The guests had gone and we were left alone.
Sitting down opposite one another, we lighted our pipes. Silvio was much
agitated; no traces of his former gaiety remained. Deadly pale, with
sparkling eyes, and a thick smoke issuing from his mouth, he looked like
a demon. Several minutes passed before he broke silence.
"Perhaps we shall never meet again," he said. "Before saying good-bye I
want to have a few words with you. You may have remarked that I care
little for the opinions of others. But I like you, and should be sorry
to leave you under a wrong impression."
He paused, and began refilling his pipe. I looked down and was silent.
"You thought it odd," he continued, "that I did not require satisfaction
from that drunken maniac. You will grant, however, that being entitled
to the choice of weapons I had his life more or less in my hands. I
might attribute my tolerance to generosity, but I will not deceive you.
If I could have chastised him without the least risk to myself, without
the slightest danger to my own life, then I would on no account have
forgiven him."
I looked at Silvio with surprise. Such a confession completely upset me.
Silvio continued:--
"Precisely so: I had no right to endanger my life. Six years ago I
received a slap in the face, and my enemy still lives."
My curiosity was greatly excited.
"Did you not fight him?" I inquired. "Circumstances probably separated
you?"
"I did fight him," replied Silvio, "and here is a memento of our duel."
[Illustration: "HERE IS A MEMENTO OF OUR DUEL."]
He rose and took from a cardboard box a red cap with a gold tassel and
gold braid.
"My disposition is well known to you. I have been accustomed to be first
in everything. From my youth this has been my passion. In my time
dissipation was the fashion, and I was the most dissipated man in the
army. We used to boast of our drunkenness. I beat at drinking the
celebrated Bourtsoff, of whom Davidoff has sung in his poems. Duels in
our regiment were of daily occurrence. I took part in all of them,
either as second or as principal. My comrades adored me, while the
commanders of the regiment, who were constantly being changed, looked
upon me as an incurable evil.
"I was calmly, or rather boisterously, enjoying my reputation, when a
certain young man joined our regiment. He was rich, and came of a
distinguished family--I will not name him. Never in my life did I meet
with so brilliant, so fortunate a fellow!--young, clever, handsome, with
the wildest spirits, the most reckless bravery, bearing a celebrated
name, possessing funds of which he did not know the amount, but which
were inexhaustible. You may imagine the effect he was sure to produce
among us. My leadership was shaken. Dazzled by my reputation, he began
by seeking my friendship. But I received him coldly; at which, without
the least sign of regret, he kept aloof from me.
"I took a dislike to him. His success in the regiment and in the society
of women brought me to despair. I tried to pick a quarrel with him. To
my epigrams he replied with epigrams which always seemed to me more
pointed and more piercing than my own, and which were certainly much
livelier; for while he joked, I was raving.
"Finally, at a ball at the house of a Polish landed proprietor, seeing
him receive marked attention from all the ladies, and especially from
the lady of the house, who had formerly been on very friendly terms with
me, I whispered some low insult in his ear. He flew into a passion, and
gave me a slap on the cheek. We clutched our swords; the ladies fainted;
we were separated; and the same night we drove out to fight.
"It was nearly daybreak. I was standing at the appointed spot with my
three seconds. How impatiently I awaited my opponent! The spring sun had
risen, and it was growing hot. At last I saw him in the distance. He was
on foot, accompanied by only one second. We advanced to meet him. He
approached, holding in his hand his regimental cap, filled full of black
cherries.
"The seconds measured twelve paces. It was for me to fire first. But my
excitement was so great that I could not depend upon the certainty of my
hand; and, in order to give myself time to get calm, I ceded the first
shot to my adversary. He would not accept it, and we decided to cast
lots.
"The number fell to him; constant favourite of fortune that he was! He
aimed, and put a bullet through my cap.
"It was now my turn. His life at last was in my hands; I looked at him
eagerly, trying to detect if only some faint shadow of uneasiness. But
he stood beneath my pistol, picking out ripe cherries from his cap and
spitting out the stones, some of which fell near me. His indifference
enraged me. 'What is the use,' thought I, 'of depriving him of life,
when he sets no value upon it.' As this savage thought flitted through
my brain I lowered the pistol.
"'You don't seem to be ready for death,' I said; 'you are eating your
breakfast, and I don't want to interfere with you.'
"'You don't interfere with me in the least,' he replied. 'Be good enough
to fire. Or don't fire if you prefer it; the shot remains with you, and
I shall be at your service at any moment.'
[Illustration: "WE CLUTCHED OUR SWORDS."]
"I turned to the seconds, informing them that I had no intention of
firing that day; and with this the duel ended. I resigned my commission
and retired to this little place. Since then not a single day has passed
that I have not thought of my revenge; and now the hour has arrived."
Silvio took from his pocket the letter he had received that morning, and
handed it to me to read. Someone (it seemed to be his business agent)
wrote to him from Moscow, that a certain individual was soon to be
married to a young and beautiful girl.
"You guess," said Silvio, "who the certain individual is. I am starting
for Moscow. We shall see whether he will be as indifferent now as he was
some time ago, when in presence of death he ate cherries!"
[Illustration: "HIS LIFE AT LAST WAS IN MY HANDS."]
With these words Silvio rose, threw his cap upon the floor, and began
pacing up and down the room like a tiger in his cage. I remained silent.
Strange contending feelings agitated me.
The servant entered and announced that the horses were ready. Silvio
grasped my hand tightly. He got into the _telega_, in which lay two
trunks--one containing his pistols, the other some personal effects. We
wished good-bye a second time, and the horses galloped off.