VII + 

So Mashenka went indoors to tell her mother what had happened and to prepare her for the young man’s visit on the morrow. The mother grumbled a little. + 

“What’s all this, Mashenka,” said she. “You surely don’t think it’s possible to have a man in from the street. Who knows what he may have in mind; it’s quite likely he’s a rogue of some kind.” + 

But after a little while she came to the conclusion: + 

“Well, I suppose we’d better see him and know what he’s after.” + 

So Lohengrin came at the appointed time, brought a box of sweetmeats, stayed an hour and a half, drank tea, behaved very respectfully to the mother, joked with schoolboy Serezha, amused Mashenka with his rhetorical phrases, and took his departure before any of them had time to get bored. + 

After he had gone the mother asked Mashenka: + 

“Well, who is he really?” + 

“Indeed, mother, I’ve told you everything I know about him. I don’t know anything more. I only know him as Lohengrin. His name is Nikolai Stepanovitch Sklonyaef, but what he does I don’t know. He’s just Lohengrin.” + 

“You’d better look in the Directory tomorrow when you go to school,” said her mother, “and find his name. By his talk and his manners he’s quite all right, but you never can tell. No one knows anything about him and there may be something under the surface. You must find out all about him.” + 

So on the next day Mashenka looked through the Directory, but she couldn’t find anybody of the name of Sklonyaef. She began to think that there could be no such name and that Lohengrin had made it up himself. + 

However, he continued to visit them, bringing sometimes a bunch of flowers, sometimes a box of chocolates. He no longer tried to meet Mashenka in the street; when they met it was quite accidentally. + 

When he came the second time Mashenka asked him why his name was not in the Directory. + 

He was not in the least confused⁠—Mashenka was surprised to find that in spite of his timid ways, his blinking eyes, and his ingratiating manner, this strange young man was generally self-possessed and very rarely put out of countenance⁠— + 

“I’ve only lately come to Petersburg,” said he, “and my name is not in the Directory yet. I expect it will be in next year.” + 

He laughed as he spoke, and Mashenka felt sure that he was not speaking the truth. + 

“But where do you live?” asked she. “What do you do for a living? Where do you work?” + 

But Lohengrin made reply: + 

“Pardon me, Marya Constantìnovna, I cannot tell you anything about my address or my occupation.” + 

“And why not?” asked Mashenka in wonder. + 

“Because, as I have already had the honour of telling you, Marya Constantìnovna, I have important reasons for keeping these matters a profound secret.” + 

Mashenka thought for a moment or two and then said: + 

“But listen a moment. This is all very strange. At first I thought you were simply joking; but if you are in earnest, then it’s all stranger than ever.” + 

“I am not joking at all,” said he; “but more than that I also trust that when you love me it will be for myself alone, not considering who I may be nor what is my occupation.” + 

“And if I don’t love you?” asked Mashenka with a smile. + 

“Then I shall vanish from the field of your vision,” said he, “as Lohengrin did, when he floated away in that wonderful boat drawn down the many-watered Rhine by the silver-winged swan.” + 

“Oh, Lohengrin,” laughed Mashenka once more. + 