Gruzin

A long-haired, weak-sighted, musically gifted member of Orlov's Thursday circle, son of a respected general, chronically in debt, indifferent to his own repeatedly-shifted government posts, and gently, helplessly devoted to his neglected wife and five children even as he mocks them. Unlike the other guests his kindness toward Zinaida Fyodorovna (he is godfather to her situation only in spirit, though he stands as "kum" -- a familiar, godparent-like address -- to her) seems genuine; he plays Saint-Saëns's "The Swan" for her the evening before Orlov's second disappearance is exposed, and is reported, two years later, to have died of diphtheria.