The Marshal’s Widow
Author: Anton Chekhov
Read “The Marshal’s Widow” by Anton Chekhov in Russian, English and French in Bibliott on your phone and tablet.
Languages: RU, English, French
Genre: Historical, Satire, Short story
Free to read
At a memorial luncheon, a committed teetotaller fails to notice as her respectable guests find one excuse after another to drink in secret.
Characters
- Lyubov Petrovna — widow of the late district marshal: A sincere hostess who never notices her guests’ secret drinking.
- Trifon Lvovitch Zavzyatov — the deceased former district marshal: His heavy drinking led his widow to take a vow of temperance.
- Marfutkin — president of the Zemstvo: The first guest to invent an excuse for visiting the hidden bottle.
- Father Yevmeny — the priest at the memorial service: A respectable old priest who readily follows the guests into the vestibule.
- Hrumov — the current district marshal: His boast about a fur coat draws the whole party toward the bottles.
- Dvornyagin — the district doctor: The doctor whose bottle of brandy receives a respectable medical explanation.