A Gentleman in Moscow

On June 21, 1950, the Count muses on Sofia, who is now 17. Sofia, whose dark hair now has a “white stripe that fell from the spot of her old injury” (322), has transformed from a mischievous child into a demure young woman. While Nina “was prone to express her impatience with the slightest of the world’s imperfections” (321), Sofia believes “that if the earth spun awry upon occasion, it was generally a well-intentioned planet” (321). Noting to Vasily how her youth has gone by “in the blink of an eye” (321), the Count reflects that in old age, “[w]hole seasons seem to pass without leaving the slightest mark on our memory” (322), while they make “the greatest of impressions upon our children” (322). This, he says, is the “celestial balance” (322).

The Count finds Sofia in the ballroom with Viktor Stepanovich, the conductor of the Piazza orchestra, and at first thinks he is seducing her. However, Viktor is merely giving her a piano lesson. The Count is shocked to discover that Sofia is a gifted piano player. When he tells her she plays with exceptional feeling, Sofia says she thinks of her mother as she plays and that she worries about forgetting her.