she had
wished to wound, or else to inflame his senses.

Sometimes he repaired to 'gay' houses, hoping to learn something about
Odette, although he dared not mention her name. "I have a little thing
here, you're sure to like," the 'manageress' would greet him, and he
would stay for an hour or so, talking dolefully to some poor girl who
sat there astonished that he went no further. One of them, who was still
quite young and attractive, said to him once, "Of course, what I should
like would be to find a real friend, then he might be quite certain,
I should never go with any other men again." "Indeed, do you think it
possible for a woman really to be touched by a man's being in love with
her, and never to be unfaithful to him?" asked Swann anxiously. "Why,
surely! It all depends on their characters!" Swann could not help making
the same remarks to these girls as would have delighted the Princesse
des Laumes. To the one who was in search of a friend he said, with a
smile: "But how nice of you, you've put on blue eyes, to go with
your sash." "And you too, you've got blue cuffs on." "What a charming
conversation we are having, for a place of this sort! I'm not boring
you, am I; or keeping you?" "No, I've nothing to do, thank you. If you
bored me I should say so. But I love hearing you talk." "I am highly
flattered.... Aren't we behaving prettily?" he asked the 'manageress,'
who had just looked in. "Why, yes, that's just what I was saying to
myself, how sensibly they're behaving! But that's how it is! People come
to my house now, just to talk. The Prince was telling me, only the other
day, that he's far more comfortable here than with his wife. It seems
that, nowadays, all the society ladies are like that; a perfect scandal,
I call it. But I'll leave you in peace now, I know when I'm not wanted,"
she ended discreetly, and left Swann with the girl who had the blue
eyes. But presently he rose and said good-bye to her. She had ceased to
interest him. She did not know Odette.

The painter having been ill, Dr. Cottard recommended a sea-voyage;
several of the 'faithful' spoke of accompanying him; the Verdurins could
not face the prospect of being left alone in Paris, so first of all
hired, and finally purchased a yacht; thus Odette was constantly going
on a cruise. Whenever she had been away for any length of time, Swann
would feel that he was beginning to detach himself from her, but, as
though this moral distance were proportiona