them with his hand, and yet they did not know that he was there, and
they continued to speak undisturbed. He watched Ninochka for a long
time until he learned all her life--he was almost trapped. Ninochka
even exclaimed:

"Yurochka, is that you?"

He lay down behind a bush and held his breath. Thus Ninochka was
deceived. And she had almost caught him! To make things more
mysterious, he started to crawl instead of walk--now the alleys
seemed full of danger. Thus a long time went by--according to his
own calculations at the time, ten years went by, and he was still
hiding and going ever farther away from the people. And thus he went
so far that he was seized with dread--between him and the past, when
he was walking like everybody else, an abyss was formed over which it
seemed to him impossible to cross. Now he would have come out into
the light but he was afraid--it was impossible; all was lost. And
the music was still playing, and everybody had forgotten him, even
mamma. He was alone. There was a breath of cold from the dewy
grass; the gooseberry bush scratched him, the darkness could not be
pierced with his eyes, and there was no end to it. O Lord!

Without any definite plan, in a state of utter despair, Yura now
crawled toward a mysterious, faintly blinking light. Fortunately it
turned out to be the same arbour which was covered with wild grapes
and in which father and mother had sat that day. He did not
recognise it at first! Yes, it was the same arbour. The lights of
the lanterns everywhere had gone out, and only two were still
burning; a yellow little lantern was still burning brightly, and the
other, a yellow one, too, was already beginning to blink. And though