening and she was incapable of realizing we the thoughts in mrs airs K arns ras sins mind in any case since she could not mot conceive that tier her mother could believe what was in the older womans comans mind mrs airs krassin was talkative in the manner of one one who keeps up a conversation to gloss over some unpleasant occurrence in comparison with her recent grief and gloom she was in good food spirits she looked her pleasant est but noticed how white her hair was becoming the subjects upon which they could converse ver s e were curi curiously limited NIU ausla sta did not speak unless speed speech were imperatively ively called for and the lead ip in conversation fell to her mother and mrs krassin could not speak of 1 ilya I ya since that approached a matter upon which she and bluff ausla could not with propriety engage in c conversation isia how queer she Is thought alusha she hod had at tim times es felt a strong dis als like and almost an enmity toward hp her mother but bui this was the most disrespectful ful which she ha had dever ever permitted to enter her thoughts cons con berning her tor for ausla too was a crea creature turL of the conventions of her circle but curiously elou enough gh she gaye to her mother very little attention attention or thou thought glit tier her mind kept recurring to loris whom every everi moment she told herself she desired of all persons most to forget forgetting seemed se emed simple at first it if it were not for ilya 11 a it was like tearing from a book a page filled wath low disgusting dishonorable things but her mind kept returning to fo matters matter conn connected eted with loras als with which an lly ilyas deliverance had nothing to do in spite of her mothers con constant staat stream of talk she heard over find and over every word he be had salt said to her saw every gerture felt every touch and the blood rushed to her cheeks mrs Krass ln who avis was watching her every change of expression saw the blush and looked away slie she did not cot know that hat the cause odthe blush was inward embarrassment by the tact fact that even in the hu cumilla hum milla llla tion to which she had been subjected glib ehe found a certain pleasure she liked to remember the pressure of loris arm about tier her waist the cibrano diones of his I 1 voi voice ceas as he plead ed for tier her loye love th the touch louch pt of his lips to hers the fact that he had mastered her lia the little princess win borevskaya borov borovs koya calme came in bubbling over with news before their late breakfast v was 8 s 0 over ve r and alusha not curing to I 1 listen i s t e n vo to her excused herself and went out of the room my dear cousin the princess exclaimed as soon as ausla had gone tile the have hake finally finalli gone beyond their limit even their limit I 1 am sure this will bring them to the end of their rope what la Is the new trouble asked I 1 airs krassin politely 1 I 1 thought t they hey had committed every imaginable atrocity long ago Is there anything new I 1 well said the princess 1 I could not of course mention this before but in the province of they have proclaimed the r tion of women Is 1 what can you yon mean ill I 1 ejaculated mrs kra krassan Krass sin ln kiy dear half whispered the little cousin with a glance at the door 1 I tell it before bedfor gusfa but in that province they have done what I 1 have said proclaimed mea the nationalist tion of at women any woman in the street or anywhere else to whom a bolshevik takes a i fancy he may take it makes make s no dif difference different ferenc e whether she to la married or not he may take oer her and or of course there Is no such thing us as marriage it 1 I think it la Is a canard saad airs krassin Krass ln no no I 1 persisted the princess contending for tile the truth of tills this rumo w which aich was so widely circulated no not t only over russia but all over the lie world this decree la is actually I 1 la rl effect in Sa 1 mrs airs krassin did not wish to believe it she was in the mental position of one who controls valanne holdings in mines lands machinery or ot or er things precious when the ne news AV 9 of possible confiscation Is bruit bruised bruited ed abroad the princess could not understand der stand why her cousin had sud suddenly deril y become incredulous as to any rumor attributing new enormities to the bol and tactfully changed the subject and let me ask about poor ilya said she hove you received auy any news since I 1 last saw not for two days replied air mrs M kr krassan Krass assin ln but I 1 hope he will soon be out of prison low how happy you make met exclaimed the princess 1 I 1 have my reasons continued atm aam krassin cryptically for expecting his early release I 1 now that the kressin house was so far as possible itself again after thet the days of mrs airs seclusion her friends were coming and going at all times of the day the little princess stayed a long time discussing with vis igors the fate of ilya which was the treat great question in all minds and was waa now more interesting than ever ausla passed most of her time in her own room to her ilyas fate had passed beyond copt control rol it afis was in loris hands dut but what about herself she had fully decided that it was not possible for her to continue living with her in mother oiher if things were only as they used to be she said to her herself delt she would without n word to her mother go to some friend oi or relative in moa altos caw cow or petrograd Petro grad for refuge but as things were now such a journey was to her mind out of the question what could she do she wished she were a man ann how freely would she he venture her life for her codil country try and tile the 0 old id order of things which seemed the oni only S safe and proper thing for her country she would fight the tha bolshevist and she resolved in tier her mind the he irony of fate which offered her no refuge save with that strange handsome ex tra ordinary and she always added repulsive enemy of her class loris tile the commissar alasin knew little of what transpired from day to day in her mothers reception room there was a change in the atmosphere in kazan one morning a change felt by the ragged waits sleeping in the parks barks a change which brought more jewels to the auction for exchange for clothing and fuel the golden leaves were gone from the trees now and a north wind prophesied of winter with plague and typhus 0 there was a new atmosphere too in mrs Kras krastins sins reception room n an ominous change felt by every one but the hostess herself she was calm and more cheerful than she had been since ilyas imprisonment when colonel boyarsky came in she greeted him cordially but did not as had been her eastern custom ask him for news of ilya though he had bad been her chief intelligence officer filcer in the past slie now she led in the tha making of fore casts and they were all optimistic she repeated to the colonel what she hn had donly only a day or so before told her cousin the princess that she had every reason for believing that ilyo ilya by reason of influence exerted in ills his favor in quarters which she could not disclose would very soon be liberated it was wa sonly only a matter of a very brief time she felt sure it might be today even I 1 jtb TO BE CONTINUED |