Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-05-01
A RUSSIAN DUEL TO THE DEATH
A Twice Told Tale.

civil service. who was an cspeclal laV-
oritc of mine. He was man OF SIN
oular Intelligence, but | never saw
man so fuIl Of physical impertectIons.
III health had rendered him species
ofahortiOn. lie knew his weakness
and his natural defects, and carefully
avoided all effort and all gymnastic
exercises, leading Il life OF the utmost
prccautiOn. On horseback he was
terribly comic spectacle, and when
ever we arranged riding party he
invariably chose tho oldest and least
spirited Of the horses. lie had also
defect i'll his pronunciation, which
Obliged him To speak very SLOWLY III
order to keep from suffering. You
NAV imagine what a figure this I'M
Ianpy man made, with his ailments
and his precautions, among band or
vigorous xouug men, who never looked
before they leaped.
YctSkv was nevertheless good COM
DanioIi. We all were fond of him,
but we made no allowance for the in
frmitics of his constitution, his awk-
Warlnce>, and his excessive prudence,
that bordcrcd on, cowardicc. Nctsky
took all our Jokes i'll good part, some
himself. Nevertheless, it frequently
occurred that when some sudden rail-
cry attacked him he found himself at
Il loss for reply. 1t seemed as if the
faculties OF HE mind, like those Of his
body, suffered occasional paralysis.
lie was ono OF those mon whom it was
easy TO unecat with Il word, and who
Iavc not the power of Immediately
rcyaining the saddle. In cases like
this, Ncesky evidently suffered very
much, however strongly he forced
himself to conceal ii under a cold and
calm exterior. Every one could see
that he made every effort to remain
master Of himself, because, as he
would say with forced smile, go
get angry would be to injurc my
ncalth.'
[ had observed since certain epoch
that my brother was one of the most
pitlleSs prosecutors of poor Net5ky
tut we had all fallen into the habit
of laughing at ''our petit mnih'e," as
we called him, and made this iocular-
ity SO much regular pastinc, that l
paid no attention to this childish
wavwardncs>. 1t seemed to us so
perfectly natural. All things, how
ever, h1lt Il secret cause; and the Sc
crCt OF this was, that my brother was
desperately i'll love with lady who,
by singular caprice, gave marked
preference over the elegant Netches-
Taft to the distorted Fctsky.
When officers are newly appointed.
1t Is the custom among Us Russians to
expect them to "baptize their epauI-
cites" as we say. As We had some
new -comers i'll the regiment, DAYS
were fixed when we should dine sue
ccssiYely with each of them. You
have some idea Of the style Of what
our fctcs used 10 be. You have been
ten years absent. and in Russia ten
Years IS an age. The time fiHs gone by
for those wild frcnZicl rcYcIs that you
knew once. Now Young mcn are very
rational. even over the bottle, an
good taste rcigns in their orgies.
Their wives mi sht preside over them
without b!ushing. 1t is not tlIat Wine
is wanting. They do not drink at
present, ii is trHc, until they are under
the table; but they drink enough to
become gay and quarrclsomc. and
foolish sometimes. and 10 say things
in their cups that they regret in SnLcr
moments.
We dincd one day in little couII-
try house Git was tire period when the
troops were CnCampcd i'll the suburbs
ni II. Petersburg for the summer re-
view, and our host was liberal OF his
champagne. The dinner lasted con-
-dCrablC time, AMI all of us. inc,uHinr
even Nct>ky. were. 10 Usc military
phrase, charged up To the nuzzlc. II
WAS two o'clock in the morning. The
room was close. AMI felt as if was
SutfOrating; 20 | left the house to
wander through the fields and fresh
air. L rcmcmbUr ii still. The skies
were pure; the country silent y
faint moEnng breeze was arising, AMI
/ hailed it with yoluptuous delight.
The field, bathcd in the purple rays Of
the rising morning, made a delicious
picture. Not sound was audible.
except in the direction of the cottage
where we dined, through whose open
windows fragments of laughter and
slatchcS of song fOatcl. Suddenly
song and laughter ceased. This umCX-
pectcd change from noise to profound
sllencc alarmed me, AMI | shivcred i'll
voluntarily. Ny heart beat as if had
Just learned evil news. Bv an inyoI-
nv 'N''lShI returned TO the
cottage. At the moment OF crns,in.y
the threshold | met Nctskv rnni,,52
out with his hat III Iii, hand. H.
did not speak to me; but his face was
white as Il sheet, and he sought to dis
scmblc some agitation beneath Il smile.
Nv prcscntimcntS were verified,
My companions related all that had
occurred during by brief absence. 1t
wa, Il boyish freak, but ono that |
feared would lead to bloodsbcd.
Some of them had opened Il window
that looked out on Il courtyard, and
one young fellow, in Il fit OF gaycty.
lclpcd from it. \ second followed
then third. The window was con.
siderable height from the ground AMI
whoever was unfortunate enough 70
Hiss his footing would certainly hc
hurt. HE laughter provoked bv the
fails, that some received, and the dan
ger Of the jump, excited in all tha
Young 1n2n present Il reckless cmuI,-
ton. Each tried if he could NOT
break his neck i'll this foolish cynInit
Now, what are YOU going to do ;.
said my brother to Vetsky, when all
had tried the peril, with loud LAUGH,
Il will not leap" answered VetsRy,
coldiy.
NO! But you must leap.7