Page 413 - swanns-way

for the evenings; he was afraid of her growing tired of him
if he visited her during the day as well; at the same time he
was reluctant to forfeit, even for an hour, the place that he
held in her thoughts, and so was constantly looking out for
an opportunity of claiming her attention, in any way that
would not be displeasing to her. If, in a florist’s or a jew-
eller’s window, a plant or an ornament caught his eye, he
would at once think of sending them to Odette, imagining
that the pleasure which the casual sight of them had given
him would instinctively be felt, also, by her, and would in-
crease her affection for himself; and he would order them to
be taken at once to the Rue La pérouse, so as to accelerate
the moment in which, as she received an offering from him,
he might feel himself, in a sense, transported into her pres-
ence. He was particularly anxious, always, that she should
receive these presents before she went out for the evening,
so that her sense of gratitude towards him might give ad-
ditional tenderness to her welcome when he arrived at the
Verdurins’, might even—for all he knew—if the shopkeeper
made haste, bring him a letter from her before dinner, or
herself, in person, upon his doorstep, come on a little ex-
traordinary visit of thanks. As in an earlier phase, when
he had experimented with the reflex action of anger and
contempt upon her character, he sought now by that of
gratification to elicit from her fresh particles of her intimate
feelings, which she had never yet revealed.
Often she was embarrassed by lack of money, and under
pressure from a creditor would come to him for assistance.
He enjoyed this, as he enjoyed everything which could im-

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