“We were chasing Napoleon in hot pursuit. On November 22, Seslavin sent me to clear the left side of the Vilnius road, with a hundred Sumy hussars, a platoon of dragons of the Tver regiment and a dozen donts. ” So the dragoon captain begins his story.

The detachment moves along the road, on the sides of which horse and human corpses are located with terrible scenery. Cossack scouts soon spot the enemy. French soldiers are dressed extremely ridiculously, some even in sheepskin over their clothes, while for true warmth you should wear it under a uniform. The Russian partisans, however, are dressed a little better and are wrapped up in the cold by anyone. Having repelled the first attacks, the French retreat to a small village. The Russians are immediately pursuing them. Surrounded by the master’s “castle”, the French defend themselves fiercely, and even more desperately fight the Polish gentry militias - local pans, who see their liberty in Russian sworn enemies. It is possible to break the resistance only when an unknown cuirassier major in black armor suddenly appears among the besiegers. Not having any concern that the bullets are streaming in hail, a man in a helmet with bloodied feathers knocked to one side and in a black cloak, tearing the door off its hinges, like a formidable demon, bursts into the house. Dragoons and hussars rush after, and soon the hand-to-hand fight ends in victory. The moans of the dying fall silent, and a dilapidated house riddled with Russian bullets, full of hacked, blood-stained bodies, becomes a place of short rest for partisans. The mysterious latin major, whom the captain wishes to express his admiration for, has disappeared.

Soldiers meanwhile bring a butler, hiding in the attic. The butler eagerly tells the story of a recent incident in a majotka, in Russian, to say on the estate. His master, Prince Glinsky, had a beautiful daughter, Felicia. The passionate love that arose between her and the Russian officer of the artillery battalion not far away in Oshmyany touched the heart of the old man. A wedding was scheduled. But the sudden urgent need, which was the illness of her mother, forced the Russian to leave. Letters from him rarely came, and then completely stopped. A relative of the prince, Count Ostrolensky, with all possible dexterity, was seeking the hands of his daughter at that time. A dejected Felicia obeyed. The count, however, was not interested in his young wife, but only in a solid dowry, and after the death of the prince, he completely went wild. The countess faded. Once a servant noticed her in a garden talking with a strange, tall man in a black cloak who came from nowhere. The countess was crying and wringing her hands. This man then disappeared, just as he had never been, and the countess had fallen since that time and not a month had passed since she had died. Count Ostrolensky soon for trial of tax evasion and ill-treatment of slaves was put on trial and fled abroad. He returned with the French and led the nobility militia in the district.

This story plunged into the deep thoughtfulness of Lieutenant Zarnitsky, and he decides to tell a tragic story already known to him.

His maternal grandfather, Prince X ... Iy, was a true despot, and when he decided to give his daughter Lisa for his chosen groom, he was deeply struck by her refusal to obey his will. Lisa fell in love with her teacher, recently graduated from the University of Adjunct Bayanova. The prince imprisoned his daughter in his house. Once, when the prince was on a hunt, Bayanov kidnapped his beloved and immediately went with her to the church. When the young were already standing in front of the altar, a chase broke into the church. Nobody ever heard of Bayanov anymore, and daughter X ... he was now holding outside the iron door. She was recognized as crazy, and she did not live long. Over time, they began to notice great oddities for the prince - he found fear on him. And one day he suddenly ordered everyone to leave the house, hammer the doors and never return to it. Having settled in another estate, the prince did not recover and soon died. Zarnitsky had heard this story from an early age and, visiting his native places, having already been promoted to officer, decided to inspect that damned house that had so excited his imagination in childhood. Having easily penetrated the dilapidated constipation, he, wandering around the house, came across a room, the iron doors of which told him that the poor prisoner was languishing here. Having opened them, he opened his gaze to a sight that “instantly turned his body into a piece of ice”: the beauty, whose face he saw many times in the portrait, is the same ...

Zarnitsky’s story is interrupted by the sound of heavy steps. This is black latnik. His appearance is painful and strange. As if in delirium, he wanders through a dilapidated house. Suddenly he stops, amazed, at the image of a beautiful woman hovering among the portraits of her ancestors, who, according to the custom in Poland, always adorn the pans house. “You promised to appear before death to me! Thank you, you have fulfilled your promise! ” He exclaims. And then he trips over one of the corpses. “Here is my enemy! And after death, he blocks my path! ” Having pulled out a heavy broadsword, the cuirassier inflicts terrible blows to the dead body. The captain and lieutenant Zarnitsky hardly calmed him.

The next morning, the cuirassier major, having received relief from sleep, sets out his story to the officers. Of course, he was the very gunner who loved the beautiful Felicia Glinsky and was loved by her. Arriving at the sick mother, he only managed to lead her to the grave and immediately fell down in a severe fever. Being sick for eight months and not receiving letters from Felicia, who vowed to write every day, he could not have imagined anything other than the death of her lover. When he found out about her marriage, an uncontrollable thirst for revenge arose in his soul. Having entered the cuirassier regiment, which was in Oshmyany, he soon appeared at the countess and found her in the most sad situation. Both of them realized that they were victims of the treachery of the count, intercepting and destroying their letters. Undermined by the disease, the countess's life soon died out. All the hatred that had accumulated under the major's black cuirass turned now to Count Ostrolensky. And recently, revenge has come true. The last mystical meeting of the 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 completed his story and without saying a word, the Latnik jumps on his horse and is carried away. And the captain wants 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 unhappy relative passed, he saw a girl whose beauty fully reproduced the features of the deceased. He fell in love with no memory. In whom? It was the legitimate daughter of Lisa H.O., also named in her honor as Lisa. Born in secret detention, she was brought up by good people and now she has come here to see the place connected with the mother’s memory dear to her. Zarnitsky made every effort to ensure that Elizaveta Bayanova was restored to her rights and received a legitimate share of the inheritance. It was possible, but in vain he cherished the hope of a happy conclusion to his feelings, Lisa already had a loving and successful bridegroom. Now she is happy in a successful marriage. And Zarnitsky ... alas! he can only be sad, dream and forget in battles, where his courage far surpasses his rewards.

A day later, after the battle for Oshmyany, Russian partisans left the town, making their way among the many corpses. Suddenly Zarnitsky jumps off his horse:

- Look, Georges, this is our latnik!

On the face of the murdered man there was not a trace of passions overwhelming his life so recently.

- A wonderful man! - says Zarnitsky. “Was Felicia really a messenger of his death, or did circumstances flock like that?” Here is the riddle!

“The French bullet will decide, maybe in an hour this will be a riddle for one of us,” the captain answers.

The sound of the trumpet calls them out of oblivion. Jumping on horses, they silently jump forward.