He stood gazing at her; traces of the old fresco were apparent in her face
and limbs, and these he tried incessantly, afterwards, to recapture, both
when he was with Odette, and when he was only thinking of her in her
absence; and, albeit his admiration for the Florentine masterpiece was
probably based upon his discovery that it had been reproduced in her, the
similarity enhanced her beauty also, and rendered her more precious in his
sight. Swann reproached himself with his failure, hitherto, to estimate at
her true worth a creature whom the great Sandro would have adored, and
counted himself fortunate that his pleasure in the contemplation of Odette
found a justification in his own system of aesthetic. He told himself
that, in choosing the thought of Odette as the inspiration of his dreams
of ideal happiness, he was not, as he had until then supposed, falling
back, merely, upon an expedient of doubtful and certainly inadequate
value, since she contained in herself what satisfied the utmost refinement
of his taste in art. He failed to observe that this quality would not
naturally avail to bring Odette into the category of women whom he found
desirable, simply because his desires had always run counter to his
aesthetic taste.
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