- "A large, alabaster-based kerosene lamp is steered into the gloaming. Gently it floats and comes down; the hand of memory, now in a footman's white glove, places it in the center of a round table." (5.2.2)
- Nabokov takes some time to describe the drawing room, which bright and plush in a quiet house surrounded by winter. The furniture is upholstered with flowers, the chandelier is rocking back and forth. (Above it, Mademoiselle's things are being moved in.)
- Sergey, Miss Robinson, and Vladimir are sitting in the drawing room drawing with colored pencils.
- Nabokov remembers the pencils fondly, though they share the same fractured fate as Mademoiselle: "Alas, these pencils, too, have been distributed among the characters in my books to keep fictitious children busy; they are not quite my own now." (5.2.5)
- Vladimir is in the drawing room as Mademoiselle approaches.