Page 523 - swanns-way

verted commas, a little affectation to which the Guermantes
set were addicted.
‘You think not, eh! She’s a regular little peach, though,’
said the General, whose eyes never strayed from Mme. de
Cambremer. ‘Don’t you agree with me, Princess?’
‘She thrusts herself forward too much; I think, in so
young a woman, that’s not very nice—for I don’t suppose
she’s my generation,’ replied Mme. des Laumes (the last word
being common, it appeared, to Gallardon and Guermantes).
And then, seeing that M. de Froberville was still gazing at
Mme. de Cambremer, she added, half out of malice towards
the lady, half wishing to oblige the General: ‘Not very nice...
for her husband! I am sorry that I do not know her, since
she seems to attract you so much; I might have introduced
you to her,’ said the Princess, who, if she had known the
young woman, would most probably have done nothing of
the sort. ‘And now I must say good night, because one of my
friends is having a birthday party, and I must go and wish
her many happy returns,’ she explained, modestly and with
truth, reducing the fashionable gathering to which she was
going to the simple proportions of a ceremony which would
be boring in the extreme, but at which she was obliged to
be present, and there would be something touching about
her appearance. ‘Besides, I must pick up Basin. While I’ve
been here, he’s gone to see those friends of his—you know
them too, I’m sure,—who are called after a bridge—oh, yes,
the Iénas.’
‘It was a battle before it was a bridge, Princess; it was a
victory!’ said the General. ‘I mean to say, to an old soldier

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