"And have you never met Lensky at her house?"
"Yes, certainly."
"You never told me that," says Sonia astonished. "Why should I?" says Nita, very harshly. "It is no pleasant recollection."
When Sonia again looks round for Nita, she has vanished. She is about to hurry after her. Then she hears a voice from below call: "Good-night, good, good-night!"
"Good-night, Colia," says Sonia, joyfully, as answer.
"Is it you?" calls Nikolai, slowly, disappointedly.
"Whom else should it be?" asks she, frightened, fearfully. And softly whispering, she repeats: "Who--who----"
Yes, it is Nikolai, haunting the Pare Monceau at midnight. After he had taken his sister home, he had returned to the park to look up at Nita's windows.
He stands before a decisive point in his life. The sudden illness of the Russian diplomat in Washington has caused him to be sent there. He is advanced from attaché to second secretary.
Time presses. Affairs must be quickly decided; before his departure he must have spoken to Nita.