Quickly leaving the hall, Irishka left loud male voices behind her, which seemed to send her a charge of vivacity, giving strength to tired legs and allowing her to run. Passages, stairs, galleries flashed by, she did not notice that for some time she had been standing near the unforgettable chest of drawers, weightlessly touching with the very tips of quivering fingers, delicate purple lilac inflorescences. Immersing her face in fragrant clusters, the marquise thought about where Gregory got this luxury from, because it has faded everywhere for a long time. Then, still out of childish habit, she began to look for flowers with five petals, and having found them,...