They did not; and
then it struck him that Vera was the very last person to whom Nina would
yield--just because she wanted to yield to her most, which was pretty
subtle of him and very near the truth.
No one else seemed to be making any very active efforts, and at last he
decided that he must do something himself. He discovered Grogoff's
address, went to the Gagarinskaya and looked up at the flat, hung about
a bit in the hope of seeing Nina. Then he did see her at Rozanov's
party, and this, although he said nothing to me about it at the time,
had a tremendous effect on him. He thought she looked "awful." All the
joy had gone from her; she was years older, miserable, and defiant. He
didn't speak to her, but from that night he made up his mind. Rozanov's
party may be said to have been really the turning-point of his life. It
was the night that he came out of his shell, grew up, faced the
world--and it was the night that he discovered that he cared about Nina.
The vision of her poor little tired face, her "rather dirty white
dress," her "grown-up" hair, her timidity and her loneliness, never left
him for a moment.
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