The window-pane breathed frost and wintry chill. He blew on it till there was a peep-hole between the ice-flowers, put his eye to the glass, and looked out. The sky was dark and glittering with stars. Highest up stood the Dipper with its handle aloft.
It was late, then.
He could not force himself to leave the room, because he felt a bitter and devouring desire for his wife and the kiss of old times, the kiss under the blue-green light from pearl fringe of the single electric light, the kiss which the mandarin had beheld in his nodding half-slumber. If she would only come now, precisely now! No one could kiss as she did, no one. He had kissed other women since she no longer loved him; but he had forgotten them all, he would not recognize them if he met them on the street. If she would only come! Yes, even if she but came to meet the other, even then he would take her forced and treacherous kiss as a boon, even then—
He listened. Whispering voices were audible outside the door, but they grew silent all at once and remained so.
He had a strange sensation at his heart, he felt that in a couple of seconds he would lie stretched on the carpet, unconscious, but he held himself upright, and suddenly he heard from the entry where the young men were smoking their cigarettes a very clear voice which said: “Well, after all it’s only natural. One can’t expect her to be in love with someone who has a blue anchor tattooed on his hand.”
V
The coffin stood in the middle of the room. The black-clad woman walked back and forth, back and forth.
“No, he’s not coming——”
When he finally did come, he said, “Pardon me, beloved. I was delayed by someone who came to call——”
She nodded stiffly. She did not believe him, because he had not kissed her.