We had all miraculously escaped from death, and weren’t hurt at all, only scared. When we sprang down, I shook with nervousness, and began to sob convulsively. It is easy to conceive the fright of Sergy’s brothers who were following us behind. They made us mount into their brougham and soon after we arrived safely at Mertchik. My favourite dog, a beautiful St. Bernard, who had been sent to Mertchik the day before, stood wagging his tail to welcome us on the doorstep. My parents with some friends came to visit us the next day. I put on for that occasion a dressing-gown with a long train and felt very proud to be called Madame and said “my husband” on every available opportunity. I had won the great draw in the matrimonial lottery, for Sergy was the best of husbands. I had found true happiness and felt that I had just begun to live. We were all in all to each other; how I had existed so long without Sergy, passes my comprehension. I couldn’t believe that any man could have such a power over me; my whole heart belonged to him. There seemed no disparity in our ages, for Sergy was so full of the joy of life. He fondled me and fulfilled all my wishes, giving me everything I could wish for before even I asked; he literally read my thoughts. Sergy was, in short, a darling, and I have only the old story to tell: I love you and you love me, And oh! how happy we shall be! But our honeymoon was short, alas; the clouds came on all but too soon. We had been married about twenty days, and my cup of happiness was full, when matters took a turn for the bad. There came a telegram calling my husband back to Tiflis on account of the preparations for war with Turkey. This unexpected turn of events fairly stunned me. What awaited us, I wondered? I was heart-broken at parting with my parents, who accompanied us to the railway station with a great number of friends. Parting is so horrid; I always hated good-byes. I gave kisses and shake-hands to right and left, and cried a good deal, crushing unmercifully my pocket handkerchief, a dainty thing not made for woe. It was time to enter our compartment; I stood at the window to say a last farewell. The engine whistled and the long train groaned and moved away, carrying me away speedily to my new home.