n were thirty years older, and had diabetes, there might
be some excuse for his running away like that. He seems to look upon us
all as a joke."

He persuaded himself that the spring-time charm, which he could not go
down to Combray to enjoy, he would find at least on the He des Cygnes
or at Saint-Cloud. But as he could think only of Odette, he would
return home not knowing even if he had tasted the fragrance of the young
leaves, or if the moon had been shining. He would be welcomed by the
little phrase from the sonata, played in the garden on the restaurant
piano. If there was none in the garden, the Verdurins would have taken
immense pains to have a piano brought out either from a private room
or from the restaurant itself; not because Swann was now restored to
favour; far from it. But the idea of arranging an ingenious form of
entertainment for some one, even for some one whom they disliked, would
stimulate them, during the time spent in its preparation, to a momentary
sense of cordiality and affection. Now and then he would remind himself
that another fine spring evening was drawing to a close, and would force
himself to notice the trees and the sky. But the state of excitement
into which Odette's presence never failed to throw him, added to a
feverish ailment which, for some time now, had scarcely left him,
robbed him of that sense of quiet and comfort which is an indispensable
background to the impressions that we derive from nature.

One evening, when Swann had consented to dine with the Verdurins, and
had mentioned during dinner that he had to attend, next day, the annual
banquet of an old comrades' association, Odette had at once exclaimed
across the table, in front of everyone, in front of Forcheville, who was
now one of the 'faithful,' in front of the painter, in front of Cottard:

"Yes, I know, you have your banquet to-morrow; I sha'n't see you, then,
till I get home; don't be too late."

And although Swann had never yet taken offence, at all seriously,
at Odette's demonstrations of friendship for one or other of the
'faithful,' he felt an exquisite pleasure on hearing her thus avow,
before them all, with that calm immodesty, the fact that they saw each
other regularly every evening, his privileged position in her house, and
her own preference for him which it implied. It was true that Swann had
often reflected that Odette was in no way a remarkable woman; and in
the supremacy which he wielded over a crea