An Honest Thief (Russian: Честный вор, Chestny vor) is an 1848 short story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
The story opens with the narrator taking in a lodger, an old soldier named Astafy Ivanovich, at his apartment.
One day, a thief steals the narrator's coat, and Astafy pursues him unsuccessfully.
The two knew each other previously, but from the look of his tattered coat, Emelyan had fallen on hard times.
Astafy did not have much money himself, but he allowed Emelyan's imposition because he was very aware that his drinking was a terrible problem.
He thought he could sell the breeches to get money for more useful clothes and some food, but he then discovered that they were nowhere to be found.