Page 520 - swanns-way

relevance to the sentiment underlying Chopin’s music, in
the direction where Swann was, and, if he moved, divert ac-
cordingly the course of her magnetic smile.
‘Oriane, don’t be angry with me,’ resumed Mme. de Gal-
lardon, who could never restrain herself from sacrificing
her highest social ambitions, and the hope that she might
one day emerge into a light that would dazzle the world, to
the immediate and secret satisfaction of saying something
disagreeable, ‘people do say about your M. Swann that he’s
the sort of man one can’t have in the house; is that true?’
‘Why, you, of all people, ought to know that it’s true,’ re-
plied the Princesse des Laumes, ‘for you must have asked
him a hundred times, and he’s never been to your house
once.’
And leaving her cousin mortified afresh, she broke out
again into a laugh which scandalised everyone who was
trying to listen to the music, but attracted the attention of
Mme. de Saint-Euverte, who had stayed, out of politeness,
near the piano, and caught sight of the Princess now for the
first time. Mme. de Saint-Euverte was all the more delighted
to see Mme. des Laumes, as she imagined her to be still at
Guermantes, looking after her father-in-law, who was ill.
‘My dear Princess, you here?’
‘Yes, I tucked myself away in a corner, and I’ve been hear-
ing such lovely things.’
‘What, you’ve been in the room quite a time?’
‘Oh, yes, quite a long time, which seemed very short; it
was only long because I couldn’t see you.’
Mme. de Saint-Euverte offered her own chair to the Prin-

520 Swann’s Way