A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Author: Amor Towles
- Publish Date: September 6, 2016
- Language: English
- Genere: Novel, Fiction
- Format: ePub, PDF
- Size: 2.49 MB
- Pages: 480
- Price: Free
1922
An Ambassador
At half past six on the twenty-first of June 1922, when Count Alexander
Ilyich Rostov was escorted through the gates of the Kremlin onto Red
Square, it was glorious and cool. Drawing his shoulders back without breaking
stride, the Count inhaled the air like one fresh from a swim. The sky was the
very blue that the cupolas of St. Basil’s had been painted for. Their pinks, greens,
and golds shimmered as if it were the sole purpose of a religion to cheer its
Divinity. Even the Bolshevik girls conversing before the windows of the State
Department Store seemed dressed to celebrate the last days of spring.
“Hello, my good man,” the Count called to Fyodor, at the edge of the square.
“I see the blackberries have come in early this year!”
Giving the startled fruit seller no time to reply, the Count walked briskly on,
his waxed moustaches spread like the wings of a gull. Passing through
Resurrection Gate, he turned his back on the lilacs of the Alexander Gardens and
proceeded toward Theatre Square, where the Hotel Metropol stood in all its
glory. When he reached the threshold, the Count gave a wink to Pavel, the
afternoon doorman, and turned with a hand outstretched to the two soldiers
trailing behind him.
“Thank you, gentlemen, for delivering me safely. I shall no longer be in need
of your assistance.”
Though strapping lads, both of the soldiers had to look up from under their
caps to return the Count’s gaze—for like ten generations of Rostov men, the
Count stood an easy six foot three.
“On you go,” said the more thuggish of the two, his hand on the butt of his
rifle. “We’re to see you to your rooms.”
In the lobby, the Count gave a wide wave with which to simultaneously greet
the unflappable Arkady (who was manning the front desk) and sweet Valentina
(who was dusting a statuette). Though the Count had greeted them in this
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