«Perfect match,» Jeff thought.
The woman looked at him. «Have we met each other?»
«Yep.» Jeff watched her. She did not give away any emotion.
«Dear Beautiful Lady.» Jeff bowed. «Would you be merciful to me, allowing me to be your gallant servant at this party?»
«Okay,» she replied so coldly that if Jeff did not already have feelings for her, he would have given up all his efforts.
«Was your falling part of the play?» she asked. «Or just an accident?»
«Sometimes when you fall,» Jeff said in a cordial voice, «it’s difficult to know if it was just an accident, or the Hand of your Fate.» He saw Vera did not understand, and he explained. «I mean falling in love. With someone.»
Her features were still showing boredom, and she looked at her watch.
«I have to go soon,» Vera said icily. «My husband is going to pick me up.»
«Soon?» Upset, Jeff suddenly felt stifled inside the helmet, and he opened the visor.
«You!» Grach gasped, and Jeff could not believe his eyes, as a joyful smile lit up her face. «It was not nice to trick me like that.»
«Sorry,» he murmured.
«Why you didn’t tell me about you were going to take part in the play?»
«I wanted to surprise you.»
«You surely have done it.» Throwing frolicsome glances his way, Vera was dancing, curving her body like a snake, and an enchanted Jeff could only stare at her.
«Vera!» they heard, and, seeing how she instantly lost all spirits and became confused, Jeff understood at once who called her even before he slowly turned toward the door and saw Oleg peeping into the hall.
Smiling, Oleg said a few phrases in Russian. Vera lowered her head and quickly whispered, «Bye Jeff.» She, then almost ran to her husband.
Jeff stood still. He had known she was married, but, for the first time, he realized, realized with all his soul, what it meant, and the hopeless horror of the situation struck him.
This cocksure, red-headed white man with the self-satisfied grin took away his darling woman, took her away as was his right. Jeff saw Oleg hug his wife and leave with her. Jeff imagined how at home they would make love, and, suffocating, he tore the helmet off.
He looked over his costume and got embarrassed. This disguise, his acting in the play, seemed to Jeff now as a boyishly stupid deed.
«You looked like a fool,» he said to himself, and left the party.
The cold rain with snow lashed him outside the building, and as he struggled through the raging gusts of the storm, Jeff felt as if he were part of a real black Sabbath, and raving witches were trying to tear him into pieces.