When the Kovaloff wakes up, he realizes that his nose is gone. He obviously freaks out since he doesn't understand what's happening. Kovaloff is extremely embarrassed, confused and possibly in shock. The major eventually concludes that his nose must have left his face because of some sort of witchcraft. Major Kovaloff attributes this witchcraft that he believes to have happened to the mother of a girl who he knows. He was flirting with this girl for a while but apparently he didn't intend to have anything very serious with her, and, because of that, he assumed that this has made her mother very angry.
The mother who would have used witchcraft against him is called:
A. Madame Podtotchina
