I do not believe that chance exists in this short story. The high unlikeliness of the concluding discussion proves that fate is the leading factor and coincidence is not plausible. The blizzard is used as a force to divert events from their first intended course. Maraya's separation from her first true love is not a traditional occurrence in a romantic story; moreover the incorporation of a second man (the stranger she married instead of Vladimir) pushes the narration further from conventional plots. The chance that this man returns as her second romantic interest is so unlikely that the reader is forced to assume the story is existing in a world where things are predetermined.