first
house. A _moujik_ emerged and eyed him suspiciously. "What do you
want?" he asked, gruffly.

"We have been caught in the storm and my brother is out on the road,
dying. Please help me bring him here."

"You are a Jew, are you not?" asked the man, savagely, as he recognized
by the boy's jargon that he was a member of the proscribed race.

"Yes, sir," answered Mendel, timidly.

"Then go about your business; I wont put myself out for a Jew!" saying
which, he shut the door in the boy's face.

Sadly Mendel wandered on until he met a kindly disposed woman, who
directed him to the Jewish quarter.

"At the house of prayer there is always someone to be found," thought
Mendel, and thither he bent his steps. Half-a-dozen men at once
surrounded him and listened to his harrowing story; half-a-dozen hearts
beat in sympathy with his distress. One of the number soon spread the
dismal tidings; the entire congregation, headed by Mendel, hastened to
where the child had been left. As they came to the highway, a _droshka_
passed them at full speed; they fell back to the right and left to make
room for the galloping horses and in a moment the carriage had
disappeared.

When they reached the spot pointed out by Mendel they saw the impress of
a child's form in the yielding ground, and a tattered little cap which
was Jacob's; but the child was gone.

"The soldiers have recaptured him!" gasped Mendel, with a groan of
anguish. "Oh, my poor brother; God help you!" and sank unconscious into
the friendly arms of his new acquaintances.

CHAPTER VII.

A RUSSIAN NOBLEMAN.

After an hour's sojourn in "The Imperial Crown," the best inn of
Poltava, Countess Drentell continued her journey towards her
country-seat at Lubny, where the carriage arrived just before nightfall.
With the creaking of the wheels upon the gravel path leading to the
house, Jacob awoke and gazed sleepily about him.

"See, Tekla; he is awake!" cried the Countess. "Poor child!"

The carriage stopped; Ivan opened the door and assisted the ladies to
alight.

"Carry the little one into the house and take him to the kitchen to
dry," commanded the Countess. "What a surprise he will be to Loris and
how he will enjoy having a playmate!"

Another servant appeared at the door to assist the Countess.

"Your excellency," he whispered, "the Count arrived the day before
yesterday. He was furious at finding you absent."

Louise bit her lip and her face became pale