The Bully

In the village of Kirillovo in the K… guberniya, two comrades serve in a cuirassier regiment. Staff-captain Avdey Ivanovich Luchkov is a passionate duelist, an uneducated braggart and a rude bully; and young cornet Fyodor Fyodorovich Kister is an intelligent, refined, educated nobleman. It would seem there’s a whole chasm between these two people, and they could never find common ground—but strangely, they grow closer and even begin to be friends. But as Cicero said, “Friendship can connect only worthy people.” The friends will have to confirm the truth of that statement quite quickly.