Notes from "A Gentleman in Moscow"

Minus six - The minus six was a form of exile imposed in the Soviet Union during the 1920s, which banned the subject from living in or visiting any of the union's six largest cities as well as border territories. Cities banned:

• Moscow (now in Russia)
• Petrograd (known as Leningrad from 1924, now Saint Petersburg in Russia)
• Kiev (now Kyiv in Ukraine)
• Kharkov (now Kharkiv in Ukraine)
• Yekaterinburg (known as Sverdlovsk from 1924, now Yekaterinburg in Russia)
• Tiflis (now Tbilisi in Georgia)

Drosselmeyer is a one-eyed hotel cat named for the mysterious magician-like figure in Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker.

Admiral Stepan Makarov

Stepan Osipovich Makarov (1849 – 1904) was a Russian vice-admiral, commander in the Imperial Russian Navy, oceanographer, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books. He was a pioneer of insubmersibility theory (the concept of counter-flooding to stabilise a damaged ship), and developer of a Cyrillic-based semaphore alphabet. A proponent of icebreaker use, he supervised the first polar icebreaker construction. Makarov also designed several ships.

Makarov saw service in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) as a captain, and ordered the first successful attack with a self propelled torpedo. He served again in the Russo-Japanese War as vice-admiral and was assigned to the defense of Port Arthur, where he was hailed as a competent and aggressive commander. On 13 April 1904 Makarov led his flotilla to the aid of a destroyer that had been ambushed by the Japanese. Makarov was killed in the subsequent battle when his flagship Petropavlovsk struck a naval mine and the ship's magazine detonated. Japanese divers found Makarov's body after the war and gave him a burial at sea, and as a mark of good will Japanese officers led Makarov's funeral in Port Arthur. 

In 1946, after the Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin, the village of Shiritoru on that island was forcibly depopulated of its Japanese inhabitants and renamed Makarov in his honor.

Neman River

Page 147 - "Ah, Napoleon, perhaps you would never have prevailed in your quest for mother Russia; but 10° warmer and at least you might have reached home with half your forces intact, instead of losing another 300,000 men between the gates of Moscow and the banks of the Neman river."

His Serene Highness Prince Mikhail Kutuzov Smolensky - Roman Volkov

Another hotel cat is named after 

Field Marshal Kutuzov (1745 – 1813). He served as a military officer and a diplomat under the reign of three Romanov monarchs: Empress Catherine II, and Emperors Paul I and Alexander I. Kutuzov was shot in the head twice while fighting the Turks (1774 and 1788) and survived the serious injuries seemingly against all odds. He defeated Napoleon as commander-in-chief using attrition warfare in the Patriotic War of 1812.

Kazan Cathedral, Saint Petersburg

Previous post about this book.

1929 Packard Cable Special Indy Car

1929 Packard Cable Special #18 driven by Ralph Hepburn - Václav Zapadlík 

Twelve of the cars in the 1929 Indianapolis 500 were front wheel drive. Of the 33 cars in the starting field only half a dozen were not Miller cars.

1929 Packard Cable Special Race Car #18, driven by Ralph Hepburn

Miller 91 Packard Cable Special race car

The engine in this car was a supercharged straight eight with dual over head camshafts. It only displaced 1.5 liters which is the same as 91 cubic inches, hence the 91 label. Pistons were only two and a half inches in diameter. Simanaitis Says has more information about the engines and the superchargers.

Leon Duray in the Miller 91 Indy Special

SS Yih Lee

SS Yih Lee berthed at Dinghai, Zhoushan, China, circa 1929

Poking around, I turned up a couple of sites devoted to old Chinese steamships:

• Old China Coast Ships
• Eddie Steamship

Brough Superior 1924 Bert Le Vack Racer

Brough Superior 1924 Bert Le Vack Racer 1000cc

From Brough Superior:

S.S.100 and the Challenge for World Speed Records

In 1924, riding Brough Superior’s latest model, the S.S.100, le Vack attempted the motorcycle world land-speed record at Arpajon, France (later on a straight road near Montlhéry). He achieved an astonishing average speed of 119.05 mph (approx. 191.5 km/h), breaking the absolute motorcycle speed record of the time. This sensational feat was celebrated as the moment the “100-mph barrier” was shattered. In that same year alone, le Vack set a total of nine world speed records. Later in 1929, riding an improved Brough Superior machine, he pushed the record to 126.75 mph (207.33 km/h), reclaiming the title of world’s fastest. These achievements firmly established the S.S.100 as the fastest motorcycle of its era.

Bert Le Vack

Brough Superior has appeared here before.

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials - Netflix Series

Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials | Official Trailer | Netflix
Netflix

It's got the look and feel of nice, classic murder mystery, but the story is a bit clumsy.  We do have a cute girl playing the lead, and she drives a cool old car, a Lagonda:

1932 Lagonda 2 Litre

1932 Lagonda 2 Litre

This car looks a whole lot like the one in the show, though it's a little tough to tell, it only shows up on screen for a few seconds at a time. Ask Google to identify the car from a screenshot and it says it's a Blower Bently, i.e. James Bond's original car. I had a bit of a time sorting it out. In some scenes you see that the driver's door is cut down, but when you see the other side of the car the door full height. Nobody actually built cars, with different size doors, did they? As you can see from the photos, they did.  Anyway, it's not the correct car for the story, the show is set in 1920-25 and this one is from 1932.

There are a bunch of guns in this show. We have one scene where the swells, both men and women, are out shooting pheasants with shotguns, and they all seem to be competent enough. But then somebody gets killed (not by shotgun) and now one of the kids sends his butler out to procure a pistol. What kind of pistol does he want? 'One that shoots bullets with alacrity and has a stylish handle', just so we know the caliber of the people we are working with.

The story is that a man from Cameroon has invented a process that makes steel very much stronger, and all the European powers are competing for the rights to his patent.  Seems unlikely, but history is full of such unlikely stories, so I went looking for one that might be the basis for this. Found a variety of African-American inventors, and a couple from Cameroon, but nothing that sounded like it might have been earth-shaking, which is what we need for this story.

Cast

Actor	Surname	Title	Character	Surname
Mia	McKenna-Bruce	Lady	Eileen "Bundle"	Brent	Our girl
Edward	Bluemel		Jimmy	Thesiger	one of the boys
Iain	Glen	Lord		Caterham	deceased father of our girl
Martin	Freeman	Superintendent		Battle	Scotland Yard
Helena	Bonham Carter	Lady		Caterham	Our girl's mother
Hughie	O'Donnell		Bill	Eversleigh	one of the boys
Nyasha	Hatendi	Dr	Cyril	Matip	Inventor from Cameroon
Alex	Macqueen		George	Lomax	Engineer
Nabhaan	Rizwan		Ronny	Devereux	one of the boys
Corey	Mylchreest		Gerry	Wade	one of the boys, our girl is stricken with him
Dorothy	Atkinson	Lady	Maria	Coote	old biddie, deft hand with a shotgun
Mark Lewis	Jones	Sir	Oswald	Coote	old bat, deft hand with a shotgun
Tim	Preston		Rupert 'Pongo'	Bateman	Coote's butler
Ella-Rae	Smith		Loraine	Wade	Gerry's sister
Guy	Siner		Tredwell		Caterham's butler
Ella	Bruccoleri		Socks
Tristan	Gemmill	Doctor		Jackman
Liz	White		Emily
Josef	Davies		Alfred

3 episodes, one hour each.

There are some cool scenes, like this one of Barmouth Bridge.

Barmouth Bridge - Episode 3, just after the 20 minute mark.

Barmouth Bridge is a half-mile long, single-track wooden railway viaduct across the estuary of the River Mawddach built in 1867.

Barmouth Bridge

Barmouth Bridge location on the Irish Sea

The estuary is within Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia, which sounds like something out of a fairy tale.

Being as this is an Agatha Christie murder mystery, we have a giant, old English manor house.

Badminton House

Badminton House is the stand-in for the fictional Chimneys. This is also where we got badminton:

Whether or not the sport of badminton was re-introduced from British India or was invented during the hard winter of 1863 by the children of the eighth duke in the Great Hall (where the featherweight shuttlecock would not mar the life-size portraits of horses by John Wootton, as the tradition of the house has it), it was popularised at the house, hence the sport's name.

1923 Dunelt 499cc Supercharged Two Stroke Motorcycle

1923 Dunelt 499cc Two Stroke Motorcycle

Everything here comes from Historic Vehicles' page about Dunelt Motorcyles and their unusual supercharged, two-stroke engine:

Dunelt two-stroke cylinder with stepped piston – Montagu Cars and Motor Cycles

The patented Dunelt 499cc engine had a cylinder barrel with different upper and lower bore diameters, in which slid a ‘stepped’ piston with two matching diameters.

The pistons were double diameter and also bi-metallic, with an iron/steel section cast in for the ring grooves – not cheap to make.

Where a standard-bore engine had 499cc-limited mixture induction and transfer ability, the Dunelt engine could suck into its crankcase and transfer into the cylinder about 770cc of charge petrol-air mixture.

A deflector piston ensured that most of that mixture remained in the combustion chamber.

This basic form of supercharging had the desired effect and, in conjunction with a heavy flywheel, earned the Dunelt a reputation for being a torquey, ‘slogging’ engine that lent itself to sidecar applications, including commercial service and delivery tasks.

That wasn't the only unusual feature of the engine. It also had a one piece, forged crankshaft and a one piece connecting rod. Go read the whole thing. 

Also, a Dunelt motorcycle was the first to cross the desert from Cairo to Siwa Oasis and back in 1924.

Siwa Oasis

Siwa Oasis is 350 miles from Cairo as the crow flies.

The oasis is in a deep depression that reaches 62 ft below sea level. . . . The depression is fertile due to both natural flowing artesian wells and irrigation. . . . The oasis supports the cultivation of thousands of date palms and olives. - Wikipedia

1921 Raleigh 700cc Flat Twin

1921 Raleigh 700cc Flat Twin

From the other side you can better see the layout of the engine:

Raleigh 1921 Flat twin 700 cc 2 cyl sv

William Comery, Raleigh’s chief engineer and Works manager, developed a luxury machine that had many novel  features. 

It had a longitudinally placed  flat twin side valve engine with outside flywheel, fully enclosed all-chain transmission, Brampton Biflex front forks and leaf sprung rear frame. 

Between 1917 and 1919 tests were carried out with a prototype and in November 1919 the definitive model was presented to the eager  public. 

Engine capacity was increased to 698 cc (the prototype had 654 cc) and the gearbox housing was now an integral part of the frame. 

Another interesting feature of this Raleigh is  that it has  twin springs to each valve to ensure efficient cam profile following. - Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles

Terrot Motorcycles

1928 Terrot Motorcycle

Wikipedia knows something about Terrot Motorcycles:

Terrot was a motorcycle manufacturer in Dijon, France.

Charles Terrot and Wilhelm Stücklen had founded a machinery factory in Cannstatt, Germany in 1862, and Terrot added a branch factory in Dijon in 1887, and in 1890 the Dijon factory added bicycles to its products.

In 1902, the Dijon factory made its first motorcycle. It was powered by a 2 bhp engine supplied by Zédel of Switzerland. After that, Terrot built motorcycles with engines from 173cc to 498cc from proprietary engine suppliers including the Swiss manufacturers MAG and Dufeaux, the English makers Chater-Lea and JAP along with Givaudan engines from Lyon, France.

Terrot produced its first twin-cylinder model in 1905. From 1915 onwards, it supplied 500cc machines to the French Army. In 1921, Terrot launched new two-stroke models: the 175cc model L and the 267cc model E. In 1925, the latter model was developed into the 250cc model F. From 1923 onwards, Terrot also produced four-stroke models. First with a 350cc JAP engine. From 1927 onwards, also with a 500cc engine. In 1926 Terrot began to make its own four-stroke engines. In 1929, the company produced its 100,000th motorcycle.

After the Great Depression a new class of vehicles, motorized bicycles, was introduced.

In 1932, Terrot entered motorcycle racing and won a triple championship, winning the French 250cc, 350cc and 500cc classes.

In the Second World War Terrot supplied the French Army with sidecars: the model GT from 350cc to 750cc and the model DT from 500cc to 750cc.

In 1951, Terrot produced its first motor scooter, called VMS. In the 1950s, the company focused on the market for mopeds and lightweight motorcycles.

In 1958, Peugeot took over the company. In 1961, production ended at the former Terrot factory.

Norton CS1

1928 Norton CS1

From Wikipedia:

The CS1 was a Norton motorcycle between 1927 and 1939. Originally built as a TT racer, and Norton's first design of an overhead cam engine, it proved successful as a TT Replica road bike.

After the early 1930s redesign of Norton's cammy models by Arthur Carroll, the CS1 became an upmarket road bike. The 500 cc CS1 and its smaller sibling 350 cc CJ1 continued on until the outbreak of WW2 in 1939.

Many later touring CS1 models were upgraded for racing, by adding and subtracting all the optional racing bits for Internationals. The Norton catalog had a long list of such parts available. The identifying feature of 1930s CS1 Models is the stub fitted carburettor - Inter models had a bolt-on TT carburettor.

Development

The Norton Camshaft Senior Model 1 (CS1) engine was designed by Walter Moore in 1927, based on the Norton ES2 pushrod engine and re-using many parts. The frame was a new full cradle design and with a close-ratio kickstart-less gearbox, 8-inch brakes, Amal TT carburettor, Lucas Racing magneto and a 3-gallon petrol tank. The CS1 was the standard for racing Nortons for the next 20 years. The magneto was moved to the rear of the engine and the bottom end was a traditional Norton design, but in the side of the crankcase was the oil pump housing and a pair of bevel gears to drive the long shaft which ran in a tube up the side of the engine to a second pair of gears driving the overhead camshaft.

Racing success

Alec Bennett riding the CS1 on its first race won the Isle of Man Senior TT in 1927 and Stanley Woods set the fastest lap at 70.99 mph before retiring.

Unknown rider Tim Hunt won the Amateur TT in following year on a Norton CS1, setting a new TT record. He later used the same motorcycle to win the gold medal in the Scottish Six Days Trial.

In 1928 a Junior version of the CS1 with a 348cc engine and designated the Norton CJ was entered for the Isle of Man TT. The bore and stroke of this engine was 71 x 88 mm and it looked promising but 1928 proved to be an unlucky year for Norton, as there were technical problems with Walter Moore's redesigned cambox and only one major race was won that year. 1929 also went badly with reliability problems and only one win in the Spanish GP of 1929.

In March 1931 on Pendine Sands Joe Craig and Tim Hunt achieved a best speed on the CS1 of 118 mph. Also in 1931 the Norton CS1 took the first five places in Junior and Senior events, starting what was to prove Norton's most successful period, and until the end of the 1930s Norton dominated international events with wins in both classes throughout the decade. Tim Hunt became the first rider to win two TT races in one week, with success in the Junior TT Race in 3 h 34 min 21 s at an average speed of 73.4 mph and also the Senior TT Race in 3 h 23 min 28 s at an average speed of 77.90 mph.

1928 Norton CS1 racer machine as found
More old bikes here

Kingpin 1928 Norton CS1

Kingpin has several pages about restoration work on this bike.

1928 CS1 Norton
Vintage Norton Motorcycles

Water Cooled Indian

Water Cooled Indian V-Twin Board Track Racer

Well, that's what it looks like. Google, for once, knew nothing. The label on the jigsaw puzzle calls it a fake.

Brough Superior

Hand Built - Brough Superior
Hoxtonmoto

From Wikipedia:

Brough Superior motorcycles, sidecars, and motor cars were made by George Brough in his Brough Superior works on Haydn Road in Nottingham, England, from 1919 to 1940. The motorcycles were dubbed the "Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles" by H. D. Teague of The Motor Cycle newspaper. Approximately 3000 motorcycles were made in the 21 years of production; around a third of that production still exists. T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") owned eight of these motorcycles and died from injuries sustained when he crashed number seven; the eighth was on order.

In 1940, the Second World War brought an end to production as the factory was engaged on war work, completing crankshafts for Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. After hostilities had ceased there were no suitable engines available so the company was wound up.

Prices for these motorcycles ranged from £100 to £185 in the 1920s and 1930s.

Gold £4.24 in 1925, so £100 translates (according to my gold standard) as $80,000 in today's Monopoly Money. A little spendy for a sport bike, but possible. It's no longer in the province of the very rich, which kind of implies that society as a whole is considerably richer than it was in 1925. Which reminds me of this video clip.

Brough Superior circa 1930

1922 Brough Superior Mark I

Sum dood bought the name and slapped it on new fangled sport bike. It ain't the same at all.

Ribbons of Glass

Corning Glass Ribbon Machine, 1928

Saw this image on Construction Physics and the title intrigued me, so off to Google I go, and look what I found:


The Ribbon Machine: A Corning invention that revolutionized how lightbulbs were made
Corning Incorporated

This machine is 75 feet long. While this particular machine has been retired, there are similar machines still in use. Worldwide, annual light bulb production is around two billion bulbs, a substantial portion these days are LEDs.

1928 Neander K500

1928 Neander K500

The story from Mecum Auctions:

A stunning 1928 Neander K500, this motorcycle is surely among the most remarkable and futuristic ever produced in series. The Neander was the design of visionary German Ernst Neumann, who made his reputation as a commercial artist in Munich before moving to Paris around 1900. There, he became interested in vehicles after meeting important figures in the emerging motoring industry and added the nom-de-plume Neander (“new man” in Greek) to his name. He was inspired by new materials and unorthodox solutions to technical problems of motorcycle and automotive chassis design, and he built a series of prototype motorcycles using steel “beam” frames that proved very light and effective. He switched to using lightweight pressed-aluminum beam frames in the early 1920s, steered by forks that swung back and forth using a spring box at the steering head. In 1926, he founded Neander Motorfahrzeug GmbH and went into production using a pressed-channel-steel frame that was cadmium plated and housed a variety of motors from small 122cc Villiers two-strokes to 350cc and 500cc single-cylinder engines by Küchen and large V-twins by JAP and Motosacoche.

All Neander motorcycles had amazingly futuristic styling using an egg-shaped fuel tank with an attached curved, padded seat and very clean lines overall. As almost all other motorcycles of the late 1920s used multi-tube frames and forks with cobbled-up styling, the Neander looked amazingly futuristic in its day, and it still looks fresh today. They also possessed excellent handling using their pressed-steel chassis, and they were successful in competition, although there was no factory support from such a small company. On the street, Neanders have a very comfortable, stable and predictable ride. In 1929, the Opel automobile factory licensed the Neander design and built it as the Opel Motoclub, while Neander continued to produce his self-named machines as well. It’s estimated around 2,000 Neanders were built, with more built by Opel.

This 1930 Neander K500 uses a 500cc Küchen engine with a shaft-driven single overhead camshaft controlling three valves—two inlet and one exhaust. The K500 engine a very advanced and beautifully made motor from an esteemed German designer, who later moved to Zundapp to design the company’s famous K600 flat twin and K800 flat four. This Neander has a beautiful restoration and is in excellent, correct condition. It is a remarkably advanced motorcycle for one produced in the 1920s, and a highly coveted collectible.

 

1920 Oldsmobile Truck

Vintage Oldsmobile Delivery Truck

Did not find much information about this truck. It appears to reside in Ohio. Looking at other old Oldsmobile trucks, this one appears to be a 1920 model. Wikipedia tells us that Oldsmobile introduced a six cylinder engine in 1920, but looking at the short hood on this I suspect it is a four cylinder engine.

From Mac's Motor City Garage:

In 1919, the automaker made its next serious run at the commercial vehicle market with the Oldsmobile Economy Truck. Rated at one to two tons, the Economy was extensively advertised in the living-room magazines of the day and marketed primarily to farmers and merchants. Under the hood was an overhead-valve four of 224 cubic inches with 40 hp that was shared with some Olds passenger cars, paired with a conventional three-speed gearbox. Geared for pulling with a double-reduction rear axle, the vehicle was limited to 24 mph. Available as a chassis, a chassis and cab, or an open express, the Economy Truck was offered through 1924 and more than 16,000 were produced.

The Hand That Keeps the World Informed

The Hand That Keeps the World Informed

This image shows up in the Linotype video and I thought it was pretty cool. I want to hang a copy on my wall. It comes from the book The Manual of Linotype Typography, which is available online. There are a couple of copies for sale out there.

Bugatti

1929 Bugatti Type 43 Grand Sport

Bugattis have made several appearances here.

The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars - Notes

The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars by Maurice Dekobra is an entertaining story about Prince Seliman, a rich, sophisticated dude who goes gamboling across Europe in the company of beautiful women, some of whom he takes to bed, or vice versa. He signs on as secretary to the star of our story, Lady Diana Wynham (the Madonna) just to have something to do. She's beautiful, and he's handsome, but for some reason there is no sexual attraction between the two. And where does this title come from? There is no clue until we get to the bottom of page 95 where Madam Mouravieff lets loose with this tirade:

"I know what I know, Prince. Even if he were capable of resisting the temptation, I would still be suspicious of those beautiful English women who travel, those sleeping-car pets who carry a Pekinese in their arms and a lover at their beck and call. I know them, those emancipated females, whose souls are studded with gems from Cartier's and whose bodies are accessible to any sort of voluptuous pleasure. They would eat snobbery out of the hand of a leper and sacrifice their standing to astonish the gallery. Their colossal conceit bulges like a goître in the centre of their otherwise emaciated hearts. Their epicureanism intoxicates them. They are above conventions. They laugh at middle class morals. They prod prejudices with their fingers and they lift their skirts in the face of disconcerted virtue."

Okaaaay then. The Madonna is a jet-set playgirl, or an international slut, depending on how you view such behavior. Of course she's not in the jet-set, that would not happen for another 50 years, so she has to make do with sleeping cars in trains. Probably a lot more comfortable.

Prince Seliman might be a prototype for James Bond, except he is far too trusting. He travels to Batoum, Georgia, thinking he is going to be perfectly safe, but Georgia is in the hands of the Reds and he gets thrown in the slammer and comes within a hairsbreadth of being executed. Silly boy.

The book has some wonderful passages and a bunch of furrin words and phrases. While I was reading I was sometimes inclined to make some notes. Here they are:

Chapter 7 An Angel Needs a Valet

• Page 90 top. 
• Dr. Otto Kupfer, Zahnart (Dentist)
• Fraulein Erna Dickerhoff, Gesangsunterricht (Singing lessons)
• Page 92 top.  
• "That depends on your definition of honesty. Have you the 18th century point of view? Or do you think along the 20th century lines?" I still haven't figured out what he means by this.

Chapter 8 The Proverbial Seventh Heaven

• Page 110 "a beige coat trimmed with skunk fur". Skunk fur? Is that a real thing. Apparently so.
• Page 112 "Our two glasses of Chartreuse danced merrily with the motion of the train." I seem to remember my parents having a bottle of it. I thought it was sweet, but I don't actually remember tasting it. I might have to get a bottle.
• Page 113 "Two real tziganes, with the faces of ex-convicts, were playing softly." tzigane - Hungarian gypsy.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
before being damaged in WW2

• Page 114 "Marvelous dreams in the shadow of the Church of the Memory of Wilhelm the First."
• Page 115 
• Nicklolaia - probably Nikolaya Ostrovskogo in Russia. See map.
• Piraeus Greece. See map.
• Page 116
• Kaffee Franz - just a coffee shop
• Weiner Abendblatt - newspaper
• Bretzel - pretzel
• moka - coffee
• Haluschka - a pasta dish with curd or sheep's cheese and bacon cubes
• Page 117 Heidsick Monopole - A brand of champagne. Monopole just means there is only one company that makes it.

Map

Chapter 9 Wind From The West

• page 119 Budapest, Brasov, Bucharest, Constanza - stops on the Orient Express from Berlin to Constantinople. See map.

Chapter 16 Ohi Djarrardi

• Page 207 
• Palais d'Hiver - Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia
• Gobelins - French dyer of scarlet cloth
• Kchessinkaia - Ballerina
• Smolny Institute - School for girls in Saint Petersburg, Russia
• Page 209 dressing for dinner at Ciro's - fancy restaurant in Monaco
• Page 213 'Saint Vincent de Paul of Cook's Tourist Agency'
• St Vincent de Paul - 17th century French Catholic Saint
• Cook's Tourist Agency - big time travel agency

Chapter 17 Scotch Thistles Sometimes Prick

• Page 214 Locke Lamond - Lake in Scotland
• Page 215 
• Rob Roy - a Scottish outlaw, who later became a folk hero.
• Wallace Island - Small island in Lake Lamond possibly named for William Wallace, one of the leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence
• Page 216 Ben Lomond - hill in Scotland
• Page 218 'Our Jury has not for criminals, even when they act under the impulse of passion, the stupid indulgence of French juries, which by acquitting guilty persons, encourage the abuse of revolvers and knives.'
• Page 220
• '. . . tea-rose déshabillé trimmed with white fur.' - a negligee.
• "The Lady of the Lake." - mythical enchantress from tales of King Arthur
• Page 221 
• ". . . Patou continues to make stunning models, and" - French fashion house
• "Guerlain such heavenly perfumes." - French perfume house
• Page 222 Countess of March, known as Agnes the Black - 14th century Scottish hero
• Page 222 demagogy - rabble rousing
• Page 223 "You know that I prefer the sparkle of champagne to the dregs of port and the silent language of love to the eloquence of the flesh." - ???
• Page 224 "You will soon be rich again. And nothing else matters very much." - Really?
• Page 224 ". . . admirable Raeburn hung above the immense sofa." - 18th century Scottish portrait painter
• Page 225 ". . . the metamorphosis of nature."
• Page 226 arrière-pensée - a concealed thought or intention; an ulterior motive.

Chapter 18 Resolutions May Be Broken

• Page 230 Harry Lauder's popular songs - YouTube playlist
• Page 230 propitious solitude - favorable state of being alone
• Page 234 our S. R. in London - Solicitor Rex - criminal prosecutor

Chapter 19 Eternity Explains Everything

• Page 239 de trop - not wanted; unwelcome.

Chapter 20 The Madonna Of The Sleeping Cars

• Page 246 Josephstadt - suburb of Vienna
• Page 247 The Garden of Hesperides - a world from Greek mythology
Page 247 midinette - a seamstress or assistant in a Parisian fashion house
• Page 248 mon chevalier errant - my knight straying from the proper course
• Page 248 the virgins of Correggio - The Assumption of the Virgin is a fresco by the Italian Late Renaissance artist Antonio da Correggio decorating the dome of the Cathedral of Parma, Italy.

Afterward

• Page page 253 Destiny's Bazaar - the vast array of possibilities that may become available in the future