For several months now, landowner Pyotr Konstantinovich Muromsky, having entrusted the farm to the manager, has been living with his daughter Lidochka and her elderly aunt Anna Antonova Atueva in Moscow. He has vast lands in the Yaroslavl province and already one and a half thousand serf souls - a serious condition.
Of course, the twenty-year-old girl Lidochka is a “tidbit” for Moscow dandies-grooms. But her aunt does not understand this. She believes that Lidochka should be shown to the light, called to the guest house: “you can’t give the girl in marriage without expenses.” But suddenly it turns out that no expenses are needed anymore.
Lidochka confesses to her aunt that the groom already exists! Yesterday at a ball she danced a mazurka with Mikhail Vasilievich Krechinsky. And he is - oh, right God! - made her an offer. But here's the shame - there’s no time to think! The answer must be given immediately. “Michelle” is not leaving Moscow tomorrow and wants to know before his departure - “yes” or “no”.
How to be After all, daddy will not give a blessing in haste. He should know the future son-in-law well. And what is this Krechinsky - a figure highly mysterious. He has been going to Muromsky’s house for the whole winter, but little is known about him, although enough so that his aunt and niece are crazy about him. He is under forty. Staten, handsome. Lush whiskers. Cleverly dancing. He speaks excellent French. He has a vast circle of acquaintances in high society! It seems that there is an estate somewhere in the Simbirsk province ... And what aristocratic manners he has! What a charming gallantry! What an exquisite taste in everything - that’s how he charmingly “managed” Lidochkin's solitaire (a large diamond), that is, he sent it to a jeweler in a pin made according to his own model ...
But you can’t catch Muromsky with such talk. What is the state of Krechinsky? How much land he has, how many souls - no one knows. But they say that he stumbles around the clubs, plays cards and has "debt". And here is another young man, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nelkin, a long-time “friend of the house”, all in full view. Modest, even shy. He does not pick up cards. True, she dances poorly and does not shine with manners. But then he is a neighbor - his estate next to him, "furrow to furrow." And he, too, here in Moscow, also visits Muromsky’s house: he is silently in love with Lidochka. It’s Muromsky who is read as husbands by his “kralechka” and “spoiler”.
However, through the efforts of her aunt and Krechinsky himself, the matter is settled so that Muromsky blesses his daughter on the same day to marry a “wonderful man,” whom “the princes and counts are friends.” Nelkin is in despair. No, he will not allow this wedding to take place! He knows something about the "sins" of Krechinsky. But now he “knows the whole story” and then he will present to the old man this “wit” and “scorcher” in the true light.
But there is a "background". Yes, what! Krechinsky does not just play cards - he is a “terrible player”. He raves about the game. And Lidochka with her dowry is only a jackpot for him, with which you can enter a big game. “I have in my hands one thousand five hundred souls,” he thinks, “and this is one and a half million, and two hundred thousand of pure capital.” Indeed, for this amount you can win two million! and win, win for sure. "
Yes, but you still need to get this jackpot. The blessing of the parent is only an unsteady fortune torn from fate thanks to an inspired bluff. Bluff must be kept to the end! But how, how ?! The situation of Krechinsky is catastrophic. He contacted the “riffraff”, a small card cheat Ivan Antonovich Rasplyuyev, whose impure and insignificant wins barely support his existence. The apartment where he lives with this miserable crook is constantly besieged by creditors. No money even for the cabman! And here is this vile little merchant Shchebnev, who demands to issue a card debt right away, threatens to record his name in the club today in a shameful debt "booklet", that is, to glorify him in the whole city as a bankrupt! And this is at that very moment when Krechinsky “gets a million in his hand” ... Yes, on the one hand, a million, and on the other, he needs some two or three thousand to distribute debts, pay bills, and hastily - in three of the day - to have a wedding. Without these small bets, the whole game will crash! Yes there! - it’s already collapsing: Shchebnev agrees to wait until evening, creditors outside the door are raging menacingly.
However, there is still hope. Krechinsky sends Rasplyuyev to usurers, ordering them to borrow money at any interest. They will give, they will certainly give, because they know Krechinsky: he will return in full. But Rasplyuev is with bad news. Moneylenders can no longer believe Krechinsky: "it’s obvious, it smelled! .." They require a reliable guarantee. And what remains of the poor player! Nothing but a golden watch of seventy-five rubles. Everything is over! The game is lost!
And here, in a moment of complete hopelessness, a brilliant idea dawns on Krechinsky. However, neither Raslyuev, nor the servant Fedor can appreciate her brilliance. They even believe that Krechinsky was damaged by reason. And indeed, he seems to be out of his mind. He takes out a penny pin from the bureau, the same one that he used as a model, “tidying up” the Lidochkin solitaire, looks at her with enthusiastic amazement and exclaims: “Bravo !. Hooray! found ... "What did you find? Some kind of "bling". A stone in a safety pin made of lead glass!
Without explaining anything, Krechinsky tells Rasplyuyev to lay a gold watch and buy a luxurious bouquet of flowers with the proceeds “so that everything is made of white camellias”. Meanwhile, he himself sits down to compose a letter to Lidochka. He fills it with tenderness, passion, dreams of family happiness - "the devil knows what nonsense." And as if by the way he asks her to send him a solitaire with a messenger - he bet on his size with a certain prince Belsky.
As soon as Rasplyuyev appears, Krechinsky sends him with flowers and a note to Lidochka, explaining to him that he should get a tapeworm from her and bring the thing “in the most accurate way”. Rasplyuev understood everything - Krechinsky intends to steal a diamond and run away from the city with it. But no! Krechinsky is not a thief, he still values his honor and is not going to run anywhere. On the contrary. While Rasplyuyev fulfills his order, he orders Fedor to prepare an apartment for the magnificent reception of the Murom family. The “decisive minute” is coming - will Raslyuev bring the tapeworm or not?
Brought it! "Victoria! Rubicon has been crossed! ” Krechinsky takes both pins - false and genuine - and rushes with them to the shop of the usurer Nikanor Savich Bek. Asking for money on bail, he presents the moneylender with a genuine pin - "that was just moving, and his mouth was gaping." After all, a valuable thing worth ten thousand! Beck is ready to give four. Krechinsky bargains - asks for seven. Beck is not inferior. And then Krechinsky takes the pin: he will go to another moneylender ... No, no, why - to another ... Beck gives six! Krechinsky agrees. However, it requires that the pin be put in a separate box and sealed. At that moment, when Beck leaves for the box, Krechinsky replaces a genuine pin with a fake one. Beck calmly puts it in the box - the diamond has already been tested under the magnifying glass and on the scales. It is done! The game is won!
Krechinsky returns home with money and a tapeworm. Debts were handed out, bills paid, expensive clothes bought, servants in black tailcoats and white jackets hired, a proper dinner ordered. There is a reception of the bride and her family. The dust is in the eye, the dust is golden, brilliant! All perfectly!
But suddenly Nelkin is at Krechinsky’s apartment. Here it is, exposure! Nelkin already figured out everything: oh, God! with whom the most respected Petr Konstantinovich contacted! Yes, these are crooks, gamblers, thieves !! They stole a solitaire from Lidochka ... What a bet there ?! what prince is Belsky ?! Krechinsky does not have a tapeworm - he laid it to the usurer Beck! .. Everyone is embarrassed, everyone is terrified. Everything except Krechinsky, for at that moment he is at the top of his inspiration - his bluff acquires a special impressiveness. Magnificently depicting a noble man whose honor is offended by insidious libel, he takes a promise from Murom to “kick off” the offender if the tapeworm is immediately presented for public viewing. The old man is forced to make such a promise. Krechinsky with solemn indignation presents a diamond! Nelkin is disgraced. His bat card. Murom himself points to the door. But Krechinsky is not enough. Success needs to be consolidated. Now the skilful player portrays a different feeling: he is shocked by the fact that the family so easily believed the vile gossip about his future son-in-law, her husband !! Oh no! now he cannot be Lidochka’s husband. He returns her heart to her, and to Murom his blessing. The whole family prays for forgiveness. Well, he is ready to forgive. But on one condition: the wedding should be played tomorrow to put an end to all the gossip and rumors! Everyone happily agrees. Now the game is really won!
It remains only to gain time, that is, to send dear guests as soon as possible. Nelkin will not calm down. He could come here at any moment with Beck, a fake pin, and fraud allegations. We need to have time ... The guests have already risen, moved to the exit. But no! The doorbell is ringing ... knocking, breaking. Nelkin managed! He came with Beck, with a pin, and with the police! Only for a minute does Krechinsky lose his temper; ordering him not to unlock the door, he grabs the handle of the chair and threatens to “blow his head” to anyone who moves! But this is no longer a game - this is robbery! But Krechinsky is still a player, "not without genuine nobility." In the next instant, Krechinsky “throws a handle off the chair” and already as a true player admits his defeat with an exclamation that is characteristic of a card player: “It broke !!!” Now he is shining "Vladimir Road" and "Ace of Diamonds on his back." But what is this ?! From the sad road to Siberia and the arresting clothes of "Michelle" rescues Lidochka. “Here is the pin ... which should be a guarantee,” she tells the usurer, “take it ... it was a mistake!” For this, the whole family, "running away from shame," leaves the player’s apartment.
