Оглавление
Various Authors . Best Russian Short Stories
Best Russian Short Stories
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
THE QUEEN OF SPADES
Footnotes
THE CLOAK
THE DISTRICT DOCTOR
THE CHRISTMAS TREE AND THE WEDDING
GOD SEES THE TRUTH, BUT WAITS
HOW A MUZHIK FED TWO OFFICIALS
THE SHADES, A PHANTASY
THE SIGNAL
The Darling
The Bet
VANKA
HIDE AND SEEK
DETHRONED
THE SERVANT
ONE AUTUMN NIGHT
HER LOVER
Lazarus
THE REVOLUTIONIST
The Outrage
The Seven that were Hanged
The Red Laugh
The Gentleman From San Francisco
Отрывок из книги
Various Authors
Published by Good Press, 2020
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"This evening there is going to be a ball at the Embassy. The Countess will be there. We shall remain until two o'clock. You have now an opportunity of seeing me alone. As soon as the Countess is gone, the servants will very probably go out, and there will be nobody left but the Swiss, but he usually goes to sleep in his lodge. Come about half-past eleven. Walk straight upstairs. If you meet anybody in the ante-room, ask if the Countess is at home. You will be told 'No,' in which case there will be nothing left for you to do but to go away again. But it is most probable that you will meet nobody. The maidservants will all be together in one room. On leaving the ante-room, turn to the left, and walk straight on until you reach the Countess's bedroom. In the bedroom, behind a screen, you will find two doors: the one on the right leads to a cabinet, which the Countess never enters; the one on the left leads to a corridor, at the end of which is a little winding staircase; this leads to my room."
Hermann trembled like a tiger, as he waited for the appointed time to arrive. At ten o'clock in the evening he was already in front of the Countess's house. The weather was terrible; the wind blew with great violence; the sleety snow fell in large flakes; the lamps emitted a feeble light, the streets were deserted; from time to time a sledge, drawn by a sorry-looking hack, passed by, on the look-out for a belated passenger. Hermann was enveloped in a thick overcoat, and felt neither wind nor snow.
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