But with his intense prudishness he had
given up coming, so as not to be obliged to meet Swann, who had made what
he called "a most unsuitable marriage, as seems to be the fashion in these
days." My mother, on hearing that he 'composed,' told him by way of a
compliment that, when she came to see him, he must play her something of
his own. M. Vinteuil would have liked nothing better, but he carried
politeness and consideration for others to so fine a point, always putting
himself in their place, that he was afraid of boring them, or of appearing
egotistical, if he carried out, or even allowed them to suspect what were
his own desires. On the day when my parents had gone to pay him a visit, I
had accompanied them, but they had allowed me to remain outside, and as M.
Vinteuil's house, Montjouvain, stood on a site actually hollowed out from
a steep hill covered with shrubs, among which I took cover, I had found
myself on a level with his drawing-room, upstairs, and only a few feet
away from its window. When a servant came in to tell him that my parents
had arrived, I had seen M. Vinteuil run to the piano and lay out a sheet
of music so as to catch the eye.
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