Great Russian Short Stories Read Online Free PDF Page A

own room, expecting to find Hermann there, but yet hoping not to find him. At the first glance she convinced herself that he was not there, and she thanked her fate for having prevented him keeping the appointment. She sat down without undressing, and began to recall to mind all the circumstances which in so short a time had carried her so far. It was not three weeks since the time when she first saw the young officer from the window—and yet she was already in correspondence with him, and he had succeeded in inducing her to grant him a nocturnal interview! She knew his name only through his having written it at the bottom of some of his letters; she had never spoken to him, had never heard his voice, and had never heard him spoken of until that evening. But, strange to say, that very evening at the ball, Tomsky, being piqued with the young Princess Pauline N——, who, contrary to her usual custom, did not flirt with him, wished to revenge himself by assuming an air of indifference: he therefore engaged Lizaveta Ivanovna and danced an endless mazurka with her. During the whole of the time he kept teasing her about her partiality for Engineer officers; he assured her that he knew far more than she imagined, and some of his jests were so happily aimed, that Lizaveta thought several times that her secret was known to him.
    â€œFrom whom have you learnt all this?” she asked, smiling.
    â€œFrom a friend of a person very well known to you,” replied Tomsky, “from a very distinguished man.”
    â€œAnd who is this distinguished man?”
    â€œHis name is Hermann.”
    Lizaveta made no reply; but her hands and feet lost all sense of feeling.
    â€œThis Hermann,” continued Tomsky, “is a man of romantic personality. He has the profile of a Napoleon, and the soul of a Mephistopheles. I believe that he has at least three crimes upon his conscience . . . How pale you have become!”
    â€œI have a headache . . . But what did this Hermann—or whatever his name is—tell you?”
    â€œHermann is very much dissatisfied with his friend: he says that in his place he would act very differently . . . I even think that Hermann himself has designs upon you; at least, he listens very attentively to all that his friend has to say about you.”
    â€œAnd where has he seen me?”
    â€œIn church, perhaps; or on the parade—God alone knows where. It may have been in your room, while you were asleep, for there is nothing that he——”
    Three ladies approaching him with the question: “oubli ou regret?” 10 interrupted the conversation, which had become so tantalizingly interesting to Lizaveta.
    The lady chosen by Tomsky was the Princess Pauline herself. She succeeded in effecting a reconciliation with him during the numerous turns of the dance, after which he conducted her to her chair. On returning to his place, Tomsky thought no more either of Hermann or Lizaveta. She longed to renew the interrupted conversation, but the mazurka came to an end, and shortly afterwards the old Countess took her departure.
    Tomsky’s words were nothing more than the customary small talk of the dance, but they sank deep into the soul of the young dreamer. The portrait, sketched by Tomsky, coincided with the picture she had formed within her own mind, and thanks to the latest romances, the ordinary countenance of her admirer became invested with attributes capable of alarming her and fascinating her imagination at the same time. She was now sitting with her bare arms crossed and with her head, still adorned with flowers, sunk upon her uncovered bosom. Suddenly the door opened and Hermann entered. She shuddered.
    â€œWhere were you?” she asked in a terrified whisper.
    â€œIn the old Countess’s bedroom,” replied Hermann: “I have just left her. The Countess is dead.”
    â€œMy God! What do you say?”
    â€œAnd I am afraid,” added Hermann,