trol her impatience during the walk.

"Make haste, Var-Vara! we shall never get there," she kept crying; and
old Var-Vara, who was stout, and had on a heavy fur pelisse, arrived
at the hut in a state of breathless exhaustion.

"Aie! Aie! what a child it is! Show her the box now, Ivan, or we shall
have no peace."

Ivan went to the corner of his hut, where a large object stood on the
top of the whitewashed stove under a red and yellow pocket-handkerchief.
He carefully uncovered it, and stepping back a few paces said proudly,

"What do you think of _that_, now?"

It was the box, safe and unhurt, Madame Olsheffsky's name still on it
in scratched white letters.

Daria was wild with joy, and almost alarmed Ivan with her excitement.
She danced about the room, threw her arms round his neck, and finally
persuaded him to carry the box to Volodia's house, so that it might be
there as a delightful surprise to her father on his return.

CHAPTER IX.

The children, Volodia and his wife, Var-Vara, and Adam; all stood
round eagerly as Andre Olsheffsky superintended the forcing open of
the precious box.

"It's my belief the papers will be a pulp," whispered Volodia. "We
must be ready to stand by the _Barin_ when he finds out the
disappointment."

But the papers were not hurt. The box contained another tin-lined
case, in which the parchments had lain securely, and though damaged in
appearance, they were as legible as the day on which they were first
written.

"Oh, papa, I _am_ so glad!" shouted Boris and Daria; and Elena
silently took her father's hand.

"I always thought the _Barin_ would have his own again," cried Volodia
triumphantly, forgetting that only a moment before he had been full of
dismal prophecies.

Adam and Var-Vara wept for joy, and Ivan stood by smiling
complacently. He felt that all this happiness had been brought about
entirely by his own exertions, and he already had visions of the
manner in which he would employ the handsome reward.

"No more troubling about my old age," he thought. "I shall have as
comfortable a life as the best of them."

That evening Mr. Olsheffsky started for Moscow, carrying the
parchments with him.

The two months of his absence seemed very long to the children, though
they heard from him constantly; and there were great rejoicings when
he returned with the news that their affairs had at last been
satisfactorily settled. Mikhail Paulovitch had withdrawn his claim,
and th