BY ORDER OF THE CZAR. 45
should attend him there; The officer on duty informed her that she was to have full permission to remain in her father's house or leave it; that no restraint was to be placed on her liberty, except that she could have no inter- view with her father.
" I must see the Governor," she said.
" You know the way to the palace," said the attendant. She did ; and she at once directed her steps thither.
Down the long street of the Ghetto, over the bridge where Ferrari had prepared to sell his life dearly, across the plain, over the uplands and through the piece of forest where she had walked with her father in happy days to join him in paying his respects to General Poltava and Her Excellency his amiable wife, the distance from Czarovna was about a couple of English miles.
It was now nearly an hour after noon. Winter and summer are sudden incidents in Russia ; one day the land is snowbound, the next there is a great thaw, the next is the beginning of summer : on this sad day the last of the snow had disappeared, the swollen river ran merrily along its sedgy course, and the sun was shining brightly in a blue sky.
A- mile beyond the bridge a horseman accosted her; he was attended by several servants.
" You are the daughter of the merchant Klosstock ? "
" Yes."
" We have met before ; I know your father ; I have heard what has happened ; I desire to assist you, but I fear it is impossible. I am the Count Stravensky."
" Oh, thank your highness ; my father is a prisoner in his own house, my betrothed, the learned and beloved rabbi, is condemned to the knout. I am going to the Governor to throw myself at his feet and beg for mercy."
The noble boyar looked upon the girl with a world of compassion in his brown eyes ; her hair was falling all
