"I hope so; but pray what is the news?" I. asked, while drawing nearer her. "My brother Paulovitch has been taken prisoner by your people." "Call you that good news?" I asked, with surprise. "Yes, most happy tidings." "How?" "My brother will now be safe, and I hope that they will keep him so till this horrible and most unjust war is over." "Unjust! how is it so?" I asked, laughing. "Can it be otherwise, when it is waged against holy Russia and our good father the Czar?" I afterwards learned that Volhonski had been taken prisoner in that affair which occurred on the night of Sunday, the 14th January, when the Russians surprised our people in the trenches, and captured one officer and sixteen men of the 68th, or Durham Light Infantry, into whose hands Volhonski fell, and was disarmed and taken at once to the rear. "I am so happy," continued Valerie, clapping her hands like a child, "though it may be long, long ere I see him again, my dear Paulovitch! He will be taken to England, of course." "Should you not like to join him there?" I asked, softly. "Yes, but I cannot leave Russia." "Why?" "Do not ask me; but we may keep _you_ as a hostage for him," she added, merrily; "do you agree?" "Can I do otherwise?" said I, tenderly and earnestly. "Of course not, while those Cossacks are in the Baidar Valley. Poor Paulovitch! and this was his parting gift!" she continued, and drew from her bosom--and none in the world could be whiter or more lovely--a gold cross; and after kissing, she replaced it, looking at me with a bright, coquettish, and most provoking smile, as it slipped down into a receptacle so charming. "And dear Madame Tolstoff is so happy, too, for her son arrives here to-morrow; he has been severely bruised by the splinter of a shell in the Wasp Battery, and comes hither to be nursed by us."