Read "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
At 1: 30, in the manager's office of the Metropol Hotel, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov took the chair across the desk from the man with the narrow head and superior demeanor.
When the Count had received the Bishop's summons in the Piazza, he had assumed the matter must be urgent because the messenger had waited for him to finish his demitasse and then led him promptly to the executive suite. But once the Count had been ushered through the manager's door, the Bishop barely glanced up from the papers he was signing. Rather, he waved his pen toward the empty chair in the manner of one who wishes to indicate that he will be with you in a moment.