cene, the personification of
abject misery. His features were still besmeared with the dirt of the
highway, his clothes were in a wretched condition, and his bandaged arm
and lacerated face did not improve his general appearance. Louise
laughed heartily when this apparition entered the door.

"Is he not a beauty?" she exclaimed.

The Count was too much surprised to speak. After a pause, during which
poor Jacob looked pleadingly from one to the other, Dimitri asked:

"In all seriousness, Louise, why did you introduce that being into our
house?"

"He is not as bad as he looks," answered the Countess. "Wait till he is
washed and dressed, and you will agree that he is a handsome fellow."

The Count crossed the room and looked at the boy.

"What is your name?" he asked, gruffly.

"Jacob Winenki," answered the child, timidly.

"A Jew!" ejaculated the Count. "By our Holy Madonna, that is just what I
needed to make me completely happy--the companionship of an accursed
Jew!"

Jacob instinctively divined that he was not welcome, and began to cry.

"Please, I want my mamma!"

"Stop your whimpering, you cur!" shouted the enraged Count.

But Jacob's tears would not be checked so abruptly.

"Please don't send me back to the soldiers," he pleaded, in his
miserable jargon. "I don't want to go with the soldiers."

At this juncture Loris joined in the cry. "I don't want him. I want a
pony to play with."

"Here, Ivan," commanded the excited Count, "take this brat out into the
barn, and keep him secure until I ask for him. We will investigate his
case after supper. Minka, take Loris to bed at once." Then turning to
his wife, who actually trembled before his infuriated glance, he said:

"Louise, you have done some very silly things since I married you, but
this is the most absurd. You know my aversion to Jews, and here you
bring a dirty Jew out of the streets to become a playmate of our Loris!"

"I could not leave the poor child to die in the road," pouted Louise,
who, in addition to being extremely frivolous, was very tender-hearted.
"If I had found a sick dog, I should have aided him."

"I would rather it had been a dog than a Jew."

"How could I know it was a Jew?"

"By his looks; by his language," answered the exasperated man.

"He was insensible, and could not speak," retorted Louise; "and his
appearance no worse than that of other dirty children. Tell me,
Dimitri," she added, throwing her arms about her husban