Page 444 - swanns-way

match-making, who would invite Forcheville to come with
Odette to his studio. He could see Odette, in a dress far too
smart for the country, ‘for she is so vulgar in that way, and,
poor little thing, she is such a fool!’
He could hear the jokes that Mme. Verdurin would make
after dinner, jokes which, whoever the ‘bore’ might be at
whom they were aimed, had always amused him because he
could watch Odette laughing at them, laughing with him,
her laughter almost a part of his. Now he felt that it was
possibly at him that they would make Odette laugh. ‘What
a fetid form of humour!’ he exclaimed, twisting his mouth
into an expression of disgust so violent that he could feel
the muscles of his throat stiffen against his collar. ‘How, in
God’s name, can a creature made in His image find any-
thing to laugh at in those nauseating witticisms? The least
sensitive nose must be driven away in horror from such stale
exhalations. It is really impossible to believe that any human
being is incapable of understanding that, in allowing herself
merely to smile at the expense of a fellow-creature who has
loyally held out his hand to her, she is casting herself into a
mire from which it will be impossible, with the best will in
the world, ever to rescue her. I dwell so many miles above
the puddles in which these filthy little vermin sprawl and
crawl and bawl their cheap obscenities, that I cannot pos-
sibly be spattered by the witticisms of a Verdurin!’ he cried,
tossing up his head and arrogantly straightening his body.
‘God knows that I have honestly attempted to pull Odette
out of that sewer, and to teach her to breathe a nobler and
a purer air. But human patience has its limits, and mine is

444 Swann’s Way