Literature lesson based on the story by A.I. Kuprin "Garnet Bracelet" "Great Power of Love"
The story “The Garnet Bracelet,” written in 1910, occupies a significant place in the writer’s work and in Russian literature. Paustovsky called the love story of a minor official for a married princess one of the most fragrant and languid stories about love. True, eternal love, which is a rare gift, is the theme of Kuprin’s work.
In order to familiarize yourself with the plot and characters of the story, we suggest reading a summary of “The Garnet Bracelet” chapter by chapter. It will provide an opportunity to comprehend the work, comprehend the charm and ease of the writer’s language and penetrate into the idea.
Main characters
Vera Sheina- Princess, wife of the leader of the nobility Shein. She married for love, and over time, love grew into friendship and respect. She began to receive letters from the official Zheltkov, who loved her, even before her marriage.
Zheltkov- official. Unrequitedly in love with Vera for many years.
Vasily Shein- prince, provincial leader of the nobility. Loves his wife.
Other characters
Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov- general, friend of the late Prince Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky, father of Vera, Anna and Nikolai.
Anna Friesse- sister of Vera and Nikolai.
Nikolay Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky- assistant prosecutor, brother of Vera and Anna.
Jenny Reiter- friend of Princess Vera, famous pianist.
Chapter 1
In mid-August, bad weather arrived on the Black Sea coast. Most of the inhabitants of coastal resorts began to hastily move to the city, leaving their dachas. Princess Vera Sheina was forced to stay at the dacha because renovations were underway in her town house.
Along with the first days of September, warmth came, it became sunny and clear, and Vera was very happy about the wonderful days of early autumn.
Chapter 2
On her name day, September 17, Vera Nikolaevna was expecting guests. My husband left on business in the morning and had to bring guests for dinner.
Vera was glad that the name day fell during the summer season and there was no need to have a grand reception. The Shein family was on the verge of ruin, and the prince’s position required a lot, so the spouses had to live beyond their means. Vera Nikolaevna, whose love for her husband had long been reborn into “a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship,” supported him as best she could, saved, and denied herself many things.
Her sister Anna Nikolaevna Friesse came to help Vera with the housework and receive guests. Dissimilar either in appearance or in character, the sisters were very attached to each other from childhood.
Chapter 3
Anna had not seen the sea for a long time, and the sisters briefly sat down on a bench above the cliff, “a sheer wall falling deep into the sea,” to admire the lovely landscape.
Remembering the gift she had prepared, Anna handed her sister a notebook in an antique binding.
Chapter 4
By evening, guests began to arrive. Among them was General Anosov, a friend of Prince Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky, the late father of Anna and Vera. He was very attached to his sisters, they, in turn, adored him and called him grandfather.
Chapter 5
Those gathered in the Sheins' house were entertained at the table by the owner, Prince Vasily Lvovich. He had a special gift as a storyteller: his humorous stories were always based on an event that happened to someone he knew. But in his stories he “exaggerated the colors” so fancifully, he combined truth and fiction and spoke with such a serious and business-like air that all the listeners laughed non-stop. This time his story concerned the failed marriage of his brother, Nikolai Nikolaevich.
Rising from the table, Vera involuntarily counted the guests - there were thirteen of them. And, since the princess was superstitious, she became restless.
After dinner, everyone except Vera sat down to play poker. She was about to go out onto the terrace when the maid called her. On the table in the office where both women entered, the servant laid out a small package tied with a ribbon and explained that a messenger had brought it with a request to hand it over personally to Vera Nikolaevna.
Vera found a gold bracelet and a note in the package. First she began to look at the decoration. At the center of the low-grade gold bracelet were several magnificent garnets, each about the size of a pea. Examining the stones, the birthday girl turned the bracelet, and the stones flashed like “lovely thick red living lights.” With alarm, Vera realized that these lights looked like blood.
He congratulated Vera on Angel Day and asked her not to hold a grudge against him for having dared to write letters to her and expect an answer several years ago. He asked to accept a bracelet as a gift, the stones of which belonged to his great-grandmother. From her silver bracelet, he exactly repeated the arrangement, transferred the stones to the gold one and drew Vera’s attention to the fact that no one had ever worn the bracelet. He wrote: “however, I believe that in the whole world there is not a treasure worthy of decorating you” and admitted that all that now remains in him is “only reverence, eternal admiration and slavish devotion”, the every minute desire for happiness to Faith and joy if she's happy.
Vera was wondering whether she should show the gift to her husband.
Chapter 6
The evening proceeded smoothly and lively: they played cards, talked, and listened to the singing of one of the guests. Prince Shein showed several guests a home album with his own drawings. This album was a complement to the humorous stories of Vasily Lvovich. Those looking at the album laughed so loudly and contagiously that the guests gradually moved towards them.
The last story in the drawings was called “Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love,” and the text of the story itself, according to the prince, was still “being prepared.” Vera asked her husband: “It’s better not to,” but he either did not hear or did not pay attention to her request and began his cheerful story about how Princess Vera received passionate messages from a telegraph operator in love.
Chapter 7
After tea, several guests left, the rest sat on the terrace. General Anosov told stories from his army life, Anna and Vera listened to him with pleasure, as in childhood.
Before going to see off the old general, Vera invited her husband to read the letter she had received.
Chapter 8
On the way to the carriage waiting for the general, Anosov talked with Vera and Anna about how he had never met true love in his life. According to him, “love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world."
The general asked Vera what was true in the story told by her husband. And she gladly shared with him: “some madman” pursued her with his love and sent letters even before marriage. The princess also told about the parcel with the letter. In thought, the general noted that it was quite possible that Vera’s life was crossed by the “single, all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless” love that any woman dreams of.
Chapter 9
Having seen off the guests and returned to the house, Sheina joined the conversation between her brother Nikolai and Vasily Lvovich. The brother believed that the fan’s “stupidity” should be stopped immediately - the story with the bracelet and letters could ruin the family’s reputation.
After discussing what to do, it was decided that the next day Vasily Lvovich and Nikolai would find Vera’s secret admirer and, demanding to leave her alone, would return the bracelet.
Chapter 10
Shein and Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky, Vera’s husband and brother, paid a visit to her admirer. He turned out to be the official Zheltkov, a man of about thirty to thirty-five.
Nikolai immediately explained to him the reason for coming - with his gift he had crossed the line of patience of Vera’s loved ones. Zheltkov immediately agreed that he was to blame for the persecution of the princess.
Addressing the prince, Zheltkov started talking about the fact that he loved his wife and felt that he could never stop loving her, and all that remained for him was death, which he would accept “in any form.” Before speaking further, Zheltkov asked permission to leave for a few minutes to call Vera.
During the official’s absence, in response to Nikolai’s reproaches that the prince had “gone limp” and felt sorry for his wife’s admirer, Vasily Lvovich explained to his brother-in-law how he felt. “This person is not capable of deceiving and knowingly lying. Is he to blame for love and is it really possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter.” The prince not only felt sorry for this man, he realized that he had witnessed “some kind of enormous tragedy of the soul.”
Returning, Zheltkov asked permission to write his last letter to Vera and promised that visitors would not hear or see him again. At Vera Nikolaevna’s request, he stops “this story” “as soon as possible.”
In the evening, the prince conveyed to his wife the details of his visit to Zheltkov. She was not surprised by what she heard, but was slightly worried: the princess felt that “this man would kill himself.”
Chapter 11
The next morning, Vera learned from the newspapers that due to the waste of public money, the official Zheltkov committed suicide. All day Sheina thought about the “unknown man” whom she never had to see, not understanding why she foresaw the tragic outcome of his life. She also remembered Anosov’s words about true love, perhaps meeting her on the way.
The postman brought Zheltkov’s farewell letter. He admitted that he regards his love for Vera as a great happiness, that his whole life lies only in the princess. He asked to forgive him for having “cut into Vera’s life like an uncomfortable wedge,” thanked her simply for the fact that she lived in the world, and said goodbye forever. “I tested myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God wanted to reward me for something. As I leave, I say in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name,” he wrote.
After reading the message, Vera told her husband that she would like to go and see the man who loved her. The prince supported this decision.
Chapter 12
Vera found an apartment that Zheltkov was renting. The landlady came out to meet her and they started talking. At the request of the princess, the woman told about Zheltkov’s last days, then Vera went into the room where he was lying. The expression on the face of the deceased was so peaceful, as if this man “before parting with life had learned some deep and sweet secret that resolved his entire human life.”
At parting, the owner of the apartment told Vera that if he suddenly died and a woman came to say goodbye to him, Zheltkov asked him to tell her that Beethoven’s best work - he wrote down its title - “L. van Beethoven. Son. No. 2, op. 2. Largo Appassionato.”
Vera began to cry, explaining her tears with the painful “impression of death.”
Chapter 13
Vera Nikolaevna returned home late in the evening. Only Jenny Reiter was waiting for her at home, and the princess rushed to her friend asking her to play something. Having no doubt that the pianist would perform “the very passage from the Second Sonata that this dead man with the funny name Zheltkov asked for,” the princess recognized the music from the first chords. Vera’s soul seemed to be divided into two parts: at the same time she was thinking about the love that was repeated once every thousand years, which passed by, and about why she should listen to this particular work.
“Words were forming in her mind. In her thoughts they coincided so much with the music that it was as if they were verses that ended with the words: “Hallowed be Thy name.” These words were about great love. Vera cried about the feeling that had passed by, and the music excited and calmed her at the same time. When the sounds of the sonata died down, the princess calmed down.
To Jenny’s question why she was crying, Vera Nikolaevna answered only with a phrase that she could understand: “He has forgiven me now. Everything is fine" .
Conclusion
Telling the story of the hero’s sincere and pure, but unrequited love for a married woman, Kuprin pushes the reader to think about what place a feeling occupies in a person’s life, what it gives the right to, how the inner world of someone who has the gift of love changes.
You can begin your acquaintance with Kuprin’s work with a brief retelling of “The Garnet Bracelet.” And then, already knowing the storyline, having an idea about the characters, with pleasure immerse yourself in the rest of the writer’s story about the amazing world of true love.
Story test
Retelling rating
Average rating: 4.4. Total ratings received: 13864.
There are many questions in the world that will forever concern humanity. Alexander Kuprin, in his story “The Garnet Bracelet,” reflects on one of these questions: does true love exist and what is it?
On one of the pages of the story there is the following phrase: “And I want to say that people in our time have forgotten how to love! I don't see true love. I haven’t seen it in my time either!” Is the author right?
The heroine of the story, Vera, receives letters from a gentleman unknown to her. He's in love with her. Vera’s grandfather, Anosov, once said in a conversation with his granddaughter: “Perhaps true love is flying past you now.” But Vera is married. She doesn't have strong feelings. So maybe they don't exist? Then let's imagine: you don't have a car, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And is it possible to say that something does not exist in the world without knowing what it is? “... is it really possible to control such a feeling as love, a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter,” writes Kuprin.
Okay, let's imagine for a moment that love doesn't exist. Then how can we describe what we feel for our mother, how can we explain why the soul cannot find peace without another person, why some business, some work attracts us so much? There is only one explanation - love. If you feel good, if your heart doesn’t need anyone else, then this is true love. After all, we feel truly happy only when our soul is calm, when we show interest in something.
...I love you - I will love you forever.Curse my passion
Merciless souls
Cruel hearts!..
N. M. Karamzin.
What does a person value in the modern world? Money, power... These base goals are pursued by society. When pronouncing the word “love”, they mean only animal instincts, physical need. People have become robots, and the slightest manifestation of feelings and emotions seems ridiculous and naive. The spiritual values of society are dying... But there are still people who have not lost the ability to have high feelings. And glory to those who love or have ever loved, because love is a feeling that lifts you to the heights of life, lifts you to the skies...
Which of the heroes of A. I. Kuprin’s story “The Garnet Bracelet” believes in true love? Anna Nikolaevna? No, it's unlikely. She married a very rich man, gave birth to two children... But she can’t stand her husband, ridicules him contemptuously and is sincerely glad when someone distracts Gusilav Ivanovich from her. Anna does not love her husband, she is simply satisfied with her own position: beautiful, rich... And she can flirt without any special consequences.
Or, for example, Anna Nikolaevna’s brother, Nikolai. He almost married a rich and beautiful lady. But “the lady’s husband did not want to give her a divorce.” Most likely, Nikolai Nikolaevich did not believe in a real feeling, because otherwise he would not have broken up his family. Nikolai Nikolaevich is cold and his attitude towards Zheltkov, the way he treats him, proves that Bulash-Tugomovsky is not able to understand high feelings.
Unlike Nikolai, Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein, Vera Nikolaevna’s husband, understands and even accepts the telegraph operator’s love for his wife. If at first Vasily Lvovich tracks down the manifestation of any feelings, then after meeting with G.S.Zh., after Shein realized that Zheltkov really truly, unselfishly, selflessly loved Vera Nikolaevna, he begins to believe that sincere feeling exists: "...is he to blame for love, and is it really possible to control such a feeling as love..."
General Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov was once married. But he himself admits that this marriage was not built on true love. “...People in our time have forgotten how to love,” he says to Vera Nikolaevna. “I don’t see real love. And I didn’t see it in my time!” Another story from the life of the general that he tells is about a Bulgarian girl. As soon as they met, passion instantly flared up, and, as the general himself says, he “fell in love immediately - passionately and irrevocably.” And when he had to leave those places, they swore to each other “eternal mutual love.” Was there love? No, and Anosov does not deny this. He says: "Love should be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world. No life's conveniences, calculations and compromises should touch it." And, perhaps, if Anosov truly loved the Bulgarian girl, he would do everything just to stay next to her.
Anosov told a couple of stories about a feeling more like devotion than true love. And these are just two cases of “true love” that Anosov recognized throughout his long life.
He believes that every woman dreams of “single, all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless” love. And women are not at all to blame for the fact that “people’s love has taken such vulgar forms and has simply descended to some kind of everyday convenience, to a little entertainment.”
General Anosov believes that women (probably as stronger and more romantic creatures) are capable, unlike men, of “strong desires, heroic deeds, tenderness and adoration before love.”
Apparently, Princess Vera Nikolaevna was mistaken about what real feeling is. She is sure that she loves Vasily as before, but her “former passionate love for her husband has long turned into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship.” This is undoubtedly a good feeling, but it is not real love.
The only hero of the story who experiences a sincere feeling is Zheltkov. His beloved is tall, with a gentle, but cold and proud face, the beautiful Vera Nikolaevna. He loves the princess with a disinterested, pure, perhaps slavish love. This love is real. She is eternal: “I know,” says Zheltkov, “that I can never stop loving her...” His love is hopeless. “I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, my whole life ends only in you,” writes Zheltkov to Vera Nikolaevna. For Zheltkov, there is no one more beautiful than Sheina.
Perhaps Vera’s life path was crossed by the love that women dream about. Having lost Zheltkov, the princess realized that “the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by.”
Quite often, others do not accept and even condemn those who believe in love. “Fools,” they say, “why love, suffer, worry, if you can live calmly and carefree.” They believe that the one who truly loves sacrifices himself. Perhaps these people are right. But they will never experience those happy moments of love, as they are cold and insensitive... The spit-stained staircase smelled of mice, cats, kerosene and laundry. In front of the sixth floor, Prince Vasily Lvovich stopped. “Wait a little,” he said to his brother-in-law. - Let me catch my breath. Oh, Kolya, you shouldn’t have done this... They went up two more flights. It was so dark on the landing that Nikolai Nikolaevich had to light matches twice until he could see the apartment numbers. In response to his call, the door was opened by a plump, gray-haired, gray-eyed woman in glasses, with her body slightly bent forward, apparently from some kind of illness. - Is Mr. Zheltkov at home? - asked Nikolai Nikolaevich. The woman anxiously ran her eyes from the eyes of one man to the eyes of another and back. The decent appearance of both must have reassured her. “At home, please,” she said, opening the door. - First door on the left. Bulat-Tuganovsky knocked three times briefly and decisively. Some rustling was heard inside. He knocked again. “Come in,” said a weak voice. The room was very low, but very wide and long, almost square in shape. Two round windows, quite similar to steamship portholes, barely illuminated her. And the whole place looked like the wardroom of a cargo ship. Along one wall there was a narrow bed, along the other a very large and wide sofa, covered with a frayed beautiful Tekin carpet, in the middle there was a table covered with a colored Little Russian tablecloth. At first the owner’s face was not visible: he stood with his back to the light and rubbed his hands in confusion. He was tall, thin, with long fluffy, soft hair. - If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Zheltkov? - Nikolai Nikolaevich asked arrogantly. - Zheltkov. Very nice. Let me introduce myself. He took two steps towards Tuganovsky with his hand outstretched. But at the same moment, as if not noticing his greeting, Nikolai Nikolaevich turned his whole body to Shein. - I told you that we were not mistaken. Zheltkov’s thin, nervous fingers ran along the side of his short brown jacket, buttoning and unfastening the buttons. Finally he said with difficulty, pointing to the sofa and bowing awkwardly: - I humbly ask. Sit down. Now he became completely visible: very pale, with a gentle girlish face, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle; he must have been about thirty, thirty-five years old. “Thank you,” said Prince Shein simply, looking at him very carefully. “Merci,” Nikolai Nikolaevich answered briefly. And both remained standing. - We'll only be with you for a few minutes. This is Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein, provincial leader of the nobility. My last name is Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky. I am a fellow prosecutor. The matter that we will have the honor to talk about with you concerns both the prince and me, or rather, the prince’s wife and my sister. Zheltkov, completely at a loss, suddenly sank down onto the sofa and muttered with dead lips: “Please, gentlemen, sit down.” But he must have remembered that he had already unsuccessfully proposed the same thing before, so he jumped up, ran to the window, tugging at his hair, and returned back to his previous place. And again his trembling hands ran around, fiddling with buttons, pinching his light reddish mustache, touching his face needlessly. “I am at your service, your Excellency,” he said dully, looking at Vasily Lvovich with pleading eyes. But Shein remained silent. Nikolai Nikolaevich spoke. “First of all, let me return your item to you,” he said and, taking a red case from his pocket, carefully placed it on the table. “She, of course, does credit to your taste, but we would kindly ask you not to let such surprises happen again.” “Forgive me... I myself know that I am very guilty,” Zheltkov whispered, looking down at the floor and blushing. “Perhaps you could allow me a glass of tea?” “You see, Mr. Zheltkov,” Nikolai Nikolaevich continued, as if he had not heard Zheltkov’s last words. “I am very glad that I found in you a decent person, a gentleman who can understand at a glance.” And I think we will agree right away. After all, if I’m not mistaken, you have been pursuing Princess Vera Nikolaevna for about seven or eight years? “Yes,” Zheltkov answered quietly and lowered his eyelashes reverently. - And we have not yet taken any measures against you, although - you must agree - this would not only be possible, but even need to had to do. Isn't it true?- Yes. - Yes. But with your last act, namely sending this very garnet bracelet, you crossed those boundaries where our patience ends. Do you understand? - ends. I will not hide from you that our first thought was to turn to the authorities for help, but we did not do this, and I am very glad that we did not, because - I repeat - I immediately recognized you as a noble person. - Sorry. What did you say? - Zheltkov suddenly asked attentively and laughed. - Did you want to appeal to the authorities?.. Is that what you said? He put his hands in his pockets, sat down comfortably in the corner of the sofa, took out a cigarette case and matches and lit a cigarette. - So, you said that you wanted to resort to the help of the authorities? .. Will you excuse me, prince, while I’m sitting? - he turned to Shein. - Well, what next? The prince pulled a chair to the table and sat down. Without looking up, he looked with bewilderment and greedy, serious curiosity into the face of this strange man. “You see, my dear, this measure will never leave you,” Nikolai Nikolaevich continued with slight impudence. - Breaking into someone else's family... - Sorry, I'll interrupt you... “No, it’s my fault, now I’ll interrupt you...” the prosecutor almost shouted. - As you wish. Speak. I'm listening. But I have a few words for Prince Vasily Lvovich. And, paying no more attention to Tuganovsky, he said: “Now the most difficult moment in my life has come. And I must, prince, speak to you outside of any conventions... Will you listen to me? “I’m listening,” Shein said. “Oh, Kolya, shut up,” he said impatiently, noticing Tuganovsky’s angry gesture. - Speak. Zheltkov gasped for air for several seconds, as if suffocating, and suddenly rolled as if off a cliff. He spoke with his jaws alone, his lips were white and did not move, like those of a dead person. “It’s hard to utter such... a phrase... that I love your wife.” But seven years of hopeless and polite love gives me the right to do so. I agree that in the beginning, when Vera Nikolaevna was still a young lady, I wrote her stupid letters and even waited for an answer to them. I agree that my last action, namely sending the bracelet, was even more stupid. But... here I look you straight in the eyes and I feel that you will understand me. I know that I can never stop loving her... Tell me, prince... suppose that this is unpleasant for you... tell me, what would you do to end this feeling? Send me to another city, as Nikolai Nikolaevich said? All the same, I will love Vera Nikolaevna there just as much as I do here. Put me in jail? But even there I will find a way to let her know about my existence. There is only one thing left - death... You want me to accept it in any form. “We are making some kind of melodic declamation instead of doing business,” said Nikolai Nikolaevich, putting on his hat. - The question is very short: you are offered one of two things: either you completely refuse to pursue Princess Vera Nikolaevna, or, if you do not agree to this, we will take measures that our position, acquaintance will allow us, and so on. But Zheltkov didn’t even look at him, although he heard his words. He turned to Prince Vasily Lvovich and asked: -Will you allow me to leave for ten minutes? I won’t hide from you that I’m going to talk on the phone with Princess Vera Nikolaevna. I assure you that I will convey everything that is possible to convey to you. “Go,” Shein said. When Vasily Lvovich and Tuganovsky were left alone, Nikolai Nikolaevich immediately attacked his brother-in-law. This can’t be done,” he shouted, pretending to throw some invisible object to the ground from his chest with his right hand. - You can’t do that positively. I warned you that I will take over the entire business part of the conversation. And you let yourself go and let him talk about his feelings. I would do it in a nutshell. “Wait,” said Prince Vasily Lvovich, “now all this will be explained.” The main thing is that I see his face, and I feel that this person is not capable of deceiving and knowingly lying. Indeed, think, Kolya, is he to blame for love and is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter. - After thinking, the prince said: “I feel sorry for this man.” And not only do I feel sorry, but I also feel that I am present at some enormous tragedy of the soul, and I cannot clown around here. “This is decadence,” said Nikolai Nikolaevich. Ten minutes later Zheltkov returned. His eyes sparkled and were deep, as if filled with unshed tears. And it was clear that he had completely forgotten about social decency, about who should sit where, and had ceased to behave like a gentleman. And again, with sick, nervous sensitivity, Prince Shein understood this. “I’m ready,” he said, “and tomorrow you won’t hear anything from me.” It's as if I died for you. But one condition is me to you I say, Prince Vasily Lvovich, - you see, I squandered government money, and after all, I have to flee from this city. Will you allow me to write one last letter to Princess Vera Nikolaevna? - No. If it's finished, it's finished. “No letters,” Nikolai Nikolaevich shouted. “Okay, write,” Shein said. “That’s all,” Zheltkov said, smiling arrogantly. “You will never hear from me again and, of course, you will never see me again.” Princess Vera Nikolaevna did not want to talk to me at all. When I asked her if I could stay in the city so that I could see her at least occasionally, without, of course, showing myself to her, she replied: “Oh, if you only knew how tired I am of this whole story. Please stop it as soon as possible." And so I stop this whole story. Does it seem like I did everything I could? In the evening, having arrived at the dacha, Vasily Lvovich conveyed to his wife very precisely all the details of the meeting with Zheltkov. It was as if he felt obligated to do this. Although Vera was alarmed, she was not surprised or confused. At night, when her husband came to her bed, she suddenly said to him, turning to the wall: “Leave me alone.” I know that this man will kill himself.
Still from the film “Garnet Bracelet” (1964)
In August, a holiday at a suburban seaside resort was ruined by bad weather. The empty dachas were sadly wet in the rain. But in September the weather changed again and sunny days arrived. Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina did not leave her dacha - renovations were going on in her house - and now she is enjoying the warm days.
The princess's name day is coming. She is glad that it fell during the summer season - in the city they would have had to give a ceremonial dinner, and the Sheins “barely made ends meet.”
Princess Vera, whose former passionate love for her husband had long since turned into a feeling of strong, faithful, true friendship, tried with all her might to help the prince refrain from complete ruin.
Her younger sister Anna Nikolaevna Friesse, the wife of a very rich and very stupid man, and her brother Nikolai come to Vera’s name day. Towards evening, Prince Vasily Lvovich Shein brings the rest of the guests.
A package with a small jewelry case addressed to Princess Vera Nikolaevna is brought in the midst of simple country entertainment. Inside the case is a gold, low-grade blown bracelet, covered with garnets, which surround a small green stone.
When Vera... turned the bracelet in front of the light of an electric light bulb, then in them, deep under their smooth egg-shaped surface, lovely thick red living lights suddenly lit up.
In addition to the garnet bracelet, a letter is found in the case. An unknown donor congratulates Vera on Angel's Day and asks to accept a bracelet that belonged to his great-grandmother. The green pebble is a very rare green garnet that conveys the gift of providence and protects men from violent death. The author of the letter reminds the princess how seven years ago he wrote her “stupid and wild letters.” The letter ends with the words: “Your humble servant G.S.Zh. before death and after death.”
Prince Vasily Lvovich at this moment demonstrates his humorous home album, opened on the “story” “Princess Vera and the telegraph operator in love.” “It’s better not to,” Vera asks. But the husband still begins a commentary on his own drawings, full of brilliant humor. Here the girl Vera receives a letter with kissing doves, signed by telegraph operator P.P.Zh. Here young Vasya Shein returns Vera’s wedding ring: “I do not dare to interfere with your happiness, and yet it is my duty to warn you: telegraph operators are seductive, but insidious.” But Vera marries the handsome Vasya Shein, but the telegraph operator continues to persecute him. Here he is, disguised as a chimney sweep, entering Princess Vera’s boudoir. So, having changed clothes, he enters their kitchen as a dishwasher. Finally, he is in a madhouse.
After tea the guests leave. Whispering to her husband to look at the case with the bracelet and read the letter, Vera goes to see off General Yakov Mikhailovich Anosov. The old general, whom Vera and her sister Anna call grandfather, asks the princess to explain what is true in the prince’s story.
G.S.Zh. pursued her with letters two years before her marriage. Obviously, he constantly watched her, knew where she went at the evenings, how she was dressed. He did not serve at the telegraph office, but in “some government institution as a small official.” When Vera, also in writing, asked not to bother her with his persecutions, he fell silent about love and limited himself to congratulations on holidays, like today, on her name day. Inventing a funny story, the prince replaced the initials of the unknown admirer with his own.
The old man suggests that the unknown person may be a maniac.
Or maybe, Verochka, your path in life was crossed by exactly the kind of love that women dream of and that men are no longer capable of.
Vera finds her brother Nikolai very irritated - he also read the letter and believes that his sister will find herself in a “ridiculous position” if she accepts this ridiculous gift. Together with Vasily Lvovich, he is going to find the fan and return the bracelet.
The next day they find out the address of G.S.Zh. It turns out to be a blue-eyed man “with a gentle girlish face” of about thirty, thirty-five years old, named Zheltkov. Nikolai returns the bracelet to him. Zheltkov does not deny anything and admits the indecency of his behavior. Having discovered some understanding and even sympathy in the prince, he explains to him that he loves his wife, and this feeling will kill only death. Nikolai is indignant, but Vasily Lvovich treats him with pity.
Is he to blame for love and is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that has not yet found an interpreter.
Zheltkov admits that he squandered government money and is forced to flee the city, so that they will no longer hear from him. He asks Vasily Lvovich for permission to write his last letter to his wife. Having heard her husband’s story about Zheltkov, Vera felt “that this man would kill himself.”
In the morning, Vera learns from the newspaper about the suicide of the control chamber official G.S. Zheltkov, and in the evening the postman brings his letter.
Zheltkov writes that for him his whole life lies only in her, in Vera Nikolaevna. This is the love with which God rewarded him for something. As he leaves, he repeats in delight: “Hallowed be Thy name.” If she remembers him, then let her play the D major part of Beethoven’s “Sonata No. 2”, he thanks her from the bottom of his heart for being his only joy in life.
Vera is going to say goodbye to this man. The husband fully understands her impulse and lets his wife go.
Zheltkov’s coffin stands in the middle of his poor room. His lips smile blissfully and serenely, as if he had learned a deep secret. Vera lifts his head, places a large red rose under his neck and kisses his forehead. She understands that the love that every woman dreams of has passed her by. In the evening, Vera asks a pianist she knows to play Beethoven’s “Appassionata” for her, listens to the music and cries. When the music ends, Vera feels that Zheltkov has forgiven her.
Retold
