Summary

In Chapter 15, Zinaida and Stepan stay in Venice. He is ill. She reads to him every day. Stepan feels happy. He desperately wants to live. In the evenings, they go on gondola rides and talk afterwards. Zinaida speaks of love with disdain. Stepan tells her stories about his past and interesting places that he saw. Zinaida says that all people now remind her of her cruel stepmother. They spend one month in Venice before leaving for Florence.

Chapter 16 resumes in Nice. Stepan walks into Zinaida’s room one morning and finds her sobbing. She tells him it is nothing and asks him to leave the room. Stepan remembers that she is pregnant. He returns to her room to suggest they take a walk by the sea. She tells him she wants to be alone and asks him to knock before entering next time...