Short Fiction · Chapter
A Bad Business explained
On a dark, stormy March night, a graveyard watchman encounters a stranger who claims to be a lost pilgrim.
What happens
On a dark, stormy March night, a graveyard watchman encounters a stranger who claims to be a lost pilgrim. The watchman, initially suspicious, agrees to guide him to the gate. As they walk, the stranger speaks of death and sin, then reveals he is not a pilgrim but a dead man—the locksmith Gubaryev who hanged himself. Terrified, the watchman tries to flee but is detained until a whistle signals the stranger's departure. The watchman later discovers the church has been burgled, and he rings the alarm bell in horror.
Themes in this chapter
Mortality and Legacy
The stranger's discourse on death and the equality of all in the grave underscores the inevitability of mortality.
Illusion vs. Reality
The stranger's deception—pretending to be a pilgrim while actually being a dead man—highlights the blurring of appearance and truth.
Isolation and Loneliness
The watchman's solitary night shift in the dark graveyard emphasizes his isolation and vulnerability.
Characters to notice
- The Stranger
Appears as a lost pilgrim but later reveals himself as Gubaryev, a dead man who hanged himself.
- The Policeman
The watchman who patrols the graveyard and encounters the stranger.
Key passages
“Who goes there? No answer. The watchman sees nothing, but through the roar of the wind and the trees distinctly hears someone walking along the avenue ahead of him.”
The watchman calls out into the darkness but gets no reply; he can only hear footsteps approaching through the storm.
Opens the story with a sense of mystery and foreboding.
“I am a pilgrim, friend, a wandering man.”
The stranger claims to be a religious wanderer traveling between holy sites.
The stranger's initial false identity as a pilgrim.
“Am I a pilgrim? I am not a pilgrim at all. A dead man. I've only just got out of my coffin. Do you remember Gubaryev, the locksmith, who hanged himself in carnival week? Well, I am Gubaryev himself!”
The stranger reveals he is actually the ghost of Gubaryev, a locksmith who committed suicide.
Climactic revelation that the stranger is a dead man.