Summary Latnik
A. Bestuzhev
Latnik
“On November 22, Seslavin sent me to clear the left side of the Vilna road, with a hundred Sumy hussars, a platoon of dragoons of the Tver regiment and a dozen of donts.” So the dragoon captain begins his story.
The detachment moves along the road, along the roadsides, with terrible decorations, are horse and human corpses. Scouts-Cossacks soon notice the enemy. French soldiers are dressed extremely ridiculously, some even in sheepskin over their clothes, whereas for true heat it should be worn under a uniform. The Russian partisans, however, are not much better dressed and wrapped in the cold who in what is much. Having repulsed the first attacks, the French retreat into a small village. The Russians immediately pursue them. Surrounded by the master’s castle, the French are defending themselves desperately, and Polish gentry militiamen-local militiamen, who see in Russian sworn enemies as their own liberties-are fighting more
Soldiers, meanwhile, lead the butler, who was hiding in the attic. Butler willingly tells the story, which happened recently in Mayontka, in Russian to say, in the estate. His master, Prince Glinsky, had a beautiful daughter, Felicia. Passionate love, which arose between her and the Russian officer standing nearby, in Oshmyany, an artillery battalion, touched the heart of the old man. A wedding was assigned. But the sudden urgent need, which was the
This story plunged into the deep thoughtfulness of the lieutenant Zarnitsky, and he decided to tell a tragedy that was already his own.
His grandfather’s grandfather, Prince H… yi, was a true despot, and when he decided to give his daughter Lisa for the groom he had chosen, he was deeply impressed by her refusal to obey his will. Lisa fell in love with her teacher, recently graduated from the University of Adjunct Bayanov. The prince has concluded the daughter in the house. Once, when the prince was on a hunt, Bayanov abducted his beloved and immediately went with her to church. When the young people were already standing in front of the altar, the chase burst into the church. No one has ever heard of Bayanova, but his daughter X… was now holding the iron door. She was deemed crazy, and she did not live long. After a lapse of time, they began to notice great strangeness for the prince – fear found him. And one day he suddenly told everyone to leave the house, to bolt the doors and never to return to it. Having settled in another estate, the prince did not come to himself and soon died. Zarnitsky heard this story from a young age, and, visiting his native places, having already been promoted to officers, decided to inspect the damn house, which in his childhood so excited his imagination. Easily penetrating through the dilapidated locks, he, wandering around the house, came across a room whose iron doors told him that a poor prisoner was languishing here. Opening them, he opened his eyes to his spectacle, “instantly turning his body into a piece of ice”: a beauty whose face he had seen many times in the portrait, the same… the iron doors of which prompted him that a poor prisoner was languishing here. Opening them, he opened his eyes to his spectacle, “instantly turning his body into a piece of ice”: a beauty whose face he had seen many times in the portrait, the same… the iron doors of which prompted him that a poor prisoner was languishing here. Opening them, he opened his eyes to his spectacle, “instantly turning his body into a piece of ice”: a beauty whose face he had seen many times in the portrait, the same…
Zarnitsky’s story is interrupted by the sound of heavy steps. This is a black pad. Kind of it is painful and strange. Exactly in delirium he wanders through the dilapidated house. Suddenly he stops, amazed, at the image of a beautiful woman, interred among the portraits of her ancestors, who, according to the custom accepted in Poland, always adorn the mansion house. “You promised to come before me, thank you, you fulfilled your promise!” he exclaims. And then one of the corpses stumbles. “Here is my enemy, and after death he blocks my way!” Pulling out a heavy sword, the cuirassier strikes terrible blows to the dead body. The captain and lieutenant Zarnitsky hardly calmed him.
The next morning the Cyrusir major, having received relief from sleep, presents his history to the officers. Of course, he was the same artilleryman who loved the beautiful Felicia Glinskaya and was loved by her. Arriving at the sick mother, he managed only to take her to the grave and immediately fell into a very hot fever. Being eight months sick and not receiving letters from Felicia, who sworn to write every day, he could not imagine anything other than the death of a beloved. When he learned of her marriage, an irresistible desire for revenge arose in his soul. Entering the cuirassier regiment, which stood in Oshmiany, he appeared soon to the countess and found her in the most unfortunate position. Both of them realized that they had become victims of the treachery of the Count, who intercepted and destroyed their letters. The life of the countess, which had been undermined by the disease, was soon extinguished. All the hatred, accumulated under the black bust of the major, now turned to Count Ostroleensky. And recently, revenge has taken place. The last mystical meeting of his beloved – the Countess’s dying promise to appear before his death – was indicated by the scene at the portrait of Felicia, and now his life is over.
Having finished his story and without another word, the captain jumps on his horse and flies away. But the captain yearns to hear the end of Zarnitsky’s story, interrupted in the most extraordinary and mysterious place.
Zarnitsky again plunges into exciting memories. In the room where the last days of his unfortunate relative passed, he saw a girl whose beauty fully reproduced the features of the deceased. He fell in love without a memory. To whom? It was Liza H.’s legitimate daughter, who was also named Liza in her honor. Born in secret imprisonment, she was raised by kind people and now came here to see the place connected with the road for her mother’s memory. Zarnitsky made every effort to Elizabeth Bayanova was restored in their rights and received a legal share of the inheritance. It was possible, but he vainly cherished the hope of a happy ending to his feelings, Lisa already had a loving and successful fiancé. Now she is happy in a happy marriage. And Zarnitsky… alas! he can only be sad, dream and forget himself in battles,
A day later, after the battle for Oshmyany, the Russian guerrillas leave the town, making their way among many corpses. Suddenly Zarnitsky jumps down from his horse:
“Look, George, this is our military man!”
On the face of the murderer, there was not a trace of the passions that had so recently upset his life.
– A wonderful man! – says Zarnitsky. “Was Felicia really the messenger of his death, or was it the circumstances?” Here’s a riddle!
“The French bullet will decide, maybe in an hour, one of us will have a riddle,” the captain answered.
The sound of the trumpet calls them out of oblivion. Jumping on their horses, they silently jump forward.
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