of
the ceiling. Lady Olivia and her guest, the young Russian girl, were
sitting together on a large divan, in close contiguity to a handsome
music cabinet, turning over books and sheets of music, for Feodorovna
had consented to sing, and was now searching her hostess's stock of
music in quest of something with which she was familiar.

"Ach, that is good!" exclaimed the professor, as he noted the occupation
of the ladies and guessed its import. "My little Feodorovna is about to
sing? Then we shall all have a treat, for let me tell you, Lady Olivia,
that my young friend possesses the voice of an angel, and the knowledge
how to use it properly. Now, what is it to be? Tschaikowski,
Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Handel, Mozart? Ah, here is something that
will suit your voice, little one, `Caro mio ben!' by Giuseppe Giordani--
quaint, delicate, old-fashioned. Come, I will play your accompaniment
for you." And, taking the girl's hand, von Schalckenberg, who was an
accomplished as well as an enthusiastic musician, led her to the piano,
at which he forthwith seated himself and at once proceeded to play, with
crisp yet delicate touch and manifest enjoyment, the prelude to the
song.

And then, indeed, as the professor had promised, the listeners had a
treat, for Mlle. Sziszkinski's voice was of a rare quality, rich, pure,
flexible, clear as a silver bell, under perfect control, sympathetic,
and peculiarly adapted to render with precisely the correct feeling the
pleading words--

"Caro mio ben, credimi almen, senza di te languisce il cor," etcetera.

Tears gathered in her fine eyes as she sang, and the final note of the
song was almost a sob; for she possessed the comparatively rare ability
to evolve the feeling and sentiment of the words she sang and make them
her own, thus bringing them home to the hearts of those who listened.
Yet she laughingly apologised for herself the next moment, as she turned
away from the piano, upon receiving the hearty thanks of her little
audience; for, although she was a true artist, she was entirely free
from any morbidity of feeling, being, in fact, a perfectly natural,
light-hearted girl. And her gay and cheerful disposition was already
reasserting itself now that, if she might accept the assurances of the
professor and her new-found friends, her father's troubles were nearing
their end, and his deliverance from persecution was a matter of but a
few hours more.

Then the professor san