A RUSSIAN NOBLEMAN.
After an hour's sojourn in "The Imperial Crown," the best inn of
Poltava, Countess Drentell continued her journey towards her
country-seat at Lubny, where the carriage arrived just before nightfall.
With the creaking of the wheels upon the gravel path leading to the
house, Jacob awoke and gazed sleepily about him.
"See, Tekla; he is awake!" cried the Countess. "Poor child!"
The carriage stopped; Ivan opened the door and assisted the ladies to
alight.
"Carry the little one into the house and take him to the kitchen to
dry," commanded the Countess. "What a surprise he will be to Loris and
how he will enjoy having a playmate!"
Another servant appeared at the door to assist the Countess.
"Your excellency," he whispered, "the Count arrived the day before
yesterday. He was furious at finding you absent."
Louise bit her lip and her face became pale. Then she shrugged her
pretty shoulders and broke into a careless laugh.
"Oh, well, Dimitri will forgive me when I tell him how sorry I am," she
thought to herself, as she tripped up the stone steps into the house.
In the brilliantly lighted hall she was met by her husband, Count
Dimitri Drentell, and she clasped her arms around his neck in a
transport of conjugal affection.
"So you have come back, my dear, from those horrid barracks!" she
cried. "I am so glad! But why didn't you send word you were coming, that
I might have been at home to meet you? But it is just like you to keep
the matter a perfect secret and give me no chance to prepare for your
reception."
The Count's brow contracted. Before he had an opportunity to reply, his
wife continued:
"Indeed, I'm glad you've come. If I had known that I was marrying a son
of Mars who would be away in the army for eight months of the year, I
doubt whether I should have left my happy Tiflis."
The Countess paused for want of breath.
"The Czar places duty to country higher than domestic comfort," answered
her husband, curtly. "But how could you leave your home and your child
for so long a time? It is now three days since I arrived here, expecting
to be lovingly received by you and little Loris; but you had gone away,
no one knew whither, leaving Loris in charge of an ignorant woman, who
has been sadly neglecting the child."
"Poor fellow," laughed the Countess, in mock grief. "I suppose he will
be happy to see his mamma again. But, my dear, you must not scold me for
having gone away. It was so dull at home without you, so lonesome, that
I could bear it no longer, and I took a trip to Valki, to visit the
Abbess of the convent there."
The cloud upon the Count's face darkened.
"I have repeatedly told you that I do not approve of your excursions
into the country," he answered, gloomily; "and I am especially opposed
to your locking yourself up in a convent. You pay no heed to my
requests, nor do you seem to realize the dangers you incur in travelling
about in that manner."
"Then let us live in our town house. I am too dull here, all alone,"
answered the Countess, nestling closer to her husband and kissing him.
"It was at your desire that I bought this place, immediately after our
marriage. You were enchanted with it and said it reminded you of your
Caucasian country. Now you are already tired of it."
"I would not be if you were here to share its delights with me," she
answered, coquettishly. "But, alone!--b-r-r! It is too vast, too
immense! I shall never feel at home in it."
Louise gave her graceful head a mournful shake and looked dismally at
her husband.
Suddenly she cried: "Where is Loris? What have they done with my boy?"
"It is time you inquired," said her husband, reproachfully. "I doubt if
he remembers you."
Louise broke into a merry laugh. "Not know his mamma? Indeed! We shall
see!"
Going to a table, she rang a bell, which was immediately answered by a
liveried servant.
"Bring me my Loris," she cried.
"He has already been put to bed," answered the man.
"Bring him, anyhow. I have not seen him for almost nine days."
The man disappeared, and shortly after a nurse entered, bearing in her
arms a bright little fellow scarcely four years of age. Loris, the
tyrant of the house, who was fast being spoiled by the alternate
indulgence and neglect of his capricious mother, struggled violently
with his nurse, who had just aroused him from his first sleep.
Louise threw herself upon the child in an excess of maternal devotion.
She fairly covered him with kisses.
"How has my Loris been? My poor boy! Will he forgive his mamma for
having deserted him?"
The boy resented this outburst of love by sundry kicks and screams.
"The child is cross and sleepy," said the Count; "let Minka put him to
bed."
"Wait a moment," exclaimed the Countess, in childish glee. "I have
brought him a present. Loris, my pet, how would you like a little boy to
play with? A real live boy?"
Loris ceased his struggles and became interested.
"I want a pony to play with! I don't want a boy," he cried, peevishly.
"What folly have you been guilty of now?" asked Dimitri, with some
misgivings, for he had had frequent proofs of his wife's impulsive
extravagance.
"You shall see, my dear."
Louise rang for Ivan. When he appeared, she asked:
"What have you done with the boy we found?"
"He is in the kitchen and has just eaten his supper," answered the
servant.
"Bring him up at once."
While Ivan went to fetch Jacob, the Countess related, with many
embellishments and exaggerations, and with frequent appeals to her maid
Tekla for corroboration, how she had found the boy on the road, how she
had saved his life, and, finally, how she had decided to bring him home
as a little playmate for her darling Loris. Before she had finished her
story Jacob himself appeared upon the scene, the personification of
abject misery. His features were still besmeared with the dirt of the
highway, his clothes were in a wretched condition, and his bandaged arm
and lacerated face did not improve his general appearance. Louise
laughed heartily when this apparition entered the door.
"Is he not a beauty?" she exclaimed.
The Count was too much surprised to speak. After a pause, during which
poor Jacob looked pleadingly from one to the other, Dimitri asked:
"In all seriousness, Louise, why did you introduce that being into our
house?"
"He is not as bad as he looks," answered the Countess. "Wait till he is
washed and dressed, and you will agree that he is a handsome fellow."
The Count crossed the room and looked at the boy.
"What is your name?" he asked, gruffly.
"Jacob Winenki," answered the child, timidly.
"A Jew!" ejaculated the Count. "By our Holy Madonna, that is just what I
needed to make me completely happy--the companionship of an accursed
Jew!"
Jacob instinctively divined that he was not welcome, and began to cry.
"Please, I want my mamma!"
"Stop your whimpering, you cur!" shouted the enraged Count.
But Jacob's tears would not be checked so abruptly.
"Please don't send me back to the soldiers," he pleaded, in his
miserable jargon. "I don't want to go with the soldiers."
At this juncture Loris joined in the cry. "I don't want him. I want a
pony to play with."
"Here, Ivan," commanded the excited Count, "take this brat out into the
barn, and keep him secure until I ask for him. We will investigate his
case after supper. Minka, take Loris to bed at once." Then turning to
his wife, who actually trembled before his infuriated glance, he said:
"Louise, you have done some very silly things since I married you, but
this is the most absurd. You know my aversion to Jews, and here you
bring a dirty Jew out of the streets to become a playmate of our Loris!"
"I could not leave the poor child to die in the road," pouted Louise,
who, in addition to being extremely frivolous, was very tender-hearted.
"If I had found a sick dog, I should have aided him."
"I would rather it had been a dog than a Jew."
"How could I know it was a Jew?"
"By his looks; by his language," answered the exasperated man.
"He was insensible, and could not speak," retorted Louise; "and his
appearance no worse than that of other dirty children. Tell me,
Dimitri," she added, throwing her arms about her husband's waist, in a
childish endeavor to appease his wrath; "tell me why you have such an
animosity towards the Jews?"
The count impressively rolled up his sleeve and displayed a scar about
two inches in length upon his forearm.
"See, Louise," he said, gloomily; "that is some of their accursed work.
Have I not cause to detest them? They are spiteful, vengeful,
implacable."
Louise lovingly kissed the scarred arm.
"Poor Dimitri," she murmured; "how it must have pained. Tell me how it
happened."
"There is no need to go into details," answered the Count, abruptly.
"But if ever I acquire the power, I shall make a Jew smart for every
drop of blood that flowed from the wound. Come, supper must be ready.
We will not spoil our appetites by speaking of the despicable race."
Count Drentell wisely refrained from telling his wife the cause of his
scar. It was not for a wife's ear to hear the tale. Eight years before,
he, with a number of young officers of the army stationed at Pinsk,
while in search of a little pleasurable excitement, had raided the
Jewish quarter and terrorized the helpless inhabitants. After having
broken every window, the party, inflamed by wine and enthusiasm, entered
the house of Haim Kusel, demolished the furniture, helped themselves to
articles of value that chanced to be exposed, and having caught a
glimpse of Haim's pretty daughter, Drentell, the leader of the band,
attempted to embrace her. The Jew, who had offered no resistance while
his hard-earned possessions were being destroyed, was driven to frenzy
by the insult to his daughter. Seizing a knife he drove the party from
the house, but not until he had wounded several of the wretches, among
whom was Drentell. Kusel had saved his daughter's honor, but he well
knew that he had forfeited his life if he remained in the village.
Packing up the few household articles that yet remained, he and his
daughter fled from Pinsk to find protection with friends in a distant
town.
At midnight, the officers, now reinforced by a number of sympathizing
comrades, returned, and furious at the escape of their victim, burned
his dwelling to the ground. Drentell never forgot his ignominious
repulse nor the wound he received at the hands of Haim Kusel. His own
offence counted as naught, so blunted was his moral sense. To inflict
misery upon a Jew was at all times considered meritorious, but for a
Jew to so far forget himself as to assault an officer of the Czar, was a
crime for which the whole race would one day be held accountable.
While the Count and Countess are at supper, we may find time to examine
into their past and become better acquainted with the worthy couple,
into whose company the events of this story will occasionally lead us.
Dimitri was the only son of Paul Drentell, the renowned banker of St.
Petersburg, who had been raised to the nobility as a reward for having
negotiated a loan for the Government. Paul had been sordid and
avaricious; his vast wealth was wrung from the necessities of the
unfortunates Otho were obliged to borrow from him or succumb to
financial disaster. Had he been a Jew, his greed, his miserly ways, his
usuries, would have been stigmatized as Jewish traits, but being a
devout Catholic he was spoken of as "Drentell, the financier."
The nobility of Russia counts many such upstarts among its
representatives. It boasts of a peculiar historical development. The
hereditary element plays an unimportant part in matters of state.
Exposed to the tyranny of the Muscovite autocrats, they hailed with joy
the elevation of the Romanoff family to the throne. The condition of the
nobles was thenceforth bettered, their political influence increased.
Under Peter the Great, however, there came a change. To noble birth,
this Czar showed a most humiliating indifference, and the nobles saw
with horror the accession to their ranks of the lowest order of men. The
condition of the aristocracy, old and new, was not, however, one of
unmixed happiness. The nobles were transformed into mere servants of the
Czar, and heavily did their bondage weigh upon them. After the death of
the great Prince, they experienced varied changes. Catherine converted
the surroundings of her court into a ludicrous imitation of the elegant
and refined French _régime_. Parisian fashions and the French language
were adopted by the nobility. It was a pleasure-seeking, pomp-loving
aristocracy that surrounded the powerful Empress. But her capricious and
violent son overturned this order of things and again reduced the
nobility to a condition of dependence and even degradation, from which
it had not yet recovered in the days of Nicholas I. For these reasons
the nobility of Russia is not characterized by the proud bearing and
firm demeanor which are the attributes of the aristocracy of Western
Europe. A _parvenu_, who has, by an act of slavish submission, won the
Emperor's favor, may be ennobled, and he thenceforth holds his head as
high as the greatest. No one of these is regarded as more important than
his neighbor. Dumouriez, having casually spoken to Nicholas of one of
the considerable personages at court, received the reply:
"You must learn, sir, that the only considerable person here is the one
to whom I am speaking, and that only as long as I am speaking to
him."[4]
Hence, we rarely find a Russian noble who is proud of his ancestry or of
his ancient name. It is wealth and power, momentary distinction and
royal favor that make him of worth. When, therefore, Paul Drentell,
because of his valuable services in raising a loan which enabled Russia
to engage in war with one of her less powerful neighbors, was elevated
to the nobility, it caused no surprise, and the banker at once began a
life of pomp and extravagance which he thought suited to his new
station. His wealth was fabulous, and was for the greater part invested
in large estates, comprising confiscated lands, formerly the property of
less fortunate nobles, who, deprived of their rank, were now atoning for
their sins in the frozen North. His possessions included about twenty
thousand male serfs; consequently, more than forty thousand souls.
Dimitri, upon his father's elevation, was sent to the army, where he
distinguished himself in nocturnal debauches and adventures such as we
have related, and where, thanks to his father's influence, he shortly
rose to the rank of lieutenant.
About five years before the beginning of this story, Paul Drentell died
and his vast estates, as well as his title of Count, descended to
Dimitri, who now found himself one of the richest men in the Empire. He
was, moreover, a personal friend of the young Czarewitch, Alexander, in
whose regiment he served. To such a man, a notable future was open:
great honors as Governor of a province or exile to Siberia as a
dangerous power. One of the features of public life in Russia is the
comparative ease with which either of these distinctions may be
obtained.
Count Drentell was haughty and arrogant, caring for naught but his own
personal advantage, consulting only his own tastes and pleasures. He was
a stern officer to his soldiers, a cruel taskmaster to the serfs he had
inherited, and a bitter foe of the Jews whom he had offended.
Very different was his wife, Louise. A Georgian by birth, her beauty and
ingenuousness had won her great popularity at the court of St.
Petersburg, to which she had been introduced by the Governor of Tiflis.
She was neither tall nor short, possessed a wealth of raven black hair,
perfect teeth, lustrous black eyes, a smile that would inspire poets and
a voice that was all music and melody. When Count Drentell carried her
off in the face of a hundred admirers, he was considered lucky indeed.
Dimitri never confessed, even to himself, that he regretted his hasty
choice. Louise was as capricious as she was beautiful, as unlettered as
she was charming, as superstitious as she was fascinating. All that she
did was done on impulse. She loved her husband on impulse, she deserted
her child for weeks at a time on impulse, she succored the poor or
neglected them on impulse. Her army of servants set her commands at
defiance, for they knew them to be the outgrowth of momentary caprice.
Fortunately for the domestic happiness of the couple, the Count was with
his command at St. Petersburg during two-thirds of the year, while his
wife enjoyed herself as best she might on his magnificent estate at
Lubny.
Brought up among the highlands of Tiflis, Louise possessed all of the
unreasoning bigotry characteristic of the people inhabiting that region.
She was religious to the very depths of superstition, and she chose
Lubny for a dwelling-place, less for its resemblance to the sunny hills
of her native province than for its proximity to several large Catholic
cloisters for both monks and nuns, whence she hoped to receive that
religious nourishment which her southern and impetuous nature craved. It
was while returning from an expedition to the furthest of these
nunneries, in which she frequently immured herself for weeks at a time,
that she found Jacob upon the road.
The Count, who, with the companions of his youth, had lost what little
religious sentiment he may have once possessed, regarded this trait in
his wife with great disfavor; but neither threats nor prayers effected a
change, and he finally allowed her to follow her own inclinations.
While the union was not one of the happiest, there were fewer
altercations than might have been reasonably expected from the
thoroughly opposite natures of man and wife. Louise, with all her
faults, was a loving wife, and when her husband's temper was ruffled,
her smiles and caresses, her appealing looks and tender glances, won him
back to serenity.
The supper, therefore, was not as gloomy as the stormy introduction
indicated. Both had much to tell each other, for a great deal had
occurred during their eight months' separation, and it was late when
they left the table.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 4: Wallace's "Russia."]