MIKHAIL ZOSHCHENKO
Later she managed to get to Leningrad. But
it
was no better
there-she had no apartment and no friends.
"Why didn't you come to me," I asked. "You must have •
heard about me...."
"Yes. But I didn't think it was you."
Katya began speaking of her sisters. The elder one writes
to her, but Nadya doesn't. She hates everything she left in Russia.
"And what if I write to her?" I ask.
Katya says: "You know Kolya M. You remember how
much he loved her. He wrote to her. She sent him a postcard on
which there were four words: "Now we are enemies."
Katya and I parted. I promised to visit her.
It's Disgusting
Alya arrived. Her face was pale and there was misery in
her eyes. Silently she untied the brightly-colored scarf around
her neck. She threw back her head slightly.
On her neck I saw five blue fingermarks. Someone had
probably tried to strangle her.
"Alya, what happened!" I exclaimed.
She answered dully:
"Nikolai found out everything. He tried to strangle me, but
I made such a noise that people came running."
She began crying. Through her tears she said:
"Ah, why did I come to see you! Now my peaceful life has
ended. I shall never go back to it. I'll move to my mother's and
come to see you from time to time."
I put a hot compress on her neck, and taking a taxi, drove
I
with her to her mother's.
I was extremely upset. I don't remember what my idea
was,
but the same evening I went to see her husband. To my surprise, .'
he greeted me calmly.
I said to him:
"I didn't expect such a filthy trick from you. You could
