Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Describing a game of poker that he played at Chose (Van's English University), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) twice calls Dick C. (a cardsharp) "milord:"

In 1885, having completed his prep-school education, he went up to Chose University in England, where his fathers had gone, and traveled from time to time to London or Lute (as prosperous but not overrefined British colonials called that lovely pearl-gray sad city on the other side of the Channel).

At the end of his commentary to Shade's poem Kinbote (in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions a million photographers:

"And you, what will you be doing with yourself, poor King, poor Kinbote?" a gentle young voice may inquire.

Describing his first meeting with Shade (the poet in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962), Kinbote (Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions a bottle of good college ale with which he would content himself:

Describing the torments of poor mad Aqua (the twin sister of Van’s, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother Marina), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions a lieu de naissance plainly marked X in Aqua's dreams:

Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) begins to perform in variety shows as Mascodagama (when he dances tango on his hands) as a Chose student. Describing his performance, Van mentions Oxford (a women’s college nearby):

Describing a game of poker that he played at Chose (Van’s English University) with Dick C. (a cardsharp) and the French twins, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions green Serenity Court and his slightly overweight conscience: 

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), Daniel Veen (the father of Van's and Ada's half-sister Lucette) was prone to explain at great length — unless sidetracked by a bore-baiter — how in the course of American history an English ‘bull’ in the maiden name of his mother had become a New England ‘bell:’

Describing the Night of the Burning Barn (when he and Ada make love for the first time), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Erasmus Veen (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's great-grandfather, 1760-1852), the inventor of the clockwork luggage carts:

Describing Flavita (the Russian Scrabble), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) says that at chess Ada was not as good as at Flavita and mentions Lalla Rookh chessmen, which not even cretins would want to play with:

Leaving Ardis after his first summer there, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) asks Bouteillan (the French butler at Ardis) not to quote Delille to him:

On a sunny September morning, with the trees still green, but the asters and fleabanes already taking over in ditch and dalk, Van set out for Ladoga, N.A., to spend a fortnight there with his father and three tutors before returning to school in cold Luga, Mayne.