The Vultures by Henry Seton Merriman
page 79 of 365 (21%)
page 79 of 365 (21%)
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churches on either side. Every palace has its story; two of them were
confiscated by the Russian government because a bomb, which was thrown from the pavement, might possibly have come from one of the windows. Every church has rung to the strains of the forbidden Polish hymn--"At Thy altar we raise our prayer; deign to restore us, O Lord, our free country." Into almost all of them the soldiers have forced their way to make arrests. Paul Deulin walked slowly up the faubourg towards the new town. The clocks were striking the hour. He took off his hat, and gave a little sigh of enjoyment of the fresh air and bright sun. "Just Heaven, forgive me!" he said, with upturned eyes. "I have already told several lies, and it is only eight o'clock. I wonder whether I shall find Cartoner out of bed?" He walked on in a leisurely way, brushing past Jew and Gentile, gay Cossack officers, and that dull Polish peasant who has assuredly lived through greater persecution than any other class of men. He turned to the right up a broad street and then to the left into a narrower, quieter thoroughfare, called the Jasna. The houses in the Jasna are mostly large, with court-yards, where a few trees struggle for existence. They are let out in flats, or in even smaller apartments, where quiet people live--professors, lawyers, and other persons, who have an interest within themselves and are not dependent on the passer-by for entertainment. Into one of these large houses Deulin turned, and gave his destination to the Russian doorkeeper as he passed the lodge. This was the second floor, and the door was opened by a quick-mannered man, to whom the |
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