dicals were very circumspect in their remarks, for
earlier experience had taught them that, under an autocratic government
like that of Czar Nicholas, silence was golden. The blandly smiling
host, Basilivitch, went from group to group, threw in a word here and a
suggestion there, smiled at this man's eloquence and ridiculed that
man's caution, all the while making a mental inventory of the facts he
would lay before the Governor on the next morning.

The peasants, when they retired for the night, felt none of that
pleasurable exaltation which should accompany a step towards liberty,
but were oppressed by the weight of an undefined terror, as though they
were on the verge of some catastrophe.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: "Looking about, one saw venality in full feather, serfdom
crushing people like a rock, informers lurking everywhere. No one could
safely express himself in the presence of his dearest friend. There was
no common bond, no general interest. Fear and flattery were
universal."--_Tourgenieff._]

[Footnote 2: Leroy-Boileau.]

CHAPTER II.

MASTER AND MAN.

A clear April morning was dawning when Basilivitch saddled his horse and
rode off in the direction of Alexandrovsk, at which place he arrived at
noon and at once repaired to the Governor's residence. A crowd of idle
and flashily-dressed servants, all of whom were serfs, lounged about the
new and stately palace, and found exhilarating amusement in setting
their ferocious dogs upon the unoffending farmers who happened to pass
that way. The greater the fear evinced by the victims, the greater was
the delight of the humorously inclined menials, and if perchance a dog
succeeded in fixing his fangs in the garments or calf of a pedestrian
their mirth found vent in ecstatic shouts of laughter. Basilivitch had
on more than one occasion been upon such errands as that which brought
him to-day, and seemed on terms of familiarity with the liveried
guardians of the palace. They obligingly called off their dogs, and at
once announced the innkeeper to his excellency, General Drudkoff. The
Governor had dined sumptuously and received his henchman graciously.

Stretching himself upon a sofa and lazily rolling a cigarette, he said:

"Well, Basilivitch, what news do you bring? How fare my good subjects at
Togarog?"

"I have bad news, your excellency," answered Basilivitch. "My heart is
sad at the information I have to impart. Insurrection is rife in our
village,