All the stories were originally written in Russian: Contents • Весна в Фиальте (Vesna v Fial'te); English translation: Spring in Fialta (1936) • Круг (Krug); English translation: The Circle (1934) • Королек (Korolek); English translation: The Leonardo (1939) • Тяжолый дым (Tyazhyolyy dym); English translation: Torpid Smoke (1935) • Памяти Л.И. Шигаева (Pamyati L.I. Shigaeva); English translation: In the Memory of L.I. Shigaeva (1934) • Посещение музея (Poseshchenie muzeya); English translation: The Visit to the Museum (1931) • Набор (Nabor); English translation: Recruiting (1935) • Лик (Lik); English translation: Lik (1939) • Истребление тиранов (Istreblenie tiranov); English translation: Tyrants Destroyed (1938) • Василий Шишков (Vasiliy Shishkov); English translation: Vasiliy Shishkov (1939) • Адмиралтейская игла (Admiralteyskaya igla); English translation: The Admiralty Spire (1933) • Облако, озеро, башня (Oblako, ozero, bashnya); English translation: Cloud, Castle, Lake (1937) • Уста к устам (Usta k ustam); English translation: Lips to Lips (1932) 'Spring in Fialta is cloudy and dull'. With his senses wide open, Victor wanders the streets. He meets Nina. Again. For fifteen years, their fleeting, chance encounters have made Nina a faint but constant presence in the margins of his life. As they happen upon one another once again, his mind wanders back into the past and relives each brief memory: their kiss in Russia, when she met his wife, when he met her husband, their affair in Paris. Each time she captivated him, each time she seemed to almost forget him, each time he noticed a lurking sense of apprehension that began to grow.