The girl from nowhere

by Mrs. Baillie Reynolds

Cravatz was still at large, and the Governor trembled lest he might have such information as should lead to any interference with Denzil upon his journey. He actually sent an English-speaking official to Moscow, to intercept the traveler and bring him on, and this was so successfully accomplished that Denzil arrived at Savlinsky having had everything made easy for him during the journey, and not having spoken a word to anybody except such persons as his escort considered safe.

When he arrived both the Governor and Vronsky were much relieved to find what manner of person he was. He had but a moderate intelligence, they soon agreed, and his desire to find his brother seemed also to be of a conspicuously limited nature. He spoke of Felix with a subdued and resigned pity, as of a brand snatched from the burning, a reformed ne'er-do-weel, a person of whom it was to be expected that he might suddenly break out into discreditable conduct, though his behavior latterly had shown distinct signs of improvement.

Vronsky disliked him from the first. He had an unfortunate manner, possessed by many of our nation, a manner which seemed to suggest that no foreigner could be considered as truly the equal of an Englishman. Even with the Governor there was a distinct tinge of condescension in his politeness. But Stepan Stepanovitch, less sensitive than Vronsky, and less devoted to Felix, got on better with him.

Nadia was very anxious to see him. In her eyes, the man who had undertaken such a difficult journey, to try and rescue his brother from danger, was a chivalrous figure. She was disappointed to hear that he had fallen sick—that too, she thought, was a sign of his anxiety of mind respecting Felix.

The next news from the mines was that the Englishman was not merely ill, but very ill indeed.

By this time the main features of the case, as regards the conspiracy, had changed altogether. Cravatz was arrested, and Felix, disguised as one of the Governor's police, had left the Castle, and was reported safely arrived at Gretz. With Cravatz was arrested the man who had posed as a Kirgiz, and who had sheltered him. This disposed of all the suspected persons in the province, since Streloff was dead. There was no longer any need to keep Mr. Vanston in ignorance of the fact of his brother's safety.

The Governor rode over to Savlinsky, and when he saw the patient, ill and shaken, his heart smote him for all the unnecessary strain of mind which he imagined him to have undergone. In an impulse of hospitality he begged him to come up with him to Nicolashof as his guest, and allow his daughter and Miss Forester to do what they could to counteract the ill-effects of their climate, and obliterate the memory of the unhappy circumstances of his first coming to the province.

The idea of going to a place where there would be an English lady was delightful to Denzil, who was exceedingly sorry for himself. A domestic man, and one used to a woman in the house, he had been miserable with Vronsky, with whom he was not in sympathy; and dimly conscious that this inferior person presumed so far as to think anything but highly of himself.

He was so weak that he had to be carried to the carriage, and laid down among the rugs and pillows. Thus he was driven swiftly across the plain, into the birch-wood, and on through the pines to Nicolashof.

In the higher air of the woodland place he awoke next morning feeling strangely invigorated. After breakfast he arose, with the help of the manservant detailed to wait upon him, and was helped downstairs, out upon the terrace overlooking the lovely garden, one bower of flowers and beauty.