“Friends went to a flower shop and took a bouquet of roses prepared for Benjamin. They went out into the street, slightly intoxicated by the damp and intoxicating smell of flowers brought from Nice, languid, tired from a long journey ... Nikolai and Veniamin walked two boulevards, crossed the square, passed the cathedral and, out of habit, already wanted to go to the bridge, when suddenly rose from the fog some hefty figure blocked their way ... "