ABUSES CONNECTED WITH EXPLOITATION. 129 



been indignant and resented the insult given to them, as 

 would any gentleman whatever his nation. But with such 

 I was told, and I speak only of what was reported to me 

 of proceedings in the district, and commanded my belief 

 as substantially true, that in such a case the business must 

 be conducted with greater delicacy ; and my informant, 

 apparently having some case and more than that one 

 case in his eye, said, so far as I can reproduce his state- 

 ment: 'In any difficulty, a diamond ornament, or if the 

 matter will warrant the greater expense, a whole set of 

 diamond ornaments may be presented to the wife of the 

 Governor ; and in subsequent conversation, it may be days 

 afterwards, she must be made acquainted with the irregu- 

 larity which has occurred and been discovered. The Scots 

 have a proverb to the effect ' that a wink is as good as a 

 nod to a blind horse;' and the Romans had a saying, 

 quoted sometimes in our day, in the abbreviated form, 

 verbum sap. On that day or the next, or otherwise on some 

 befitting opportunity, she guilelessly inquires of her liege 

 lord, addressing him with the usual designation expressive 

 of endearment : ' Doosliinka, what is that story about So^ 

 and-So?' 'It is so-and-so/ is the reply; which is 

 followed by the rejoinder, ' I am sorry for that he is such 

 a nice man a good man he is. Can you not help him in 

 his difficulties? 1 wish you could. If you can will you 

 do so ? Do so for my sake. Perhaps he was wrong ; but 

 he is a nice man ; perhaps it was all a mistake.' ' No, 

 no ; nothing can be done.' ' Oh ! Doosliinka, try if you 

 can help him. I know him to be an honest man.' ' Very 

 well, Goloobchick, I shall look into the case to-morrow, 

 and if I find that he is not to blame I shall see what can 

 be done in the matter.' ' I thank you, Dooshinka; it is so 

 like you.' And the result in all probability is that it is 

 discovered the charge against the donor of the diamonds 

 was founded altogether on a mistake and a mistake 

 which can easily be rectified ! 



The picture is a sad one, but it is only in accordance 

 with what is notorious in Russia, and universally believed ; 



K 



