illage.

"That is our home, sir; we shall feel happy if you will enter it."

I willingly complied, and turned with them into the by-path that led to
it.

The cottage was a mere hut, long and low, one end of which constituted
the forge, the other end, divided into three compartments, being the
dwelling-house. Here I found the hand of Marika very evident, in the
neatness and cleanliness of everything in and around the place. The
owners were very poor, but there was sufficient for comfort and health.
On a shelf in a corner lay the Bible which the family had received from
the colporteur. It was the only book in the house, and evidently a
cherished treasure.

In another corner, on a rudely-made but warm couch, lay a treasure of a
different stamp--a boy, apparently about two years of age. As I looked
at the curly black hair, the well-shaped nose, the firm, rosy lips, and
the broad brow, I turned to Petroff with a smile, and said--

"I need not ask if that boy is yours."

The man did not at once reply, but seized the child, which our entrance
had awakened, and raised it high above his head.

"Do you hear that, little Dob? The gentleman knows who you are by your
mother's eyes."

"Nay," said I, with a laugh, "by its father's nose. But now that you
mention the eyes, I do recognise the mother's plainly. How old is he?"

This was the first of a series of questions which opened the hearts of
these people to me. On the strength of these jet-black eyes and the
well-shaped nose, to say nothing of the colporteur and the Bible, Lancey
and I struck up quite an intimate friendship, insomuch that at parting,
little Dob gave me a familiar dab on the face, and Ivanka turned up her
sweet little mouth to be kissed--quite readily and of her own accord.
There is nothing on earth so captivating as a trustful child. My heart
was knit to little Ivanka on the spot, and it was plain that little Dob
and Lancey were mutually attracted.

I remained at that village several days longer than I had intended, in
order to cultivate the acquaintance of the blacksmith's family. During
that time I saw a good deal of the other villagers, and found that
Petroff was by no means a typical specimen. He was above his compeers
in all respects, except in his own opinion; one of Nature's gentlemen,
in short, who are to be found, not numerously perhaps, but certainly, in
almost every land, with unusual strength of intellect, and breadth of
thought, a