The novel is preceded by a letter to the anonymous benefactor "chamberlain and various orders of the cavalier", in order to draw the reader's attention to the fact that praise or indignation turn into dust, like a person who praises or defames this book. The author addresses the reader in verse, urging him to be careful, but condescending.
The narrator narrates that she was widowed nineteen, as her husband died near Poltava and, being a man of simple rank, left her without any content. And since the life of a poor widow corresponds to the proverb “Sheyde, a widow, broad sleeves, where it would be possible to put unprofitable words,” the heroine easily agreed to the proposal of the consolidate to take the patronage of a very fit butler of the noble gentleman. With his money, the heroine dressed up, hired a maid and soon attracted the attention of all of Kiev, where she lived then, with her beauty and cheerfulness.
Soon, a gentleman appeared at the gate of her house, giving her a golden snuffbox with diamonds, which is why Marton, the storyteller’s name, concluded that she was interested in a very important person. However, the former boyfriend, seeing the snuffbox and identifying the thing of his master in it, threatened to rob the ungrateful widow to the skin. Martona was frightened to the point that she fell down, but the butler who returned with the wagon, having seen a sick master at the bedside, became quiet and expressed deep respect to the heroine and henceforth served his master's lover.
His master, Sueton, soon received a letter from his elderly father, who foresaw an imminent demise. Sveton did not dare to leave the city without his girlfriend, but his friend and neighbor on the estate suggested they go together and leave Marton in his village under the guise of a relative. On the way, Sueton admitted that he was married, and recently married. This worried the storyteller, as she foresaw the impending disasters. Her premonition was quite justified, and during the next meeting with the beloved Sueton, the closet in the room where they were kind enough suddenly opened and the angry wife of Sueton rushed out and hastened to escape. Marton suffered from the deceived wife a lot of slaps and found herself on the street penniless and belongings. The silk dress that was on her had to be exchanged for peasant clothes and traveled to Moscow, suffering the need and resentment.
In Moscow, the storyteller managed to get a cook for the secretary, who lived in bribes and offerings of petitioners. The secretary’s wife did not differ in virtues - she cheated on her husband and was prone to drunkenness, so she made the cook her confidante. The clerk who lived in the house entertained the heroine with his stories. In his opinion, the secretary and solicitor known to Martone are a true example of intelligence and scholarship. The poets are not at all what the heroine thinks of them. Once I got into the office of an ode to some Lomonosov, so no one from the order could understand it, and therefore this ode was declared nonsense, inferior in all respects to the last stationery note. Marton had to endure the stupidity of the clerk, as he generously gifted her. Dressing up with his help, she began to attract the attention of mistresses admirers. The wife of the secretary did not tolerate this and refused to Marton from the place. No one was interested in the storyteller in this house, and she left without regret.
Very soon, with the help of a pimp, the heroine found a place in the house of a retired lieutenant colonel. A childless widower, admired by the beauty and graceful dress of Martona, invited her to dispose of all her property and even promised to leave her entire fortune to her, since she has no heirs.The heroine agreed without delay and began to "please his money." The old man’s enthusiasm was so great that he did not allow the storyteller to go to the former apartment for belongings and immediately gave her the keys to the chests and jewelry boxes of his deceased wife. For the first time, the heroine saw such an amount of pearls and, forgetting about decency, immediately began to reenact all pearl jewelry. The old man in love helped her.
Further, the narrator says that retreat served as a payment for a well-fed and prosperous life, as she was forbidden to leave the house. The only place she has ever been to is the church where she went with the lieutenant colonel. However, there she managed to meet her next love. The elegant appearance and reverence of her lover allowed her to stand in a church near a choir among venerable people. Once Marton caught the eye of a young man. Her master, also noticing the attention of a handsome young man, barely managed to cope with his excitement and at home demanded assurances of love and fidelity from the "Russian Elena".
Soon a petitioner came to their house with a large number of certificates in the hope of finding a place. The narrator found among the papers a note with declarations of love from Akhal, a stranger from the church. It was not necessary to count on a place in the house of a jealous old man, but the maid served Marton with cunning advice. Akhal, dressed in a woman’s dress, enters the house under the guise of the narrator’s older sister. Their meetings with Martona took place literally before the eyes of a jealous old man who not only did not suspect anything, but did not hide his admiration for the tenderness and love of two imaginary sisters.
Akhal was so attached to Marton that he invited her to marry him. Lovers are engaged. Marton didn’t suspect anything even when Akhal advised her to get an old woman’s stay with him from our old heroine, in other words, to take out all her valuables. It was easiest to remove the pearls and money unnoticed, which the storyteller did, passing the values to Akhal. Sneaking out of the old man’s house, Marton discovered that Akhal had disappeared along with his things, and his searches were unsuccessful.
The handsome cook had to return to the widower. The narrator found him inconsolable with grief. He accepted her without reproach. The ruler, who took Marton very rudely, was immediately dismissed, but harbored anger and avenged the heroine. As soon as the lieutenant colonel died, his sister appeared, claiming the inheritance (she learned everything from the offended steward), and managed to not only take possession of the property, but also put Marton in prison.
In prison, the narrator had a tight time, but Akhal unexpectedly showed up with his friend Svidal. They managed to free Marton. Once on the outside, the narrator quickly recovered, began to dress up again and have fun. The only thing that seriously upset her was jealousy and rivalry between Akhal and Svidal. The first believed that he had more rights to Marton because of a long acquaintance. During the card game as a lobster, both admirers quarreled to such an extent that Svidal challenged Achal to a duel. For several hours Marton was in the dark about the fate of her lovers. Suddenly Akhal appears, reports that he killed Svidal, and, taking advantage of the heroine’s swoon, disappears.
The narrator seriously became ill and recovered from the illness only when Svidal appeared. It turns out that taking advantage of the duel, he pretended to be dead and forced Akhal to flee forever from the city. He also explained that his ingenuity was not accidental, but dictated by his love for the lovely Marton. Our heroine, taught by bitter experience, did not rely only on love and henceforth began to accumulate chervontsy and expensive gifts.
Soon Marton met a young noblewoman who married a merchant. The society, gathered in the house of the merchant, was very funny and nobility did not differ, but served as a good school heroine.The hostess herself generally had criminal intentions to lime her husband-merchant. To this end, she hired Little Russians from Martona’s servants and persuaded him to make poison.
For the unlucky merchant, everything ended well, since the servant of the storyteller did not poison him, but only caused temporary insanity with his tincture. For which he was generously rewarded. Suddenly, Marton received a letter from Achal, in which he announced his desire to die, as he was unable to bear regrets about the death of his friend and the loss of his beloved. In order to part with life, Akhal takes poison and dreams of saying goodbye to his beloved Martona. The narrator and her lover Svidal went together to Akhal, but only Marton entered the house. She found out that Akhal was driven to despair by remorse, and he, deciding to leave her a deed of purchase for the estate acquired with her own money, decided to die. The mere mention of the name of Svidal led him into a frenzy, and he could not realize that his friend was alive.
