Night, I was reading about the darkness that had come in

From the Mediterranean... and those idols, oh, those golden

idols! For some reason, they give me no peace. I think it's going to rain

now too. Can't you feel it getting cooler? "

" All this is fine and good, " replied the Master as he smoked and chased the smoke away with his hand, " —and as for the idols, forget about them... but what will happen next, is quite incomprehensible! "

This conversation took place at sunset just as Levi Matvei came to Woland on the terrace. The window of the basement apartment was open, and if anyone had glanced in, he would have been taken aback by the strange appearance of the two speakers. Margarita was wearing a black cape over her naked body, and the Master was in hospital underclothes. This was because all Margarita's things were back at her house and she had absolutely nothing else to wear, and although the house was not far away, there was, naturally, no question of her going back there to get her things. And the Master, all of whose suits were still in the closet as if he had never been away, simply did not feel like getting dressed, preoccupied as he was with telling Margarita that he was convinced something quite weird was about to happen. True, he was cleanshaven for the first time since that autumn night (his beard had been trimmed with clippers at the clinic).

The room looked strange too, and it was hard to make anything out in all the chaos. There were manuscripts all over the rug and the sofa. A book was splayed spine upwards in the armchair. The round table was set for dinner, and a few bottles stood among the hors d'oeuvres. Neither Margarita nor the Master knew where the food and drink had come from. They had awakened to find it all on the table.

Having slept until sunset on Saturday, the Master and his beloved both felt completely restored, and the only reminder they both had of the previous night's adventures was a slight ache in the left temple.

Time to go! Time to go! 309

Psychologically, they had both undergone dramatic changes, as anyone who overheard their conversation in the basement apartment would have realized. But there was absolutely no one to overhear them. The good thing about the yard was that it was always empty. The willow and the lindens outside the window were getting greener every day and their spring fragrance was blown into the basement by a rising breeze.

" Well, what the devil! " exclaimed the Master unexpectedly. " When you think of it, this is really..., " he put out his cigarette in the ashtray, and pressed his hands to his head. " No, listen, you're an intelligent person and you were never crazy. Do you seriously believe that last night we were the guests of Satan? "

" Quite seriously, " replied Margarita.

" Of course, of course, " said the Master ironically, " that means that now we have two lunatics here, instead of just one! The husband and the wife." He raised his hands to heaven and cried, " No, only the devil knows what this is all about! The devil, the devil, the devil! "

Instead of answering, Margarita collapsed on the sofa, burst out laughing, waved her bare legs, and cried out, " Oh, I can't stand it! I can't stand it! If you could only see what you look like! "