So will
a traveller, who has come down, on a day of glorious weather, to the
Mediterranean shore, and is doubtful whether they still exist, those lands
which he has left, let his eyes be dazzled, rather than cast a backward
glance, by the radiance streaming towards him from the luminous and
unfading azure at his feet.
He climbed after her into the carriage which she had kept waiting, and
ordered his own to follow.
She had in her hand a bunch of cattleyas, and Swann could see, beneath the
film of lace that covered her head, more of the same flowers fastened to a
swansdown plume. She was wearing, under her cloak, a flowing gown of black
velvet, caught up on one side so as to reveal a large triangular patch of
her white silk skirt, with an 'insertion,' also of white silk, in the
cleft of her low-necked bodice, in which were fastened a few more
cattleyas. She had scarcely recovered from the shock which the sight of
Swann had given her, when some obstacle made the horse start to one side.
They were thrown forward from their seats; she uttered a cry, and fell
back quivering and breathless.
"It's all right," he assured her, "don't be frightened.
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