A Gentleman in Moscow

One night at the Boyarsky, Andrey informs the Count that there is a small private party in the Yellow Room and that the host has asked for the Count to serve. The door to the Yellow Room is opened by a guard who leads him inside to the table, where the single diner sits. To the Count’s surprise, the man, whose “close-cropped hair revealed a scar above his left ear which was presumably the result of a glancing blow that had hoped to cleave his skull” (205), asks him to sit; the Count is hesitant “as a matter of decorum” (206).

The guard brings in a bottle of wine, and the stranger pours for himself and the Count. The stranger indicates he knows much about the Count; the Count says he has him “at a disadvantage” (207), for the Count knows nothing about him. The stranger invites the Count to speculate about him. The Count astutely identifies that the stranger is a colonel from eastern Georgia. The stranger says the Count is “a canny fellow” (208).

The stranger knows the Count’s history: how he went to Paris after killing the Hussar and how he returned after the Revolution. The stranger asks the Count if he believes