XII + 

Then Volodya left her. + 

She paced up and down the room a number of times. She noticed that her shadow followed her on the floor, and, strange to say, it was the first time in her life that her own shadow had made her uneasy. The thought that there was a shadow assailed her mind unceasingly⁠—and Eugenia Stepanovna, for some reason, was afraid of this thought, and even tried not to look at her shadow. + 

But the shadow crept after her and taunted her. Eugenia Stepanovna tried to think of something else⁠—but in vain. + 

She suddenly paused, pale and agitated. + 

“Well, it’s a shadow, a shadow!” she exclaimed aloud, stamping her foot with a strange irritation, “what of it?” + 

Then all at once she reflected that it was stupid to make a fuss and to stamp her feet, and she became quiet. + 

She approached the mirror. Her face was paler than usual, and her lips quivered with a kind of strange hate. + 

“It’s nerves,” she thought; “I must take myself in hand.” + 