Read "The Bet and Other Stories" by Anton Chekhov online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Ivan Ivanich Lapkin, a pleasant looking young man, and Anna Zamblizky, a young girl with a little snub nose, walked down the sloping bank and sat down on the bench. The bench was close to the water's edge, among thick bushes of young willow. A heavenly spot! You sat down, and you were hidden from the world. Only the fish could see you and the catspaws which flashed over the water like lightning. The two young persons were equipped with rods, fish hooks, bags, tins of worms and everything else necessary. Once seated, they immediately began to fish.
-"I am glad that we're left alone at last," said Lapkin, looking round. I've got a lot to tell you, Anna--tremendous... when I saw you for the first time... you've got a nibble... I understood then--why I am alive, I knew where my idol was, to whom I can devote my honest, hardworking life.... It must be a big one... it is biting.... When I saw you--for the first time in my life I fell in love--fell in love passionately I Don't pull. Let it go on biting.... Tell me, darling, tell me--will you let me hope? No! I'm not worth it. I dare not even think of it--may I hope for.... Pull!