“Aren’t you asleep yet?” she asked with a yawn. “Go to sleep, go to sleep. I’ve just come in for a moment to get a bottle of medicine.”
“For whom?”
“Poor Lily is ill again. Go to sleep, child, you have an examination to-morrow.”
She took a little bottle out of the closet, held it to the window, read the label, and went out.
“Oh, Maria, that isn’t it!” he heard a woman’s voice exclaim. “That is Eau de Cologne, and Lily wants morphine. Is your son awake? Do ask him to find it!”
The voice was Nyuta’s. Volodia’s heart stopped beating. He hastily put on his trousers and coat and went to the door.
“Do you understand? I want morphine!” explained Nyuta in a whisper. “It is probably written in Latin. Wake Volodia, he will be able to find it!”
Volodia’s mother opened the door, and he caught sight of Nyuta. She was wearing the same blouse she had worn when she came from the bath-house. Her hair was hanging loose, and her face looked sleepy and dusky in the dim light.
“There, Volodia is awake!” she exclaimed. “Volodia, do get me the morphine out of the closet, there’s a good boy. What a nuisance Lily is! She always has something the matter with her.”
The mother murmured something, yawned, and went away.