If the lawyer could stay in solitary confinement for fifteen years, the banker would give him two million rubles as prize money.

According to the bet, the lawyer would have to spend the fifteen years of his imprisonment “under the strictest supervision” in a lodge situated in the banker’s garden. During this period, he couldn't step beyond the doorstep of the lodge nor meet or see any human beings. He couldn't even hear any human voice or “receive letters” from friends and relatives. Even newspapers would be denied to him.

Nevertheless, the agreement permitted the lawyer to order anything else he wanted,...

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