Madrid (Bunin)
Short summary
Moscow, presumably 1910s. On a late evening, a well-dressed man met a young prostitute on Tverskoy Boulevard. After a brief conversation, he took her to his room at the Madrid hotel.
The girl introduced herself as Nina, then admitted her real name was Polya. After their intimate encounter, she fell asleep. The man woke her, insisting she stay until morning. They shared Madeira wine and apples while talking.
Polya revealed her story: after her father's death at a railway station, she came to Moscow to find her father's cousin Mur, who had become a prostitute. With nowhere else to go, Polya was drawn into the same profession.
"Of course, she's ruined me, but did she wish me any evil? There's no point even talking about it. Maybe, God grant, I'll find some job in rooms too, only I certainly won't give the job up, and certainly won't let anyone near me..."
The narrator promised to consider helping her find legitimate work. Polya expressed profound gratitude, saying she would bow at his feet. The man made plans to see her again the next day, feeling both compassion and bewilderment at her childlike innocence despite her circumstances.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The chance meeting on Tverskoy Boulevard
On a late evening, a man was walking along Tverskoy Boulevard in Moscow by moonlight when a young woman approached him. She was wearing a small muff and a round astrakhan fur hat tilted to one side. Upon reaching him, she stopped and asked if he wanted her company. The man observed her carefully, noting her small stature, snub nose, broad cheekbones, and eyes that shone in the nocturnal half-light.
"D'you wanna share my company?"
He took a look: small, snub-nosed, with rather broad cheekbones, eyes shining in the nocturnal half-light, a nice smile, timid, her little voice pure in the quiet, in the frosty air…
He agreed to her proposition, and they negotiated a price of two roubles - one for her services and one for spending money. When she asked where he lived, he told her it was nearby at the Madrid rooms on Tverskaya Street.
Getting acquainted on the way to the Madrid rooms
As they walked to the hotel, the man asked the young woman about herself. She explained that she usually went out with two friends, Mur and Anelya, who lived with her. That evening, her friends had been picked up by shop assistants while she had been left alone all evening. She mentioned that men typically preferred plumper women or someone like Anelya, who was thin but tall and cheeky, drank heavily, and could sing like a gypsy.
When the man asked her name, she initially said Nina but then admitted it was Polya. She spoke fondly of a Jewish card sharp who had taken her to the Madrid rooms before. Despite the man's irritation at her continued references to this person, she described him in detail - his consumption, burning eyes, dry lips, and sunken chest. The card sharp had eventually left for Kiev, promising to return with gifts for her.
At the hotel room: initial interaction
When they arrived at the hotel, the desk was unattended, with room keys hanging on a board. Polya was surprised that the keys were left unguarded. They went up a steep staircase and along a narrow, dimly lit corridor to room number five. Polya noted that her card sharp had stayed in room fifteen on the second floor, which irritated the man further.
Inside the room, Polya removed her hat and coat, and struggled to take off her overshoes. The man helped her, kissing her bare leg above the knee. She stood on the rug in just her stockings, appearing touchingly reduced in height. When she was ready, he turned off the light and joined her in bed. She pressed against him, warning him not to tickle her neck or she would scream.
An hour or so later she was fast asleep. Lying next to her, he gazed into the semi-darkness, mixed with the dim light from the street, thinking with irresolvable bewilderment: how on earth can it be that she'll go off somewhere towards morning?
Intimate moments and conversation over wine
About an hour later, Polya fell asleep. The man lay beside her, contemplating her situation with bewilderment. He couldn't comprehend how she could live with "bitches" above a laundry and go out every evening to earn money from strangers. He woke her by touching her bare shoulder, and she startled, thinking she needed to leave.
He insisted she stay until morning and offered her Madeira wine. He brought apples and the bottle from the window sill, and they ate, drank, and kissed. Polya compared the Madeira favorably to port wine, which she claimed always smelled of cork. The man asked if she would come to see him off at the station when he eventually left for St. Petersburg. She was surprised by his planned departure but promised to visit him exclusively from then on.
He outlined plans for the next day - they would have lunch together, then she would go home to reassure her roommates before returning to him for dinner at Patrikeyev's. Polya suggested they could also visit the Eldorado cinema to see a film called "The Fugitive Corpse." As they prepared to sleep, Polya began explaining how she had come to her current situation.
Final reflections as she sleeps
Polya revealed that Mur was her father's cousin. Her father had been a coupler at the goods station in Serpukhov who died when his chest was crushed between buffers. Her mother had died when Polya was small, leaving her alone in the world. She had come to Moscow to find Mur, only to discover that Mur was no longer working as a chambermaid but was now a prostitute living with Anelya.
"My dad was a coupler at the goods station in Serpukhov, he had his chest crushed there on the buffers, and Mum had died while I was still small, so I was left alone in all the world, and I came to her in Moscow..."
Mur had taken Polya in and eventually persuaded her to become a prostitute as well. Despite acknowledging that Mur had "ruined" her, Polya expressed gratitude, wondering where she would have gone alone in Moscow. She expressed hope of finding legitimate work, perhaps as a chambermaid, where she could live on tips without having to sell herself. The man promised to consider helping her find such a position, and she expressed profound gratitude.
"I'd bow down at your feet!"
"To make the idyll absolutely complete…"
"What?"
"No, nothing, I'm only half awake… Sleep."
"Righ' away, righ' away. I just got caught up thinking about things some'ow…"