The Russellville Democrat., 1880-11-18
PISTOLS AND CHERRIES.
Russian of Pouchkine.

We were stationed in the village ol -. You know what sort of life is that of an officer in a line regiment in the morning, drill, the riding school, then dinner with the commander of the regi. ment or at private restaurant; in the evening, punch and cards. At - there was not house where receptions were held and not single marriageable young lady. We passed all our time with one another, and in our meetings none were seen but men in uniform. Still there was in the society one man who was not a soldier. He might have been 35 years of age, and therefore we looked upon him as an old man. His experience gave him considerable authority with us. His taciturnity. too, and his naughty and diff. ficult temper, and his sarcastic tone made great impression on us young men Some mystery seemed to envelope his existence. Formerly he had served in a hussar regiment, in which, indeed, he had made some figure; suddenly he had given in his resignation, nobody knew why, and had established himself in a poor village, where he hven badly and spent much money. He went out always on foot, in an old frock coot, and yet he kept open house for all the officers oi our regiment. To tell the truth, his din ners consisted of only two or three dish es prepared by an old soldier, but the champaigne flowed copiously. Nobody knew anything about hi fortune or his condition and nobody dared question him on those points. There were books in his house, chiefly military books. and novels also. He readily lent them and never asked for them again; on the other hand, he never returned the books that others lent him. His great occupation was pistol shooting; the walls of his chamber were honey-combed with balls! The only luxury of the wretched hut in which he lived was rich collection oi pistols. The skill which he had acquired was incredible, and if he had made a bet to shoot the button of a cap, no one in our regiment would have hesitated to wear the cap. Sometimes our converse tion turned upon duels. Silvio, for call him by this name, never took part in it. When asked if he had ever fought, he would answer dryly, "Yes," but he never gave the slightest detai|, and it was evident that such questions did not please him. We suppose tbat some vic tim of bis terrible skill had left weight on his conscience. Besides, no one among us ever thought of suspecting him of weakness. There are people whose exterior alone is sufficient to dispel such ideas. An unexpected occasion surprised us all strangely.
 One day ten of the officers were dining with Silvio. We drank as usual, that is to say enormously. After dinner we asked the host to get up faro bank. He refused for long time, for he had hard kxxf I.e.t l.f. fs.t some cards, placed them before him on the table fifty ducats, and sat down to deal. We sat down around him and the play began. When he played, Silvio was in the habit of maintaining tbe most complete silence; he never allowed com paints or explanations. If a player made n mistake he paid him just what was due or marked to his own account what he had gained. We knew that, and left him to manage his bank as he pleased; but there was among us an officer who had recently joined the corps, and who from distraction made a wrong bet. Silvio took the chalk and made his reckoning as usual. The officer, feeling sure that he had made mistake, began to protest Silvo, always silent, continued to dea the cards. The officer, losing patience took the brush and wiped out what he 4 a to be wrong. Silvio took tho chalk and marked it again. Whereupor the officer, heated by wine, seized brass candlestick and flung it at the head O Silvio, who, by rapid movement, luck ily avoided the blow. Great confusion followed; Silvio rose, pale with rage, ane flashing eyes:
 My dear sir" he said, "be gooc enoueh to go away, and thank God tha this scene has taken place in my house.
 No one of us felt any doubt as to thu issue of the affair, and we already looked upon our new comrade as dead man The officer went out saving that he wa ready to eivo satisfaction whenever h' might be called upon. The faro contin ued few minutes longer, but we say that the master of the house was no long CT in the game, and one by one we with drew and returned to our quarters.
 The next day at the riding school w were just asking whether the poor lieu tenant were alive or dead when we say him appear in person We questioned him. He replied that he had no new of Silvio. That surprised us. We wen to see Siiyio, and we found him in In court, sending bullet after bullet into al ace of hearrs nailed up on the door, H received us just as usual and said noth ing abont he events Of the previou evening rbfee days naaeed and th
 lieutenant was still alive. We said il astonishmeDt, 'SIlyio not iight?n Silvi, .szs1id not fight. but contented himself witt