The Russellville Democrat., 1880-11-18

 in the eyes of us young men. Youth pardons least of all the want of boldDess, and in it's eyes courage is the first of all merits and the excuse of all defects. Nevertheless, little by little the whole
 matter was forgotten, and Silvio recover ed his former influence among us.
 l alone could not reconcile myself to him. Thanks to ray romantic imaQina. ton had attached myself more than anybody else to this man whose lite was a riddle, and had made him the hero of mysterious drama. He loved me; at least with me alone he abandoned his cutting tone and caustic language and talked ot oifferent subjects with freedom and sometimes with grace that was ex- traordinary. Since that unhappy even- 1 ing the thought that his honor was soil | ed, and that voluntarily he had not wiped out the stain tormented me necessarily and prevented me from being at ease with him as of old.
 Silvio had too much intelligence and penetration not to see and to guess the cause of my conduct. He seemed pain ed. Twice at least 1 thought remarked in him desire to have an explanation with me, but avoided it and Silvio ! abandoned me. Since then I never saw | him except with our comrades, and our private conversations were never re- newed.
 The happy inhabitants of the capital, surrounded by distractions, know noth- | ing of many impressions familiar to the | inhabitants of villages and small towns waiting for post day, for instance. On l Tuesdays and Fridays the bureau of our regiment was full of officers. One was | expecting money, another letters, anoth- l CT journals. Generally we broke open 1 the packages on the spot; we told each other the news, and the bureau present. 1 ed the most animated appearance. l Silvio's letters were addressed to our regiment and he used to come with us to fetch them. One day he received a letter which he tore open with precipi- tation. As he red it hls eyes shone with extraordinary brilliancy. Our officers, busy with their letters, had noticed nothing.
 "Gentlemen," said Silvio, "some busi- ness obliges me to leave immediately. shall start tonight; hope that you will not refuse to dine with me for the last time l count upon you, too," ne con- tinued, turning towards me. Il count upon you absolutely"
 He then withdrew hurriedly, and after having agreed to meet at his house, we all went away to our several affairs. At the appointed hour l went to Silvio's. and found nearly all the regiment there. Everything belonging to him had been already packed up. There remained nothing but bare walls, spotted with bull let holes. We sat down to table. Our host was in a good humor, and he soon communicated it to all the company. The corks flew rapidly; the froth mount ed in the glasses that were filled and emptied without interruption; and we. full of tenderness, wished our host a pleasant journey, joy and prosperity. When we were taking our caps, Silvio bade farewell to each one, but he took me by the hand and held me just as I was about to go out.
 q want to talk little to you,' he said to me in whisper.
 remained.
 The others left and we remained alone, sitting face to face, smoking our pipes in silence. Silvio seemed thoughtful, and there remained on his face no trace of his convulsive gayety. His sinister pale ness, his ardent eyes, the long pufis of smoke that issued from hls mouth, gave l1m til6 dlI Ol u utillOu. AlttT q icW minutes he broke the silence.
 "It may be" he said, "that we shall never see each other again; before part ing wished to have remarked that I care little about the opinion of the i'm different; but love you, and 1 should be pained to leave you with an unfavor- able opinion of me-"
 He interrupted himself to shake the nlx <.f1 h tc | oIro GIl mi | with my eyes cast down.
 sIt may have appeared strange to you" he continued, ''that 1 did not de- mand complete satisfaction from that drunken madman R. You win ad- mt that, having the choice of arms, had his life in my hands and that had no great risks to run. I might call my moderation generosity, but do not wish to lie. If had been able to administer a correction to R without risking my life, without risking it in any way he would not have got of so easily. looked at Silvio witt surprise. Such an avowel troubled me to the last degree. He continued:
 Well, unfortunately, I have not the right to expose myself to death. Six years ago received blow and my enemy IS still living"
 My curiosity was excited.
 "You did not fight with him?" asked. "Some special circumstance prevented you from catching hlm?"
 "I fought with him." replied Sllvio, land here is a souvenir of our meeting." He rose and took out of box a red cloth cap, with gold band and tassel. He placed it on hIs head. It was pierced with bullet hole an inch above the forehead.
 You knew," said Silvio, 'that l served in the hussar regiment at -. You know my character. am in the habit of dominating; but in my youth 1t was a furious passion with me. In my time the noisy men were la mode. l was the first noisy man in the regiment. | Men used to boast of their drunken feats. I have dunk the famous B. under the table. Every day there were duels in our regiment. Every day l played the part of second or principal. My 1 comrades venerated me and our superior officers, who were constantly being changed, looked upon me as scourge of which they could not get rid. As for me, l was following n y career tranqullly | or rather tumultously, when rich young man of distinguished family was sent to our regiment. l will not mention his name Never was there q man gifted
 with more insolent happiness. Imagine to yourself youth, intelligence, hand some face, bravery, careless Of danger, q fine name, as much money as he wished, and which he could not lose; and now imagine what an effect he must have among us. My domination was shaken. | Al first. dazzled by my reputation. he