"I can well believe you don't find them amusing, those parties; indeed,
it's very good of you to go to them!" said Mme. Verdurin, who regarded the
President of the Republic only as a 'bore' to be especially dreaded, since
he had at his disposal means of seduction, and even of compulsion, which,
if employed to captivate her 'faithful,' might easily make them 'fail.'
"It seems, he's as deaf as a post; and eats with his fingers."
"Upon my word! Then it can't be much fun for you, going there." A note of
pity sounded in the Doctor's voice; and then struck by the number--only
eight at table--"Are these luncheons what you would describe as
'intimate'?" he inquired briskly, not so much out of idle curiosity as in
his linguistic zeal.
But so great and glorious a figure was the President of the French
Republic in the eyes of Dr. Cottard that neither the modesty of Swann nor
the spite of Mme. Verdurin could ever wholly efface that first impression,
and he never sat down to dinner with the Verdurins without asking
anxiously, "D'you think we shall see M. Swann here this evening? He is a
personal friend of M.
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