Mr. Yarchenko

Yarchenko belongs to the loose set of students, reporters, and gentlemen who drift from the river to the publican's and finally to Anna Markovna's, and it is his name Nijeradze catches when the party is recounted. Half ashamed of his weakness and half exalted by it, he converts a morning of cognac-soaked sentiment into a plan to snatch a girl out of the slough and teach her to read. His impulsive philanthropy sets in motion the novel's central experiment, making him the pivot on which the brothel's private lives open to the outside world.