The Bet (short story)

Promising to produce a similar kind of fable for Suvorin before New Year's Eve, Chekhov began writing 22 December and on the 30th sent the story by post.

With a new title, "The Bet", revised and cut with part 3 of the original text now gone, it was included in Volume 4 of Chekhov's Collected Works, published in 1899–1901 by Adolf Marks.

Confined to a lodge on the banker's property, the lawyer suffers from loneliness and depression at first but eventually begins to read and study in a wide range of subjects.

In the early hours of the day when the fifteen-year period is to expire, the banker resolves to kill the lawyer, but finds him greatly emaciated and sleeping at a table.

A note written by the lawyer reveals that he has chosen to abandon the bet, having learned that material goods are fleeting and that divine salvation is worth more than money.