The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-09-12
A DEAD MAN.

was driving tue5o dTehTy Ql5IdHcob III al
tumn. For the first two days and nights th
weather was lovely, bat on the third morning
soon after sunrise, the sky became covere
with heavy, torn and jagged clouds. a NORTH
erly wind arose, and with thunder, lightning
cold gale and snow, the winter burst on us q
it yearly breaks on Southern Russia. In hal
: an hour the rich, black, rolling .plains ha
become an ocean of inky mud, and we reaches
the post station of Donski only to flint
the order" Impossible to proceed"
l called for tea, and the samovar wa
brought in by fine, upright, gray beardet
man, whom, from his black velvet tunic ant
slashed sleeves, / took to be the postmaste
himself. He was followed into the room by
noble-looking Cossack woman of his own age
who said, Little husband, why don't yor
ask the lord if he will eat partridge and BIZ
Of bread? The kurupatka is plump, and the
day will be long before his troika can be har
messed to face the storm" She smiled sweetly
as she spoke-he smiled lovingly upon her
then she left us, looking lingeringly back.
"Your wifes in love with you still, and you
with her, Postmaster" / said. "You must
have beaten her we'll when she was young fol-
her to love you SO. How long is it since you
were married :" 81 am sixty" he replied; /"
was married at twenty i've, thirty-fve years
ago-fve years before 1 died" What r.
said l. give years before my death. Is it
possible that you don't know my story ? You
must have come from long way off, for
have heard that it is told even upon the Azof.
And throwing his legs across chair, with
out more ado he spoke thus:
81 was born In 1909, and can rem en- 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 Hetman Platof
ofE nf tn he
and of the French, and friend and equal of
the white Tsar. Now, this Petersburg Tsar
says that we're no better than his Great Rus
sian slaves, and for years my sabre and long
pistol have hung upon the wall unused and
when | have worn nay 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 sup
ply Of salt;
father was dead, with good place and
handsome beard, l was the best match in the
two-church villages round. / could pick my
wife. and I chose Olga, that you saw just
now"
"There" said I.
"Ah, wait and see? Wait little lord
Don't be impatient Olga was as lovely as
she was good. You heye seen her in her six
tieth year; her goodness is what it was, and,
though may be an unsafe judge, her beauty,
think, is not yet gone"
He looked at me- l nodded.
"We were happy at first, but was young.
I felt the chain. [ was faithful to her as tar
as women went, but not kind We had no
children. One day in 1889 she was in low
spirits about me, and flung her arms upon a
sudden about my neck, with DO you really
love me, little JohnY you know I do
But not as 1 love you. at that very mo-
ment, lord, the devil must have been I'M
chained from hell. To tell you what thoughts
flashed in an instant through my mind would
be impossible. That what she said was true
That while did love her in kind of way, I
was bound to her for life whether l would
or no.
"In a fit Of wild rage I struck her one
short, sharp blow. She looked at me with
despair in her eyes, and walked slowly into
our other room. l ran into the stable yard.
Harness toika said to the starosta. III
leave at once for Kharkof with dispatches
that the courier dropped, and that I've found
upon the floor. Quick quick the best
courier horses In an instant they were
ready. Merrily jingled the bells in the crisp
air. Paul took the reins, and off whirled.
In twenty hours I was at Kharkof. To my
friend the starosta at the great Kharkof sta.
ton, who was equal in rank and pay to most
postmasters themselves, I said: DO me a
service, little friend. as | would do one for
you.
"'I am going to leave my wife. to whom 1
have been unkind. and am going to enlist in
the guards. But I wish her to forget me, and
she must think me dead. Write to her in
week and tell her that was taken with the |
cholera and died. Beg her to forgive me for |
my unkindness; say that | was grateful for |
her love, and that it was my last wish that she |
should marry again some lad more worthy of |
her than myself. Make interest to have the |
station continued to her as postmistress. She |
was a priests daughter and can write We |
crossed ourselves, he swore, we bowed to the |
image in the corner of the stable, we kissed, |
and in five minutes / was gone.
"At the recruiting office / enlisted for the |
Empress's regiment of cuirassiers of the
guard as fourteen years. volunteer, and in |
false name. I'd OF course no papers, but they |
asked no questions, for | was a fine recruit.
My beard was shaved, my hair was cut and |
when got to Petersburg, and was fitted with |
my uniform and eagled-crowned helmet no
one would have known me. I rose to be SER
geant and second riding master. From your
padaroina I see that You are English Now,
in 1853, when l had served my time, there
were rumors OF war in Turkey against you,
and tempting offers were made to me to stop
and drill the new recruits.
"But was wretched, and inconsistencies
drove me south, though if l found my wife
dead or married again intended to kill N.Y.
self. Petersburg is sofa place for Cossacks
either. BY brooding over the past had be-
come madly in love with my wife. II was no
use for me to tell myself that | had left her
well off; that she was married again and
happy; that she was forty-four and fat; or else,
perhaps, a scarcrow. | was madly in love.
got my discharge and pension papers, and
started south. At Kharkof my friend was
dead. What if she too were dead Who
keeps the Donski post-station now?' / MUIR
INJURED, crossing myself the while under my
ong cloak. The widow "A widow that
has kept it fourteen years? The same In
sighteen hours | was there. recognized two
IF the old men, but they not me. rushed
nto the house. She was at her day-b
writing, not changed. Only graver, and +.
With silver in her black hair. My own little !
olga, in the best style of old days. She did
lot turn to look at me, but threw up Ter arms
md fell forward on the table. | rushed to
Ter and felt her heart, with mine, too, all but 5
easing to beat. In a moment she came to