Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/325

 CHAPTER XXXII.

TWO RETURNS, ONE OF THEM NOT EXPECTED.

LTHOUGH every real obstacle to his marriage was now removed, it was several months before Ivan found himself at liberty to return to France and claim his bride. He had to go to Nicolofsky, to see and set in order his new estate. It is impossible to describe the joy of his old friends upon that occasion, and the welcome he received from them all, especially from his foster-parents. One of his earliest acts was to emancipate the starost and his family, making them at the same time a present of their homestead. He bestowed a similar favour upon the mother of Michael; Michael himself, as a soldier, being free already. To Pope Nikita and his wife he could give little that they cared for, except kindness and sympathy. They had not recovered from their deep sorrow for the melancholy fate of his old playfellow, their beloved and only daughter. Amongst these friends of his boyhood Ivan became once more a boy. He would sit for hours talking to "bativshka" and to the company gathered around his hospitable stove, telling them the eventful story of the war, as well as his own adventures since they parted.

He could not make this first visit a long one; although he consoled his "serfs," or rather his friends, with the promise