LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1679, 8 July 1879, Page 3

LITERATURE.

♦ PEINOE KAMOUTSINE'S WAGER. How the Governor or St. Petersburg's Nephew Dahced at His Uncle's Bael. From tho " New York World." ( Concluded.) ' Yes—ye«, of course. Bless my sonl, bow you have changed; I'd never have known yon. Yon must be worn out ' ' I have travelled seventy-two hours without resting, so as to reach you the sooner,' VI. Poor fellow—come and have a cup of tea. I was just at breakfast. Your aunt is still in bed. You know we give a ball to-night.' ' A ball; I didn't know it; but in travelling costume I can't'— * Didn't you bring your dress with you V ' Of course, but it is in the baggage I left behind me when I pushed on.' ' Well, then, we'll order one from the | tailor's and it'll be ready this evening. St. t Petersburg is different from Odessa, you ] know,' and the worthy Governor led his j pseudo nephew to the dining room, where 1 Kamoutsine had not to be bidden twice to < attack the viands and tea. < * Dear Lord 1' said the General, gazing < fondly on the young man, ' how you have 1 changed ! I should never have known you, ] and yet in profile you are the very image of your poor mother.' | 'So they have always said, uncle; but of i course, I cannot decide that point.' ] ' No, no ;of course, not. The last me I j saw you. you were a young shaver just the j height of this table—five years old, I think,' ; ' Four years and) eight months I was j uncle.' - 1 'So you were, so you were. I recolleot i now. And you great aunt Elizabeth ?' ' Pray exouse me, uncle, but I am dead 1 'tired. Three nights' travelling, as -I told you? * Why, of course, and I was an old aas not to remember it. Your room is ready; go ] and take a good sound sleep.' 1 1 And what if I sleep all day, as I feel i very much like doing at this instant?' ' Never mind how long you sleep, so long aa you are ready for the ball to-night. Give your clothes to the servant; he will take them . 1 to the tailor and have a dress suit built for tonight." ; ] VII. j < In his room and in bed, Kamoutsine drew . < from his pocket book beneath, his pillow a i letter he had received two days before and . the oo'<tents of which had inspired him with < the idea of the part he was now playing. < *We had no erd of fun,' wrote a fellowguardsman, from Moscow, ' with a nephew of the Governor fresh from Odessa. Some of ! our fellows have plucked him at ecarte and as he lost nv>re money than he had with him < he has placed himself in pawn till hia re- ( mittances arrive from Odessa. He has a ] mortal terror of his distinguished relative at < St. Petersburg, whom he has never seen i since the days of his innocent childhood, and < would sooner die than let the old gentleman know he haa gotten into a scrape. We visit < him regularly and feed his terror with in- i geniius romances. At the way the mails go 1 I fancy we have ten days' good fun with him before us ere he receives his remit- i tances.' ' In ten days.' said Kamoutsine to himßolf, as he tranquilly refolded tho paper. *I j shall be—in Siberia, probably. Meanwhile let mo sleep.' i He slept soundly, and at dinner-time had ] his meal sent to his room under pretext of i fatigue, then dressing himself leisurely in 1 the suit provided for him, and which even 1 he admitted was quite a passable fit, he seated himself at the window to which the carriages drive up and pour upon tho recep- i tion platform a torrent of velvet, satin, silk, ( lace, jewels, and uniforms; he heard the < clashing of plate and porcelain in the supper 1 room and reflected sadly that he should not bo among the banqueters ; then he heard the i orchestra tuning np, and on the stroke of ten there was a tap at the door, and a servant entered to say, with his Excellency's compliments, that it was time to go down to the ball-room. VIII. Down the red cloth-covered staircase went Kamoutsine with leisurely pace befitting a member of the family, and entered the salon - just as the strains of the National Anthem announced the arrival of the Emperor. With , one rapid glance he singled out the Countess j Damerof, who, somewhat pale and a trifle uneasy, kept h«r eyes fixed upon the grand entrance and obtained from his uncle the honor of a presentation, The Countess . bowed but did not beßtow a glance on the young provincial ; her eyes were in search of a guardsman. As the last notes of the anthem died . away, the orchestra struck up a waltz by Strauss. . : 1 Permit the General's nephew to claim the execution of your promise,' said the Prince, whirling the stupefied Countees away. ' Bless me, how odd you look in mufti, said tho yonng woman, with a burst of laughter, to her partner, though he felt her tremble as she recognised his voice. Bound the great salon they went aud at every turn Kamoutsine encountered the as- . tonished eyes of an acquaintance who had recognised him, and a perfecly audible babble and laugh began to run through the hall. As the Prince led his partner back to her seat ho pressed lightly the tips of her fingers are whispered, ' I have won my wager and will claim the forfeit whenever the authorities permit mo.' The Countess blushed but made no ' answer. ' I risked my head, as you did mo the honor to remark last night; of course, you will pay ? ' ' I will try, if it is anything in reason.' ' I will be generous,' he answered with a smile 'good-bye.' He bowed and hurried away, but on his passage toward the door was seized by the General and hurried toward the Minister of Police. ' Permit me, your Excellency,' said the General, 'to present my nephew from Odessa, and commend him to your good offices ' ' Delighted, I'm Bure,' murmured the Minister mechanically, but ere he had glanced at the General's protege, Kamoutsine was lost in the crowd. ' Excuse his rudeness, but he's a little countrvfied.' said the General, apologetically.

(At that instant a soared leaking A. D. 0. hurrried np to tho Minister and stammered ' Your Jtticellency, the Emperor wishes to .- ', see yon—Bis Majesty ia furious I' • Kamoutsiae is here V said the Emperor ifi a tone the vsry reverse of amiable when the Minister resided his presence. ' Ton Majesty, irit possible? t ' Kamoutsine is Sera, I tell J&a. Arrest him immediately and find out who-presented him,' The Minister hurried: to the General.' ' Kamoutsine ia here—have him arested.' ' Kamoutsine T Who is ."Xamontsine T ' The young man that wat banished; Be quick about it. The Emperor is wild I' 'Great; Heavens!' cried the host, lifting his hands in horror, ' and this my first ball!' Kamoutsine is here !' he shouted to the first official he oould find. • Arrest fiim and find' out who dared to bring him here-' The official hurried away and gave the alarm. * Kamoutsine I' Where's Kamoutsine ?' ' Have you see Kamontsine ?' became | the general cry. '1 saw him waltzing with the Countess Datnerof," said Bomebody. X. They sought out the Countess. ' Madame, you were waltzing with Kamcuteine. The Emperor is raging ! who brought him hero ?' 'I didn't, bless the Emperor's heart, and as for dancing the only living being I have danced with to-night was the Governor's nephew, a young gentleman from Odessa. \ Oh, here ib the Governor! General, didn't you introduce your nephew to me ?' 'Certainly, hut It isn't my nephew we're talking about—it's Kamontsine I want to find. The Emperor is fairly beside himself. Who brought him here ?' The Countress shrugged her white shoulders and turned away, tapping her forehead with her fan to intimate her doubts of the General's canity. At the same instant the Minister of Police swooped down on the unhappy host. ' The Emperor is furious V ' I know he is—l know he is.' 'And you are not ashamed of yourself to lend yourself to this abominably bad yleasantry T ' But, your Excellency, I don't underat r 'I tell'you the Emperor is wild about it,' cried tho Minister with a withering look as he bounced away. Finally a young A.D.C., taking pity on his chief, whispered to him. * Your Excellency, it was you that brought Earn ' ' I ?.' You impertinent young jackanapes, what do you mean ?' shouted the General, who thought this a little too much, especially from a subaltern. ; 'You presented him to the Countess Damtrof,' tho young officer insisted. ' Nothing of the sort. The only person I presented to her was my nephew. * ' But don't you see that wasn't your nephew at all 1 That was Kamoutsine. So you can understand that the Emperor is furious.' ' Triple idiot that I was!' said the General, sinking' down upon a bench and clasping his head in his hands ; 'it struck me at the time that there wasn't a particle of resemblance..' XI. Thus it be same known how Kamoutsine got into the ball room, but it was not so easy to find how he got out of it. He had evaporated' with the new dress suit, but had had the generosity to leave on the table of the room he had occupied a letter exonerating the General. It was speedily discovered and carried to the Emperor, who condescened to laugh, to reaeore the General to favor and to remark that the trick had bean veuy neatly played. But the imperial pardon did net extend to the audacious perpetrator of the jest. The police were hunting St, Petersburg high and low for him, but no trace of him was to be found, and it was not for twenty-fours that it occurred to them to look for Kamoutsine at his country seat On arriving there they found him surrounded by his family portraits, sipping his coffee and reading a foreign review. ' You have been guity of i ravo disrespect to the Emperor !' said the police official. 'I? How.T In what?' '•ln going to the Governor's ball.' 'O, acome now, don't make fun of an unhappy, exile. I have been here these last two days in compliance with the terms of my severe and unmerited sentence.' '' You got your gendarmes drunk.' 'My gendarmes got themselves drunk.' 'You got them intoxicated and gave them the slip.' ' Calumny—nothing but calumny ! When I saw that they were too drunk to travel, I came on alone It was humiliiating for an officer and a noble, to be escorted like a common thief:' 'ln spite of your banishment from the capital, [you presented yourself [at the Governor's.* ' Who stuffed you with all this ?' , ' Stuffed ? Nobody ! Thirty people saw and recognised you.' ' Thirty people saw me ? Then Providence, to rebuke the growing skepticism of the age, has worked a miracle. They must have become the victims of some extraordinary Illusion, for as all my people can testify j I have not been outside of these doors for the last two days.' I ' Well, well, perhaps' they were, said the officer, whose own confidence began to be shaken; but my orders are to bring you back to St. Petersburg.' Kamontsine looked coldly at his stupefied interlocutor.

' This is a pleasantry, sir,' he said sternly, ' and it Is in the worst of taste, but I see nothing for it but to submit.' He allowed them to conduct him back to the capital, retaining sucb a consistent expression of injured innocence that his guards remained ever afterwards convinced that this reserved and dignified young man had been sadly traduced. XII.

The Emperor had condescended to laugh, and Kamonteine got off with three months' detention in a fortress —happily not in that of St. Petersburg, for the Governor never forgave his pseudo-nephew. I nevsr heard what the Prince's wager was, nor whether the Countess paid it.