Chapter 4 Summary

The narrator's job of teaching English lessons ends abruptly one day when his last pupil dismisses him. For a day and a half he has nothing to eat or smoke, so he packs up the remainder of his clothes and takes them to the pawnshop. He expects to get 250 to 300 franks for his clothes. They're all fairly new and in good shape. He's shocked then when he's offered on 70 franks for the whole bundle, but he's so hungry and desperate for the money that he accepts the low offer.

He lies to his landlady and tells her he got 200 franks for them because he's afraid she'll kick him out if she knows how hard up he is.

The narrator introduces his friend Boris. Boris is a thirty-five-year-old ex-officer in the Russian army, a man who was once powerful and handsome but is now...