Page 527 - swanns-way

ginning to think he didn’t want to see me!’
Swann was extremely fond of the Princesse des Laumes,
and the sight of her recalled to him Guermantes, a property
close to Combray, and all that country which he so dear-
ly loved and had ceased to visit, so as not to be separated
from Odette. Slipping into the manner, half-artistic, half-
amorous—with which he could always manage to amuse
the Princess—a manner which came to him quite naturally
whenever he dipped for a moment into the old social atmo-
sphere, and wishing also to express in words, for his own
satisfaction, the longing that he felt for the country:
‘Ah!’ he exclaimed, or rather intoned, in such a way as to
be audible at once to Mme. de Saint-Euverte, to whom he
spoke, and to Mme. des Laumes, for whom he was speak-
ing, ‘Behold our charming Princess! See, she has come up
on purpose from Guermantes to hear Saint Francis preach
to the birds, and has only just had time, like a dear little
tit-mouse, to go and pick a few little hips and haws and put
them in her hair; there are even some drops of dew upon
them still, a little of the hoar-frost which must be making
the Duchess, down there, shiver. It is very pretty indeed, my
dear Princess.’
‘What! The Princess came up on purpose from Guer-
mantes? But that’s too wonderful! I never knew; I’m quite
bewildered,’ Mme. de Saint-Euverte protested with quaint
simplicity, being but little accustomed to Swann’s way of
speaking. And then, examining the Princess’s headdress,
‘Why, you’re quite right; it is copied from... what shall I say,
not chestnuts, no,—oh, it’s a delightful idea, but how can

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