romances of that day. She had much to say of dew and roses,

turtledoves and the arrows of Cupid.
"Ask thyself," she wrote, "whether felicity comes with her

presence, and distraction with her absence,--whether her eyes make
the morning brighter for thee, and her tears fall upon thy heart

like molten lava,--whether heaven would be black and dismal without
her company, and the flames of hell turn into roses under her

feet."
It was very evident that the good Princess Martha had never felt--

nay, did not comprehend--a passion such as she described.
Prince Boris, however, whose veneration for his mother was

unbounded, took her words literally, and applied the questions to
himself. Although he found it difficult, in good faith and

sincerity, to answer all of them affirmatively (he was puzzled, for
instance, to know the sensation of molten lava falling upon the

heart), yet the general conclusion was inevitable: Helena was
necessary to his happiness.

Instead of returning to Kinesma for the summer, as had been
arranged, he determined to remain in St. Petersburg, under the

pretence of devoting himself to military studies. This change of
plan occasioned more disappointment to the Princess Martha than

vexation to Prince Alexis. The latter only growled at the prospect
of being called upon to advance a further supply of rubles,

slightly comforting himself with the muttered reflection,--
"Perhaps the brat will make a man of himself, after all."

It was not many weeks, in fact, before the expected petition came
to hand. The Princess Martha had also foreseen it, and instructed

her son how to attack his father's weak side. The latter was
furiouslyjealous of certain other noblemen of nearly equal wealth,

who were with him at the court of Peter the Great, as their sons
now were at that of Elizabeth. Boris compared the splendor of

these young noblemen with his own moderateestate, fabled a few
"adventures" and drinking-bouts, and announced his determination of

doing honor to the name which Prince Alexis of Kinesma had left
behind him in the capital.

There was cursing at the castle when the letter arrived. Many
serfs felt the sting of the short whip, the slumber-flag was

hoisted five minutes later than usual, and the consumption of
Cognac was alarming; but no mirror was smashed, and when Prince

Alexis read the letter to his poor relations, he even chuckled over
some portions of it. Boris had boldly demanded twenty thousand

rubles, in the desperate hope of receiving half that amount,--and
he had calculated correctly.

Before midsummer he was Helena's accepted lover. Not, however,
until then, when her father had given his consent to their marriage

in the autumn, did he disclose his true rank. The old man's face
lighted up with a glow of selfishsatisfaction; but Helena quietly

took her lover's hand, and said,--
"Whatever you are, Boris, I will be faithful to you."

VII.
Leaving Boris to discover the exact form and substance of the

passion of love, we will return for a time to the castle of
Kinesma.

Whether the Princess Martha conjectured what had transpired in St.
Petersburg, or was partially informed of it by her son, cannot now

be ascertained. She was sufficiently weak, timid, and nervous, to
be troubled with the knowledge of the stratagem in which she had

assisted in order to procure money, and that the ever-present
consciousness thereof would betray itself to the sharp eyes of

her husband. Certain it is, that the demeanor of the latter
towards her and his household began to change about the end of the

summer. He seemed to have a haunting suspicion, that, in some way
he had been, or was about to be, overreached. He grew peevish,

suspicious, and more violent than ever in his excesses.
When Mishka, the dissipated bear already described, bit off one of

the ears of Basil, a hunter belonging to the castle, and Basil drew
his knife and plunged it into Mishka's heart, Prince Alexis

punished the hunter by cutting off his other ear, and sending him
away to a distant estate. A serf, detected in eating a few of the

pickled cherries intended for the Prince's botvinia, was placed
in a cask, and pickled cherries packed around him up to the chin.

There he was kept until almost flayed by the acid. It was ordered
that these two delinquents should never afterwards be called by any

other names than "Crop-Ear" and "Cherry."
But the Prince's severest joke, which, strange to say, in no wise

lessened his popularity among the serfs, occurred a month or two
later. One of his leading passions was the chase,--especially the

chase in his own forests, with from one to two hundred men, and no
one to dispute his Lordship. On such occasions, a huge barrel of

wine, mounted upon a sled, always accompanied the crowd, and the
quantity which the hunters received depended upon the satisfaction

of Prince Alexis with the game they collected.
Winter had set in early and suddenly, and one day, as the

Prince and his retainers emerged from the forest with their
forenoon's spoil, and found themselves on the bank of the Volga,

the water was already covered with a thin sheet of ice. Fires were
kindled, a score or two of hares and a brace of deer were skinned,

and the flesh placed on sticks to broil; skins of mead foamed and
hissed into the wooden bowls, and the cask of unbroached wine

towered in the midst. Prince Alexis had a good appetite; the meal
was after his heart; and by the time he had eaten a hare and half

a flank of venison, followed by several bowls of fiery wine, he was
in the humor for sport. He ordered a hole cut in the upper side of

the barrel, as it lay; then, getting astride of it, like a grisly
Bacchus, he dipped out the liquor with a ladle, and plied his

thirsty serfs until they became as recklessly savage as he.
They were scattered over a slope gently falling from the dark,

dense fir-forest towards the Volga, where it terminated in a rocky
palisade, ten to fifteen feet in height. The fires blazed and

crackled merrily in the frosty air; the yells and songs of the
carousers were echoed back from the opposite shore of the river.

The chill atmosphere, the lowering sky, and the approaching night
could not touch the blood of that wild crowd. Their faces glowed

and their eyes sparkled; they were ready for any deviltry which
their lord might suggest.

Some began to amuse themselves by flinging the clean-picked bones
of deer and hare along the glassy ice of the Volga. Prince Alexis,

perceiving this diverson, cried out in ecstasy,--
"Oh, by St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker, I'll give you better sport

than that, ye knaves! Here's the very place for a reisak,--do
you hear me children?--a reisak! Could there be better ice? and

then the rocks to jump from! Come, children, come! Waska, Ivan,
Daniel, you dogs, over with you!"

Now the reisak was a gymnastic performancepeculiar to old
Russia, and therefore needs to be described. It could become

popular only among a people of strong physical qualities, and in a
country where swift rivers freeze rapidly from sudden cold. Hence

we are of the opinion that it will not be introduced into our own
winter diversions. A spot is selected where the water is deep and

the current tolerably strong; the ice must be about half an inch in
thickness. The performer leaps head foremost from a rock or

platform, bursts through the ice, is carried under by the current,
comes up some distance below, and bursts through again. Both skill

and strength are required to do the feat successfully.
Waska, Ivan, Daniel, and a number of others, sprang to the brink of

the rocks and looked over. The wall was not quite perpendicular,
some large fragments having fallen from above and lodged along the

base. It would therefore require a bold leap to clear the rocks
and strike the smooth ice. They hesitated,--and no wonder.

Prince Alexis howled with rage and disappointment.
"The Devil take you, for a pack of whimpering hounds!" he cried.