The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-11-19
A DEAD MAN.

mum 10 III
1868, that / was driving those dreary |
distances In autumn. For the first two
days and nights the weather was lovely,
but on the third morning, soon after sun
rise, the sky became covered with heavy,
torn and jagged clouds, a nOrtherly wind
arose, and with thunder, lightning, cold
gale, and snow, the winter burst on US as
1t yearly breaks on southern Russia. In
half an hour the rich, black, rolling
plains had become an ocean of inky mud,
and we reached the post station of
Donski only to find the order Impos-
sible to proceed"
/ called for tea, and the samovar was
brought in by a fine, upright, gray
bearded man, whom, from his black vel
vet tunic and slashed sleeves, l took to
be the postmaster himself. He was fol-
lowed into the room by a noble-looking
Cossack woman of his own age, who said:
Little husband, why don't you ask the
lord if he will eat partridge and a bit
of bread? The kurupatka is plump,
and the day will be long before his
troika can be harnessed TO face the STORM.
She smiled sweetly as she spoke-he
smiled lovingly upon her; then she left
It's, looking iingeringly back.
Your wife is in love with you still,
and you with her, postmaster" [ said.
g You must have treated her well when
she was young for her to love you so.
How long is it since you we're married"
Il am co." he replied; - l was married
at %. thirty-fve years ago; five years be-
fore | died"
"What? ?" said I.
Give years before my death. Is it
possible that you don't know my death?
You must have come from long
way off, for4 have heard that it is told
even upon the Azof."
And throwing his legs across a chair,
without more ado, he spoke thus:
81 was born in 1909, and can remem-
Der the return from Paris of my father
and uncle-COssacks of the Don. Those
were grand days, when every Cossack
Was an officer by birth, and when the
Herman Platof was king of Europe,
conqueror of the Turks and of the
French, and friend and equal to the
white tsar. Now, this Petersburg tsar
says that we'er no better than his great
Russian slaves, and four years my saber
and long pistol have hung upon the wall
unused and when | have worn my red
banded cap and my red-striped breeches,
I've always hid as much as | could of
the stripe in my boots, for I'm ashamed
of it now; and they're even going to
take away our privilege of the supply of
salt.
" In 1894, as a young pOstmaster-fOr
my father was dead-with a good place
and a handsome beard, | was the best
match in the two church villages round.
| could pick my wife, and | chose Olga,
that you saw just now"
There" said !
All, wait and see Wait, little lord.
Don't be impatient. Olga was as lovely
as she was good. You have seen her in
her Goth year; her goodness is what it was
/ and, though | may be an unsafe judge,
| her beauty, l think, is not yet gone
! He looked at me l nodded.
/ " We were happy at first, but | was
/ young. l felt the chain. l was faithful
to her as far as women went, but not
/ kind. We had no children. One day
/ in 80 she was in a low spirit about me-
and flung her arms upon a sudden about
my neck, with: Do you really love
me, little John?' you know [ do
But not as l love YOU At that very
moment, lord, the devil must have been
unchanged from hell. To tell you what
thoughts flashed in an instance through
my mad mind would be impossible
That what she said was true! That
while | did love her in a kind of way,
was bound to her for life whether would
or no. In fit of wild rage | struck hel
one short, sharp blow. She looked al
me with despair in her eyes, and | walked
slowly into our other room. | ran into
the stable-yard.
Harness troike,' said | to the star
Osta | leave at once for KharkOf witt
dispatches that the courier dropped, anC
that I've found upon the floor. Quick
quick the best courier horses In al
instant they were ready. Merrily iingleC
jingled the bells in the crisp air. Pau
took the reins, and off 1 whirled. II
twenty hours | was ut Kharkof To my
friends, the starOsta, at the great Khark
of station, who was equal in rank anC
pay to most postmasters themselves,
said: Do me a service, little friend, a
| would do one for you. | am going t.
leave my wife, to whom | have been I'm
kind and am going to enlist in thu
guards. But | wish her to forget me
and she must think me dead. Write &
her in a week and tell her that ! wa
taken with the cholera and died. Be-
her to forgive me for my unkindness
say that | wish she should marry som,
lad more worthy of her than myself
Make interest to have the station con
tlnued to her as pOstmistress. She is
J priests daughter and can write w
crossed ourselves; he swore; we bOweC
to the image in the corner of the stable
we kissed, and in five minutes / wa
gone. AT the recruiting office | enlisted
for the empress regiment of cuirassier
of the guard, as a fourteen years vol
unteer guard, and in a false name. I'd
. of course, no papers, but they asked n,
questions, for | was a fine Tecurit. NJ,
beard was shaved, my hair was cut, AM
when | got to Petersburg and was fttet
with my uniform and eagle-crowned hel
met no one would have known me.
rose to sergeant, and second riding-mas
ter. From your padarOina | see tina
you are English. Now, in fifty-three
when had served my time, there wa
rumOrs OF war in Turkey against you
and tempting offers were made to me t
stop and drill the new recruits. But
was wretched, and hOmesickness drOv
me south, though if I found my wifi
dead or married again, | intended to xii
myself Petersburg is not a place 70
COssacks, either BY brooding over tn
past l had become madiy in love wit
my wife. 1t was no use for me to tel
myself that | had left her wei off; tina
she was married again and happy; tina
she was forty-four and fat; or else, per
haps, Il scarecrow, | was madly in love
g got my discharge and pension pa
pers, and started south. At Kharko
my friend was dead What if she, toe
was dead? Who keeps the Donski pos
station nOw?' | murmured, crossing my
self the while under my long cloak
The widow Z A widow that has KEEP
: it fourteen years p The same /
eighteen hours 1 was there. | recognize
two of the old men, but they not me
| rushed into the house. She was a
her day-book writing, not changed. Onl
graver, and with silver in her black hair
; Ny own little Olga in the best styl
of old days. She did not turn to look a
me, but threw up her arms and fell foI
ward on the table, | rushed to her an
felt her heart, with mine, too, all bu
ceasing to beat. In a moment she cam
to herself-our lips fast glued together
This was in 'fifty-three. This is sixty
nine. Sixteen years gone like a day
. We have made up for the past, littI