The Double Chapter I

In which the modest titular councillor Yakov Petrovitch Golyadkin awakens to a dreary Petersburg morning and prepares himself with great care and anticipation for a day that promises some semblance of dignity and order amidst his troubled existence. Amidst his fidgeting with currency and attire, he ventures into the city, only to be beset by the wary eyes of acquaintances and the unsettling demands of social propriety, culminating in a hesitant visit to his newly acquainted doctor.