“You’ve heard perhaps that Nicholas Romanoff has abdicated entirely—­and refused to allow his son to succeed.  Makes things simpler....  Yes....  Very pleasant pictures you have—­and Ostroffsky—­six volumes.  Very agreeable.  I have myself acted in Ostroffsky at different times.  I find his plays very enjoyable.  I am sure you will forgive us, Madame, if we walk through your charming flat.”

But indeed by this time the soldiers themselves had begun to roam about on their own account.  Nina remembers one soldier in especial—­a large dirty fellow with ragged moustache—­who quite frankly terrified her.  He seemed to regard her with particular satisfaction, staring at her, and, as it were, licking his lips over her.  He wandered about the room fingering things, and seemed to be immensely interested in Nicholas’s little den, peering through the glass window that there was in the door and rubbing the glass with his finger.  He presently pushed the door open and soon they were all in there.

Then a characteristic thing occurred.  Apparently Nicholas’s inventions—­his little pieces of wood and bark and cloth, his glass bottles, and tubes—­seemed to them highly suspicious.  There was laughter at first, and then sudden silence.  Nina could see part of the room through the open door and she watched them as they gathered round the little table, talking together in excited whispers.  The tall, rough-looking fellow who had frightened her before picked up one of the tubes, and then, whether by accident or intention, let it fall, and the tinkling smash of the glass frightened them all so precipitately that they came tumbling out into the larger room.  The big fellow whispered something to the student, who at once became more self-important than ever, and said very seriously to Vera: 

“That is your husband’s room, Madame, I understand?”

“Yes,” said Vera quietly, “he does his work in there.”

“What kind of work?”

“He is an inventor.”

“An inventor of what?”

“Various things....  He is working at present on something to do with the making of cloth.”

Unfortunately this serious view of Nicholas’s inventions suddenly seemed to Nina so ridiculous that she tittered.  She could have done nothing more regrettable.  The student obviously felt that his dignity was threatened.  He looked at her very severely: 

“This is no laughing matter,” he said.  He himself then got up and went into the inner room.  He was there for some time, and they could hear him fingering the tubes and treading on the broken glass.  He came out again at last.

He was seriously offended.

“You should have told us your husband was an inventor.”

“I didn’t think it was of importance,” said Vera.

“Everything is of importance,” he answered.  The atmosphere was now entirely changed.  The soldiers were angry—­they had, it seemed, been deceived and treated like children.  The melancholy fellow with the black beard looked at Vera with eyes of deep reproach.