to write letters, and he may drink wine and smoke. The only outlet to the outside is a little window through which the books and letters and other things are passed. 

During the first year, the prisoner is extremely lonely; he spends a great deal of time at the piano. Because he is lonely, he refuses the wine and tobacco; in explanation, he writes that wine stimulates the senses, only exacerbating his lonely condition. Tobacco ruins the air of his little room.
In the second year, the prisoner stops playing the piano, and he exchanges the light reading of his first year for the classics. Then, in his fifth year, the prisoner requests wine, and he again plays the piano. During this year, the lawyer mostly eats and drink and lies on his bed. But, at times he writes all night; afterwards, however, he tears up what he has written, crying. 
Then, in the sixth year, he begins to study languages, history, and philosophy. He immerses himself in these studies so much that the banker is overwhelmed as he tries to furnish the books. After the lawyer learns six languages, the prisoner writes his jailer in these languages; further, he requests that the banker show them to experts and fire a shot in his garden if they are correct. The banker follows the lawyer's instructions and fires two shots. Hearing these shots, the lawyer expresses his happiness since he has mastered six hundred volumes of scholarly learning.
After the tenth year, the lawyer abandons all reading, but the Gospels. Theology and philosophy are his next readings. In the last two years of his confinement, the lawyer reads indiscriminately, choosing Shakespeare, then a medical manual, then philosophy or theology.

His reading suggested a man in the sea among the wreckage of his ship and trying to save his life by greedily clutching first at one spar, and then at another.

Before he is released, the lawyer, now a man of despair, writes that he despises freedom, life, and health--all that is called "the good things of the world."

In "The Bet" by Anton Chekhov, the lawyer voluntarily serves fifteen years in confinement as part of a bet with a banker who wagers with him that he cannot do it. The banker offers the lawyer two million dollars to stay confined for fifteen years.

At first the lawyer is very lonely and bored, but he spends a lot of time playing the piano and reading books--mostly light reading. During the second year, the lawyer reads the classics, but he does not play piano. Around year five, he begins playing piano again and spends his time "eating, drinking, and lying on his bed." (Chekhov 4) He does not read, but sometimes he writes. He also is heard crying. Later the lawyer studies languages as well as history and philosophy. He also reads the New Testament and the history of religions and theology. Finally,

"During the last two years of his confinement the prisoner read an extraordinary amount, quite haphazardly. Now he would apply himself to the natural sciences, then would read Byron or Shakespeare. (Chekhov 5)