Marriage

Fiolka comes up with Agafya, the spinster daughter of a wealthy merchant, who is seeking a husband of demonstrably higher social position

Podkoliosin deigns to visit the charming Agafya, only to discover that the bustling Fiolka has rounded up four other suitors as well, which leads to some unseemly and hilarious bickering among the preening competitors

The suitors are all quite different (one enormously fat,one painfully skinny, one terribly tiny, another notoriously prissy), which enriches the farcical contretemps that result and adds to the relish with which Podkoliosin's sidekick, the scheming Kochkariev, sets about winning Agafya for his friend

In the end he succeeds, but perhaps too well, as he also provides Podkoliosin with a glimpse of what marriage really entails

As the curtain falls, the terrified would-be suitor makes his escape, leaping unceremoniously from a second story window and back to the comforting routine of blissful bachelorhood