Page 558 - swanns-way

Barrière,—struck him so cruel a blow that he recoiled in-
stinctively from it and turned his head away. Illuminated, as
though by a row of footlights, in the new surroundings in
which it now appeared, that word ‘marble,’ which he had
lost the power to distinguish, so often had it passed, in print,
beneath his eyes, had suddenly become visible once again,
and had at once brought back to his mind the story which
Odette had told him, long ago, of a visit which she had paid
to the Salon at the Palais d’Industrie with Mme. Verdurin,
who had said to her, ‘Take care, now! I know how to melt
you, all right. You’re not made of marble.’ Odette had as-
sured him that it was only a joke, and he had not attached
any importance to it at the time. But he had had more con-
fidence in her then than he had now. And the anonymous
letter referred explicitly to relations of that sort. Without
daring to lift his eyes to the newspaper, he opened it, turned
the page so as not to see again the words, Filles de Marbre,
and began to read mechanically the news from the prov-
inces. There had been a storm in the Channel, and damage
was reported from Dieppe, Cabourg, Beuzeval.... Suddenly
he recoiled again in horror.
The name of Beuzeval had suggested to him that of an-
other place in the same district, Beuzeville, which carried
also, bound to it by a hyphen, a second name, to wit Bréauté,
which he had often seen on maps, but without ever previous-
ly remarking that it was the same name as that borne by his
friend M. de Bréauté, whom the anonymous letter accused
of having been Odette’s lover. After all, when it came to M.
de Bréauté, there was nothing improbable in the charge; but

558 Swann’s Way