Part Two: Chapters IX through XIII Summary

Victor's reward is almost instantaneous as he's appointed a post on a hydroelectric project. He tells Marisha that he'll come home when he can, denying her request to accompany him to the job site. She runs across him once but he lies, saying that he's returning on the "midnight train". Marisha knows there's no midnight train but doesn't call him on it. She is lonely and sometimes frightened in the big apartment. Victor has confidentially talked to a friend and no one has been assigned the extra rooms of their apartment. Marisha spends most evenings with her parents.

Kira visits Andrei and he presents her with a filmy nightgown. He says he bought it on the black market and tells her that they apparently wear such things abroad. He then tells her that...