Other characters
Sergei Talberg is Elena’s husband. He leaves his wife in Kyiv, and he, along with the Germans, flees the country to Germany.
Lisovich (Vasilisa) is the owner of the house in which the Turbins live.
Nai-Tours - Colonel. Nikolka Turbin fights with the Petliurists in his detachment.
Viktor Myshlaevsky is an old friend of the Turbins.
Leonid Shervinsky and Fyodor Stepanov (Karas) are Alexei Turbin’s friends from the gymnasium.
Colonel Malyshev is the commander of the mortar division in which Karas serves, and in which Myshlaevsky and Alexey Turbin enlisted.
Kozyr-Leshko is a Petliura colonel.
Larion Surzhansky (Lariosik) is Talberg’s nephew from Zhitomir.
Summary
Part one
Chapter 1
The action takes place in Kyiv, in December 1918 during the revolution. The intelligent Turbin family - two brothers and a sister - live in house number 13 on Alekseevsky Spusk. Twenty-eight-year-old Alexei Turbin, a young doctor, had already survived the First World War. His younger brother Nikolka is only seventeen and a half years old, and his sister Elena is twenty-four years old. My sister is married to staff captain Sergei Talberg.
The Turbins’ mother died this year; before her death, she wished the children one thing: “Live!” But the revolution, like the snowstorm in this terrible year, is only growing and it seems that there will be no end to it. Apparently, the Turbins will have to die rather than live. The priest Father Alexander, who performed the funeral service for his late mother, advises Alexei Turbin not to fall into the sin of despondency, but warns that everything will only get worse.
Chapter 2
On a December evening, the entire Turbin family gathers around the hot stove, on the tiles of which they have left memorable drawings all their lives. Alexey and Nikolka sing cadet songs, but Elena does not share their enthusiasm: she is waiting for her husband to come home, she is worried about him. The doorbell rings. But it was not Talberg who came, but Viktor Myshlaevsky, an old friend of the Turbin family.
He tells a terrible story: 40 people from his detachment were left in a cordon and were promised to be replaced in six hours, but they were replaced within a day. For days his people could not even light a fire to keep warm, so two people froze to death. Myshlaevsky scolds Colonel Shchetkin from headquarters with the very last words. The turbines warm up Myshlaevsky.
The doorbell rang again. This time it was Elena Talberg’s husband, but he did not come for good, he came to collect his things, because the power of Hetman Skoropadsky, installed by the Germans, was shaking, the troops of Petlyura, a socialist and Ukrainian nationalist, were approaching Kiev from the White Church, so the Germans were leaving the city and he, Talberg, leaves with them. At one o'clock in the morning General von Bussow's train departs for Germany. Thalberg says that he cannot take Elena with him “to wander and into the unknown.” Elena cries, and Talberg promises his wife to return to Kyiv with Denikin’s troops.
Chapter 3
Engineer Vasily Lisovich, nicknamed Vasilisa for his cunning, almost feminine character, is the Turbins’ neighbor from below. He curtained the window with a white sheet so that no one on the street could see where he was hiding the money. But it was the white sheet on the window that attracted the attention of the passerby. He climbed a tree and through the gap between the window and the sheet spied that the engineer had hidden the money in a hiding place inside the wall. Lisovich falls asleep. He dreams of thieves. He wakes up from some noise.
Upstairs, at the Turbins, it’s noisy. Guests came to them: Alexei’s friends from the gymnasium - Lieutenant Leonid Shervinsky and Second Lieutenant Fyodor Stepanov, nicknamed Karas. The Turbins are having a feast, they drink vodka and wine that the guests brought with them. Everyone gets drunk, Myshlaevsky becomes especially ill, they put him on medication. Karas is encouraging everyone who wants to defend Kyiv from Petliura to join the mortar division being formed, where Colonel Malyshev is an excellent commander. Shervinsky, in love with Elena, is very happy about Thalberg’s departure. Everyone goes to bed close to dawn. Elena cries again, because she understands that her husband will never return for her.
Chapter 4
More and more wealthy people are arriving in Kyiv, fleeing the revolution from Russia, where the Bolsheviks now rule. Among the refugees were not only officers who went through the First World War, like Alexey Turbin, but also landowners, merchants, factory owners, and many officials. They huddled with their wives, children and lovers in tiny apartments and modest hotel rooms, but at the same time, they threw money at endless sprees.
Few officers enlist in the Hetman's convoy, but the rest hang around idle. Four cadet schools are being closed in Kyiv, and cadets are unable to complete the course. Nikolka Turbin was among them. In Kyiv, everything is calm, thanks to the Germans, but news comes from the villages that the peasants are continuing their robberies, that a period of chaos and lawlessness is coming.
Chapter 5
Things are getting more and more alarming in Kyiv. In the spring, they first blew up a warehouse with shells, and then the Socialist Revolutionaries killed the commander of the German army, Field Marshal Eichhorn. Simon Petlyura is released from the hetman's prison and seeks to lead the rebellious peasants. And the peasant revolt is dangerous because the men returned from the fronts of the First World War with weapons.
Alexey has a dream in which he meets Captain Zhilin at the gates of Paradise with a squadron of hussars who died in 1916 in the Vilna direction. Zhilin told Turbin that the Apostle Peter let the entire detachment into Paradise, even the women whom the hussars grabbed along the way. And Zhilin said that he saw mansions in Paradise that were painted with red stars. “And this,” says the Apostle Peter, “is for the Bolsheviks who are from Perekop.” Zhilin was surprised that atheists were allowed into Paradise. But I received the answer that the Almighty doesn’t care whether people are believers or not, that for God they are all the same, “killed in the battlefield.” Turbin himself wanted to get to Paradise, tried to go through the gate, but woke up.
Chapter 6
In the former store of Madame Anjou “Parisian Chic”, which was located in the very center of Kyiv on Teatralnaya Street, “Registration of volunteers for the Mortar Division” is now taking place. In the morning, Karas, still drunk from the night, who is already in the division, brings Alexei Turbin and Myshlaevsky there.
Colonel Malyshev, the division commander, is very glad to see like-minded people in his ranks who, like him, hate Kerensky. In addition, Myshlaevsky is an experienced artilleryman, and Turbin is a doctor, so they are immediately enrolled in the division. In an hour they should be on the parade ground of the Alexander Gymnasium. Alexey manages to run home and change clothes within an hour. He is very happy to put on his military uniform again, to which Elena has sewn new shoulder straps. On the way to the parade ground, Turbin sees a crowd of people carrying several coffins. It turned out that at night in the village of Popelyukhe the Petliurists killed the entire officer corps, gouged out their eyes and cut out shoulder straps on their shoulders.
Colonel Malyshev examines the volunteers and disbands his division until tomorrow.
Chapter 7
That night, Hetman Skoropadsky hastily left Kyiv. They dressed him in a German uniform and bandaged his head tightly so that no one could recognize the hetman. He is taken away from the capital according to the documents of Major Schratt, who, according to legend, accidentally wounded himself in the head when unloading a revolver.
In the morning, Colonel Malyshev informs the assembled volunteers about the dissolution of the mortar division. He orders “the entire division, with the exception of gentlemen officers and those cadets who were on guard tonight, to immediately go home!” After these words, the crowd became agitated. Myshlaevsky says that they must protect the hetman, but the colonel informs everyone that the hetman shamefully fled, leaving them all to the mercy of fate, that they have no one to protect. With that, the officers and cadets part ways.
Part 2
Chapter 8
In the morning, Petliura Colonel Kozyr-Leshko from the village of Popelyukhi sends his troops to Kyiv. Another Petlyura colonel, Toropets, came up with a plan to encircle Kyiv and launch an offensive from Kurenevka: with the help of artillery, distract the city’s defenders and launch a main attack from the south and center.
These colonels are led by Colonel Shchetkin, who secretly abandons his troops in a snowy field and goes to visit a certain plump blonde in a rich apartment, where he drinks coffee and goes to bed.
Another Petlyura colonel, distinguished by his impatient disposition, Bolbotun, violates Torobets’ plan and breaks into Kyiv with his cavalry. He is surprised that he did not meet any resistance. Only at the Nikolaevsky school, thirty cadets and four officers fired at him from a single machine gun. Bolbotun's centurion Galanba hacks at a random passerby with a saber, who turns out to be Yakov Feldman, the hetman's supplier of armored parts.
Chapter 9
An armored car arrives to help the cadets. Thanks to the cadets, Bolbotun has already lost seven Cossacks killed and nine wounded, but he manages to get significantly closer to the city center. At the corner of Moskovskaya Street, Bolbotun’s path is blocked by an armored car. It is mentioned that in total there are four vehicles in the Hetman's armored division. The well-known writer in the city, Mikhail Shpolyansky, was appointed to command the second armored car. Since he entered the service, something strange began to happen to the cars: armored cars break down, gunners and drivers suddenly disappear somewhere. But even one car is enough to stop the Petliurists.
Shpolyansky has an envious person - the son of a librarian - Rusakov, who suffers from syphilis. once Shpolyansky helped Rusakov publish an atheistic poem. Now Rusakov repents, he spits on his work and believes that syphilis is a punishment for atheism. He tearfully prays to God for forgiveness.
Shpolyansky and driver Shchur go on reconnaissance and do not return. Pleshko, the commander of the armored division, also disappears.
Chapter 10
Hussar Colonel Nai-Tours, a talented commander, is completing the formation of the second department of the squad. There is no supply. His cadets are undressed. Nai-Tours knocks out felt boots from Staff General Makushin for all the cadets.
On the morning of December 14, Petlyura attacks Kiev. An order came from headquarters: Nai must guard the Polytechnic Highway with his cadets. There he entered into battle with the Petliurists. The forces were unequal, so Nye sends three cadets to find out when help from other hetman units will arrive; transport is still needed to evacuate the wounded. After a while, the cadets report that there will be no help. Nye realizes that he and his cadets are trapped.
Meanwhile, in the barracks on Lvovskaya Street, the third section of the infantry squad of twenty-eight cadets is awaiting orders. Since all the officers have left for headquarters, Corporal Nikolai Turbin turns out to be the senior in the detachment. The phone rang and the order came to move into position. Nikolka leads her squad to the indicated place.
Alexey Turbin comes to the former Parisian fashion store at two o'clock in the afternoon, where he sees Malyshev burning papers. Malyshev advises Turbin to burn his shoulder straps and leave through the back door. Turbin followed his advice only at night.
Chapter 11
Petliura takes the city. Colonel Nai-Tours dies heroically, covering the retreat of the cadets, whom he orders to tear off their shoulder straps and cockades. Nikolka Turbin, who remained next to Nai-Tours, sees his death, and then runs away himself, hiding in the courtyards. He returns home through Podol and finds Elena crying there: Alexey has not returned yet. By nightfall, Nikolka manages to fall asleep, but he wakes up when he hears the voice of a stranger: “She was with her lover on the very sofa on which I read poetry to her. And after the bills for seventy-five thousand, I signed without hesitation, like a gentleman... And, imagine, a coincidence: I arrived here at the same time as your brother.” Hearing about her brother, Nikolka jumps out of bed and rushes to the living room. Alexei was wounded in the arm. Inflammation has begun, but he cannot be taken to the hospital, because the Petliurists might find him there. Fortunately, neither bones nor large vessels are affected.
Part three
Chapter 12
The stranger turned out to be Larion of Surzhansky, whom everyone calls Lariosik. He is Talberg's nephew from Zhitomir. He left the city to visit his relatives because his wife cheated on him. Lariosik is kind and clumsy, loves canaries. He feels comfortable and happy at the Turbins. He brought with him an impressive wad of money, so the Turbins willingly forgive him for the broken set.
Alexei begins to develop a fever. A doctor is called for him and an injection of morphine eases his suffering. All of Turbina's neighbors are told that Alexei has typhus and are hiding his injury. Nikolka rips off all the inscriptions from the stove, which indicate that officers live in the house.
Chapter 13
Alexey Turbin was wounded because he decided, after running out of a Parisian fashion store, not to go straight home, but to see what was going on in the center of Kyiv. On Vladimirskaya Street he came across Petliurists, who immediately recognized him as an officer, because Turbin, although he tore off his shoulder straps, forgot to take off his cockade. “Yes, he’s an officer! Fuck the officer!” - they shout. Petliurists wounded Turbin in the shoulder. Alexei took out a revolver and fired six bullets at the Petliurists, leaving the seventh for himself so as not to be captured and to avoid torture. Then he ran through the yards. In some courtyard he found himself at a dead end, exhausted from loss of blood. An unknown woman named Yulia, who lived in one of the houses, hid Turbin in her place, threw out his bloody clothes, washed and bandaged his wound, and a day later brought him home to Alekseevsky Spusk.
Chapter 14
Alexei actually develops typhus, which the Turbins talked about in order to hide his injury. Myshlaevsky, Shervinsky and Karas appear in turn in the apartment on Alekseevsky Spusk. They stay with the Turbins and play cards all night long. A sudden ringing of the doorbell makes everyone nervous, but it’s only the postman who brought a belated telegram about Lariosik’s arrival. Everyone had barely calmed down when there was a knock on the door. Opening the door, Myshlaevsky literally caught Lisovich, the Turbins’ neighbor from below, in his arms.
Chapter 15
It turns out that that evening Lisovich’s doorbell also rang. He didn’t want to open it, but they threatened him that they would start shooting. Then Lisovich let three men armed with revolvers into the apartment. They searched his apartment “on orders”, presenting Lisovich with some paper with a vague stamp, supposedly to confirm their words. The uninvited guests quickly find a hiding place in the wall in which Lisovich hid the money. They take everything from Vasilisa, even clothes and shoes, and then demand that he write a receipt stating that he gave all the things and money to the voluntary Kirpatom and Nemolyaka. Then the robbers left, and Vasilisa rushed to the Turbins.
Myshlaevsky advises Lisovich not to complain anywhere and to be glad that he is alive. Nikolka decided to check if the revolvers hanging outside the window were in place, but there was no box there. The robbers took him too and, perhaps, it was with this weapon that they threatened Vasilisa and his wife. The turbines tightly clog the gap between the houses through which the robbers climbed.
Chapter 16
The next day, after the prayer service in St. Sophia Cathedral, a parade began in Kyiv. There was a crush. In this crush, some Bolshevik speaker climbed onto the fountain and made a speech. The crowd of people did not immediately understand what the Bolshevik revolutionary was agitating for, but the Petliurists, on the contrary, understood everything and wanted to arrest the speaker. But instead of a Bolshevik, Shchur and Shpolyansky hand over to the Petliurists a Ukrainian nationalist, who is falsely accused of theft. The crowd begins to beat the “thief”, and the Bolshevik manages to escape. Karas and Shervinsky admire the courage of the Bolsheviks.
Chapter 17
Nikolka just can’t muster up the courage to inform Colonel Nai-Tours’ loved ones about his death. Finally, he makes a decision and goes to the right address. A woman in pince-nez opens the apartment door for him. In addition to her, there are two more ladies in the apartment: an elderly and a young one, very similar in appearance to Nai-Tours. Nikolka didn’t have to say anything, because the colonel’s mother understood everything from his face. Nikolka decides to help the colonel’s sister, Irina, take her brother’s body from the morgue of the anatomical theater. Nai-Turs is buried as expected. The colonel's family is very grateful to Nikolka.
Chapter 18
On December 22, Alexey Turbin becomes very ill. He no longer comes to his senses. Three doctors, having gathered a council, make a merciless verdict. Elena, in tears, begins to pray for Alexey to come to his senses. Their mother died, Elena’s husband abandoned her. How can she survive alone with Nikolka without Alexei? Her prayer was answered. Alexey came to his senses.
Chapter 19
In February 19919, Petliura's power came to an end. Alexey is recovering and can already move around the apartment, albeit with a cane. He resumes his medical practice and sees patients at home.
A patient with syphilis, Rusakov, comes to see him and scolds Shpolyansky for no reason and talks about religious topics. Turbin advises him not to get involved in religion, so as not to go crazy and be treated for syphilis.
Alexey has found Yulia, the woman who saved him, and gives her a bracelet that once belonged to his mother as a token of gratitude. On the way home from Yulia, Alexey met Nikolka, who was visiting Nai-Tours’ sister, Irina.
In the evening, Lisovich came to the Turbins’ apartment with a letter from Warsaw, in which the Turbins’ acquaintances expressed bewilderment about the divorce of Talberg and Elena, as well as in connection with his new marriage.
Chapter 20
On the night of February 3, the Petliurites, before leaving Kyiv completely, dragged a Jew across the ground, whom Kozyr-Leshko beat on the head with a ramrod until he died.
Alexei dreams that he is fleeing from the Petliurists, but dies.
Lisovich dreams that some pigs with fangs destroyed his wonderful garden, and then attacked him.
At the Darnitsa station there is an armored train, in which a Red Army soldier stubbornly fights against his dreams.
Rusakov is not sleeping, he is reading the Bible. Elena dreams of Shervinsky, who clings a star to his chest, and of Nikolka, who looks like a dead man.
But the best dream is seen by five-year-old Petya Shcheglov, who lives with his mother in the outbuilding. He dreams of a green meadow, and in the center of the meadow is a sparkling ball. Sprays burst out of the ball and Petya laughs in his sleep.
Part 3
Chapter 12: Life under Petliura
The unexpected relative turned out to be a strange person. Not of this world. His main hobbies were books and canaries. One of which he brought with him in a cage. The warm atmosphere in the Turbins' house really attracts Larion. Although he was clumsy (he broke the service, pressed his finger under the bed), the Turbins’ upbringing did not allow him to say anything bad to his relative. In addition, Larion brought with him an impressive amount of money, which, of course, cannot but please the family.
Nikolka puzzles over the last words of the murdered Nai-Tours. He named the street “Malo-Provalnaya”. He is worried about his friends who were probably killed. He is perplexed how Petliura took the city.
Alexei begins to become delirious and has a fever. The doctor, who was very welcome in the house, gives a dose of morphine and eases the suffering. Alexey dreams of Yulia, the woman who saved him and brought him to the Turbins.
The situation in the city obliges him to hide his purpose. We have to hide things, put away pistols, shoulder straps and hide the fact that they are a family of officers. We also have to hide Alexei’s true illness and say that it is typhus. Nikolai hid the box with weapons not in the apartment, but nearby.
Chapter 13: Rescue Turbine
The author takes us back during the storming of the city. Alexey tries to escape through the courtyard of the store and sees a dead end there. He climbed over the wall into the neighboring yard, where, to his surprise, the gate was not locked. He went outside.
Curiosity outweighed the obligation to go home, and he went downtown to look at the gymnasium. On Vladimirskaya Street he met the Petliurists. He removed the shoulder straps, but completely forgot about the cockade. The Petliurists identified the officer and started shooting. He didn’t have his passport with him, and Alexey fled.
Alexey ran, fired back, and at that moment he was wounded in the shoulder. The yard he ran into turned out to be a dead end. A woman saved him. She opened the gate and led him through many gardens and gates to her home.
The woman lived alone. The husband allegedly left. It was Yulia, and the reader, based on some signs (description of the room), guesses that this is Shpolyansky’s secret mistress. She bandaged Alexei under his direction and gave him cognac. She seemed to him charming and... vicious. They fell asleep next to each other.
Yulia put him to bed and took Turbin home in a cab the next morning.
Chapter 14: Good News
It was necessary for the family to hide Alexei's true illness, but they were inviting disaster. Everyone was told it was typhus. Turbin was also diagnosed with this serious illness.
Guests came into the Turbins’ house one by one. Myshlaevsky, Karas, Shervinsky. They dressed as civilians and changed their appearance. Now they play cards and stay overnight with the Turbins.
Doorbell. They bring a belated telegram about the arrival of Lariosik’s relative. The guests take a breath, calm down, when the neighbor from below falls down on them. Lisovich falls right into Myshlaevsky’s arms.
Chapter 15: Vasilisa's robbery
Robberies are actively taking place in the city. For every home and every family, this was the most terrible event. And this evening the doorbell rang in the house of engineer Liosovich. They started threatening that they would start shooting if they didn’t open. Frightened, Vasilisa and his wife Wanda allow three men armed with pistols into the house. The men show an alleged order with a blurred seal to search the apartment. They reproach him for robbing the common people.
The thieves turn over the entire house, take away valuables and force Vasilisa to sign a paper that he gave everything voluntarily and has no claim against Kirpaty and Nemolyaka. Finally, they threaten again to keep the spouses silent. And they hide.
Lisovich runs to the upstairs neighbors in the Turbins' house. He talks about what happened. Myshlaevsky inspects the apartment and advises them to be happy that he and his wife are alive, and says not to complain anywhere, so as not to make things worse.
Nikolai remembered the weapon, ran to look, but the box was no longer there. Turbines fill the gap with boards. The robbers escaped. Nikolai blames himself for the robbery. Vasilisa asks Karas to stay in his apartment to protect him from thieves. They willingly help him: if anything happens, he can count on the Turbins.
The crucian carp is dozing in Lisovich's house, and he complains all night that he did not expect what he expected from the revolution. Instead of the promised democracy, they received only anarchy. Compared to this, the tsarist regime was heaven on earth. If Lisovich had previously approved of the coup, he was now disappointed in it. He was able to earn the stolen money by honest work only under the old regime, and now this has been taken away from him:
Here in Russia, in a country undoubtedly the most backward, the revolution has already degenerated into Pugachevism...
Chapter 16: Petlyura's Parade
The next day a prayer service is held in the St. Sophia Cathedral. Next is the parade. There is a stampede: everyone wants to see Petlyura, but he is nowhere to be found. Commander Pleshko, who escaped during the defense of the city, was detained in the crowd. He swore that he worked at the bank, but they didn’t believe him.
The speaker began talking about the organization of a new republic, separate from Russia. He spoke in broken Ukrainian, everyone listened. But in such a crush it was not immediately clear that the speaker was a Bolshevik. No one understood what the revolutionary was campaigning for. The Petliurists want to arrest the speaker for his agitation, but out of nowhere a fake “thief” appears, and everyone is trying to catch him. At that time, the speaker quietly disappears. The resurrected fugitives Shchur and Shpolyansky watch and are surprised at the Bolsheviks’ dexterity.
Chapter 17: Nai-Tursa Family
For all three days, Nikolai’s cherished goal, which he constantly thought about, was to find the address of Colonel Nai-Tours. He ran, fell and got up.
On Litovskaya Street, on its outskirts, in a small house, he found one of the second section of the squad. From him he learned the colonel's address.
For two hours Nikolai tried to squeeze between the crowd on Sophia Square. Finally succeeded. The weather was calm outside, but Nikolai was restless. He rushed to the treasured place through Khreshchatyk. “Maloprovalnaya, 21,” he constantly repeated in his head.
A lady in pince-nez opened the door for him. At first she said that she did not know any Turs. Nikolai said that he was talking about Felix Feliksovich. Half a minute later the door was opened completely and he was let in. Turbin realized that this was the colonel’s mother. He was horrified at the thought that she would have to convey this terrible information. Besides her, there are two more ladies living in the apartment: a young one who looks like Nai-Tours, and an elderly one. The news of my son's death was shocking. Nobody wanted to believe it, and they thought that maybe he had only been wounded. But Nikolai described the colonel’s injury.
Turbin volunteered to help the colonel’s beautiful and young sister, Irina, take her brother’s body. The Colonel is in the anatomical theater. There, Irina proudly and boldly declared who her brother was, and she herself walked into the makeshift morgue without hesitation.
The funeral takes place according to all the rules. The family thanks Nikolai for his help.
Chapter 18: Resurrection of Turbine
The twenty-second of December was a fateful date for the Turbin family. Alexei began to die and never regained consciousness. Elena was completely unable to speak and went to her room. Karas, Myshlaevsky and Lariosik began to discuss Alexey’s situation. His former teachers, the best doctors, came to the patient. They did not believe in success, but continued to fight.
Alexey began to feel very hot and seemed about to fall. A council of three doctors began to examine Turbin. Sister Elena was asked to leave. There is only one conclusion: hopeless.
It sounded like a sentence. Elena cannot restrain her emotions, goes into her room and complains about life. How will she live? Mother died, brother will die too. How should she deal with Nikolai?
Elena prays earnestly and sincerely. The prayer has been answered. Alexey regains consciousness.
Chapter 19: News from Thalberg
“January 1919, encased in ice and covered with snow, flew over the Turbins, February flew up and swirled in a blizzard.” Time flew by quickly. The end of Petliura's power is coming. The Bolsheviks come to the city.
The second of February was a beautiful day. Alexei, as if resurrected, walks around the apartment, leaning on a stick. He had changed a lot, dried out, his head was shaved, his skin color was unhealthy white, his eyes were sunken. But his condition does not prevent him from resuming medical practice.
He admits his first patient. It was Rusakov, who was sick with syphilis. He became very devout, always prayed and complained about Shpolyansky. Alexey examines him, prescribes treatment and advises him not to go crazy from constant religious thoughts.
Alexey gained a little strength and the next day went to the woman who saved him - to Yulia. He thanks her and gives her his mother's bracelet. On her desk he sees a portrait of Shpolyansky and recognizes his last name. It seemed strange to him that Julia’s “cousin” (as she called him) became the cause of the downfall of his syphilitic patient. Shpolyansky, as she said, left for Moscow. Alexey confesses his feelings to Yulia. On the way back, Alexey meets his brother and finds out that he was visiting Nai-Tours’ sister, Irina.
It was an important day for everyone. Myshlaevsky, Karas, Shervinsky - everyone dined on this historic day at the Turbins. This was the first communal meal since Alexei's injury.
Doorbell. Vasilisa appears. He doesn’t want tea and only came to deliver a letter for Elena. Elena went into the room with the letter. I heard bad news. Alexey came into the room and asked if the letter was from her husband.
But the letter was from Olya from Warsaw. It reported that everyone was surprised by Elena’s divorce from Thalberg and his new marriage. Alexey was incredibly angry and reproached himself for shaking Sergei’s hand goodbye. Elena is confused and ashamed. She sobs on her brother's chest. He tears up Thalberg's photo. There was nothing to be heard in the living room. Nikolai played the piano. Laughter was heard.
