In Trouble (Chekhov)
Short summary
Russia, late 19th century. After bank officials were arrested for fraud, merchant Ivan Danilitch Avdeyev discussed the matter with friends, condemning the criminals while enjoying caviar.
When a friend warned Avdeyev he might be implicated, he dismissed concerns, admitting he signed bank documents without reading them. That night, police searched his home. Avdeyev was shocked but believed it was a misunderstanding. Soon after, he was removed from the town council and church positions, and summoned by a magistrate.
Despite mounting evidence, Avdeyev maintained his innocence, insisting he merely signed papers without understanding them. His shop was sealed, and he filed numerous complaints. His health deteriorated - his left leg grew numb and his digestion failed. After a ten-day trial, Avdeyev was found guilty and sentenced to exile in Siberia.
Only six months later, when his wife and his son Vassily came to say goodbye to him, and when in the wasted, wretchedly dressed old woman he scarcely recognized his once fat and dignified Elizaveta Trofimovna...
he finally realized his fate was sealed. Seeing his son in shabby clothes instead of his school uniform, Avdeyev wept bitterly for the first time since his arrest, understanding that his past life was gone forever.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The bank failure and Avdeyevs initial reaction
Pyotr Semyonitch, the bank manager, along with several bank employees, was arrested and taken to prison. The day after this event, Ivan Danilitch Avdeyev, a merchant who served on the committee of auditors for the bank, sat with friends discussing the situation.
"So it is God's will, it seems. There is no escaping your fate. Here today we are eating caviar and tomorrow, for aught we know, it will be prison, beggary, or maybe death. Anything may happen."
Avdeyev spoke about Pyotr Semyonitch, who had been powerful and respected just the day before but was now disgraced. He declared that the bank officials deserved their punishment for stealing.
Avdeyevs careless attitude and social life
When one of Avdeyev's friends warned him that he might also be implicated since he had signed the audit, Avdeyev laughed off the concern.
"It's all very well to talk!" laughed Avdeyev: "Signed it, indeed! They used to bring the accounts to my shop and I signed them. As though I understood! Give me anything you like, I'll scrawl my name to it."
After discussing the bank failure, Avdeyev and his friends went to a name-day party. There, Avdeyev boasted that he had long foreseen the bank's collapse and knew about illegal operations. When an officer asked why he hadn't reported these activities, Avdeyev claimed the whole town knew about them and that he had no time for law courts.
After the party, Avdeyev had dinner, took a nap, attended evening church service as a warden, and then returned to play cards until midnight. Everything seemed normal to him.
The police search and Avdeyevs shock
When Avdeyev returned home after midnight, he found his cook trembling and unable to speak. Inside, his wife Elizaveta Trofimovna was sitting on the sofa, quivering and rolling her eyes vacantly. His son Vassily, a high school student, was trying to comfort her.
Vassily explained that the examining magistrate and police had conducted a search of their home. Looking around, Avdeyev saw evidence of the search everywhere. He stood motionless for a moment, then felt his insides quiver and his left leg go numb. He lay down on the sofa, his leg tapping against it involuntarily.
In the course of two or three minutes he recalled the whole of his past, but could not remember any crime deserving of the attention of the police. "It's all nonsense," he said, getting up.
Avdeyev decided he would lodge a complaint the next day, convinced that someone had slandered him.
Avdeyevs denial and attempts to clear his name
The next morning, Avdeyev learned that the deputy manager and head clerk had also been arrested. Still convinced of his innocence, he went to see Vladimir Stepanitch, the secretary of the town council, to complain about the search.
Avdeyev protested his innocence, claiming he had merely signed documents without understanding them. The secretary responded that this was precisely the problem and informed him that he and his committee were compromised for borrowing nineteen thousand from the bank without security.
"Because one shouldn't be a sheep," the secretary answered calmly. "Before you sign you ought to look." ... "Excuse me. Apart from that you and your committee are seriously compromised."
Avdeyev insisted that Pyotr Semyonitch had forced the loan on him. The secretary assured him that while he couldn't escape trial, he would likely be acquitted. This calmed Avdeyev somewhat, and he returned to his shop, continuing his normal activities despite his numb leg and digestive problems.
That evening, Avdeyev received another blow when the town council asked all bank staff members, including him, to resign due to criminal charges. The next morning, he was also asked to give up his duties as churchwarden.
Avdeyev was summoned by the examining magistrate, who questioned him about his signatures. He returned home insulted and red-faced, still insisting he had signed without reading or understanding the documents.
The trial and sentencing to exile
Young men arrived to seal Avdeyev's shop and inventory his house. Suspecting an intrigue, he filed complaints at various government offices but received little attention. Officials told him to wait until summoned or stated it wasn't their business. The secretary merely repeated that it was Avdeyev's own fault for being a sheep.
Avdeyev's family went to his father's, leaving him alone. Without his shop, family, or money, he spent his days visiting friends' shops, drinking, and seeking advice. He attended church regularly, not to pray but to ponder his situation. He remained convinced that his troubles stemmed from the inexperience of young officials and judges who didn't understand him.
His conscience was clear, and he ascribed his position to mistake and misunderstanding; to his mind, it was all due to the fact that the officials and the examining magistrates were young men and inexperienced.
After delays, the trial finally began. Avdeyev borrowed fifty roubles and traveled to the town where the circuit court was being held, bringing remedies for his leg and digestion. Throughout the ten-day trial, he sat with a stolid composure befitting an innocent man. He didn't understand the proceedings and was annoyed by the judges' questions, which often caused laughter in the courtroom.
While the jury deliberated, Avdeyev ate some cold fish at the refreshment bar, which upset his stomach. When the jury returned, he was found guilty. Police officers with drawn swords surrounded the prisoners, and Avdeyev was told to get up and go.
Avdeyevs final realization in prison
Avdeyev spent the night at the police station, preoccupied with thoughts of the three roubles and tea he had left at his hotel. The next morning, two soldiers with bayonets escorted him to prison. The streets seemed endlessly long as he walked through the muddy snow with his numb leg, having forgotten his galoshes.
Five days later, Avdeyev learned he was sentenced to exile in Tobolsk province. Even then, he didn't fully grasp the finality of his situation, believing the trial wasn't over and expecting a different decision.
Only six months later, when his wife and son came to say goodbye, did reality finally strike him. Seeing his once plump wife now wasted and wretchedly dressed, and his son in shabby clothes instead of his school uniform, Avdeyev finally understood that his past life was gone forever.
And for the first time since the trial and his imprisonment the angry expression left his face, and he wept bitterly.