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44 BY ORDER OF THE CZAR.

" Go to the Governor," said the neighbors, "prayitoi him ; kneel to him."

" Yes, yes," she said, all her efforts to be calm availing her but little, the danger having been so suddenly revealed, the catastrophe so overwhelming.

" Where is my father ? " she asked, addressing the old man.

" Nay, I know not ; a prisoner, I believe."

" In his own house," said the neighbor, " or was ; where he may be now who shall say ? "

" I shall go mad," exclaimed Anna.

" Daughter, be calm, everything depends on that ! "

"Yes, I know," she replied; "I will."

" You are going to the Governor ? "

" Yes."

tl Take this," he said in a whisper ; ** you may need it ; hide it in your bosom."

She took it ; it was a knife.

" There is a dishonor worse than death," he said, tl and it is lawful to kill in self-defence ; daughter of a despised but noble race, be worthy of your father, be worthy of your lover ! "

" I will," said Anna, her form no longer trembling, her hand firm, her teeth set, a great resolve in her heart.

" Tell him that you and yours are willing to go forth penniless, that he is welcome to all you possess, that you will show him your father's store, and that Joel Rubenstein, the rich banker of Moscow, shall indemnify his future in a hoard of wealth he little dreams of. You are strong now?"

" Yes."

"Go, my child!"

When she arrived at her father's house, the Governor had gone to the palace of the Government, his new home, and had left instructions that the commander of the prison