لخّصلي

He makes his way from the lighter reading of the early years, to the dense text of the Gospels and Shakespeare.

The banker and the lawyer decide to enter into a bet, with the banker wagering that
the lawyer could not withstand 5 years of imprisonment. The lawyer, young and
idealistic, decides to up the ante and makes the bet longer: 15 years. If he could last to
the end of his sentence, the lawyer would receive two million rubles for wining the bet.
The banker cannot fathom his good fortune, and even offers the young lawyer a way
out, saying that he is being hasty and foolish. Nevertheless, the lawyer decides to stick to
his word and the bet is carried out.
For fifteen years, the lawyer lives on the banker's property, in a small lodge, and has no
human contact. He can have any item that he desires. At first, the lawyer does not
comfort himself with any liquor or tobacco, confining himself to playing the piano. But
as the years progress, he gives in and spends much of his time drunk or asleep.
Later, the main focus of his time becomes books, as he searches for adventures and
comforts that he cannot possess physically. He takes great advantage of the banker's
ability to provide any book, and asks that the banker test the result of his reading by
firing two shots in the garden if his translations of several languages is indeed flawless.
The banker acquiesces and confirms the lawyer's suspicion that he has mastered
languages.
As the years go by, the lawyer reads virtually every genre under the sun. He makes his
way from the lighter reading of the early years, to the dense text of the Gospels and
Shakespeare. The banker, by this time, has gone broke due to his own recklessness and
gambling. He begins to worry that the lawyer's bet with him will ruin him financially.
The banker begins to hope against all hope that the lawyer will break his vow and lose
the bet. He doesn't even feel remorse at his evil thoughts, excusing them on the basis
that they are in his own best interest. In fact, the banker even manages to convince
himself that the lawyer is getting the better end of the deal, since he will still be
relatively young at 40, and, with the 2 million
rubles, relatively rich.
With this in mind, the banker goes to investigate how the lawyer is doing. He finds that
his prisoner is asleep at his desk, looking much older and careworn than he ever
imagined him to be. After observing him for a few seconds, the banker notices a letter
on the table.
In it, the lawyer proclaims his intention to renounce earthly goods in favor of the
spiritual blessings. The prisoner has become entirely embittered during his captivity. He
has developed an intense hatred for other humans and believes that there is nothing
that he or they can do to ever reconcile this chasm. To prove his seriousness, the lawyer
decides to leave his prison five hours before the appointed time, and renounces his
claim to the two million, thereby freeing the banker from his debt and from financial
ruin.
The banker cries and kisses the prisoner with relief. The next day, watchmen alert the
banker of the lawyer's escape, and the banker is unsurprised. He walks over, takes the
letter from the lodge, and locks it in a fireproof safe.