The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

a picking.'

'I would that I had known this a few months back,' Roger said, with a rueful grin. 'I lost three hundred guineas one night to Count Vorontzoff, the Russian Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Had I but been aware that I could have so lightly laughed off the debt the following morning, it would have saved myself and others a multitude of complications.'

'That would be Count Sergius Vorontzoff,' remarked Mr. Tooke. 'His father was the last Grand Chancellor. No other has been appointed since his death and the powers of the post are more or less shared by Prince Potemkin and Count Bezborodko, who succeeded Count Panin as the Empress's principal adviser on Foreign affairs. The latter is a connection of the Vorontzoff's, and the family's influence is still very great. One of the old man's daughters is the celebrated Princess Dashkof. At the age of eighteen she played a leading part in the con­spiracy which placed Catherine on the throne. Her sister, Elizeveta Romanovna, was Peter the Third's mistress while he was Grand Duke, and during his short reign; and the other brother, Count Alexander, is the head of the College of Commerce.'

'It seems strange to think that so violent a man as Count Sergius has a brother who is a Professor,' Roger remarked, 'and stranger still that a country so backward as Russia should have a college devoted to training young men to enter trade.'

'Nay,' Mr. Tooke smiled. 'You are mistaken on both counts. Here, when one speaks of the College of Commerce, or War or Justice, one means the Government department, and the head of each is the responsible Minister. Yet the present Empress, herself a woman of quite exceptional culture, has performed prodigies in improving educational facilities. In addition to greatly increasing the number of military, naval and agricultural schools, she has instituted academies -of Medicine, Mines, Teaching, Art and the Theatre, and even founded a seminary for young ladies of the nobility. So that nearly seven thousand pupils now receive their education at the expense of the Imperial purse; as once nominated to these institutions there are no fees to pay, the whole cost being borne by the Empress.'

'Russia certainly seems a land of extraordinary contrasts,' said Roger, thoughtfully.

'You will indeed find it so,' nodded the Admiral. 'Nine out of ten of the acquaintances you make will entertain you most hospitably one day, yet not scruple to steal your snuff-box the next. So light-fingered are they by habit that after eating your food they will think nothing of pocketing your table-silver the minute your back is turned. My wife and I found ourselves at such loss through this that we took an early opportunity to have made in Leith several dozen spoons and forks of base metal, especially for use when entertaining Russians.'

'They are even more inveterate cheats than they are thieves, opined Mr. Tooke. ' 'Tis the common practice among merchants to ask foreigners five times the proper price for any article, in the hope that the buyer will think it a good bargain if he can secure it by offering half that sum, and only later discover that he has paid more than double its real value. Worst of all are the rasnoshchiks, as the street-vendors are called. They will offer you a box of tea, which on being carried home will be found to have only a sprinkling of tea-leaves on the surface, the rest of the box being filled with sand and wood-shavings. They are adepts at pumping air into chickens so that the eye is tempted by what appears to be a fat capon, when in reality 'tis but a scraggy old hen wasted to near nothing from rearing her last brood of chicks. In my early days here I even had a bundle of asparagus sold to me, which, at a casual glance, looked in prime condition for the table.

'Twas not till my wife was about to put it to boil that we discovered the edible tips to have already been removed, and the woody stumps repointed and painted.'

Roger threw up his hands with a laugh. 'Tell me no more, Gentle­men, I beg; for it seems I am come to a veritable sink of iniquity. Yet I thank you for your warnings, and will endeavour to buy my own experience as cheaply as possible.'

'I must be on my way,' declared the Admiral, getting to his feet. 'Mr. Brook, my barouche is at the door, can I carry you in it to the centre of the city, or have you further business to discuss with our good friend?'

'Nay, Sir,' Roger replied. 'I have already importuned Mr. Tooke for over-long, and gladly accept your offer.'

Mr. Tooke smiled at him. 'I would have liked to bid you sup with us and meet my wife; but the fewer people who know you to be an Englishman, the better, and 'twould be somewhat embarrassing for both of us did I introduce you as aught else. Therefore I will con­fine myself to wishing you good fortune, and assuring you that I will perform the small service you have requested of me whenever called upon to do so.'

Roger thanked the friendly clergyman and leaving the house with the Admiral was swiftly conveyed by him back to the Nevski, where they parted with expressions of mutual goodwill. He then walked the last hundred yards to his lodging.

Upstairs in his sitting-room he found three people patiently await­ing his return; Ostermann, a bearded, middle-aged peasant in a clean white blouse, and a pretty little girl of about fourteen decked out in a gaily embroidered costume.

As he entered they all stood up and bowed almost to the ground; then Ostermann indicated the girl and said:

'Subject to your approval, most noble General, Zaria Feodorovna begs leave to become your servant.'

Roger looked at her with interest. Her face was a trifle flat and her black eyes were no more than medium size, but they were full of live­liness. Her brow was broad, her teeth were white and even, her lips cherry-red and her complexion that of a sun-ripened apple. Crisply curling dark hair framed her piquant features and the delicate curves of her figure showed that she was already approaching womanhood. She looked an attractive little thing, but struck Roger as hardly strong enough to carry heavy trays upstairs and perform other such services as he would require. Moreover, he had, not unnaturally, expected Ostermann to find a man to wait upon him.

On his voicing his doubts as to little Zaria's suitability, the Cour-lander broke into vigorous protest. 'Small she may be, noble General, but she is as strong as an ox. These peasant girls are brought up to labour long hours and carry heavy .burdens. Feel her muscles for your­self, I beg; behold the sturdiness of her calves. She is capable of doing all the work of your apartment, cleaning your clothes, running your errands, carrying up the wood for the stove, and will still greet you with a smiling freshness when you return in the evenings.'

Roger was tired after his long day and did not wish to argue; so he shrugged. 'Very well, then. I will give her a trial. How much is she asking?'

'Her father is willing to let you have her for one hundred roubles.'

Recalling Mr. Tooke's dictum that Russians always asked five times the proper price from all foreigners, 'Rogerswiftly worked it out that twenty roubles, or four pounds, was near enough the correct wage; but even that seemed high for a quarter—the minimum term for which servants were then hired in western Europe—so he asked the period that such a sum would cover.

Ostermann looked at him in surprise. 'Why, as long as it pleases you to retain her, noble General. Once the payment is made she will be yours to do what you like with, short of killing her. You must give her enough to eat and drink, let her go to the public baths on Saturdays and to church on Sundays. You must not take her out of the country without first having obtained permission to do so; as although she becomes your slave by this payment to her father shey still remains the property of the Empress. But you may beat her to your heart's content and have her arrested if she attempts to run away from you—unless she can return the hundred roubles that you gave for her.'

Roger had no intention of ill-treating the pretty little creature, but, seeing that slave-owning was the custom of the country, the idea of having one of his own rather amused him. He expected to be in Russia for several months at least, and twenty pounds did not seem excessive for the outright purchase of a human being. Yet he felt that he would be regarded as easy game, and in future be constantly cheated by his landlord over other matters, if he did not make a show of driving a bargain. So he declared that the price was outrageous.

'Indeed it is not!' Ostermann spread out his hands. 'The noble General has no doubt heard tales that we are all cheats here; but in „ this case he need have no fears. If, Sir, you had not been brought here by Doctor Drenke I should consider it my right to ask a far higher sum, but I dare not; for if the Doctor learned that I had robbed his friend he would beat me black and blue.'

This naive confession both amused and somewhat reassured Roger, but he still shook his head; upon which Ostermann cried: 'A hundred roubles is a great deal of money, I know, but she is worth every denushkaof it! I would rather break my own neck than be the means of installing here some slut who might give the noble General a loathe-some disease, and I defy anyone to find for him at a lesser sum a girl of such looks who is still a virgin.'