Part 2: Chapter 14 Return to Varykino Summary

Yuri and Lara's positions hold out into the winter, but then Komarovsky, their childhood nemesis, shows up. He hangs around, making annoying conversation while drinking cheap vodka, and the air becomes thick with tension. At one point, he offers to help the two out of Yuriatin, a kind of deal with the devil. Nobody signs away the soul. Lara tries to get rid of him but finally lets the pathetic old drunk sleep in one of the rooms full of rats. Komarovsky says he does not mind the rats. Yuri later throws him out of the house.

Lara hears a rumor that the Executive Committee plans to arrest her and Yuri soon. They borrow a horse and sleigh and leave town for Varykino in the morning. They take Mikulitsyn's house and suspect that someone else...