Lord Lister No. 0382: De agent van Lenin

A glittering London winter finds the exiled Russian aristocrat Count Stanislaw Stijkof lodged in the opulent Hotel Cecil, his presence barely noted in the brief notices of the city’s elite papers. Curious journalists from the Times, the Gazette and other respectable titles converge on his suite, hoping the count’s peril‑laden escape from Bolshevik Russia will yield a scoop that satisfies a hungry public.

Their plans are interrupted when a flamboyant French correspondent, André Devinard, bursts into the reception with a golden lorgnette and a brash claim to interview the guest. His sudden arrival provokes heated whispers among the British reporters, each wary of sharing the limelight yet eager for the inside story. The uneasy alliance that forms promises a lively, if cramped, exchange of secrets and speculation, setting the stage for a tense encounter that will test both journalistic ambition and the count’s guarded composure.