She drew back, a prey to curiosity, and agitated by a feeling which
was quite new to her.

From that time forward not a day passed without the young officer
making his appearance under the window at the customary hour, and
between him and her there was established a sort of mute
acquaintance. Sitting in her place at work, she used to feel his
approach, and, raising her head, she would look at him longer and
longer each day. The young man seemed to be very grateful to her;
she saw with the sharp eye of youth, how a sudden flush covered his
pale cheeks each time that their glances met. After about a week
she commenced to smile at him. . . .

When Tomsky asked permission of his grandmother, the Countess, to
present one of his friends to her, the young girl's heart beat
violently. But hearing that Naroumoff was not an Engineer, she
regretted that by her thoughtless question, she had betrayed her
secret to the volatile Tomsky.

Hermann was the son of a German who had become a naturalized
Russian, and from whom he had inherited a small capital. Being
firmly convinced of the necessity of preserving his independence,
Hermann did not touch his private income, but lived on his pay,
without allowing himself the slightest luxury. Moreover, he was
reserved and ambitious, and his companions rarely had an
opportunity of making merry at the expense of his extreme
parsimony. He had strong passions and an ardent imagination, but
his firmness of disposition preserved him from the ordinary errors
of young men. Thus, though a gamester at heart, he never touched a
card, for he considered his position did not allow him--as he said--