Short story The Bet, part of our Soundbook collection.   

The tale sees a banker recalling a dinner party some 15 years previous  in which he entered into an extraordinary bet with a young lawyer. After  a passionate conversation on capital punishment the lawyer concludes he  would prefer life imprisonment to death. The banker offered him 2  million Roubles if he could withstand 15 years of such isolation.  

A B2 worksheet to accompany this story is available on our website here 

An accompanying article including the full text in downloadable PDF is  available on our website here

A biography of Chekhov can be found on our website here

Music: Autumn Leaves by Maarten Schellekens