person
Ivan Pavlovich
also: Иван Павлович, Ваня, Vanya
The major's former household steward, now a district clerk, who rescues both drowning spouses at once out of competing greed for their promised rewards -- and is repaid with dismissal from his post.
Reading notes
- If You Chase Two Hares, You Won't Catch Either §32 the major's former steward, now the district clerk, Ivan Pavlovich
The comic rescuer of the story's second half, a former household steward risen to a minor rural clerkship, whose opportunistic calculation drives the plot's climax.