Page 420 - swanns-way

fine spring evening was drawing to a close, and would force
himself to notice the trees and the sky. But the state of ex-
citement 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 im-
pressions 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 com-
rades’ 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 im-
modesty, 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 remark-
able woman; and in the supremacy which he wielded over a
creature so distinctly inferior to himself there was nothing
that especially flattered him when he heard it proclaimed
to all the ‘faithful’; but since he had observed that, to sev-
eral other men than himself, Odette seemed a fascinating

420 Swann’s Way