Athanasius Ivanovich Товстогуб and his wife Пульхерия Ivanovna are two old men of the "last century", gently loving and touching caring of each other. Athanasius Ivanovich was high, walked always in a sheepskin sheepskin coat, and always smiled practically. Пульхерия Ivanovna did not laugh hardly ever, but "on face and so much kindness, so much willingness to treat you all, was written in the eyes of her, that it was for them the best, that you, right, would find a smile already too sugary for her kind person"