that he would treat us like the peasants living on the shores of the Baltic, or like the serfs on some of his own imperial domains; that, in fact, ere long the country would be indebted to him for the moral emancipation of forty millions of thinking beings, whose intelligence is crushed in the vice of an arbitrary power. Our masters, however, would sooner forgive him the greatest excesses of that arbitrary power than the exercise of that same power in favour of the humbler class of his subjects. In short, I hoped that, free at last, I should be able to lead Eudoxia to the altar, not sullied with the woollen band of the slave, but beaming beneath the white and pure wreath attached to the head of the free wife. Up to this day, I have hoped in vain. My father died; I not only continued his commerce, but extended it to the East; and in a few years doubled the very considerable fortune he left me.” ‘“Why not propose to the comte to buy your freedom?” remarked Mr. Raily. ‘“He would refuse. He is not one of the owners who would support a rational system of emancipation,” was the answer, followed by a most sombre picture of the condition of the serfs; and he finally added, “Well, monsieur, the end of all this wretchedness, the possession of the woman I worship, who’ll die of grief if we cannot be united--in short, liberty, all this I may possibly owe to you; and in that case you will have been to me more than a man, more than a friend, you will have been nothing less than a god.” “What am I to do?” asked Mr. Raily. “I am disposed to help you, but you must explain?” “You are fond of gaming, monsieur. What’s merely a pastime with you, is a frantic passion with the Comte K----. He sacrifices everything to it; and it will infallibly lead to his ruin. Nothing, therefore, will be easier than to get him to play with you. Get him to stake a small estate he has on the banks of the Volga; it’s a village counting no more than fifty households, and the industry of which consists in making nails. That estate he’ll not sell at any price; but for that, it would have been mine long ago. But in the feverish excitement of the game, he may be brought to stake it, he may lose it, and all my hope is there. If that village, where my father and I were born, where the rest of my relations are living--if that estate becomes mine, we shall all be free. And now, monsieur, you have my secret, and you are the arbiter of my fate. If you consent to come to my aid, your word will be sufficient for me, and you may raise your stakes to any amount, double them, increase them fourfold, as long as you get your final triumph. You have got an unlimited credit on my bank, and I wish you to make use of it unreservedly. Whatever may be your luck, if it remained persistently contrary--even if it ruined me--I should still be eternally grateful to you for having understood me, for having listened to my prayer, and for having attempted to make me happy and free.”