A Gentleman in Moscow

Emile, Andrey, and the Count discuss how Sofia is going to Paris to play piano with the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. The three men believe it is “well deserved” (380), and they reminisce about Paris.

The Bishop, who has inserted himself into their daily meetings, arrives. He has made changes to their meetings; for example, Emile no longer presents the specials for tasting, for the Bishop finds doing so “indiscriminate and wasteful” (381). On this day, he orders Emile to substitute beets for apples in his pork dish, and he tells Andrey how to arrange the seating for the night’s reservations.

After the group disperses, the Count sneaks to Andrey’s reservation book and, flipping through, notes that on June 11, the Presidium and the Council of Ministers—“two of the most powerful bodies in the Soviet Union” (382)—will dine together. Back in his room, he opens the hidden door in the Grand Duke’s desk, which has been unopened for thirty years.

In the Shalyapin, he watches as a gregarious but “hapless” (383) American named Pudgy Webster, who is in Russia to try to sell vending machines, chat and drink with a group of journalists.