THE WEDDING PRESENT 272 XXIX. MADAME POTIPHAR 279 XXX. A MOTHER'S BLESSING 284 XXXI. THE WILL 290 XXXII. NOT ONLY A BULLET STRIKES HOME 299 XXXIII. THE RENDEZVOUS 303 XXXIV. A DIVIDED HEART 316 XXXV. SPARKS AND ASHES 323 XXXVI. DAIMONA 326 XXXVII. IT'S NOT THE KNIFE ALONE THAT STRIKES TO THE HEART 346 XXXVIII. THE TRAGI-COMEDY AT GRUSINO 357 XXXIX. THE HERMIT 365 XL. DISCORDS 372 XLI. HOW TO ROB A MAN OF HIS WIFE 377 XLII. THE FEAST OF MASINKA 389 XLIII. UNDER THE COMETS 404 XLIV. THE MAN WITH THE GREEN EYES 409 XLV. THE HERALD 429 XLVI. "BEATUS ILLE...." 430 XLVII. THE TEMPTER 435 XLVIII. THE MOUSE PLAYS WITH THE CAT 441 XLIX. THE ANTIDOTE 446 L. "DEREVASKI DALOI" 452 LI. THE NAMELESS WIFE OF A NAMELESS MAN 460 EPISODES.--THE RESCUED POET 479 GHEDIMIN AND ZENEIDA 482 THE ROMANCE OF CONSTANTINE 483 THE GREEN BOOK OR _FREEDOM UNDER THE SNOW_ CHAPTER I SNOW ROSES A blizzard is covering the roads with a thick coating of snow. The horses are up to their fetlocks in it. The dark-green firs bend beneath its weight, and what has melted in the midday sun already hangs from the slender branches of the undergrowth in thick masses of icicles; and as the wind sweeps through the forest the ice-covered leaves and branches ring and jingle like fairy bells. Ever and anon the moon shines out from amid the fast-flying clouds; then, as though it has seen enough, hides itself again under the ghostly mist. The sighing of the wind through the forest is like the trembling of fever-stricken nature. In the stillness of night, through the pathless forest, rides a troop of horsemen. Their little long-maned horses sniff their way with low, sunk necks; by the shaggy fur caps of their riders, and their long lances hanging far back at their sides, they are to be recognized as a party of Don Cossacks.