Show we flava changed all T that hat V herbert quick and ena mac mahon copyright by the bobbs dobbs merrill co service CHAPTER XIII continued 23 the colonel was d 1 and gloomy lie ile made several atten apts to say sonell ing to mrs but as it if in elf defense sl at e intern pied and led the conversation off on lines more cheerful than sl e hoped to hear bear fr in one looking so depressed depies dept essed sed s n was innocent not even the B aishe viki would do such a thing as to pun ish him and even the bolshevik were susceptible to influence the colonel whispered to the pr mess 1 I 1 0 gi ew pale as she looked at her li it cousin I 1 have received certain aaion about ilya s slid iid he at last in a voice ole nv which alb sl h hue tv e v waned at i ed sirs kr iris is sin the 1 13 k uon ur on I 1 is case very seriously serious lv I 1 am atrill atral I 1 ta tie e e d Is not riot certain to be as tuo rable as you seem to tl ink A ush settled over tt if e comi coral any tl ti e princess knew the rest un derst od he ile mav be sentenced the c I 1 ne nel 1 went on to a severe puntal ment to I 1 0 ciany years in prison I 1 do not think so said mrs kras sin with her most niost superior sm sin ie I 1 may confide in you that I 1 have the best of reasons for thinking that this commissar loris Is not so blood alir tl ir ty we hive have been to believe and that he Is interesting himself in ilya s case if so and I 1 do not think I 1 ige the situation tl vat at would seem the decisive factor there R was as deep pity in the colonels face as he be gaved upon her during th s and when ben ale had ended he looked about at the others as it if for aid tn in disel arbing irging I 1 Is sant task 1 I am sorry to have to say said he at last that his intervention even if he is acting as you believe Is not certain to be successful the sailors I 1 ave charge charle of the prisoners and they are ravening beasts I 1 sirs mrs brakins kras sins hind hand went to her heart and she turned deadly pile pale bu but she persisted I 1 am positive said she tint that all it will come out I 1 ira im positive bild the colonel with immense gravity that ilya Is sentenced to death mrs krassin Is started to her feet the purple mounted up from under her jabot and formed deep spots in her cheeks her 1 and land performed its old gesture of perplexity but clinging in desperation to her sole hope she made her tier last protest I 1 have reasons she half halt whis through livid lips for bellev in ins in success then as she felt the hopelessness the she saw in tt tl e faces around sl st e ut at an exclamation of which they poke spoke afterward with wonder onder where Is that musia I 1 my dear said her old cousin tt stepping epping to her side and putting her itam about mrs krass n s v g alst the only thing for us to do is to pray to god godl the miserable mother understood at last 1 all her prayers all her schemes all her vigils all tier her bids for dis honor were in vain nobody who saw her then will ever forget her whole fice face grew purple and then bluish pale with a pallor like that of death with a gesture terrible in its tragedy she lifted her hands and shrieked mv G dl d I 1 he ile Is dead I 1 then she toppled down like a tower falling in an earth quake and fell drawing down the lit tie princess with her and lay like a corpse cortice it was the princess who told musia it was as thought best not to take the news to judge krassin because any shock they had been advised might be fatal to him A great wave of forgiveness and compunction swept over musia wien she saw her mother so tragic was her condition though mrs krassin had recovered her senses she lay in her tied bed with ith no more expression on her face than a mask might display mush stepped softly to the bed and stooped over it mammy 1 she whispered slowly as it if with ith great difficulty mrs krassin turned her eyes on her daughter and held them there tor for 4 amment ib ment as if to make sure that she ad recognized her tl TI e small red ind sh eyes were bloodshot and heavy and musia thought that her mother 0 kid id not realized who it was who had coken to her but suddenly the face flushed and the eyes narrowed with hate bate it s your fault I 1 she gasped Y you on murdered himl him I 1 you might have saved himi him I 1 I 1 will rill never forget or for give miserable 1 CHAPTER XIV the decision of the fates the families of the executed execute a were not at to receive their bodies but tin th chanting of requiems in the cathedrals in memory of the dead was by the bolshevik authorities found herself the eole sole representative senta tive of the krassin family to at tend these observances for her moth er was as still confined to her bed the this girl listened to the lofty music the sad hymns ale sl e looked at the priest in their black velvet and silver robes fixed her eyes on the little black altar of tl 11 e requiem re in 1 the mi im IBI 1st of the church with its forest of wax candles about the crucifix looked into the eyes of the dark paintings of the saints on tl ti e walls and felt only a dumb wonder onder that the lives of these innocent people tor for whom rhom the world might have hel bel I 1 I 1 at a should have been taken and her 0 on n R wrecked life preserved pres ened and all this in a world ruled by an all powerful and just god she I 1 ad gone through all this before tl ti e priests announced tl tt e requiems of tt tie e slaves of god ila a and bladl mir ar at d even tl ti en sl e listened almost indifferently other mourners mou mout iners ners cried several w n en fail fed ted I 1 bauh felt a fleeting sensation of shame at her on onn lm is city in the midst of gr ef et she could not join in them though ale st e blought tl ought in a remote way tl ti at sl st e understood the feelings from vv I 1 ich they c cime ime SIP felt ash imd im d thit that all the time she w wis is tl lal ng of herself the wreck wred of I 1 ei life the perils to which she was exposed in this new and sav afee age s lety I 1 er b ater gr es qu te abi ua A from tl it e deaths of ilya and N ali 1 in r 1 sl I e I 1 to fix her mind on ilya and her tt tf igl igi ts began to dwell on her tier old liely dis iab with him the p events he if use I 1 to send her their ap 1 14 az IN dee I 1 am positive she said that all will come out right tittle little secrets these things brou brought ht the tears to her eyes these and the thought in all the world now there was as no one who cared foi her tier as ilya had done she could not think of her mother lying stricken at home instead of be tag bg here at the chanting of the requiem ulem the thought was too bitter she d velt on the memory of bladl mir his budding love for her her ten der feelings toward him and she found herself drav araking ving pictures of life with vladimir in his house in I 1 etro grad of the luxury of going to balls theaters and operas with him him of their great estates of the children growing up about tl em all in safety that v as the thing thin lost safety how flow desolate it made her to feel that there were no n ore estates no more of thit that large I 1 beral old life but only people gone wild and mad who hunted the aristocrats like wild vold beasts and she musia was so young and had so long to live I 1 she spent her time at home la in a corner of her room thinking brood ing the sound of guns came to her ears in dull distant explosions for days before her cousin he flie princess told her that there was fighting about kazan that the wounded were car ried in truck loads through the streets and that tl it e epidemic of typhus was growing worse every day we thought the day before yester day said the princes prince qs in her gossipy arv as if speaking about a party or a play that the bolshevik were go ing to be driven out but colonel Boyar boyarsky sly says that the whites have had to fall back one can scarcely hear the bring firing today but their end will come all we have to do is to 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