With the aim of analyzing the properties of the waves that are scattered by nanoslits on metallic surfaces, we provide a direct observation of the near-field in a slit-doublet experiment at optical wavelengths. We show that two distinct waves are involved: a surface plasmon polariton and another wave with a free-space character. From the recorded data, we have extracted the amplitudes and phases of these waves, their damping characteristic lengths and their relative weights as a function of the separation distance from the slit. The analysis is fully supported by a quantitative agreement with vector-theory computational results.