my papers were civilly returned to me, after
a long delay, while my luggage was not
disturbed by any prying on the part of the
imperial agents. At length the ordeal was
passed ; the last rouble that could be extorted
from Polish Jew or Russian trader was secured ;
the engine puffed out hoarse notes of
impatience, and the people took their places, the
mob of beards and caftans crowding the waggons
of the third class, and a few well-dressed
persons entering the first and second-class
carriages

"A pleasant trip to you, Yates, and I wish
I were going too. Even Vienna and its
Volksgarten is better fun than St. Petersburg in
the dog days.  But is that your courier?"
observed young Dillon from the embassy, a
junior attaché with whom I was on very
friendly terms, and who had strolled down to
see me off. At that instant, Ignatius, who had
just brought me some flowers and a basket
of Ingrian cherries, had scoured off on some new
self-imposed task, and was dimly visible in the
distance. The bell had rung, and the guards
were marshalling the bewildered peasants, new
as they were to steam and iron roads, into their
respective cars. I hastily told my friend how it
was that I had become the nominal master of
so splendidly-accoutred a retainer. Indeed,
such an explanation seemed necessary, for
Ignatius, with his bullion-tasselled cap, morocco
money-bag, and green livery trimmed with costly
dark fur, looked more fitted to serve a royal
highness than a mere subaltern of the F. 0.

"Ignatius Kraskoff — Kraskoff — are you
quite sure that is the name? " asked Dillon,
thoughtfully. I was quite sure.

"Strange, how that name runs in my head!
Yet I have not the least idea where I heard
it, and I'm certain I never set my eyes on
the fellow's swarthy face before. A stunning
servant he seems; but, somehow, I must have
heard of him before."

I laughed, and remarked that all Russian
names were pretty much alike, ending as they
did in the invariable "off," "vitch," or "sky,"
Young Dillon was a fine generous lad; but he
was not thought over bright, and his bad
memory was a theme for joking at the embassy.
I paid, therefore, very little attention to his
imperfect reminiscences, while he, on the other
hand, as some men will do, grew absorbed and
silent, and was evidently racking his brain to
identify the name that haunted him.

Ignatius bowed and smiled me into my
carriage, the guard closed the door, the bell rang
again, I shook hands with Dillon out of the
window, and settled myself for the start. Off
the train glided, amid many ejaculations on the
part of the mujiks, who blessed themselves and
invoked their saints as the snorting iron horse
wheeled them away. The pace increased, and
we were almost clear of the station. Heaven
and earth! what is the matter?

It was the young attaché, without his hat,
running breathless along the platform, and for
a moment coming abreast of my carriage.

"I say, Yates," he called out, with a gasp,
"I remember now. Kraskoff is——"

A scream from the engine drowned the words,
and in a moment more we darted through an
archway full of steam and smoke, and I neither
saw nor heard any more of my young countryman.
This incident made little impression on
me, beyond giving me a laugh at Dillon's sudden
revival of memory, and his effort to impart to me
some real or fancied facts — wholly immaterial,
no doubt — with respect to my superb servitor.

I had fully expected that the exuberant
gratitude of the courier would die out as soon as
we were well away from St. Petersburg, and, in
fact, I was rather in hopes that he would cease
the volunteer good offices, that teased as much
as they amused. But I had reckoned wrongly.
Ignatius continued to attend me with the same
zeal and pertinacity with which Man Friday
fulfilled the behests of Robinson Crusoe. He
was not to be shaken off, and during that summer
journey of brief halts and almost continuous
wayfaring, he showed such thoughtfulness,
such, good temper, was so eager to please,
that to repulse him with anything like harshness
or petulance was impossible. He was, in
truth, an admirable servant.

Warsaw at last. But we were not permitted to
enter the station until the train had been brought
to a halt, and a severe examination of passports
and faces had taken place. The imperial gendarmes
who acquitted themselves of this duty were
unusually curt of speech and peremptory of bearing,
and seemed ill at ease. Drums were heard beating,
and bugles sounding, in the town, and it
was plain that the whole garrison must be astir.

"What has occurred?"

"A conspiracy detected. Numerous arrests.
A state of siege proclaimed."

Yet, as I drove from the station to the Palatine
Hotel, I saw no particular signs of popular
commotion. There were whisperings, and
cautious interchange of words among the groups
at the corners of streets, and I noticed the square
Polish cap and jaunty Polish jacket, the wearing
of which was accounted as half treasonable by
the Czar Nicholas, more prominent than usual.
But of noise there was none, except the heavy
tramp of horse and foot, as the Russian troops
swept through the streets, squadrons and
battalions following the battalions and squadrons
that had gone before, as though to prove to the
conquered race the hopelessness of resistance.

Although fairly inured to fatigue, I was now
somewhat weary, and was not sorry to reach the
inn, where I counted on a night's sound sleep.
I had, in truth, somewhat condensed the first
portion of my journey, that I might have time
to execute the princess's commission, and I was
thus sleeping at Warsaw at a time when his
excellency the ambassador, if he thought on the
matter at all, imagined me to be at Wilna.
Ignatius, on the other hand, was very fresh, and
as brisk and attentive as ever. He whisked up
and down the dirty but splendid marble
staircase of the great hotel, busy at once with
preparations for my supper, and with purveying for