It’s a Family Affair-We’ll Settle It Ourselves by Alexander Ostrovsky. Short summary

5 seconds

The merchant Bolshov owes a large sum to his creditors. He decides to declare himself bankrupt and transfer all his property to a reliable person — his clerk Lazarus.

1 minute

The daughter of the merchant Bolshov, Lipochka is grieved that she cannot find a groom in any way. The girl’s friends have already been married for a long time. She tells her mother that she will marry a hussar to spite her and her father.

A matchmaker appears at the Bolshovs’ house. The merchant´s wife and Lipochka ask when she will find a groom for them. But the guest says they are hard to please. The parents wanted to see a rich merchant as their daughter’s husband, a nobleman who would have been of noble birth and baptized the old-fashioned way.

Merchant Bolshov owes a large sum to creditors. He declares himself bankrupt and transfers all his property to a reliable man — the clerk Lazarus.

The clerk understands that now Bolshov’s daughter has no dowry and that nobody will marry her. He asks her father for her hand in marriage and the latter gives his consent. Lipochka refuses to marry the clerk, but Lazarus manages to persuade her.

His father gives the house and his shops as a dowry, asking only that he and his wife be fed and pay their creditors. The future son-in-law replies: «We’ll get even with our own people.»