Book 1, The Short Stories : Chapter 8, An Unpleasant Predicament Summary

An Unpleasant Predicament. This story is set during a transition period in Russia. Three generals meet for lunch. Stepan Nikiforovitch Nikiforov was celebrating his 65th birthday. The other two men are the only people he has invited: both have worked for him before as subordinates, although they are generals now. They began drinking and wine, and it was not terribly long before someone did not have his full wits about him and was therefore more vulnerable that usual. He was regarded as a first-rate man. Stepan Nikiforovitch Nikiforov had special plans, particularly towards Semyon Shipulenko. The latter was a devoted married man who liked to stay at home with his family. Like the other, he had persisted towards his ambitions. The drunkenness, however mild, led into a conversation about...