CK: But when
reading Nabokov I find it useful to wear a pair of skeptical spectacles.
Some game is usually afoot.
There is indeed a game in Ada, but it is
not as cruel as you believe it to be. It's more like Flavita (Russian Scrabble)
played in Ada by Van, Ada and Lucette. Btw., the Flavita set was given
to Marina's children by Baron Klim Avidov. One doesn't have to wear glasses to
recognize in him the man on your photo.
Alexey