I looked around the hall in search of Skalaev and saw him not far from the stage, he was saying something to Alice with a poisonous mockery. Her face, which had previously looked unhappy, was now twisted with anger. And I was again covered with an incomprehensible wave of pity for her. I myself could not understand where this feeling came from, we were not

friends and I did not know even half of their “long and complicated” history, but it was unpleasant to look at her suffering.

I was interrupted from my thoughts by Uritsky's voice, which sounded too close to me. I shuddered, realizing that he moved almost...