“In general, the Russian refugees in Paris are hard working people, and have put up with their bad luck far better than one can imagine Englishmen of the same class doing. There are exceptions of course. Boris told me of an exiled Russian duke whom he had once met, who frequented expensive restaurants. The duke would find if there was a Russian officer among the waiters, and, after he dined, call him in a friendly way to the table.
‘Ah’ the duke would say, ‘so you are an old soldier like myself? These are bad days eh? Well, well the Russian soldier fears nothing. And what was your regiment?’
‘The so-and-so sir.’ The waiter would answer.
‘A very gallant regiment. I inspected them in 1912. By the way, I have unfortunately left my notecase at home. A Russian officer will, I know oblige me with 300 francs’.
If the waiter had three hundred francs he would hand it over and, of course, never see it again. The duke made quite a lot in this way. Probably the waiters did not mind being swindled. A duke is a duke, even in exile.”
George Orwell, “Down and Out in Paris and London”, 1933.
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