Louise Gagneur

A Nihilist Princess Louise Gagneur

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1886 Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XX. THE LETTER FROM GENEVA. As soon as Stepane had gone, Wanda fell powerless upon the divan. She remained a few moments, with hothead thrown back, in an attitude of overwhelming despair. Sob after sob seemed stifled in her throat. Katia was watching her with great uneasiness; but she dared not speak to her. At last she bent over her and took her hand. "Be brave, sister," she said. "You have forgotten that letter from Geneva; doubtless it comes from our friends, the poor exiles." At these words Wanda aroused herself and said, " Give me the letter." She broke the seals of the envelope; but as soon as she had read the first words of the enclosure she uttered a piercing cry, clasped the paper to her heart, and fainted dead away. The bulky envelope contained, as Raymond supposed, a manuscript. It ran as follows: "My Well-beloved Daughter: "It is your mother who writes to vou--your mother whom you believed to be dead; your mother who from the day when she was cruelly torn from the child that she adored has never ceased to think of her. "I have suffered horribly in the past seventeen years, but my keenest suffering has been my separation from you, tny darling Wanda. Thanks to our friends, I have often heard of you. I know how beautiful you are, and I know that the loveliness of your person is but the reflection of the beauty of your soul. "We sent you Catherine Lawincka. She does not know that I am your mother, but she has been in the habit oi writing frequently to my iuend, Michael Fedei off, and every letter was full of you. How I have devoured those letters, which showed mo that you gradually became a rebel, an enemy to oppression, a lover of the victims of tyranny! "Now I can tell you my sad story: I know that you will understand me, will pity me, wil...