Irony in Grossman's VSE TECHET

[Robert Chandler]

Dear all,

I am unsure how to read the last sentence of this passage.  I don’t think it
is ironical, but I am not sure.

Завидя  его,  два раздевальщика  выбежали  из-за  барьера, пришептывая:
"Пожалте,  пожалте",  - и,  похрапывая как жеребцы, в нетерпении тянулись к
богатым  пинегинским  доспехам. Глаза  у  них  были зоркие,  хорошие глаза
рысистых   умных   русских ребят  из  раздевалки  интуристского ресторана,
умевших  точно запомнить, кто был да как одет, что сказал невзначай. Но уж к
Пинегину  с его  депутатским  значком  они  относились всей душой, открыто,
почти как к непосредственному начальнику.

No uzh k Pineginu s ego deputatskim znachkom oni otnosilis’ vsei dushoi,
otkryto, pochti kak k neposredstvennomu nachal’niku.

And are they open with him BECAUSE of his deputatskii znachok, or IN SPITE
of it?  (And am I right in thinking that this means he is a deputy to the
Supreme Soviet?)

Here is a very tentative first attempt at a translation:  ‘They were
observant, clever lynx-eyed Russian boys from an Intourist restaurant
cloakroom – boys with a precise memory for who had been where, what he had
been wearing and what he had happened to say.  But they were entirely open
with Pinegin, treating him, with his Deputy's badge, almost as if he were
their immediate superior.’

Best Wishes,

Robert

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