Section 11: Chapter 16 Summary

In the sixteenth chapter, they all gather at the lodge and play forfeits again but without the gay, gipsy element. Zinaida suggests that everyone share their dreams, but the dreams are either boring or made up so Zinaida decides that everyone should tell stories. Zinaida tells a story about a single queen who holds a ball and is surrounded by her many admirers who are all in love with her. The queen looks out the window at a fountain in the garden and thinks about the one waiting there to whom she is enslaved. He is sure that she will come to him, and she will. Count Malevsky asks if this is fiction, and Zinaida does not answer. Dr. Looshin asks how each of them would act if they were the guests at the ball and knew about the man by...