initial commit of ebook 27103HEADmain

100 files changed, 3720 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/27103-8.txt b/27103-8.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c4bc94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-8.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1049 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Russian Servant, by Henri Greville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Little Russian Servant
+
+Author: Henri Greville
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2008 [EBook #27103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Diane Monico and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT.
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE RUSSIAN
+SERVANT.
+
+BY
+
+HENRI GREVILLE.
+
+
+_Neely's Booklet Series. No. 24, June 12, 1899. Issued weekly.
+$5.00 a year. Entered as second-class matter
+at New York Post Office._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+F. TENNYSON NEELY,
+PUBLISHER.
+LONDON.   NEW YORK.   CHICAGO.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT.
+
+
+"Who's that?" said the countess, stopping in front of a young girl of
+fifteen or sixteen, bent over an embroidery frame. The young girl
+rose, prostrated herself thrice before her mistress, then, getting up,
+remained standing, her hands hanging by her side, her head slightly
+bent forward under the investigating gaze of the countess, who through
+her eyeglass closely scrutinized her.
+
+"It is the new girl, your highness," answered the head lady's maid,
+coming forward with the air of importance that thirty years'
+employment gives to no matter what functionary. "She is the daughter
+of Foma, of the village of Ikonine. She is come in her turn to pay her
+father's _obrok_--he is in Moscow."
+
+"These peasant girls can do nothing," said the countess, with a
+wearied air: "what do you expect to get out of this one?"
+
+"She doesn't embroider badly, your highness; pray look yourself. She
+can be put to the embroideries--not to the ground, but to the
+trimmings. This is for the toilet table of Madame la Comtesse."
+
+The noble lady, who could hardly see, being short-sighted from her
+birth, examined the embroidery frame so closely that the tip of her
+nose grazed the cloth.
+
+"That's not bad," she said. "Come here, little girl."
+
+The little girl advanced, and the countess inspected her as minutely
+as she had done the embroidery.
+
+"How pretty she is! What's your name?"
+
+"Mavra."
+
+The word came like a breath from the rosy lips.
+
+"You must speak louder if you want us to hear you," said the head
+lady's maid angrily.
+
+Mavra turned her large, blue, startled eyes toward her, let them drop,
+and said nothing.
+
+"Sit down to your work," said the countess, amused at her new toy.
+With a quick, graceful movement, the young girl resumed her seat on
+the wooden chair, and the needle, firmly held between her agile
+fingers, went in and out of the stuff with that short, sharp noise
+that stimulates the action of the hand.
+
+"That's right, you may go on," said the countess, her nerves irritated
+by the regularity of the movement.
+
+Then, turning her back upon the young girl and trailing the heavy,
+sumptuous folds of her dressing-gown along the carefully-washed
+pine-wood floor, she disappeared through the door, which was
+respectfully closed after her by the head lady's maid. The countess,
+an accomplished house-mistress, made a practice of paying a daily
+visit to this room, which was reserved for the women of her service.
+Mavra was left alone in the workroom, a large, well-lighted chamber,
+furnished simply with tables and chairs for the use of the
+innumerable women and girls invariably attached to the service of
+those noble ladies who knew so well how to maintain their rank in that
+blessed time of serfdom. At this hour the workroom was empty. Some of
+the women were washing, others ironing, some cleaning and turning
+upside down everything in the private apartment the countess had just
+left. The young peasant girl, with her needle uplifted, rested her
+ruddy hand upon the edge of the frame and looked around her.
+
+What multitudes of embroidered gowns with their rich lace trimmings
+hung there on the wall, waiting some slight repairs!--what endless
+petticoats with their ornamented flounces all freshly ironed on cords
+along the huge room!--what countless lace caps, worn hardly an hour,
+pinned to a pincushion as large as a pillow, used only for this
+purpose! and there, in a basket on the corner of the table, what piles
+of cambric chemises, delicately piped and pleated, trimmed with
+Valenciennes lace and ornamented with bright ribbons! And all this
+for one person! without counting the silk stockings in that other
+basket, and the rings by dozens worn by the countess on her thin
+fingers. In this world of living beings under God's heaven, what
+importance given to one person, who needed so many other persons to
+serve her! And how the nothingness of these was made more emphatic by
+the dominance of that! Mavra sat wonder-stricken. The head lady's
+maid coming into the room found her still in a state of stupefaction,
+stupefied above all at having made these reflections.
+
+"Well, you are lucky!" she said to her, with a pleased look. "Our
+countess took a fancy to you at the first glance; you are now on the
+list of embroiderers! You may thank God for it. It is not often the
+countess takes a fancy like that at first sight."
+
+"Is she, then, unkind?" innocently inquired the girl.
+
+"Unkind! Oh, no; capricious, like all mistresses, but the kindest lady
+in the world, and generous! Besides, this is a rich house; nothing is
+counted--nothing at all. This is better than your village," continued
+Dacka, proud of belonging to such noble masters, and desirous to
+impress on the mind of the simple peasant girl the importance and
+dignity of the functions she was promoted to.
+
+"It is more beautiful," replied Mavra, bending intently over her work.
+
+"It was lucky they taught you to embroider, else you would have been
+sent to the poultry-yard to feed the cocks and hens and look after the
+calves. How did you learn?"
+
+"My mother taught me; she was formerly in service; she was a
+_dvorovaia_ in the time of the late countess. She married a peasant."
+
+"Ah!" said Dacka, "I thought your manners were not quite those of a
+peasant girl; if your mother was in service, that's another thing.
+Come, take a cup of coffee with me. Prepare the coffee-pot and make
+haste before the others come; I can't ask every one, you understand."
+
+To Mavra there was but little difference between the _isba_ of her
+father and the workroom of the seignorial mansion. Here, as there,
+her life was spent in assiduous work from sunrise to sunset. There,
+her mother, an austere, somber woman, like most village matrons to
+whom life had proved no light matter; here, the lady's maid, often
+grumbling, but at times kind and even condescending. The chief
+difference between the two modes of life consisted in the daily
+visits of the countess, who generally said nothing, but passed with a
+solemn air through this roomful of silent, awe-stricken women. But one
+thing was lacking to Mavra, and this nothing could replace--the
+evening hour of rest which she used to spend by the fountain when sent
+to draw water for her mother, or on the threshold of their cabin,
+watching the spring rain falling soft and warm, melting the snow so
+quickly that its thickness might be seen visibly diminishing; or,
+again, in the month of May, standing at the edge of the forest,
+listening to the nightingales singing on the delicate golden branches
+of the perfumed birch tree.
+
+Winter passed fairly well, but when the first breath of warm air set
+the melted snow streaming down the roofs, which again the night's
+frost transformed into long stalactites of ice, Mavra felt a strange,
+vague aching in her heart. The house was overheated, and the close,
+nauseous air made her sick. What would she not give to run as of old
+over the moors, to see if the moss were beginning to appear under the
+crystallized, transparent carpet of snow!
+
+"What's the matter with this little girl?" asked the countess one day,
+as she stopped before the frame at which the young peasant girl was
+diligently working. "She was as fresh as a rose, and now she has grown
+yellow. Do you feel pain anywhere, Mavra?"
+
+Mavra raised her blue eyes to the noble lady who, for the second time
+in her life, deigned to address her, and replied in her low voice:
+
+"Nowhere, your highness."
+
+"Then why are you so yellow?"
+
+"I don't know, your highness."
+
+The countess dropped her eyeglass and looked kindly at the young
+girl.
+
+"I know," said she after a moment's pause; "the child wants air. She
+came here from her village, and has passed the whole winter stooping
+over her frame. Henceforth, little girl, you must get out into the
+fresh air twice a day, and must learn the service of my bedroom; this
+will give you exercise."
+
+Thereupon the countess quitted the room, followed by Mavra's grateful
+eyes, now filled with tears. From that day Mavra worshipped the
+countess; to approach her, to touch what she had worn, to serve her,
+to receive her orders and execute them with the utmost speed and
+dexterity, was the great joy of this humble girl. Her mistress,
+wrapped in all this gorgeous luxury, the elements of which had been
+so long under her eyes in the workroom, appeared to her as some august
+being nearer her Creator than any other of her fellow-creatures. Not
+only did Mavra pray to God for her, but at times she inwardly prayed
+to her as to a saint, thinking the pleadings of a being so superior
+must have equal weight with the powers of heaven as with those of
+earth.
+
+Summer was already on the wane when the noble mansion, habitually so
+tranquil, was suddenly filled with noise and gayety. The young Count
+Serge had sent his carriages on before him; saddle-horses and hounds
+were stamping and neighing in their stalls and barking in their
+kennels as though the one aim of life was to make all the noise
+possible.
+
+"How handsome he is, our young count!" Dacka kept on saying the
+livelong day, to while away the tedious hours in the silent workroom.
+"It was I who received him in my arms when he was born."
+
+And she repeated again and again, with inexhaustible complacency, the
+history of Serge's birth, and the legend of his boyhood up to the
+moment when this dear treasure of her heart had gone to join the corps
+of pages, his trunks laden with cakes, jams, and all that could
+possibly be eaten under heaven.
+
+The workgirls gave listless heed to these hundred times repeated
+narrations, but Mavra was never tired of hearing them; it was like
+receiving a sort of gospel into her heart. Her good and revered
+protectress made all things dear and venerated that touched her
+nearly; and this only son, loved, adored, longed for, became a
+supernatural being, a kind of Messiah to her.
+
+One morning at the end of August, as Mavra, who had risen early, was
+crossing the courtyard to go waken up the laundress, who had
+overslept herself, she saw, galloping along the inclosure a _troika_
+of black horses, with their heads covered with bells. "It's the young
+master!" thought the little servant; and without giving herself time
+for reflection, she ran to the ponderous gate and threw it wide open.
+At the same moment the brilliant equipage arrived; the coachman
+pulled together his noble beasts, and without slackening their gallop
+they shot like an arrow past Mavra, and ten steps further on stood
+stock-still at the foot of the steps. Dazed, her heart thrilled by she
+knew not what impression of fear and joy, she received full in the
+face the gaze of two large, black, amazed and amused eyes.
+
+"How like his mother!" thought Mavra, as she closed the huge gate,
+that shut with a heavy bang.
+
+She turned slowly toward the steps as Serge, jumping down from the
+carriage, looked around at her again; he smiled when he met her blue
+eyes full of simple admiration, and, giving her a friendly nod,
+entered the house of his fathers. A minute after he was by the
+countess' bedside, pressed lovingly in her arms.
+
+When they had chatted two whole hours, as they finished their tea,
+Serge, recollecting himself, suddenly said to his mother:
+
+"What is this new acquisition you have made, mother? A little
+fair-haired Raphael opened the gate for me this morning."
+
+The countess thought for a moment.
+
+"Ah! I know," said she; "it's Mavra--a virtue--my dear child. A
+strange little creature, who adores me."
+
+"She is quite right," replied the son respectfully. "What do you do
+with her?"
+
+"She embroiders in the afternoon, and in the morning she attends on
+me; but, Serge, you must be prudent. My house is strictly kept; don't
+you go and amuse yourself making gallant speeches to my girls."
+
+"Oh, mother! what do you take me for?" carelessly replied the young
+man. "I think of a woman only when she is in a casket suited to her
+style of beauty. Now here you may have pearls, but the casket is
+totally wanting."
+
+They burst out laughing together. Only those who thoroughly understood
+these two beings could have guessed beneath this light talk the strict
+propriety of the mother and the son's respect for the maternal home.
+But Russians of the _grande monde_ are so constituted that when they
+have no vice, they take all imaginable trouble to affect it.
+
+On leaving the dining room the countess and her son directed their
+steps toward the garden. In front of the house, in the courtyard, they
+met Mavra stooping under the weight of an enormous pile of linen,
+which she was carrying from the laundry. The sheets held in under her
+crossed hands reached so high that she had to raise her chin and turn
+her head sideways in order to see before her.
+
+"See, there she is," said the countess in French, stopping to look at
+her.
+
+"It is hard to say whether she is a Raphael or a Greuze," said Serge.
+"This morning she had more the look of a Raphael, with a Russian
+nose; it is a hybrid style of beauty, but it has a certain charm."
+
+They continued their walk, while Mavra entered the workroom with her
+pile of linen; when her hands were free, she stood trembling and
+silent, as though she had been guilty of a crime.
+
+"Well, what are you waiting for?" said one of the girls, pulling her
+by the apron.
+
+"I don't know," replied Mavra. "I feel as if I had received a blow,
+and my hands keep on trembling."
+
+"You carried too heavy a load for your strength. Sit down, and you
+will see it will pass off."
+
+And in fact it did pass away in a few minutes, but from that moment
+Mavra was haunted by a pair of black eyes, whose owner little
+suspected her infatuation.
+
+Her veneration for the countess was in nowise diminished by this. On
+the contrary, she loved her more, if possible. But in place of one
+idol, she had two. By little innocent tactics that surprised herself,
+she succeeded in having the service of the young count's room
+assigned to her, and thenceforth her happiness was complete. The care
+of the wardrobe was in the hands of the valet-de-chamber, who
+scrupulously avoided doing anything else.
+
+Serge was the most breakneck rider in the world; not from bravado,
+since for the most part he was alone when he performed his wild
+exploits, but from instinctive contempt for danger. One fine morning,
+clearing a hedge six feet high--there were none lower--the count's
+horse stumbled and fell on its side. A touch of the spur made it
+spring up, but when Serge tried to spur the other side, that on which
+it had fallen, he suffered excruciating pain. Fortunately it was the
+last hedge, else he would have had some difficulty in getting home.
+He pushed on, however, and reached the entrance; but when he
+endeavored to rest his foot on the stirrup to alight, he found it
+absolutely impossible, and amid the lamentations of the servants who
+had gathered around, he had to let himself be taken down from his
+horse and be dragged, as he said, like a bundle to his bed.
+
+When he was duly unbooted and examined, the supreme indifference with
+which he allowed himself to be handled and moved about, in spite of
+the paleness of his face, did not lessen the fact, that he had
+seriously fractured his tibia.
+
+The bone-setter was sent for, in conformity with a precept of the
+countess, who preferred a bone-setter at hand to the first surgeon in
+the world three hundred miles off. A horribly-complicated dressing,
+bristling with splints and bandages, was applied to the leg, with very
+respectful but formal injunctions not to move, and to remain in bed
+for six weeks.
+
+Six weeks! and the sporting season good, and flights of partridges
+started every minute by the count's dogs, hunting now for their own
+pleasure, the door of the kennel being seldom closed; the horses
+neighing from sheer weariness, and the grooms giving themselves
+lumbago brightening up trappings that were now to lie unused.
+
+The countess was a good reader, in spite of her eyeglass; she read
+untiringly, the result of which was to send the patient to
+sleep--infallible result; simply an affair of time; often in ten
+minutes, sometimes an hour Serge's breathing would become regular, the
+fever that colored his cheek bones would gradually disappear, and then
+the good mother, closing the book, would go about her duties as
+mistress of the house, leaving Mavra in charge of her son.
+
+Gradually the needle of Mavra's embroidery work would slacken its
+motion, and for long hours her eyes remain fixed on the face of the
+sleeping young count. Daylight would decline, and no candles be
+brought, lest the healing rest should be disturbed.
+
+Seated near the window in the deepening shadow, the outlines of her
+figure relieved against the pale blue autumn sky in which her dear
+stars were fast gathering, Mavra would lose herself in a vague
+infinite ecstasy as she sat gazing at her sleeping young master, whom
+her heart only could now see. At the first sign of his awaking she was
+on her feet with her hand upon the bell. On the arrival of the lamp
+Mavra would withdraw to the workroom. At night in her dreams she would
+continue her spiritual, almost mystical, contemplation of the
+beautiful fair head asleep on its pillow.
+
+When Serge got well, she was the prey of an implacable, unconscious,
+immortal love. Henceforth she belonged to her idol. Present or
+absent, he was her adored master; for him alone she breathed. She
+would have almost hated the convalescence that day by day was taking
+him from her, had not the young man's weakness obliged him frequently
+to seek her aid. Supporting himself with a stick in one hand, and
+resting the other on Mavra's shoulder, he would walk round his room.
+She was happy and proud the day when, to give the countess a
+surprise, she led him thus into the little _salon_, where the
+countess, thinking he was asleep, was reading a devotional book. The
+agitated joy of the mother and the nervous gayety of the son brought
+tears to the eyes of the young peasant girl; but stoical, like all her
+race, she drove her tears back.
+
+Serge walked alone with a stick, then without a stick, limping a
+little: by and by his firm elastic tread was heard again on the waxed
+oak floor. The northern early winter was come, snow already blocking
+up from time to time the seignorial mansion, then melting under the
+breath of a warmer wind, till the great winter blockade finally set
+in. One day a sledge, lined with fur, drawn by spirited horses,
+clinking the bells that studded the harness, drew up before the door.
+Serge and his mother stepped into it, waving a friendly farewell to
+the household that crowded around with noisy benedictions. The
+countess was to pass the winter at St. Petersburg, where her son was
+to resume his service in the hussars of Grodno. When they were gone,
+when the heavy gate which Mavra had opened one beautiful August day
+was shut, and the snow fell slowly in large flakes, reflecting the
+colors of the prism, it shut out all the outer world from the inmates
+of the seignorial mansion.
+
+Mavra returned to her embroidery frame, no longer under the orders of
+the good Dacka, but under the capricious, fitful superintendence of a
+housekeeper charged in the interval with the workroom department. Life
+was not so easy, but what mattered it to Mavra that there should be
+more harshness or less kindness? She did not live in the present. Her
+waking hours were passed in an innocent ecstasy that wore her away
+without suffering. She did not know that this was love. Had she known
+it, no amount of prayers or tears would have been enough to expiate
+her unpardonable sin. She loved just as flowers blossom; her ideal was
+exalted, her dream pure, and she lived upon them. One less chaste
+would have died. As for the young count, he had no idea of all this.
+
+The countess came back in the spring, and the house resumed its grand,
+hospitable ways. Mavra was profoundly touched to find that her
+mistress, far from having forgotten, inquired kindly after her. She
+returned to her personal attendance upon the countess with more
+devoted fervor than ever. Later on, the young master was to come
+back. Dacka conveyed in a mysterious manner that he had something
+better to do than to bury himself in the country. In the evening she
+confided to the laundress, in interminable whispers, secrets that were
+no doubt interesting, but which Mavra made no attempt to overhear,
+being by nature and taste discreet and reserved.
+
+On the eve of St. John, when young girls plait crowns of flowers,
+which they throw into the river to see if they are to be married
+within the year, Mavra went, like the others, to consult fate after
+this graceful fashion. She never dreamed of marriage; it was a closed
+world to her, into which she had no desire to penetrate; but she would
+plait a crown and watch it through the eddies of the capricious
+stream. The girls had thrown in their garlands. Mavra's got entangled
+in flowers that a young lad of twenty had just flung in. He was a
+carpenter. The two crowns whirled round in company, and vanished
+together from view at the bend of the river.
+
+"We are engaged, Mavra," said he. "Let it be once for all."
+
+"No," she replied calmly, without blushing.
+
+"Why? Do you dislike me?" he asked.
+
+"No, not more than other people. I don't wish to marry."
+
+This was enough to make the carpenter persist in his wish. He tried
+every means--went the length of begging the countess to intercede for
+him. Mavra, sent for by her mistress, gave the same explanation.
+
+"Well, if the child does not wish to marry, leave her alone," said the
+lady philosophically, who would have scrupled to force a fly to drink
+a drop of milk.
+
+And Mavra, by her own desire, was devoted to celibacy.
+
+In the month of September Serge returned, but only for eight days. He
+brought no dogs nor equipages with him this time. When he saw Mavra he
+gave her a friendly smile, and then thought no more about her. When he
+went away his mother accompanied him, and the house was again plunged
+into solitude long before the usual time. Six weeks later the news
+arrived that the young count was married.
+
+This announcement was the signal for great rejoicing. According to
+ancient usage, barrels of sweet beer and hydromel were brewed; white
+bread and meat were distributed to the whole village. The poor had
+abundant alms, and the whole retinue of servants had new dresses.
+Mavra had a handsome blue woolen dress and a silk handkerchief. No one
+was forgotten; debts in arrear were remitted, and the young girl was
+suddenly told she might return for the winter to her family, till her
+father could make new arrangements for the payment in kind of what he
+owed.
+
+This was no joyful news for the young peasant girl, but resignation is
+an inherent Russian virtue; she packed up her clothes in a basket,
+and one fine morning courageously set out on foot for her native
+village. She was received coolly by her mother. One mouth more to
+feed! besides which, peasants are sparing of their demonstrations of
+affection. After a few days Mavra relapsed into her old habits; bent
+all day over her embroidery frame by the narrow window, in the
+evening standing leaning against the door, gazing, as was her wont,
+at the stars. More than ever she loved them; behind these marvelous
+lights, that she likened to tears--for she was often sad now--she saw
+the black eyes and handsome, indifferent face that had taken
+possession of her soul. As long as she was staying in the grand
+seignorial mansion where the image of her idol met her at every step
+in familiar attitude, where she had only to close her eyes to see
+Serge before her, Mavra was happy; she was of those for whom the
+innocent and daily presence of the beloved makes the whole happiness
+of life. Here, where nothing spoke of him, she felt for the first time
+the pain of separation. Uneasy, she asked herself what it was that
+was torturing her to this degree, and the truth nearly dawned upon
+her. But she stopped the thought, not daring to sound it further,
+saying to herself that there must be at the root of all this suffering
+some great sin she herself was ignorant of. Morning and evening she
+knelt long before the sacred images, imploring God to deliver her
+from her pain; and feeling herself soothed by this effusion of mystic
+tenderness, she kept her sadness to herself, still refusing to fathom
+it. But she was visibly wasting away: the smoky atmosphere of her home
+had now the same painful influence upon her that the want of fresh air
+had formerly when she first left her village. She passed the winter
+suffering, uncomplaining, unrelaxing in her work. Gradually she gave
+up looking at the stars. Not only did they more than ever look like
+tears, but no sooner did she turn her eyes toward the night sky than
+they filled with tears, so she hardly knew whether it was the fires of
+heaven or her own tears sparkling beneath her eyelids.
+
+Spring came, though more tardily than usual; then summer with its
+field labors. The countess seemed to have forgotten Mavra, who thought
+with ever more and more resigned sadness of this much-loved mistress.
+
+Her indulgence concerning the service-dues of her family appeared to
+the young girl not a favor, but a punishment. At hay-making as at
+harvest young lads seek out the girls. Had Mavra wished it, she might
+have found ten husbands. She was no longer quite young according to
+the notion of peasants, who marry their daughters at sixteen and their
+boys at twenty. She was getting on to twenty, and her mother at times
+reproached her, treating her as a "useless mouth," although Mavra's
+embroidery was readily bought by the traders from the large towns, who
+came to the village twice a year.
+
+In the beginning of September, Serge said to his young wife, who was
+about to make him a father:
+
+"If you follow my advice, you will yourself nurse our child."
+
+"I should like to do so, but then I must have a trained, devoted
+servant, one endowed with all the virtues," answered the young wife,
+"and mamma says this is more difficult to find than a suitable nurse."
+
+"It is quite true," said the countess, present at this family council,
+which had taken place on an average thrice a week for the last four or
+five months; "but, Serge, now that I think of it, we have Mavra! the
+sweetest, quietest, most devoted of nurse-tenders!"
+
+"Mavra! the very thing. How is it we never thought of her before? She
+is not trained, for she is unmarried, but she is very active and
+intelligent!"
+
+The manager was written to, ordering him to send on Mavra by the
+convoy which every year about this period brought to St. Petersburg
+fruits, preserves, salt, provisions, linen, and, in short, all the
+products of the earth. The young girl once more packed her clothes up
+in her little basket, and took her seat on one of the long file of
+heavy wagons that slowly rolled along the roads for eight or nine
+days, sleeping at night under the linen awning drawn over the chests
+of preserves, while the horses were in the stables, and the wagoners
+by their sides. Sometimes on awaking she saw the stars, but they no
+longer brought tears to her eyes.
+
+When the convoy of provisions arrived, and Mavra, still dizzy, had
+made the necessary change in her dress, she was led into the room of
+the young countess, where the whole family was assembled, augmented
+within the last two days by a superb newborn baby, which none of the
+servants knew how to manage.
+
+"Here you are, Mavra. Good-morning!" said the triumphant father,
+taking up his son in his awkward arms, at the risk of making him roar
+still louder. "You have a light hand and a gentle voice. I give you
+my son to take care of."
+
+"I humbly thank you," said the young girl, pale with joy. "I shall do
+my best."
+
+She carried the infant into an adjoining room, where she soon learned
+the special care to be given to a child of noble race, which was as
+different from its cradle from that of little peasants, his brothers
+in God's sight, as he would be the rest of his life. Toward evening
+the young mother, surprised at no longer hearing the music her
+first-born had already had time to accustom her to, sent Serge out to
+find the reason of this unusual silence. The young master entered the
+large dark room where Mavra was slowly pacing up and down, the
+child's cheek pressed against hers, warming it with her warm breath
+and the love of a heart henceforth happy.
+
+She was singing a peasant lullaby in a low voice, inventing words to
+the tune. "Dear child of my master, sleep on your servant's heart,
+that loves you; treasure more precious than all things, my joy, my
+share of happiness in this world--my little star----"
+
+Serge returned on tiptoe to his wife.
+
+"I think our minds may be quite at ease," said he.
+
+Mavra is now old. She declares that she has always been perfectly
+happy.
+
+THE END.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+NEELY'S BOOKLET LIBRARY.
+
+
+The following Titles now ready or in Preparation:
+
+ 1. The Drums of the Fore and Aft. Rudyard Kipling.
+ 2. The Sins of a Widow. Confessed by Amelie L'Oiseau.
+ 3. Twos and Threes. Anna Olcott Commeline.
+ 4. Santiago de Cuba before the War. Caroline L. Wallace.
+ 5. The Barbarian. Bedloe Mendum.
+ 6. Wrecks and Wreckers. S. P. Jermain.
+ 7. Master and Man. Count Leo Tolstoi.
+ 8. The Greatest Thing in the World. Henry Drummond.
+ 9. Black Jack. Rudyard Kipling.
+10. An Idyll of London. Beatrice Harraden.
+11. The House of a Traitor. Prosper Mérimée.
+12. My Sister Kate. By the Author of Dora Thorne.
+13. The Fatal Marriage. Charlotte M. Braeme.
+14. The Nest of Nobles. Turgeneiff.
+15. A Lodging in the Night. Robert Louis Stevenson.
+16. A Case of Identity. A. Conan Doyle.
+17. Nurse Eva. The Duchess.
+18. A Scandal in Bohemia. A. Conan Doyle.
+19. The Man from Archangel. A. Conan Doyle.
+20. The Captain of the Pole Star. A. Conan Doyle.
+21. John Barrington Cowles. A. Conan Doyle.
+22. Love's Ransom Shot. Wilkie Collins.
+23. Love Finds the Way. Walter Besant and Jas. Rice.
+24. The Little Russian Servant. Henri Greville.
+25. The New Adam and Eve. Nathaniel Hawthorne.
+26. The Spring of a Lion. H. Rider Haggard.
+
+For sale everywhere, or sent postpaid on receipt of price.
+
+F. TENNYSON NEELY, Publisher,
+96 Queen St., London.    114 Fifth Ave., N. Y.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+Page 75: Changed ever to every:
+  (met her at ever step in familiar attitude,).
+
+Moved NEELY'S BOOKLET LIBRARY listing to the end of the book.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Russian Servant, by Henri Greville
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27103-8.txt or 27103-8.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/1/0/27103/
+
+Produced by Diane Monico and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/27103-8.zip b/27103-8.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e8d433
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-8.zip
diff --git a/27103-h.zip b/27103-h.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..db93b49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-h.zip
diff --git a/27103-h/27103-h.htm b/27103-h/27103-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64e27c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-h/27103-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,1606 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Little Russian Servant, by Henri Greville.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+/*<![CDATA[  XML blockout */
+<!--
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         }
+    h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;}
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
+            /*  visibility: hidden;  */
+                position: absolute;
+                left: 92%;
+                font-size: smaller;
+                text-align: right;
+              } /* page numbers */
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+    .figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+    // -->
+    /* XML end  ]]>*/
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Russian Servant, by Henri Greville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Little Russian Servant
+
+Author: Henri Greville
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2008 [EBook #27103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Diane Monico and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<h1>THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT.</h1>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+
+<h1>THE LITTLE RUSSIAN<br />
+SERVANT.</h1>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>HENRI GREVILLE.</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Neely's Booklet Series. No. 24, June 12, 1899. Issued weekly.<br />
+$5.00 a year. Entered as second-class matter<br />
+at New York Post Office.</i></p>
+
+<p class="figcenter" style="width: 151px;">
+<img src="images/image001.png" width="151" height="150" alt="" title="" />
+</p>
+
+
+<h4>F. TENNYSON NEELY,<br />
+PUBLISHER.</h4>
+<h5>LONDON.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   NEW YORK.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   CHICAGO.</h5>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE</h3>
+<h2>LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Who's that?" said the countess,
+stopping in front of a young
+girl of fifteen or sixteen, bent
+over an embroidery frame. The
+young girl rose, prostrated herself
+thrice before her mistress,
+then, getting up, remained standing,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>
+her hands hanging by her side,
+her head slightly bent forward
+under the investigating gaze of
+the countess, who through her
+eyeglass closely scrutinized her.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the new girl, your highness,"
+answered the head lady's
+maid, coming forward with the
+air of importance that thirty
+years' employment gives to no
+matter what functionary. "She is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span>
+the daughter of Foma, of the
+village of Ikonine. She is come
+in her turn to pay her father's
+<i>obrok</i>&mdash;he is in Moscow."</p>
+
+<p>"These peasant girls can do
+nothing," said the countess, with
+a wearied air: "what do you expect
+to get out of this one?"</p>
+
+<p>"She doesn't embroider badly,
+your highness; pray look yourself.
+She can be put to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>embroideries&mdash;not
+to the ground, but
+to the trimmings. This is for
+the toilet table of Madame la
+Comtesse."</p>
+
+<p>The noble lady, who could
+hardly see, being short-sighted
+from her birth, examined the embroidery
+frame so closely that the
+tip of her nose grazed the cloth.</p>
+
+<p>"That's not bad," she said.
+"Come here, little girl."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The little girl advanced, and the
+countess inspected her as minutely
+as she had done the embroidery.</p>
+
+<p>"How pretty she is! What's
+your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mavra."</p>
+
+<p>The word came like a breath
+from the rosy lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You must speak louder if you
+want us to hear you," said the
+head lady's maid angrily.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mavra turned her large, blue,
+startled eyes toward her, let them
+drop, and said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down to your work," said
+the countess, amused at her new
+toy. With a quick, graceful
+movement, the young girl resumed
+her seat on the wooden chair,
+and the needle, firmly held between
+her agile fingers, went in
+and out of the stuff with that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+short, sharp noise that stimulates
+the action of the hand.</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, you may go
+on," said the countess, her nerves
+irritated by the regularity of the
+movement.</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning her back upon
+the young girl and trailing the
+heavy, sumptuous folds of her
+dressing-gown along the carefully-washed
+pine-wood floor, she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+disappeared through the door,
+which was respectfully closed after
+her by the head lady's maid.
+The countess, an accomplished
+house-mistress, made a practice
+of paying a daily visit to this
+room, which was reserved for the
+women of her service. Mavra
+was left alone in the workroom,
+a large, well-lighted chamber,
+furnished simply with tables and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+chairs for the use of the innumerable
+women and girls invariably
+attached to the service of those
+noble ladies who knew so well
+how to maintain their rank in
+that blessed time of serfdom. At
+this hour the workroom was empty.
+Some of the women were washing,
+others ironing, some cleaning
+and turning upside down everything
+in the private apartment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+the countess had just left. The
+young peasant girl, with her
+needle uplifted, rested her ruddy
+hand upon the edge of the frame
+and looked around her.</p>
+
+<p>What multitudes of embroidered
+gowns with their rich lace trimmings
+hung there on the wall,
+waiting some slight repairs!&mdash;what
+endless petticoats with their ornamented
+flounces all freshly ironed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+on cords along the huge room!&mdash;what
+countless lace caps, worn
+hardly an hour, pinned to a pincushion
+as large as a pillow, used
+only for this purpose! and there,
+in a basket on the corner of the
+table, what piles of cambric
+chemises, delicately piped and
+pleated, trimmed with Valenciennes
+lace and ornamented with
+bright ribbons! And all this for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+one person! without counting the
+silk stockings in that other basket,
+and the rings by dozens worn
+by the countess on her thin fingers.
+In this world of living
+beings under God's heaven, what
+importance given to one person,
+who needed so many other persons
+to serve her! And how the
+nothingness of these was made
+more emphatic by the dominance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+of that! Mavra sat wonder-stricken.
+The head lady's
+maid coming into the room found
+her still in a state of stupefaction,
+stupefied above all at having
+made these reflections.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are lucky!" she said
+to her, with a pleased look.
+"Our countess took a fancy to
+you at the first glance; you are
+now on the list of embroiderers!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+You may thank God for it. It
+is not often the countess takes a
+fancy like that at first sight."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she, then, unkind?" innocently
+inquired the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Unkind! Oh, no; capricious,
+like all mistresses, but the kindest
+lady in the world, and generous!
+Besides, this is a rich house;
+nothing is counted&mdash;nothing at
+all. This is better than your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>
+village," continued Dacka, proud
+of belonging to such noble masters,
+and desirous to impress on
+the mind of the simple peasant
+girl the importance and dignity
+of the functions she was promoted
+to.</p>
+
+<p>"It is more beautiful," replied
+Mavra, bending intently over her
+work.</p>
+
+<p>"It was lucky they taught you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+to embroider, else you would
+have been sent to the poultry-yard
+to feed the cocks and hens
+and look after the calves. How
+did you learn?"</p>
+
+<p>"My mother taught me; she
+was formerly in service; she was
+a <i>dvorovaia</i> in the time of the
+late countess. She married a
+peasant."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" said Dacka, "I thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+your manners were not quite
+those of a peasant girl; if your
+mother was in service, that's another
+thing. Come, take a cup of
+coffee with me. Prepare the
+coffee-pot and make haste before
+the others come; I can't ask every
+one, you understand."</p>
+
+<p>To Mavra there was but little
+difference between the <i>isba</i> of her
+father and the workroom of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+seignorial mansion. Here, as there,
+her life was spent in assiduous
+work from sunrise to sunset.
+There, her mother, an austere,
+somber woman, like most village
+matrons to whom life had proved
+no light matter; here, the lady's
+maid, often grumbling, but at
+times kind and even condescending.
+The chief difference between
+the two modes of life consisted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+in the daily visits of the
+countess, who generally said
+nothing, but passed with a solemn
+air through this roomful of silent,
+awe-stricken women. But one
+thing was lacking to Mavra, and
+this nothing could replace&mdash;the
+evening hour of rest which she
+used to spend by the fountain
+when sent to draw water for her
+mother, or on the threshold of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>
+their cabin, watching the spring
+rain falling soft and warm, melting
+the snow so quickly that its
+thickness might be seen visibly
+diminishing; or, again, in the
+month of May, standing at the
+edge of the forest, listening to
+the nightingales singing on the
+delicate golden branches of the
+perfumed birch tree.</p>
+
+<p>Winter passed fairly well, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+when the first breath of warm
+air set the melted snow streaming
+down the roofs, which again
+the night's frost transformed into
+long stalactites of ice, Mavra felt
+a strange, vague aching in her
+heart. The house was overheated,
+and the close, nauseous air made
+her sick. What would she not
+give to run as of old over the
+moors, to see if the moss were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+beginning to appear under the
+crystallized, transparent carpet of
+snow!</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with this
+little girl?" asked the countess
+one day, as she stopped before
+the frame at which the young
+peasant girl was diligently working.
+"She was as fresh as a
+rose, and now she has grown yellow.
+Do you feel pain anywhere, Mavra?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mavra raised her blue eyes to
+the noble lady who, for the
+second time in her life, deigned
+to address her, and replied in her
+low voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Nowhere, your highness."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why are you so yellow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know, your highness."</p>
+
+<p>The countess dropped her eyeglass
+and looked kindly at the
+young girl.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I know," said she after a
+moment's pause; "the child wants
+air. She came here from her village,
+and has passed the whole
+winter stooping over her frame.
+Henceforth, little girl, you must
+get out into the fresh air twice a
+day, and must learn the service
+of my bedroom; this will give you
+exercise."</p>
+
+<p>Thereupon the countess quitted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>
+the room, followed by Mavra's
+grateful eyes, now filled with
+tears. From that day Mavra worshipped
+the countess; to approach
+her, to touch what she had worn,
+to serve her, to receive her
+orders and execute them with the
+utmost speed and dexterity, was
+the great joy of this humble girl.
+Her mistress, wrapped in all this
+gorgeous luxury, the elements of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+which had been so long under her
+eyes in the workroom, appeared
+to her as some august being
+nearer her Creator than any other
+of her fellow-creatures. Not only
+did Mavra pray to God for her,
+but at times she inwardly prayed to
+her as to a saint, thinking the pleadings
+of a being so superior must
+have equal weight with the powers
+of heaven as with those of earth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Summer was already on the
+wane when the noble mansion,
+habitually so tranquil, was suddenly
+filled with noise and gayety.
+The young Count Serge had
+sent his carriages on before him;
+saddle-horses and hounds were
+stamping and neighing in their
+stalls and barking in their kennels
+as though the one aim of life
+was to make all the noise possible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How handsome he is, our
+young count!" Dacka kept on
+saying the livelong day, to while
+away the tedious hours in the
+silent workroom. "It was I who
+received him in my arms when
+he was born."</p>
+
+<p>And she repeated again and
+again, with inexhaustible complacency,
+the history of Serge's
+birth, and the legend of his boyhood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>
+up to the moment when
+this dear treasure of her heart
+had gone to join the corps of
+pages, his trunks laden with
+cakes, jams, and all that could
+possibly be eaten under heaven.</p>
+
+<p>The workgirls gave listless heed
+to these hundred times repeated
+narrations, but Mavra was never
+tired of hearing them; it was like
+receiving a sort of gospel into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>
+her heart. Her good and revered
+protectress made all things dear
+and venerated that touched her
+nearly; and this only son, loved,
+adored, longed for, became a supernatural
+being, a kind of Messiah
+to her.</p>
+
+<p>One morning at the end of
+August, as Mavra, who had risen
+early, was crossing the courtyard
+to go waken up the laundress,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+who had overslept herself, she
+saw, galloping along the inclosure
+a <i>troika</i> of black horses, with
+their heads covered with bells.
+"It's the young master!" thought
+the little servant; and without
+giving herself time for reflection,
+she ran to the ponderous gate
+and threw it wide open. At the
+same moment the brilliant equipage
+arrived; the coachman pulled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>
+together his noble beasts, and
+without slackening their gallop
+they shot like an arrow past
+Mavra, and ten steps further on
+stood stock-still at the foot of
+the steps. Dazed, her heart
+thrilled by she knew not what
+impression of fear and joy, she
+received full in the face the gaze
+of two large, black, amazed and
+amused eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"How like his mother!" thought
+Mavra, as she closed the huge
+gate, that shut with a heavy
+bang.</p>
+
+<p>She turned slowly toward the
+steps as Serge, jumping down
+from the carriage, looked around
+at her again; he smiled when he
+met her blue eyes full of simple
+admiration, and, giving her a
+friendly nod, entered the house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>
+of his fathers. A minute after
+he was by the countess' bedside,
+pressed lovingly in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>When they had chatted two
+whole hours, as they finished their
+tea, Serge, recollecting himself,
+suddenly said to his mother:</p>
+
+<p>"What is this new acquisition
+you have made, mother? A little
+fair-haired Raphael opened the
+gate for me this morning."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The countess thought for a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I know," said she; "it's
+Mavra&mdash;a virtue&mdash;my dear child.
+A strange little creature, who
+adores me."</p>
+
+<p>"She is quite right," replied
+the son respectfully. "What do
+you do with her?"</p>
+
+<p>"She embroiders in the afternoon,
+and in the morning she attends<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+on me; but, Serge, you
+must be prudent. My house is
+strictly kept; don't you go and
+amuse yourself making gallant
+speeches to my girls."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, mother! what do you
+take me for?" carelessly replied
+the young man. "I think of a
+woman only when she is in a
+casket suited to her style of
+beauty. Now here you may have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+pearls, but the casket is totally wanting."</p>
+
+<p>They burst out laughing together.
+Only those who thoroughly
+understood these two
+beings could have guessed beneath
+this light talk the strict
+propriety of the mother and the
+son's respect for the maternal
+home. But Russians of the <i>grande
+monde</i> are so constituted that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+when they have no vice, they
+take all imaginable trouble to
+affect it.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving the dining room the
+countess and her son directed
+their steps toward the garden. In
+front of the house, in the courtyard,
+they met Mavra stooping
+under the weight of an enormous
+pile of linen, which she was
+carrying from the laundry. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+sheets held in under her crossed
+hands reached so high that she
+had to raise her chin and turn
+her head sideways in order to see
+before her.</p>
+
+<p>"See, there she is," said the
+countess in French, stopping to
+look at her.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hard to say whether she
+is a Raphael or a Greuze," said
+Serge. "This morning she had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+more the look of a Raphael, with
+a Russian nose; it is a hybrid
+style of beauty, but it has a certain
+charm."</p>
+
+<p>They continued their walk,
+while Mavra entered the workroom
+with her pile of linen; when
+her hands were free, she stood
+trembling and silent, as though
+she had been guilty of a crime.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what are you waiting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+for?" said one of the girls, pulling
+her by the apron.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," replied Mavra.
+"I feel as if I had received a
+blow, and my hands keep on
+trembling."</p>
+
+<p>"You carried too heavy a load
+for your strength. Sit down, and
+you will see it will pass off."</p>
+
+<p>And in fact it did pass away
+in a few minutes, but from that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+moment Mavra was haunted by
+a pair of black eyes, whose owner
+little suspected her infatuation.</p>
+
+<p>Her veneration for the countess
+was in nowise diminished by
+this. On the contrary, she loved
+her more, if possible. But in place
+of one idol, she had two. By little
+innocent tactics that surprised herself,
+she succeeded in having the
+service of the young count's room<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+assigned to her, and thenceforth
+her happiness was complete. The
+care of the wardrobe was in the
+hands of the valet-de-chamber,
+who scrupulously avoided doing
+anything else.</p>
+
+<p>Serge was the most breakneck
+rider in the world; not from
+bravado, since for the most part
+he was alone when he performed
+his wild exploits, but from instinctive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>
+contempt for danger.
+One fine morning, clearing a hedge
+six feet high&mdash;there were none
+lower&mdash;the count's horse stumbled
+and fell on its side. A touch of
+the spur made it spring up, but
+when Serge tried to spur the
+other side, that on which it had
+fallen, he suffered excruciating
+pain. Fortunately it was the last
+hedge, else he would have had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+some difficulty in getting home.
+He pushed on, however, and
+reached the entrance; but when
+he endeavored to rest his foot on
+the stirrup to alight, he found
+it absolutely impossible, and amid
+the lamentations of the servants
+who had gathered around, he had
+to let himself be taken down from
+his horse and be dragged, as he
+said, like a bundle to his bed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When he was duly unbooted
+and examined, the supreme indifference
+with which he allowed
+himself to be handled and moved
+about, in spite of the paleness of
+his face, did not lessen the fact,
+that he had seriously fractured
+his tibia.</p>
+
+<p>The bone-setter was sent for,
+in conformity with a precept of
+the countess, who preferred a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>
+bone-setter at hand to the first
+surgeon in the world three hundred
+miles off. A horribly-complicated
+dressing, bristling with
+splints and bandages, was applied
+to the leg, with very respectful
+but formal injunctions not to
+move, and to remain in bed for
+six weeks.</p>
+
+<p>Six weeks! and the sporting season
+good, and flights of partridges<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>
+started every minute by the
+count's dogs, hunting now for
+their own pleasure, the door of
+the kennel being seldom closed;
+the horses neighing from sheer
+weariness, and the grooms giving
+themselves lumbago brightening up
+trappings that were now to lie
+unused.</p>
+
+<p>The countess was a good reader,
+in spite of her eyeglass; she read<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+untiringly, the result of which
+was to send the patient to sleep&mdash;infallible
+result; simply an affair
+of time; often in ten minutes,
+sometimes an hour Serge's breathing
+would become regular, the
+fever that colored his cheek
+bones would gradually disappear,
+and then the good mother, closing
+the book, would go about her
+duties as mistress of the house,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+leaving Mavra in charge of her
+son.</p>
+
+<p>Gradually the needle of Mavra's
+embroidery work would slacken
+its motion, and for long hours
+her eyes remain fixed on the face
+of the sleeping young count.
+Daylight would decline, and no
+candles be brought, lest the healing
+rest should be disturbed.</p>
+
+<p>Seated near the window in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>
+deepening shadow, the outlines of
+her figure relieved against the
+pale blue autumn sky in which
+her dear stars were fast gathering,
+Mavra would lose herself in
+a vague infinite ecstasy as she
+sat gazing at her sleeping young
+master, whom her heart only
+could now see. At the first sign
+of his awaking she was on her
+feet with her hand upon the bell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+On the arrival of the lamp Mavra
+would withdraw to the workroom.
+At night in her dreams
+she would continue her spiritual,
+almost mystical, contemplation of
+the beautiful fair head asleep on
+its pillow.</p>
+
+<p>When Serge got well, she was
+the prey of an implacable, unconscious,
+immortal love. Henceforth
+she belonged to her idol. Present<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>
+or absent, he was her adored master;
+for him alone she breathed.
+She would have almost hated the
+convalescence that day by day was
+taking him from her, had not the
+young man's weakness obliged
+him frequently to seek her aid.
+Supporting himself with a stick in
+one hand, and resting the other on
+Mavra's shoulder, he would walk
+round his room. She was happy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+and proud the day when, to give
+the countess a surprise, she led
+him thus into the little <i>salon</i>,
+where the countess, thinking he
+was asleep, was reading a devotional
+book. The agitated joy of
+the mother and the nervous gayety
+of the son brought tears to
+the eyes of the young peasant
+girl; but stoical, like all her race,
+she drove her tears back.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Serge walked alone with a
+stick, then without a stick, limping
+a little: by and by his firm
+elastic tread was heard again on
+the waxed oak floor. The northern
+early winter was come, snow
+already blocking up from time to
+time the seignorial mansion, then
+melting under the breath of a
+warmer wind, till the great winter
+blockade finally set in. One<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+day a sledge, lined with fur,
+drawn by spirited horses, clinking
+the bells that studded the
+harness, drew up before the door.
+Serge and his mother stepped
+into it, waving a friendly farewell
+to the household that
+crowded around with noisy benedictions.
+The countess was to
+pass the winter at St. Petersburg,
+where her son was to resume his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+service in the hussars of Grodno.
+When they were gone, when the
+heavy gate which Mavra had
+opened one beautiful August day
+was shut, and the snow fell
+slowly in large flakes, reflecting
+the colors of the prism, it shut
+out all the outer world from the
+inmates of the seignorial mansion.</p>
+
+<p>Mavra returned to her embroidery
+frame, no longer under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>
+orders of the good Dacka, but
+under the capricious, fitful superintendence
+of a housekeeper
+charged in the interval with the
+workroom department. Life was
+not so easy, but what mattered
+it to Mavra that there should be
+more harshness or less kindness?
+She did not live in the present.
+Her waking hours were passed
+in an innocent ecstasy that wore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+her away without suffering. She
+did not know that this was love.
+Had she known it, no amount of
+prayers or tears would have been
+enough to expiate her unpardonable
+sin. She loved just as flowers
+blossom; her ideal was exalted,
+her dream pure, and she lived
+upon them. One less chaste would
+have died. As for the young
+count, he had no idea of all this.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The countess came back in the
+spring, and the house resumed
+its grand, hospitable ways. Mavra
+was profoundly touched to find
+that her mistress, far from having
+forgotten, inquired kindly
+after her. She returned to her
+personal attendance upon the
+countess with more devoted fervor
+than ever. Later on, the
+young master was to come back.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+Dacka conveyed in a mysterious
+manner that he had something
+better to do than to bury himself
+in the country. In the evening
+she confided to the laundress,
+in interminable whispers, secrets
+that were no doubt interesting,
+but which Mavra made no attempt
+to overhear, being by nature and
+taste discreet and reserved.</p>
+
+<p>On the eve of St. John, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+young girls plait crowns of
+flowers, which they throw into
+the river to see if they are to
+be married within the year, Mavra
+went, like the others, to consult
+fate after this graceful fashion.
+She never dreamed of marriage;
+it was a closed world to her,
+into which she had no desire to
+penetrate; but she would plait a
+crown and watch it through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+eddies of the capricious stream.
+The girls had thrown in their
+garlands. Mavra's got entangled
+in flowers that a young lad of
+twenty had just flung in. He
+was a carpenter. The two crowns
+whirled round in company, and
+vanished together from view at
+the bend of the river.</p>
+
+<p>"We are engaged, Mavra," said
+he. "Let it be once for all."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"No," she replied calmly, without
+blushing.</p>
+
+<p>"Why? Do you dislike me?"
+he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, not more than other people.
+I don't wish to marry."</p>
+
+<p>This was enough to make the
+carpenter persist in his wish. He
+tried every means&mdash;went the
+length of begging the countess to
+intercede for him. Mavra, sent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+for by her mistress, gave the
+same explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if the child does not
+wish to marry, leave her alone,"
+said the lady philosophically, who
+would have scrupled to force a
+fly to drink a drop of milk.</p>
+
+<p>And Mavra, by her own desire,
+was devoted to celibacy.</p>
+
+<p>In the month of September
+Serge returned, but only for eight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+days. He brought no dogs nor
+equipages with him this time.
+When he saw Mavra he gave her
+a friendly smile, and then thought
+no more about her. When he
+went away his mother accompanied
+him, and the house was
+again plunged into solitude long
+before the usual time. Six weeks
+later the news arrived that the
+young count was married.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This announcement was the signal
+for great rejoicing. According
+to ancient usage, barrels of sweet
+beer and hydromel were brewed;
+white bread and meat were distributed
+to the whole village.
+The poor had abundant alms, and
+the whole retinue of servants had
+new dresses. Mavra had a handsome
+blue woolen dress and a
+silk handkerchief. No one was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+forgotten; debts in arrear were
+remitted, and the young girl was
+suddenly told she might return
+for the winter to her family, till
+her father could make new arrangements
+for the payment in
+kind of what he owed.</p>
+
+<p>This was no joyful news for
+the young peasant girl, but resignation
+is an inherent Russian virtue;
+she packed up her clothes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+in a basket, and one fine morning
+courageously set out on foot
+for her native village. She was
+received coolly by her mother.
+One mouth more to feed! besides
+which, peasants are sparing of
+their demonstrations of affection.
+After a few days Mavra relapsed
+into her old habits; bent all day
+over her embroidery frame by
+the narrow window, in the evening<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+standing leaning against the
+door, gazing, as was her wont,
+at the stars. More than ever she
+loved them; behind these marvelous
+lights, that she likened to
+tears&mdash;for she was often sad now&mdash;she
+saw the black eyes and
+handsome, indifferent face that
+had taken possession of her soul.
+As long as she was staying in
+the grand seignorial mansion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+where the image of her idol
+met her at every step in familiar
+attitude, where she had only to
+close her eyes to see Serge before
+her, Mavra was happy; she
+was of those for whom the innocent
+and daily presence of the
+beloved makes the whole happiness
+of life. Here, where nothing
+spoke of him, she felt for the
+first time the pain of separation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+Uneasy, she asked herself what
+it was that was torturing her to
+this degree, and the truth nearly
+dawned upon her. But she
+stopped the thought, not daring
+to sound it further, saying to
+herself that there must be at the
+root of all this suffering some
+great sin she herself was ignorant
+of. Morning and evening she
+knelt long before the sacred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+images, imploring God to deliver
+her from her pain; and feeling
+herself soothed by this effusion
+of mystic tenderness, she kept
+her sadness to herself, still refusing
+to fathom it. But she was
+visibly wasting away: the smoky
+atmosphere of her home had now
+the same painful influence upon
+her that the want of fresh air had
+formerly when she first left her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+village. She passed the winter
+suffering, uncomplaining, unrelaxing
+in her work. Gradually she
+gave up looking at the stars. Not
+only did they more than ever look
+like tears, but no sooner did she
+turn her eyes toward the night
+sky than they filled with tears, so
+she hardly knew whether it was
+the fires of heaven or her own tears
+sparkling beneath her eyelids.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Spring came, though more
+tardily than usual; then summer
+with its field labors. The countess
+seemed to have forgotten Mavra,
+who thought with ever more and
+more resigned sadness of this
+much-loved mistress.</p>
+
+<p>Her indulgence concerning the
+service-dues of her family appeared
+to the young girl not a
+favor, but a punishment. At hay-making<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+as at harvest young lads
+seek out the girls. Had Mavra
+wished it, she might have found
+ten husbands. She was no longer
+quite young according to the
+notion of peasants, who marry
+their daughters at sixteen and
+their boys at twenty. She was
+getting on to twenty, and her
+mother at times reproached her,
+treating her as a "useless mouth,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+although Mavra's embroidery was
+readily bought by the traders
+from the large towns, who came
+to the village twice a year.</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning of September,
+Serge said to his young wife, who
+was about to make him a father:</p>
+
+<p>"If you follow my advice, you
+will yourself nurse our child."</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to do so, but then
+I must have a trained, devoted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+servant, one endowed with all the
+virtues," answered the young wife,
+"and mamma says this is more
+difficult to find than a suitable
+nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"It is quite true," said the
+countess, present at this family
+council, which had taken place
+on an average thrice a week for
+the last four or five months;
+"but, Serge, now that I think of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>
+it, we have Mavra! the sweetest,
+quietest, most devoted of nurse-tenders!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mavra! the very thing. How is
+it we never thought of her before?
+She is not trained, for she is unmarried,
+but she is very active
+and intelligent!"</p>
+
+<p>The manager was written to,
+ordering him to send on Mavra by
+the convoy which every year<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+about this period brought to St.
+Petersburg fruits, preserves, salt,
+provisions, linen, and, in short,
+all the products of the earth.
+The young girl once more packed
+her clothes up in her little basket,
+and took her seat on one of the
+long file of heavy wagons that
+slowly rolled along the roads for
+eight or nine days, sleeping at
+night under the linen awning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+drawn over the chests of preserves,
+while the horses were in
+the stables, and the wagoners by
+their sides. Sometimes on awaking
+she saw the stars, but they
+no longer brought tears to her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>When the convoy of provisions
+arrived, and Mavra, still dizzy,
+had made the necessary change
+in her dress, she was led into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>
+the room of the young countess,
+where the whole family was assembled,
+augmented within the
+last two days by a superb newborn
+baby, which none of the
+servants knew how to manage.</p>
+
+<p>"Here you are, Mavra. Good-morning!"
+said the triumphant
+father, taking up his son in his
+awkward arms, at the risk of
+making him roar still louder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>
+"You have a light hand and a
+gentle voice. I give you my son
+to take care of."</p>
+
+<p>"I humbly thank you," said
+the young girl, pale with joy.
+"I shall do my best."</p>
+
+<p>She carried the infant into an
+adjoining room, where she soon
+learned the special care to be
+given to a child of noble race,
+which was as different from its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+cradle from that of little peasants,
+his brothers in God's sight,
+as he would be the rest of his
+life. Toward evening the young
+mother, surprised at no longer
+hearing the music her first-born
+had already had time to accustom
+her to, sent Serge out to find the
+reason of this unusual silence.
+The young master entered the
+large dark room where Mavra was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>
+slowly pacing up and down, the
+child's cheek pressed against hers,
+warming it with her warm breath
+and the love of a heart henceforth
+happy.</p>
+
+<p>She was singing a peasant lullaby
+in a low voice, inventing
+words to the tune. "Dear child of
+my master, sleep on your servant's
+heart, that loves you; treasure
+more precious than all things, my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+joy, my share of happiness in this
+world&mdash;my little star&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Serge returned on tiptoe to his
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>"I think our minds may be
+quite at ease," said he.</p>
+
+<p>Mavra is now old. She declares
+that she has always been perfectly
+happy.</p>
+
+<p class="center">THE END.</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>NEELY'S<br />
+BOOKLET LIBRARY.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="center">The following Titles now ready or in Preparation:</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">1. The Drums of the Fore and Aft. Rudyard Kipling.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">2. The Sins of a Widow. Confessed by Amelie L'Oiseau.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">3. Twos and Threes. Anna Olcott Commeline.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">4. Santiago de Cuba before the War. Caroline L. Wallace.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">5. The Barbarian. Bedloe Mendum.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">6. Wrecks and Wreckers. S. P. Jermain.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">7. Master and Man. Count Leo Tolstoi.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">8. The Greatest Thing in the World. Henry Drummond.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">9. Black Jack. Rudyard Kipling.</span><br />
+10. An Idyll of London. Beatrice Harraden.<br />
+11. The House of a Traitor. Prosper M&eacute;rim&eacute;e.<br />
+12. My Sister Kate. By the Author of Dora Thorne.<br />
+13. The Fatal Marriage. Charlotte M. Braeme.<br />
+14. The Nest of Nobles. Turgeneiff.<br />
+15. A Lodging in the Night. Robert Louis Stevenson.<br />
+16. A Case of Identity. A. Conan Doyle.<br />
+17. Nurse Eva. The Duchess.<br />
+18. A Scandal in Bohemia. A. Conan Doyle.<br />
+19. The Man from Archangel. A. Conan Doyle.<br />
+20. The Captain of the Pole Star. A. Conan Doyle.<br />
+21. John Barrington Cowles. A. Conan Doyle.<br />
+22. Love's Ransom Shot. Wilkie Collins.<br />
+23. Love Finds the Way. Walter Besant and Jas. Rice.<br />
+24. The Little Russian Servant. Henri Greville.<br />
+25. The New Adam and Eve. Nathaniel Hawthorne.<br />
+26. The Spring of a Lion. H. Rider Haggard.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">For sale everywhere, or sent postpaid on receipt of price.</p>
+
+<h4>F. TENNYSON NEELY, Publisher,<br />
+96 Queen St., London.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;    114 Fifth Ave., N. Y.<br />
+</h4>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3>
+
+<p>
+Page <a href="#Page_75">75</a>: Changed ever to every:<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(met her at ever step in familiar attitude,).</span><br />
+<br />
+Moved NEELY'S BOOKLET LIBRARY listing to the end of the book.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Russian Servant, by Henri Greville
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27103-h.htm or 27103-h.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/1/0/27103/
+
+Produced by Diane Monico and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+
+
+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/27103-h/images/image001.png b/27103-h/images/image001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0641649
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-h/images/image001.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/f0001.png b/27103-page-images/f0001.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c615e9c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/f0001.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/f0002.png b/27103-page-images/f0002.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59eac70
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/f0002.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/f0003-image.jpg b/27103-page-images/f0003-image.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e881b25
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/f0003-image.jpg
diff --git a/27103-page-images/f0003.png b/27103-page-images/f0003.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c87356f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/f0003.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0005.png b/27103-page-images/p0005.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e8cc261
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0005.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0006.png b/27103-page-images/p0006.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6a5e1a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0006.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0007.png b/27103-page-images/p0007.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6838eb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0007.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0008.png b/27103-page-images/p0008.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90b239f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0008.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0009.png b/27103-page-images/p0009.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1cd6428
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0009.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0010.png b/27103-page-images/p0010.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5e1ffee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0010.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0011.png b/27103-page-images/p0011.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6517b2d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0011.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0012.png b/27103-page-images/p0012.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a68502b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0012.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0013.png b/27103-page-images/p0013.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7a3897e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0013.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0014.png b/27103-page-images/p0014.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ace446
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0014.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0015.png b/27103-page-images/p0015.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..90cf3ab
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0015.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0016.png b/27103-page-images/p0016.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..419b352
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0016.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0017.png b/27103-page-images/p0017.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc18b9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0017.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0018.png b/27103-page-images/p0018.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a31261c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0018.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0019.png b/27103-page-images/p0019.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..34cd28f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0019.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0020.png b/27103-page-images/p0020.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..727f964
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0020.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0021.png b/27103-page-images/p0021.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..72b91a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0021.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0022.png b/27103-page-images/p0022.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e384ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0022.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0023.png b/27103-page-images/p0023.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2e74cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0023.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0024.png b/27103-page-images/p0024.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9dc6a08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0024.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0025.png b/27103-page-images/p0025.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd0ade8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0025.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0026.png b/27103-page-images/p0026.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f7c185
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0026.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0027.png b/27103-page-images/p0027.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6c167a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0027.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0028.png b/27103-page-images/p0028.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7e0fc87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0028.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0029.png b/27103-page-images/p0029.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ae65374
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0029.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0030.png b/27103-page-images/p0030.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1c6fd60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0030.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0031.png b/27103-page-images/p0031.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d688627
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0031.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0032.png b/27103-page-images/p0032.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd36d00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0032.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0033.png b/27103-page-images/p0033.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44d526e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0033.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0034.png b/27103-page-images/p0034.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..058aa9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0034.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0035.png b/27103-page-images/p0035.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b59a77f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0035.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0036.png b/27103-page-images/p0036.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a54f059
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0036.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0037.png b/27103-page-images/p0037.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0abd45
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0037.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0038.png b/27103-page-images/p0038.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7287a3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0038.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0039.png b/27103-page-images/p0039.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d90825c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0039.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0040.png b/27103-page-images/p0040.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..719e691
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0040.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0041.png b/27103-page-images/p0041.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8b896bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0041.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0042.png b/27103-page-images/p0042.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..98885ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0042.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0043.png b/27103-page-images/p0043.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..66c062b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0043.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0044.png b/27103-page-images/p0044.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13eb9cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0044.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0045.png b/27103-page-images/p0045.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2ca2934
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0045.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0046.png b/27103-page-images/p0046.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a008c96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0046.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0047.png b/27103-page-images/p0047.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..519d1d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0047.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0048.png b/27103-page-images/p0048.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a6346e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0048.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0049.png b/27103-page-images/p0049.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f71ea0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0049.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0050.png b/27103-page-images/p0050.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d6a3843
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0050.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0051.png b/27103-page-images/p0051.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6469805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0051.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0052.png b/27103-page-images/p0052.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..785497e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0052.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0053.png b/27103-page-images/p0053.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad7ead8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0053.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0054.png b/27103-page-images/p0054.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..254db3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0054.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0055.png b/27103-page-images/p0055.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b387e09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0055.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0056.png b/27103-page-images/p0056.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c19d655
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0056.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0057.png b/27103-page-images/p0057.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f6533d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0057.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0058.png b/27103-page-images/p0058.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..039ec73
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0058.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0059.png b/27103-page-images/p0059.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fa1e354
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0059.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0060.png b/27103-page-images/p0060.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca5123a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0060.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0061.png b/27103-page-images/p0061.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d64d50c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0061.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0062.png b/27103-page-images/p0062.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..14ebde2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0062.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0063.png b/27103-page-images/p0063.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cca98b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0063.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0064.png b/27103-page-images/p0064.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f8c117e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0064.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0065.png b/27103-page-images/p0065.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9e05bc1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0065.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0066.png b/27103-page-images/p0066.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a0d8809
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0066.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0067.png b/27103-page-images/p0067.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c456e13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0067.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0068.png b/27103-page-images/p0068.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0c55b3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0068.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0069.png b/27103-page-images/p0069.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1966fb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0069.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0070.png b/27103-page-images/p0070.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7de5fb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0070.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0071.png b/27103-page-images/p0071.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5995159
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0071.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0072.png b/27103-page-images/p0072.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e5bdce0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0072.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0073.png b/27103-page-images/p0073.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cdcf3a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0073.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0074.png b/27103-page-images/p0074.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b9288f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0074.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0075.png b/27103-page-images/p0075.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..37976c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0075.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0076.png b/27103-page-images/p0076.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fe98162
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0076.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0077.png b/27103-page-images/p0077.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fed83f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0077.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0078.png b/27103-page-images/p0078.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..abfc9bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0078.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0079.png b/27103-page-images/p0079.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e1202bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0079.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0080.png b/27103-page-images/p0080.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c89eae2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0080.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0081.png b/27103-page-images/p0081.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3bd1bb6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0081.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0082.png b/27103-page-images/p0082.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..83adb69
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0082.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0083.png b/27103-page-images/p0083.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7283b50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0083.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0084.png b/27103-page-images/p0084.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e34e133
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0084.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0085.png b/27103-page-images/p0085.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c80bab8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0085.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0086.png b/27103-page-images/p0086.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f2cb933
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0086.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0087.png b/27103-page-images/p0087.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..21407fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0087.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0088.png b/27103-page-images/p0088.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..29c8f90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0088.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0089.png b/27103-page-images/p0089.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a3e0958
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0089.png
diff --git a/27103-page-images/p0090.png b/27103-page-images/p0090.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..84254f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103-page-images/p0090.png
diff --git a/27103.txt b/27103.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea2b6c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1049 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Russian Servant, by Henri Greville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Little Russian Servant
+
+Author: Henri Greville
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2008 [EBook #27103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Diane Monico and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT.
+
+
+
+
+THE LITTLE RUSSIAN
+SERVANT.
+
+BY
+
+HENRI GREVILLE.
+
+
+_Neely's Booklet Series. No. 24, June 12, 1899. Issued weekly.
+$5.00 a year. Entered as second-class matter
+at New York Post Office._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+F. TENNYSON NEELY,
+PUBLISHER.
+LONDON.   NEW YORK.   CHICAGO.
+
+
+
+
+THE
+LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT.
+
+
+"Who's that?" said the countess, stopping in front of a young girl of
+fifteen or sixteen, bent over an embroidery frame. The young girl
+rose, prostrated herself thrice before her mistress, then, getting up,
+remained standing, her hands hanging by her side, her head slightly
+bent forward under the investigating gaze of the countess, who through
+her eyeglass closely scrutinized her.
+
+"It is the new girl, your highness," answered the head lady's maid,
+coming forward with the air of importance that thirty years'
+employment gives to no matter what functionary. "She is the daughter
+of Foma, of the village of Ikonine. She is come in her turn to pay her
+father's _obrok_--he is in Moscow."
+
+"These peasant girls can do nothing," said the countess, with a
+wearied air: "what do you expect to get out of this one?"
+
+"She doesn't embroider badly, your highness; pray look yourself. She
+can be put to the embroideries--not to the ground, but to the
+trimmings. This is for the toilet table of Madame la Comtesse."
+
+The noble lady, who could hardly see, being short-sighted from her
+birth, examined the embroidery frame so closely that the tip of her
+nose grazed the cloth.
+
+"That's not bad," she said. "Come here, little girl."
+
+The little girl advanced, and the countess inspected her as minutely
+as she had done the embroidery.
+
+"How pretty she is! What's your name?"
+
+"Mavra."
+
+The word came like a breath from the rosy lips.
+
+"You must speak louder if you want us to hear you," said the head
+lady's maid angrily.
+
+Mavra turned her large, blue, startled eyes toward her, let them drop,
+and said nothing.
+
+"Sit down to your work," said the countess, amused at her new toy.
+With a quick, graceful movement, the young girl resumed her seat on
+the wooden chair, and the needle, firmly held between her agile
+fingers, went in and out of the stuff with that short, sharp noise
+that stimulates the action of the hand.
+
+"That's right, you may go on," said the countess, her nerves irritated
+by the regularity of the movement.
+
+Then, turning her back upon the young girl and trailing the heavy,
+sumptuous folds of her dressing-gown along the carefully-washed
+pine-wood floor, she disappeared through the door, which was
+respectfully closed after her by the head lady's maid. The countess,
+an accomplished house-mistress, made a practice of paying a daily
+visit to this room, which was reserved for the women of her service.
+Mavra was left alone in the workroom, a large, well-lighted chamber,
+furnished simply with tables and chairs for the use of the
+innumerable women and girls invariably attached to the service of
+those noble ladies who knew so well how to maintain their rank in that
+blessed time of serfdom. At this hour the workroom was empty. Some of
+the women were washing, others ironing, some cleaning and turning
+upside down everything in the private apartment the countess had just
+left. The young peasant girl, with her needle uplifted, rested her
+ruddy hand upon the edge of the frame and looked around her.
+
+What multitudes of embroidered gowns with their rich lace trimmings
+hung there on the wall, waiting some slight repairs!--what endless
+petticoats with their ornamented flounces all freshly ironed on cords
+along the huge room!--what countless lace caps, worn hardly an hour,
+pinned to a pincushion as large as a pillow, used only for this
+purpose! and there, in a basket on the corner of the table, what piles
+of cambric chemises, delicately piped and pleated, trimmed with
+Valenciennes lace and ornamented with bright ribbons! And all this
+for one person! without counting the silk stockings in that other
+basket, and the rings by dozens worn by the countess on her thin
+fingers. In this world of living beings under God's heaven, what
+importance given to one person, who needed so many other persons to
+serve her! And how the nothingness of these was made more emphatic by
+the dominance of that! Mavra sat wonder-stricken. The head lady's
+maid coming into the room found her still in a state of stupefaction,
+stupefied above all at having made these reflections.
+
+"Well, you are lucky!" she said to her, with a pleased look. "Our
+countess took a fancy to you at the first glance; you are now on the
+list of embroiderers! You may thank God for it. It is not often the
+countess takes a fancy like that at first sight."
+
+"Is she, then, unkind?" innocently inquired the girl.
+
+"Unkind! Oh, no; capricious, like all mistresses, but the kindest lady
+in the world, and generous! Besides, this is a rich house; nothing is
+counted--nothing at all. This is better than your village," continued
+Dacka, proud of belonging to such noble masters, and desirous to
+impress on the mind of the simple peasant girl the importance and
+dignity of the functions she was promoted to.
+
+"It is more beautiful," replied Mavra, bending intently over her work.
+
+"It was lucky they taught you to embroider, else you would have been
+sent to the poultry-yard to feed the cocks and hens and look after the
+calves. How did you learn?"
+
+"My mother taught me; she was formerly in service; she was a
+_dvorovaia_ in the time of the late countess. She married a peasant."
+
+"Ah!" said Dacka, "I thought your manners were not quite those of a
+peasant girl; if your mother was in service, that's another thing.
+Come, take a cup of coffee with me. Prepare the coffee-pot and make
+haste before the others come; I can't ask every one, you understand."
+
+To Mavra there was but little difference between the _isba_ of her
+father and the workroom of the seignorial mansion. Here, as there,
+her life was spent in assiduous work from sunrise to sunset. There,
+her mother, an austere, somber woman, like most village matrons to
+whom life had proved no light matter; here, the lady's maid, often
+grumbling, but at times kind and even condescending. The chief
+difference between the two modes of life consisted in the daily
+visits of the countess, who generally said nothing, but passed with a
+solemn air through this roomful of silent, awe-stricken women. But one
+thing was lacking to Mavra, and this nothing could replace--the
+evening hour of rest which she used to spend by the fountain when sent
+to draw water for her mother, or on the threshold of their cabin,
+watching the spring rain falling soft and warm, melting the snow so
+quickly that its thickness might be seen visibly diminishing; or,
+again, in the month of May, standing at the edge of the forest,
+listening to the nightingales singing on the delicate golden branches
+of the perfumed birch tree.
+
+Winter passed fairly well, but when the first breath of warm air set
+the melted snow streaming down the roofs, which again the night's
+frost transformed into long stalactites of ice, Mavra felt a strange,
+vague aching in her heart. The house was overheated, and the close,
+nauseous air made her sick. What would she not give to run as of old
+over the moors, to see if the moss were beginning to appear under the
+crystallized, transparent carpet of snow!
+
+"What's the matter with this little girl?" asked the countess one day,
+as she stopped before the frame at which the young peasant girl was
+diligently working. "She was as fresh as a rose, and now she has grown
+yellow. Do you feel pain anywhere, Mavra?"
+
+Mavra raised her blue eyes to the noble lady who, for the second time
+in her life, deigned to address her, and replied in her low voice:
+
+"Nowhere, your highness."
+
+"Then why are you so yellow?"
+
+"I don't know, your highness."
+
+The countess dropped her eyeglass and looked kindly at the young
+girl.
+
+"I know," said she after a moment's pause; "the child wants air. She
+came here from her village, and has passed the whole winter stooping
+over her frame. Henceforth, little girl, you must get out into the
+fresh air twice a day, and must learn the service of my bedroom; this
+will give you exercise."
+
+Thereupon the countess quitted the room, followed by Mavra's grateful
+eyes, now filled with tears. From that day Mavra worshipped the
+countess; to approach her, to touch what she had worn, to serve her,
+to receive her orders and execute them with the utmost speed and
+dexterity, was the great joy of this humble girl. Her mistress,
+wrapped in all this gorgeous luxury, the elements of which had been
+so long under her eyes in the workroom, appeared to her as some august
+being nearer her Creator than any other of her fellow-creatures. Not
+only did Mavra pray to God for her, but at times she inwardly prayed
+to her as to a saint, thinking the pleadings of a being so superior
+must have equal weight with the powers of heaven as with those of
+earth.
+
+Summer was already on the wane when the noble mansion, habitually so
+tranquil, was suddenly filled with noise and gayety. The young Count
+Serge had sent his carriages on before him; saddle-horses and hounds
+were stamping and neighing in their stalls and barking in their
+kennels as though the one aim of life was to make all the noise
+possible.
+
+"How handsome he is, our young count!" Dacka kept on saying the
+livelong day, to while away the tedious hours in the silent workroom.
+"It was I who received him in my arms when he was born."
+
+And she repeated again and again, with inexhaustible complacency, the
+history of Serge's birth, and the legend of his boyhood up to the
+moment when this dear treasure of her heart had gone to join the corps
+of pages, his trunks laden with cakes, jams, and all that could
+possibly be eaten under heaven.
+
+The workgirls gave listless heed to these hundred times repeated
+narrations, but Mavra was never tired of hearing them; it was like
+receiving a sort of gospel into her heart. Her good and revered
+protectress made all things dear and venerated that touched her
+nearly; and this only son, loved, adored, longed for, became a
+supernatural being, a kind of Messiah to her.
+
+One morning at the end of August, as Mavra, who had risen early, was
+crossing the courtyard to go waken up the laundress, who had
+overslept herself, she saw, galloping along the inclosure a _troika_
+of black horses, with their heads covered with bells. "It's the young
+master!" thought the little servant; and without giving herself time
+for reflection, she ran to the ponderous gate and threw it wide open.
+At the same moment the brilliant equipage arrived; the coachman
+pulled together his noble beasts, and without slackening their gallop
+they shot like an arrow past Mavra, and ten steps further on stood
+stock-still at the foot of the steps. Dazed, her heart thrilled by she
+knew not what impression of fear and joy, she received full in the
+face the gaze of two large, black, amazed and amused eyes.
+
+"How like his mother!" thought Mavra, as she closed the huge gate,
+that shut with a heavy bang.
+
+She turned slowly toward the steps as Serge, jumping down from the
+carriage, looked around at her again; he smiled when he met her blue
+eyes full of simple admiration, and, giving her a friendly nod,
+entered the house of his fathers. A minute after he was by the
+countess' bedside, pressed lovingly in her arms.
+
+When they had chatted two whole hours, as they finished their tea,
+Serge, recollecting himself, suddenly said to his mother:
+
+"What is this new acquisition you have made, mother? A little
+fair-haired Raphael opened the gate for me this morning."
+
+The countess thought for a moment.
+
+"Ah! I know," said she; "it's Mavra--a virtue--my dear child. A
+strange little creature, who adores me."
+
+"She is quite right," replied the son respectfully. "What do you do
+with her?"
+
+"She embroiders in the afternoon, and in the morning she attends on
+me; but, Serge, you must be prudent. My house is strictly kept; don't
+you go and amuse yourself making gallant speeches to my girls."
+
+"Oh, mother! what do you take me for?" carelessly replied the young
+man. "I think of a woman only when she is in a casket suited to her
+style of beauty. Now here you may have pearls, but the casket is
+totally wanting."
+
+They burst out laughing together. Only those who thoroughly understood
+these two beings could have guessed beneath this light talk the strict
+propriety of the mother and the son's respect for the maternal home.
+But Russians of the _grande monde_ are so constituted that when they
+have no vice, they take all imaginable trouble to affect it.
+
+On leaving the dining room the countess and her son directed their
+steps toward the garden. In front of the house, in the courtyard, they
+met Mavra stooping under the weight of an enormous pile of linen,
+which she was carrying from the laundry. The sheets held in under her
+crossed hands reached so high that she had to raise her chin and turn
+her head sideways in order to see before her.
+
+"See, there she is," said the countess in French, stopping to look at
+her.
+
+"It is hard to say whether she is a Raphael or a Greuze," said Serge.
+"This morning she had more the look of a Raphael, with a Russian
+nose; it is a hybrid style of beauty, but it has a certain charm."
+
+They continued their walk, while Mavra entered the workroom with her
+pile of linen; when her hands were free, she stood trembling and
+silent, as though she had been guilty of a crime.
+
+"Well, what are you waiting for?" said one of the girls, pulling her
+by the apron.
+
+"I don't know," replied Mavra. "I feel as if I had received a blow,
+and my hands keep on trembling."
+
+"You carried too heavy a load for your strength. Sit down, and you
+will see it will pass off."
+
+And in fact it did pass away in a few minutes, but from that moment
+Mavra was haunted by a pair of black eyes, whose owner little
+suspected her infatuation.
+
+Her veneration for the countess was in nowise diminished by this. On
+the contrary, she loved her more, if possible. But in place of one
+idol, she had two. By little innocent tactics that surprised herself,
+she succeeded in having the service of the young count's room
+assigned to her, and thenceforth her happiness was complete. The care
+of the wardrobe was in the hands of the valet-de-chamber, who
+scrupulously avoided doing anything else.
+
+Serge was the most breakneck rider in the world; not from bravado,
+since for the most part he was alone when he performed his wild
+exploits, but from instinctive contempt for danger. One fine morning,
+clearing a hedge six feet high--there were none lower--the count's
+horse stumbled and fell on its side. A touch of the spur made it
+spring up, but when Serge tried to spur the other side, that on which
+it had fallen, he suffered excruciating pain. Fortunately it was the
+last hedge, else he would have had some difficulty in getting home.
+He pushed on, however, and reached the entrance; but when he
+endeavored to rest his foot on the stirrup to alight, he found it
+absolutely impossible, and amid the lamentations of the servants who
+had gathered around, he had to let himself be taken down from his
+horse and be dragged, as he said, like a bundle to his bed.
+
+When he was duly unbooted and examined, the supreme indifference with
+which he allowed himself to be handled and moved about, in spite of
+the paleness of his face, did not lessen the fact, that he had
+seriously fractured his tibia.
+
+The bone-setter was sent for, in conformity with a precept of the
+countess, who preferred a bone-setter at hand to the first surgeon in
+the world three hundred miles off. A horribly-complicated dressing,
+bristling with splints and bandages, was applied to the leg, with very
+respectful but formal injunctions not to move, and to remain in bed
+for six weeks.
+
+Six weeks! and the sporting season good, and flights of partridges
+started every minute by the count's dogs, hunting now for their own
+pleasure, the door of the kennel being seldom closed; the horses
+neighing from sheer weariness, and the grooms giving themselves
+lumbago brightening up trappings that were now to lie unused.
+
+The countess was a good reader, in spite of her eyeglass; she read
+untiringly, the result of which was to send the patient to
+sleep--infallible result; simply an affair of time; often in ten
+minutes, sometimes an hour Serge's breathing would become regular, the
+fever that colored his cheek bones would gradually disappear, and then
+the good mother, closing the book, would go about her duties as
+mistress of the house, leaving Mavra in charge of her son.
+
+Gradually the needle of Mavra's embroidery work would slacken its
+motion, and for long hours her eyes remain fixed on the face of the
+sleeping young count. Daylight would decline, and no candles be
+brought, lest the healing rest should be disturbed.
+
+Seated near the window in the deepening shadow, the outlines of her
+figure relieved against the pale blue autumn sky in which her dear
+stars were fast gathering, Mavra would lose herself in a vague
+infinite ecstasy as she sat gazing at her sleeping young master, whom
+her heart only could now see. At the first sign of his awaking she was
+on her feet with her hand upon the bell. On the arrival of the lamp
+Mavra would withdraw to the workroom. At night in her dreams she would
+continue her spiritual, almost mystical, contemplation of the
+beautiful fair head asleep on its pillow.
+
+When Serge got well, she was the prey of an implacable, unconscious,
+immortal love. Henceforth she belonged to her idol. Present or
+absent, he was her adored master; for him alone she breathed. She
+would have almost hated the convalescence that day by day was taking
+him from her, had not the young man's weakness obliged him frequently
+to seek her aid. Supporting himself with a stick in one hand, and
+resting the other on Mavra's shoulder, he would walk round his room.
+She was happy and proud the day when, to give the countess a
+surprise, she led him thus into the little _salon_, where the
+countess, thinking he was asleep, was reading a devotional book. The
+agitated joy of the mother and the nervous gayety of the son brought
+tears to the eyes of the young peasant girl; but stoical, like all her
+race, she drove her tears back.
+
+Serge walked alone with a stick, then without a stick, limping a
+little: by and by his firm elastic tread was heard again on the waxed
+oak floor. The northern early winter was come, snow already blocking
+up from time to time the seignorial mansion, then melting under the
+breath of a warmer wind, till the great winter blockade finally set
+in. One day a sledge, lined with fur, drawn by spirited horses,
+clinking the bells that studded the harness, drew up before the door.
+Serge and his mother stepped into it, waving a friendly farewell to
+the household that crowded around with noisy benedictions. The
+countess was to pass the winter at St. Petersburg, where her son was
+to resume his service in the hussars of Grodno. When they were gone,
+when the heavy gate which Mavra had opened one beautiful August day
+was shut, and the snow fell slowly in large flakes, reflecting the
+colors of the prism, it shut out all the outer world from the inmates
+of the seignorial mansion.
+
+Mavra returned to her embroidery frame, no longer under the orders of
+the good Dacka, but under the capricious, fitful superintendence of a
+housekeeper charged in the interval with the workroom department. Life
+was not so easy, but what mattered it to Mavra that there should be
+more harshness or less kindness? She did not live in the present. Her
+waking hours were passed in an innocent ecstasy that wore her away
+without suffering. She did not know that this was love. Had she known
+it, no amount of prayers or tears would have been enough to expiate
+her unpardonable sin. She loved just as flowers blossom; her ideal was
+exalted, her dream pure, and she lived upon them. One less chaste
+would have died. As for the young count, he had no idea of all this.
+
+The countess came back in the spring, and the house resumed its grand,
+hospitable ways. Mavra was profoundly touched to find that her
+mistress, far from having forgotten, inquired kindly after her. She
+returned to her personal attendance upon the countess with more
+devoted fervor than ever. Later on, the young master was to come
+back. Dacka conveyed in a mysterious manner that he had something
+better to do than to bury himself in the country. In the evening she
+confided to the laundress, in interminable whispers, secrets that were
+no doubt interesting, but which Mavra made no attempt to overhear,
+being by nature and taste discreet and reserved.
+
+On the eve of St. John, when young girls plait crowns of flowers,
+which they throw into the river to see if they are to be married
+within the year, Mavra went, like the others, to consult fate after
+this graceful fashion. She never dreamed of marriage; it was a closed
+world to her, into which she had no desire to penetrate; but she would
+plait a crown and watch it through the eddies of the capricious
+stream. The girls had thrown in their garlands. Mavra's got entangled
+in flowers that a young lad of twenty had just flung in. He was a
+carpenter. The two crowns whirled round in company, and vanished
+together from view at the bend of the river.
+
+"We are engaged, Mavra," said he. "Let it be once for all."
+
+"No," she replied calmly, without blushing.
+
+"Why? Do you dislike me?" he asked.
+
+"No, not more than other people. I don't wish to marry."
+
+This was enough to make the carpenter persist in his wish. He tried
+every means--went the length of begging the countess to intercede for
+him. Mavra, sent for by her mistress, gave the same explanation.
+
+"Well, if the child does not wish to marry, leave her alone," said the
+lady philosophically, who would have scrupled to force a fly to drink
+a drop of milk.
+
+And Mavra, by her own desire, was devoted to celibacy.
+
+In the month of September Serge returned, but only for eight days. He
+brought no dogs nor equipages with him this time. When he saw Mavra he
+gave her a friendly smile, and then thought no more about her. When he
+went away his mother accompanied him, and the house was again plunged
+into solitude long before the usual time. Six weeks later the news
+arrived that the young count was married.
+
+This announcement was the signal for great rejoicing. According to
+ancient usage, barrels of sweet beer and hydromel were brewed; white
+bread and meat were distributed to the whole village. The poor had
+abundant alms, and the whole retinue of servants had new dresses.
+Mavra had a handsome blue woolen dress and a silk handkerchief. No one
+was forgotten; debts in arrear were remitted, and the young girl was
+suddenly told she might return for the winter to her family, till her
+father could make new arrangements for the payment in kind of what he
+owed.
+
+This was no joyful news for the young peasant girl, but resignation is
+an inherent Russian virtue; she packed up her clothes in a basket,
+and one fine morning courageously set out on foot for her native
+village. She was received coolly by her mother. One mouth more to
+feed! besides which, peasants are sparing of their demonstrations of
+affection. After a few days Mavra relapsed into her old habits; bent
+all day over her embroidery frame by the narrow window, in the
+evening standing leaning against the door, gazing, as was her wont,
+at the stars. More than ever she loved them; behind these marvelous
+lights, that she likened to tears--for she was often sad now--she saw
+the black eyes and handsome, indifferent face that had taken
+possession of her soul. As long as she was staying in the grand
+seignorial mansion where the image of her idol met her at every step
+in familiar attitude, where she had only to close her eyes to see
+Serge before her, Mavra was happy; she was of those for whom the
+innocent and daily presence of the beloved makes the whole happiness
+of life. Here, where nothing spoke of him, she felt for the first time
+the pain of separation. Uneasy, she asked herself what it was that
+was torturing her to this degree, and the truth nearly dawned upon
+her. But she stopped the thought, not daring to sound it further,
+saying to herself that there must be at the root of all this suffering
+some great sin she herself was ignorant of. Morning and evening she
+knelt long before the sacred images, imploring God to deliver her
+from her pain; and feeling herself soothed by this effusion of mystic
+tenderness, she kept her sadness to herself, still refusing to fathom
+it. But she was visibly wasting away: the smoky atmosphere of her home
+had now the same painful influence upon her that the want of fresh air
+had formerly when she first left her village. She passed the winter
+suffering, uncomplaining, unrelaxing in her work. Gradually she gave
+up looking at the stars. Not only did they more than ever look like
+tears, but no sooner did she turn her eyes toward the night sky than
+they filled with tears, so she hardly knew whether it was the fires of
+heaven or her own tears sparkling beneath her eyelids.
+
+Spring came, though more tardily than usual; then summer with its
+field labors. The countess seemed to have forgotten Mavra, who thought
+with ever more and more resigned sadness of this much-loved mistress.
+
+Her indulgence concerning the service-dues of her family appeared to
+the young girl not a favor, but a punishment. At hay-making as at
+harvest young lads seek out the girls. Had Mavra wished it, she might
+have found ten husbands. She was no longer quite young according to
+the notion of peasants, who marry their daughters at sixteen and their
+boys at twenty. She was getting on to twenty, and her mother at times
+reproached her, treating her as a "useless mouth," although Mavra's
+embroidery was readily bought by the traders from the large towns, who
+came to the village twice a year.
+
+In the beginning of September, Serge said to his young wife, who was
+about to make him a father:
+
+"If you follow my advice, you will yourself nurse our child."
+
+"I should like to do so, but then I must have a trained, devoted
+servant, one endowed with all the virtues," answered the young wife,
+"and mamma says this is more difficult to find than a suitable nurse."
+
+"It is quite true," said the countess, present at this family council,
+which had taken place on an average thrice a week for the last four or
+five months; "but, Serge, now that I think of it, we have Mavra! the
+sweetest, quietest, most devoted of nurse-tenders!"
+
+"Mavra! the very thing. How is it we never thought of her before? She
+is not trained, for she is unmarried, but she is very active and
+intelligent!"
+
+The manager was written to, ordering him to send on Mavra by the
+convoy which every year about this period brought to St. Petersburg
+fruits, preserves, salt, provisions, linen, and, in short, all the
+products of the earth. The young girl once more packed her clothes up
+in her little basket, and took her seat on one of the long file of
+heavy wagons that slowly rolled along the roads for eight or nine
+days, sleeping at night under the linen awning drawn over the chests
+of preserves, while the horses were in the stables, and the wagoners
+by their sides. Sometimes on awaking she saw the stars, but they no
+longer brought tears to her eyes.
+
+When the convoy of provisions arrived, and Mavra, still dizzy, had
+made the necessary change in her dress, she was led into the room of
+the young countess, where the whole family was assembled, augmented
+within the last two days by a superb newborn baby, which none of the
+servants knew how to manage.
+
+"Here you are, Mavra. Good-morning!" said the triumphant father,
+taking up his son in his awkward arms, at the risk of making him roar
+still louder. "You have a light hand and a gentle voice. I give you
+my son to take care of."
+
+"I humbly thank you," said the young girl, pale with joy. "I shall do
+my best."
+
+She carried the infant into an adjoining room, where she soon learned
+the special care to be given to a child of noble race, which was as
+different from its cradle from that of little peasants, his brothers
+in God's sight, as he would be the rest of his life. Toward evening
+the young mother, surprised at no longer hearing the music her
+first-born had already had time to accustom her to, sent Serge out to
+find the reason of this unusual silence. The young master entered the
+large dark room where Mavra was slowly pacing up and down, the
+child's cheek pressed against hers, warming it with her warm breath
+and the love of a heart henceforth happy.
+
+She was singing a peasant lullaby in a low voice, inventing words to
+the tune. "Dear child of my master, sleep on your servant's heart,
+that loves you; treasure more precious than all things, my joy, my
+share of happiness in this world--my little star----"
+
+Serge returned on tiptoe to his wife.
+
+"I think our minds may be quite at ease," said he.
+
+Mavra is now old. She declares that she has always been perfectly
+happy.
+
+THE END.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+NEELY'S BOOKLET LIBRARY.
+
+
+The following Titles now ready or in Preparation:
+
+ 1. The Drums of the Fore and Aft. Rudyard Kipling.
+ 2. The Sins of a Widow. Confessed by Amelie L'Oiseau.
+ 3. Twos and Threes. Anna Olcott Commeline.
+ 4. Santiago de Cuba before the War. Caroline L. Wallace.
+ 5. The Barbarian. Bedloe Mendum.
+ 6. Wrecks and Wreckers. S. P. Jermain.
+ 7. Master and Man. Count Leo Tolstoi.
+ 8. The Greatest Thing in the World. Henry Drummond.
+ 9. Black Jack. Rudyard Kipling.
+10. An Idyll of London. Beatrice Harraden.
+11. The House of a Traitor. Prosper Merimee.
+12. My Sister Kate. By the Author of Dora Thorne.
+13. The Fatal Marriage. Charlotte M. Braeme.
+14. The Nest of Nobles. Turgeneiff.
+15. A Lodging in the Night. Robert Louis Stevenson.
+16. A Case of Identity. A. Conan Doyle.
+17. Nurse Eva. The Duchess.
+18. A Scandal in Bohemia. A. Conan Doyle.
+19. The Man from Archangel. A. Conan Doyle.
+20. The Captain of the Pole Star. A. Conan Doyle.
+21. John Barrington Cowles. A. Conan Doyle.
+22. Love's Ransom Shot. Wilkie Collins.
+23. Love Finds the Way. Walter Besant and Jas. Rice.
+24. The Little Russian Servant. Henri Greville.
+25. The New Adam and Eve. Nathaniel Hawthorne.
+26. The Spring of a Lion. H. Rider Haggard.
+
+For sale everywhere, or sent postpaid on receipt of price.
+
+F. TENNYSON NEELY, Publisher,
+96 Queen St., London.    114 Fifth Ave., N. Y.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+Page 75: Changed ever to every:
+  (met her at ever step in familiar attitude,).
+
+Moved NEELY'S BOOKLET LIBRARY listing to the end of the book.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Russian Servant, by Henri Greville
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE RUSSIAN SERVANT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 27103.txt or 27103.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        https://www.gutenberg.org/2/7/1/0/27103/
+
+Produced by Diane Monico and The Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations.  To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/27103.zip b/27103.zip
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb998b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/27103.zip
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42e4e6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #27103 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27103)