Love and Other Stories by Anton Chekhov

SOON after two o'clock one night, long ago, the cook, pale and agitated, rushed unexpectedly into my study and informed me that Madame Mimotih, the old woman who owned the house next door, was sitting in her kitchen.

-"She begs you to go in to her, sir . . ." said the cook, panting. "Something bad has happened about her lodger... He has shot himself or hanged himself... ."