Tatyana Borisovna - a woman of about 50, with bulging big gray eyes, rosy cheeks and a double chin, her face breathes affection. Widowed, she settled in her small estate without a trace. She was born in a poor family and did not receive any education. Despite this, she is not infected with the usual ailments of a small-local lady. Tatyana Borisovna keeps herself free, feels and thinks. She knows little about her neighbors and accepts only young people. In her small rooms a person feels good, warm. No one knows how to console in grief like Tatyana Borisovna.
She keeps a small servant. The housekeeper is in charge of the housekeeper Agafya, her former nanny, the kindest, teary and toothless creature. The position of valet and butler is occupied by 70-year-old Polycarp, a retired violinist, an eccentric and well-read man, Napoleon's personal enemy and a passionate nightingale hunter. To help Polycarp, his own grandson, Vasya, was singled out, in which he diligently fosters hatred of Napoleon.
Tatyana Borisovna has few friends with landowners - she does not know how to occupy them and falls asleep to the sound of conversations. The sister of her young friend, an old maid, a kindly, but tense and enthusiastic creature, decided to finally re-educate the rich nature of Tatyana Borisovna. She began to visit her every day and would drive her into the coffin if she had not fallen in love with a passing student.
About 8 years ago, Tatyana Borisovna lived with her nephew Andryusha, a boy of 12 years old, an orphan. He had big, bright, wet eyes, a small mouth, a regular nose and a beautiful, elevated forehead. He spoke in a sweet voice and kept an insinuating and quiet voice. From an early age, Andryusha felt a desire for drawing. Tatyana Borisovna did not feel much love for Andryusha - she did not like the obsequiousness of her nephew. Gradually, she began to think about the future of the boy.
Once, Pyotr Mikhaylych Benevolensky drove in to her, who was burning with an unselfish passion for art, absolutely meaningless in it. Benevolensky looked at the drawings of Andryusha, and recognized in him an outstanding talent. On the same day, he invited Tatyana Borisovna to take Andryusha to St. Petersburg and give him an art education. Two days later they left.
Every year, Andryusha wrote to her aunt less and less. Once Tatyana Borisovna received a note from her nephew asking them to send money. A month later, he demanded more, then asked for a third time. This time, Tatyana Borisovna refused, and Andryusha came to visit "for health reasons." Gentle Andryusha turned into Andrei Ivanovich Belovzorov, broad-shouldered, fat small with a wide red face and fat curly hair. The neatness and shyness of previous years replaced the intolerable sloppiness and insolence.
Andrey stayed with his aunt. He spent his days howling romances and accompanying himself with one finger to the piano. Over the course of a year, he became wider across himself, his aunt did not mind the soul, and the surrounding girls fell in love with him. Many former acquaintances stopped visiting Tatyana Borisovna.
