Miss Klara (Bunin)
Short summary
St. Petersburg, 1910s. Irakly Meladze, a Georgian businessman visiting from Vladikavkaz, was dining at Palkin's restaurant when he noticed a striking brunette dining alone nearby.
After inquiring about her, he learned she was Miss Klara. He waited for her outside and boldly proposed to accompany her. Though initially dismissive, she eventually invited him to her apartment for fifty rubles, with the promise of supper later.
At her apartment, Miss Klara changed into a dressing gown and they drank champagne. When Meladze became aggressive, she resisted his advances. Their encounter turned violent as he attempted to force himself on her.
She sank her teeth into his neck and, throwing her right knee up, struck him with it so terribly in the stomach that he flew under the table, but he leapt up immediately, caught the bottle up from the floor and, as she half-rose, cracked her on the head.
Blood flowed from her mouth as she fell unconscious. Meladze grabbed his belongings and fled. He took an express train to Moscow, then to Rostov, where he was arrested the following evening.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Irakly Meladze dining at Palkins restaurant
Irakly Meladze, a Georgian businessman, was having dinner at Palkin's restaurant in St. Petersburg one January evening. He had traveled from Vladikavkaz to the capital on his father's business matters. As he dined in the crowded hall with a string orchestra playing, he felt pleased to be in the midst of the capital's rich winter life, with the snowy Nevsky Prospect visible through the windows.
After drinking orange-blossom vodka with fatty eel, Meladze was eating a hotpot while repeatedly glancing at a striking brunette dining nearby. He found her exceptionally beautiful and elegant with her high bust and steep hips tightly fitted in a black satin dress, ermine boa, and curved black hat. Her face was heavily powdered, with orange-painted lips and false eyelashes that gave her an imperious look.
As he finished his wood grouse in sour cream, Meladze beckoned a server and asked about the woman. The flunkey winked and informed him she was Miss Klara. Meladze immediately requested his bill. He noticed that Miss Klara was also paying for her meal after drinking white coffee. After carefully counting her change, she rose and walked to the ladies' toilet.
Encounter with Miss Klara and following her home
Meladze hurried to the exit, quickly put on his coat, and waited for Miss Klara on the porch as snow fell thickly around him. When she emerged wearing a seal-fur coat with her hands in an ermine muff, he blocked her path, removed his astrakhan hat, and asked to accompany her.
She emerged with her head tilted imperiously, wearing a roomy seal-fur coat, with her hands held in a large ermine muff. He blocked her way and, bowing, removed his astrakhan hat: "Please allow me to accompany you..."
Miss Klara responded with genteel surprise, calling his approach naive and suggesting he was from the provinces. When Meladze confirmed he was from Vladikavkaz where he and his father had a large business, she seemed to consider his situation. After a moment, she proposed that he come to her place for champagne and then they could have supper somewhere on the Islands, warning that it would be expensive. Meladze gave a fastidious grimace and assured her that money was not an issue.
"Well then, let's be bored together. If you want, come to my place, we can find some champagne there too. And then we'll have supper somewhere on the Islands. Only beware, all that won't come cheap for you."
A cabman, covered in snow, quickly transported them to house number 15 on Ligovka. They rode in silence, with Meladze occasionally holding her by the waist or backside. They climbed to the fourth floor where a single door led to a self-contained apartment.
Miss Klara unlocked the door with a Yale key and turned on the lights. She removed her coat and hat, revealing her raspberry-tinted hair with a center parting. Despite his impatience and growing anger at her slowness, Meladze tried to be courteous, commenting on how cozy her apartment was. She replied indifferently that it was cramped but had all conveniences, including a gas cooker and bathroom, with just two other rooms: a reception room and bedroom.
The violent confrontation and murder
In the reception room, which was carpeted in beaver with old furniture and plush curtains, a lamp burned brightly under a pink shade. Miss Klara left Meladze with an ashtray on a velvet-covered table and disappeared into the bedroom for a long time. He grew increasingly gloomy as he smoked, looking at the paintings on the walls, including a portrait of an officer from Nicholas I's time.
When Miss Klara finally emerged, she wore a black dressing gown embroidered with golden dragons and pink backless slippers on bare feet. She brought champagne and pears, filled two glasses with the pink wine, and sat on Meladze's knees. After taking a sip, she pressed her palm to his mouth when he tried to kiss her neck, telling him they weren't schoolchildren and instructing him to put his money on the table.
"She's already old," he thought, glancing at her porous, chalky face, thickly sprinkled with powder, at her cracked orange lips, at the ugly false eyelashes, at the wide, grey parting in the middle of the flat hair the colour of shoe polish...
Meladze placed his wallet and watch on the table. As Miss Klara ate a pear, he grew bold and opened her dressing gown, revealing her large white body. Though he noted her age, seeing her chalky face and cracked lips, he was overcome with desire at the sight of her body. She slapped his hand painfully and stood up, saying they would have another glass before proceeding.
With blood-filled eyes, Meladze threw himself at her, knocking her to the floor. She dropped the bottle and slapped him hard in the face. He moaned and fell upon her, grabbing her backside with one hand while unbuttoning himself with the other. Miss Klara bit his neck and struck him terribly in the stomach with her knee, sending him under the table. He immediately leapt up, grabbed the bottle from the floor, and struck her on the head as she tried to rise.
With a hiccup she fell onto her back, throwing out her arms and opening her mouth wide – blood flowed from it thickly. He grabbed the watch and wallet from the table and dashed into the hall.
Meladzes escape and arrest
At midnight, Meladze was sitting in an express train. By ten the next morning, he had reached Moscow, and at one o'clock he boarded a train for Rostov from the Ryazan Station. His flight was short-lived, however. After six in the evening of the following day, he was arrested at the buffet bar in the Rostov station.
At midnight he was sitting in an express train, he was in Moscow at ten in the morning, and at one o'clock he boarded a train for Rostov... After six in the evening the next day, by the buffet bar at the station in Rostov, he was arrested.