The Kolyvan Husband by Nikolai Leskov. Short summary

5 seconds

Two German women, an elderly mother and a daughter with children, move in next door to the narrator. Thanks to their strange behavior, the hero guesses that there is some kind of secret between them.

1 minute

A German woman rents a house next to the narrator. They argue with the landlady, stating that they do not want Russian children to play with their children. The landlady, a Germanic Estonian, insists on sharing the garden.

The narrator decides to refuse the garden and calls his nephews home. The Germans hang a lock on the garden door. Aurora, the young German woman’s cousin, comes to visit the women. She participates in the christening of the relative’s child.

One day, a young naval officer comes to the house. Hearing of his arrival, the elderly German woman runs out into the garden with her small child and looks anxiously at the abandoned dwelling in which the sailor has been left alone with her daughter.

The narrator begins to speculate that the infant is a surprise for the visitor, who has a special relationship with his mother and daughter. He soon realizes that the arriving officer is the father of all of the German woman’s children.

The man quarrels with the mother and daughter and throws them out of the house. The hostess takes them in and tells the narrator that both ladies know Russian well.