K. Mikhailovsky, a critic for “Notes of the Fatherland,” combined this story with “Notes from the House of the Dead,” “A Gentle Woman,” and “White Nights” — those works that, in the opinion of the populist critic, were “completely finished in terms of harmony and proportionality.” Unlike Mikhailovsky, who was not well disposed towards Dostoevsky, Orest Miller responded to Dostoevsky’s story in more detail that same year. He was captivated by Dostoevsky’s mastery in depicting the complex and contradictory inner world of the “little hero”. As proof, the critic referred to the episode of the awakening of “a holy and pure feeling of pity <…> compassion for the kindest, but most unfortunate creature.”

The plot of the work

An unknown memoirist recalls his happy childhood, when as a child he first came to a rich estate near Moscow on the bank of the Moskva River of a relative of T-v, a former hussar who lived in luxury. The owner’s house was constantly visited by fifty to a hundred guests, home performances, tableaux vivants, horseback riding, picnics, festivities, dances, fiction readings, etc. were arranged. The center of attention of this noisy society is a lively, sly and charming blonde, who has earned everyone’s sympathy with her eccentric pranks. The beauty literally pursues the narrator, at that time only an eleven-year-old boy, with her pranks and desperately bold antics. Constantly embarrassed by her funny antics, he does not know how to get rid of her annoying, well-aimed witticisms, caustic jokes. Blinded by her beauty, he feels a mixture of curiosity and hatred towards her.

Among the blonde’s friends, the narrator’s attention is drawn to m-me M. Both women are married, but, unlike her plump cousin friend, m-me M is somewhat thin. Her sad beauty is full of nobility, tenderness and spiritual charm. Her husband m-r M* is known as a jealous man, but a jealous man “not out of love, but out of vanity.” M-me M* is afraid of her influential husband, and besides, she is united by some incomprehensible connection with a young man N-im.

The blonde’s school games have established for the boy the role of m-me M‘s enamored page in this merry society, and in fact, the boy closely watches his adult chosen one and tries to guess the secret of her sadness. M-me M often takes him for a walk, unaware of his true feelings and completely immersed in her own tangled family drama, powerless to extricate herself from it. Young Mr. N-oy demonstratively leaves the hospitable house of the owner and says a heartfelt farewell to the company. Only M-me M* does not see him off.

One day, the entire noisy company decides to go on a long horseback ride to a village festival. There is no room only for the hero-narrator and one gentleman of the insidious blonde – their horses are sick. The owner – a hussar-swordsman – slyly offers the young man his obstinate horse Tancred, with whom no one can cope, not even the owner himself. However, the gentleman refuses such an honor and prefers to stay at home.

But the arrogant blonde advises the indecisive gentleman to switch to her docile mare, and she decides to take a reckless journey on the owner’s wild stallion. The owner, this time abandoning his cunning, forbids the blonde her folly. In response to this, instead of joking about her loser gentleman, the impudent blonde begins to tease the boy, who is already annoyed that the adults are not taking him along. She half-jokingly, half-seriously makes him an offer to saddle Tancred and become a true devoted page to Mme M. Enraged by the barbs of the unbearable blonde, he headlong jumps on Tancred and rushes off into the distance with him. The wild horse, not making out the road, rushed several dozen steps until, frightened by an oncoming stone, he turned back. The grooms surrounded the stallion, took the little brave man off him to the general jubilation of the crowd and the flattered m-me M, who realized that this knightly feat was dedicated to her.

But m-me M*’s sadness does not pass. One day, the little hero accidentally became a witness to a secret meeting in the forest between his beloved and N-go, who, it turns out, did not go far. Their farewell kiss and the letter given by the romantic gentleman to his married beloved, evoked complex feelings in the child’s soul. He walked in the footsteps of his beloved, unable to approach her, and saw the letter she dropped. He did not want his secret to be revealed, but it seemed impossible to give the letter to the mistress unnoticed for a long time.

And she looked for it everywhere and did not find it. Having set off on another walk, the devoted little hero suggested m-me M* to collect a bouquet of flowers for her. She absentmindedly agreed, lost in thoughts about something completely different. The boy lovingly collected a beautiful summer bouquet from simple meadow flowers, hid the letter inside it and presented it to the intended recipient, waiting for the meaning of his gift to be fully revealed. The lady was indifferent to the bouquet and did not pay attention to it for a long time, until she had the need to wave it away from a flying bee. The letter fell out, the owner of the letter read it, rushed to the boy with gratitude, but he pretended to be fast asleep. Her kiss on the lips “woke” him up, but covered by the kerchief she gave him, he never saw her again, because, returning home alone, he learned that she had left the hospitable house with her husband forever.