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I think there's an understandable misconception about Nabokov's facility with language. English was in fact the first language he could read and write, as his first governess was English. His family was trilingual at home and he grew up speaking Russian, English and French with equal fluency. It wasn't that odd in the circumstances; even the Imperial family spoke English among themselves, as the Tsarina never learned Russian well.
I also overlooked the note about Dolly's dying in childbirth at first, only picking up on it when I referred back midway. But I realized at the end that the reader also should infer Dolly's death in the near future, since Lolita wasn't to be published until after she died. So much for the long life Humbert wished for her!
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