El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-10
A Difficult Task
A Short stOrv.

vt WAS an early winter morning.
In a glade among the birch trees a
4 young officer was standing, dressed
only in riding brooches, shirt and high
boots, and without fur coat or cap.
His. eyes were calmly looking at an
older officer standing at a distance Of
30 PAGES and cOOlly aiming at him with
a pistol.
The young officers dangerous posi-
ton, hi9 adversarys pftiIess calm, and
the deep silence Of the seconds was
very painful to all present The shot
rang out The young officer threw up
his arms, jumped into the air and fell
heavily to the ground The seconds
ran up to him and raised him tenderly.
The blood was OOzing from a small
hole in his forehead The surgeon
could only certify that death had been
instantaneous. The affair was settled
All that was left was 10 report the
duel to the colonel Of the regiment
and break the sad news to the young
officers mother, an old widow who
was now chIldleSs- After a brief con-
sultatiOn it was decided that the dead
mans second and best friend, Lieut.
GOlubenkO, should carry the sad ness
age to her.
Pelagio PetroWua was in the act OF
making tea, when Go4ubenkO en-
tered
You are Just in time to have a glass
of tea with me" she said. in her kind
way. I suppose you have come to
NO. the lieutenant stammered, Il
Just happened to be passing and
wen VolOdja, the lazy fellow, went
to bed very late last night, for heard
him walking up and down the floor
long after midnight I viii 20 and
call him; it is time for him to get up"
DO not trouble for my sake the
lieutenant stammered but PelagiO
PetrOWna was already out OF the room
GolubenkO threw himself into a chair
and IN his despair did not know how
to begin
The bird has flown already" said
PelagiO PetrOWna, as she returned,
but he must be here very soon. He
has probably only gone for a short
walk Sit down here and have a glass
OF tea It IS long time since we
have had chat together and have
such good news to tell you. Perhaps
NolOdJa has told you already He has
not- Well, I am sure he has been
thinking Of nothing else When I
heard him walking up and down the
floor last night knew he was think
ing Of his happy future. and OF our
mutual little friend, LenOtschka- on,
Ivan, Ivan, It is my only prayer to
God that those two children may be
happy When have seen him happily
married to LenOtschSa- I may well
all the difficulties they have had to
overcome They are both proud and
Volod5a would not think OF asking
Lenotschka's father for a loan You
officers are not permitted to marry
without Securlty-Well, that difficulty
IS solved now. I have borrowed 5000
roubles, and now VOlOdja may marry
without losing his dignity But the
best OF all is that this morning I had
such q dear letter from LenOtschka.
Z - IN n hr-
der words"
Pelagio Petrowna took a letter from
her pocket, GOleubenkO suffered tor
lures. He wanted to tell Pelarfn
PetrOwna what had happened, but his
voice failed him.
What makes you look so sad, Ivan9s
the old lady asked. You seem 50
changed today. Lenotschka sends her
best regards to you in her letter. She
always was very fond OF you But
viii read her letter to you"
Dear PelagiO PetrOWna-
soon, very soon, the day is to come
mother, and I do long to throw ny
arms around your neck"
PelagiO PetrOWna raised her head
and looked at Golubenko with a happy
smile; she wanted to say something
Dut when she saw how the young Of
flcer was struggling to keep his tears
back, she stood up, laid her hand On
his head and kissed his forehead
GOD bless YOU Ivan, she whispered
You do not know how much I love
you You have always been a friend
and defender OF Velodja-"
GolubenkO thought he should 20
mad He threw himself down on his
knees and kissed the old lady's hand.
He could not speak VoIedja's de-
fender Had he not stood there mo-
uonleSs without raising a finger while
the other aimed at VolOdja2 Had he
not loaded the pistols himself and
counted off the distancec And now he
was sitting there speeches.. He de-
Splsed himself, called himself q miser-
able coward. but he could not deprive
PetrOwna of the last few happy NOM
ents Of her life. A hundred times dur
ing this last quarter OF an hour he had
cursed all duels- Now he stood M,
determined to carry out his sad duty
his lips moved, but everything turned
black before his eyes, and he threw his
arms around the old lady's neck. and
burst into tears. Then he tore him
self lose and ran out Of the room like
a mailman
PelagiO PetroWna stared after him.
Poor Ivan / thought so He is
IN love with LenOtschka himself. 1t IS
so sad, but he is young and win get
over it"
And with tears in her eyes she be-
san 10 think once more OF her own
great happiness which seemed so