Quotation

He paused to contemplate an ice creature that was half tiger, half beaver, with a sable in its mouth, “It’s Babr, an imaginary creature,” a voice said, “It’s on Irkutsk’s coat of arms,“ … === He loved to waltz and occasionally dropped one of his many medals down his partner’s décolletage. A search for the missing medal was always the highlight of the evening, to hear the old man tell it. === It was as if she were standing between a leopard and a jaguar, two variations of the same animal. === “Tatiana is fatally attracted to dangerous stories, and you are attracted to her. It makes for inevitable consequences,…“