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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. 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