Bunin’s "The Godmother" examines the sudden eruption of passion within the placid, wealthy suburban dacha life. The narrator (the Godfather), a collector of Russian icons, confesses his irresistible love to his friend's wife (the Godmother), calling their situation a "secret, criminal intimacy". The desire is traced back to the day of the baptism, where he saw her pure beauty against the snow. After they consummate their affair, the Godmother takes control, coolly arranging for the narrator's immediate departure to Kislovodsk, where she promises to meet him later, having disposed of her husband. The story concludes with the narrator's mixed feelings—joy over their escape but a final, cynical premonition that he may "hate her horribly" in the new, less intimate environment.