Ok, I am going to clarify this exact question as stated in the above.
In this case, as the question is stated, the Next_Hop_Address is on the remote end of a directly connected interface. The IP address for that next hop (192.168.2.1) is on a common subnet as the router's interface which connects to that next hop address. Therefore, a mask is not required because the router can what the mask is due to the fact that the router itself has an ip address on that (same) interface, and part of the ip address configuration on that (same) interface includes the subnet mask.
HOST----------------ROUTER-*------------------*-ROUTER--------------*-HOST whatever 192.168.2.x/y
192.168.2.1/y 172.16.3.xIf you can't follow this, please ask again ----- but nicely.