: The poor official fell in love with a married princess, wrote letters to her for seven years, sent an expensive gift and shot himself. The tearful princess understood: "the love that every woman dreams of has passed by her."

The division of the retelling into chapters is conditional, in the original - 13 chapters without titles.

Preparing for birthday and gathering guests

North coast of the Black Sea. September 17, the day of Princess Vera's name day, turned out to be quiet and warm in the summer.

The princess has not yet left the cottage - her Moscow house was being renovated. In addition, her husband, Prince Vasily, barely made ends meet, and Vera was glad that they would not have to spend money on a large ceremonial dinner.

Princess Vera, whose former passionate love for her husband had long passed into a sense of strong, faithful, true friendship, tried her best to help the prince to resist complete ruin.

Only the closest friends should have come to the name day. The first, in the afternoon, came Anna, the younger sister of Vera, the wife of a rich and stupid person.

The sisters, very attached to each other, were outwardly completely dissimilar. Faith, with her high flexible figure and cold aristocratic beauty, went to her English mother. In the short, dark Anna appeared the blood of his father - the Tatar prince.

Vera had no children, and she adored Anna's pretty, anemic children — a boy and a girl.

Anna was wasteful, loved flirting, gambling and despised her husband, although he still adored her. However, she was kind, deeply religious and never cheated on her unloved husband.

By five o'clock the other guests arrived, among whom were the famous pianist, Vera’s brother, and General Anosov, whom the sisters called grandfather.

This close friend of their late father and godmother Anna was a courageous person, he went through many military campaigns, and now served as commandant of the fortress in the city of K. During his entire military career, he never hit a soldier. Anosov's current position was symbolic - through and through a sick old man, he was appointed commandant for military services. In the city, he was famous for his eccentricities and kind attitude to officers sitting on guardhouse. Anosov was lonely - his wife ran away with the actor, there were no children. After moving to K., the general became close with the children of a fighting friend, visited them every evening and talked about battles and exploits.

Unexpected gift

After the festive dinner, Prince Vasily undertook to entertain the guests. He had the ability to come up with funny stories based on real events, and tell them with a very serious look. An addition to these satirical tales was an album with funny drawings and poetic commentaries on them.

At that moment, the maid handed over to Vera the package brought during dinner. It contained a note and a case with a low-grade gold bracelet, decorated with garnets and a strange green stone. The gift was sent by the long-time admirer of the princess, whom she had never seen, only his initials knew - G.S. J. All the grenades were taken from a bracelet belonging to the grandmother of the admirer, and the green stone - a very rare green garnet - gave women the gift of foresight, and men protected them from violent death.

Vera returned to the guests at the moment when Prince Vasily told the story “Princess Vera and the Telegraph in Love”, in which the girl became the object of passion of an unknown admirer, but in the end she chose the “beautiful Vasya Sheyna”. Today, for some reason, the princess did not like the husband’s jokes.

The stories of General Anosov and the story of Vera about the mysterious admirer

In the evening, seeing off the guests, Vera whispered to her husband so that he would look into the case and read the note. Leading Anosov to his crew, the sisters spoke to him about love. The general believed that people forgot how to love, and marry only for the sake of profit.

Love must be a tragedy. The greatest mystery in the world! No life amenities, calculations and compromises should concern her.

The general did not meet true love, but he told the sisters two interesting cases. The first story was about how the wife of a regimental commander, an old, experienced and power-hungry lecher, seduced a young ensign. Very quickly the boy got tired of her, she left him, and the ensign suffered terribly and was jealous. Once she asked if the ensign could throw himself under the train out of love for her. He rushed, but he was prevented from killing himself. The ensign lost both hands, became a beggar and froze "somewhere on the pier in St. Petersburg."

The second story is about a young and beautiful woman whom her husband loved so much that he put up with her lover, coward and loafer. In fact, they lived together. When the regiment was sent to war, the husband took care of the entire campaign and took care of his wife’s lover, fearing that she would leave him. Everyone sympathized with this brave man and rejoiced when the lover died of typhoid.

Anosov also met loving women and was sure “that almost every woman is capable of the highest heroism in love”. It’s the men who are to blame for the fact that love has turned from the meaning of life into a little entertainment.

Then Anosov asked Vera what the story was with the "telegraph lover in love." She talked about the madman with the initials G.S. Zh., A small official from a public institution who had pursued her even before her marriage, wrote love letters until Vera asked him to stop. After that, he wrote to her only on Easter, New Year and her name day.

Princess Vera also spoke about today's premise. According to the general, this man was either an abnormal maniac or the life path of his Verochka "crossed precisely such a love that women dream about and that men are no longer capable of."

Meeting with G. S. J

Returning to the house, Vera saw that her brother Nikolai was outraged by this gift.

He decided to find a admirer and stop his courtship. Nikolai, who worked in court, wanted to attract the gendarmes to this case, but Prince Vasily asked that no strangers be involved in this case.

G. S. Zh., Who turned out to be a petty official by the name of Zheltkov, lived on the top floor of a cheap apartment building.

Nikolai and Prince Vasily returned the garnet bracelet to him and demanded that Vera be left alone, threatening to turn to the authorities. At the first moment, Yolk was confused and embarrassed, but relaxed when he heard the threat.

Ignoring Nikolai, he told Prince Vasily that for seven years he had hopelessly and politely loved Vera and would love her even if he was sent out of the city or sent to prison. The only way for him to give up this love is to die.

Is it possible to control such a feeling as love - a feeling that still has not yet found an interpreter.

Then he asked Prince Vasily for permission to speak with Vera by phone and left. Yolk came back with eyes full of tears. Forgetting secular decorum, he said that Shayns would no longer hear about him - he was wasting public money and was now forced to hide.

Vera asked him to stop this story, and he promised.Zheltkov’s last request was to write a farewell letter to the princess. Prince Vasily, full of pity for the unfortunate lover, allowed him this.

Beethoven's Second Piano Sonata

In the evening, the prince told his wife all the details of the meeting with Zheltkov. In the morning, Vera read in a newspaper that G. S. Zheltkov committed suicide "due to embezzlement of state money", and his last letter arrived with evening mail.

It so happened that nothing interests me in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, all life lies only in you.

Zheltkov wrote about his love - the only thing that interested him in this life, wished Vera happiness and asked in memory of him to play Beethoven's second sonata for piano. Crying Vera showed a letter to her husband and asked permission to go to the city and look at Zheltkov.

Vera was met by housewife Zheltkova, a Polish Catholic. She said that the quiet and kind Zheltkov in eight years became her almost son. She did not know anything about embezzlement, otherwise she would not regret her savings to cover the debt. Zoltkov gave the garnet bracelet to her and asked him to hang it on the icon.

Vera looked at Zheltkov for a long time, who died with a serene smile on her lips, and understood, "that the love that every woman dreams of has passed by her." Then she laid a big red rose under his neck and kissed her cold, wet forehead.

Late in the evening, Vera asked her pianist friend to play something for her. She had no doubt that she would choose Beethoven's second sonata. The music seemed to tell the princess about the great, but unfulfilled love of a small, simple person. Vera cried, listening to the sonata, and then felt that G. S. Zh. Had forgiven her.