The army regiment is stationed in the town of ***. Life goes according to the routine established in the army, and only the officers acquaintance with a certain person named Silvio living in this place scatters the garrison boredom. He is older than most officers of the regiment, gloomy, has a strong temper and an evil tongue. There is some secret in his life that Silvio does not reveal to anyone. It is known that Silvio once served in the hussar regiment, but the reason for his resignation is not known to anyone, as well as the reason for living in this outback. Neither his incomes nor his fortune are known, but he holds an open table for the officers of the regiment, and at noon champagne flows like water. For this, everyone is ready to forgive him. Silvio's mysterious figure overshadows his almost supernatural art of pistol shooting. He does not take part in the officers' conversations about fights, and he answers dryly to the questions about whether he had a chance to fight. Between themselves, the officers believe that Silvio has some unhappy sacrifice of his inhuman art on his conscience. Once, several officers, as usual, gathered at Silvio. Having drunk pretty much, they started a card game and asked Silvio to flush the bank. In the game, he was silent as usual and corrected the mistakes of the punters in the records without words. One young officer, who had recently entered the regiment and did not know the habits of Silvio, thought that he was mistaken. Enraged by Silvio's silent stubbornness, the officer threw a shandal into his head, Silvio, pale with anger, asked the officer to leave. Everyone considered the duel to be inevitable and did not doubt his outcome, but Silvio did not call the officer, and this circumstance ruined his reputation in the eyes of the officers, but gradually everything went back to normal and the incident was forgotten. Only one officer, to whom Silvio sympathized more than others, could not come to terms with the idea that Silvio did not wash off the insults.
Once, in the regimental chancellery where the mail came, Silvio received a package, the contents of which greatly excited him. He announced to the assembled officers his unexpected departure and invited everyone to a farewell dinner. Late in the evening, when everyone left Silvio's house, the owner asked the officer most attractive to him to stay and revealed his secret to him.
A few years ago, Silvio received a slap in the face, and his abuser is still alive. This happened during the years of his service, when Silvio was distinguished by his violent disposition. He excelled in the regiment and enjoyed this position until the "young man of a rich and noble family" was determined in the regiment. He was a brilliant lucky man who was always fabulously lucky in everything. At first, he tried to achieve friendship and favor with Silvio, but, having not succeeded in this, he estranged himself from him without regret. Silvio's championship hesitated, and he hated this favorite of fortune. Once at a ball at a Polish landowner they quarreled, and Silvio received a slap in the face from his enemy. At dawn there was a duel at which the offender Silvio appeared with a cap full of ripe cherries. By lot, he got the first shot, making it and shooting a cap on Silvio, he calmly stood at the point of his gun and enjoyed eating sweet cherries, spitting out the bones that sometimes reached his opponent. His indifference and equanimity infuriated Silvio, and he refused to shoot. His opponent indifferently said that Silvio would have the right to use his shot whenever he pleased. Silvio soon resigned and retired to this place, but not a day passed before he dreamed of revenge. And finally, his time has come. He was informed that "a well-known person should soon enter into a legal marriage with a young and beautiful girl." And Silvio decided to look, "is he so indifferent to death before his wedding, as he once waited for her for cherries!" Friends said goodbye, and Silvio left.
A few years later, circumstances forced the officer to resign and settle in his poor village, where he was dying of boredom, until Count B *** came to a neighboring estate with his young wife. The narrator goes to visit them. The count and countess fascinated him with their secular appeal. On the living room wall, the storyteller’s attention is drawn to a picture shot “by two bullets planted one on top of the other”. He praised the successful shot and said that he knew in his life a man whose skill in shooting was truly amazing. To the count’s question, what was the name of this shooter, the narrator called Silvio. With this name, the count and countess were embarrassed. The count wonders if Silvio was telling his friend about one strange story, and the narrator realizes that the count is the very old offender of his friend. It turns out that this story had a continuation, and the shot-through picture is a peculiar monument to their last meeting.
It happened five years ago in this very house where the count and countess spent their honeymoon. Once the count was informed that a certain person was waiting for him, who did not want to give his name. Entering the drawing room, the Count found Silvio, whom he did not immediately recognize and who recalled the shot left behind and said that he had come to defuse his gun. The countess could enter any minute. The count was nervous and in a hurry, Silvio hesitated and finally forced the count to draw lots again. And again the count got the first shot. Against all the rules, he shot and shot a picture hanging on the wall. At that moment, a startled countess ran in. The husband began to assure her that they were just joking with an old friend. But what was happening was far from a joke. The countess was on the verge of fainting, and the enraged count shouted Silvio to shoot faster, but Silvio replied that he would not do this, that he saw the main thing - the fear and confusion of the count, and enough of him. The rest is a matter of conscience of the count himself. He turned and went to the exit, but at the door itself he stopped and, almost without aiming, shot and hit exactly in the spot shot by the count in the picture. The narrator did not meet with Silvio anymore, but heard that he died participating in the Greek uprising led by Alexander Ipsilanti.
