: Two comrades meet many years after graduating from high school. Having ascertained that the thick rank is higher, the thin one cannot defeat the rank-worship which is rooted in it and loses a friend.

At the station, two friends meet: one thick is Misha, the other thin is Porfiry.

Tonky recalls how they studied together at the gymnasium, brags to his other wife and son, tells that he serves as a college assessor. But as soon as he finds out that the school friend has risen to the rank of Privy Councilor and has a higher rank, his attitude to the fat changes dramatically: he begins to speak with a friend in a servile tone, which he is used to addressing his superiors. Tolstoy frowns - for him the status of a friend does not matter. Thin is not able to defeat his characteristic reverence. He has such a loyal expression on his face that the fat begins to feel sick.

Fat, turning away, gives a goodbye hand. Thin shakes him three fingers, he and his family are pleasantly stunned by the fact that a man who was a childhood friend of Porfiry, rose to this rank.