Pavel Mikhailovich Kunin

A young permanent member of the district board for peasant affairs (and honorary justice of the peace, member of the school council) who, on taking patronage of a new parish school, judges the impoverished village priest Father Yakov as a slovenly drunkard from his ragged dress and awkward manners -- and says so in a denunciatory letter to the bishop -- only to learn too late that the priest's threadbare poverty is the visible cost of supporting his brother, his destitute predecessor, and a proud neighbor too ashamed to be seen in want.