He would say to himself that one
has, as often as not, only to take the exact counterpart of the reputation
created by the world in order to judge a person fairly, when with such a
character he contrasted that of Odette, so good, so simple, so
enthusiastic in the pursuit of ideals, so nearly incapable of not telling
the truth that, when he had once begged her, so that they might dine
together alone, to write to Mme. Verdurin, saying that she was unwell, the
next day he had seen her, face to face with Mme. Verdurin, who asked
whether she had recovered, blushing, stammering, and, in spite of herself,
revealing in every feature how painful, what a torture it was to her to
act a lie; and, while in her answer she multiplied the fictitious details
of an imaginary illness, seeming to ask pardon, by her suppliant look and
her stricken accents, for the obvious falsehood of her words.
On certain days, however, though these came seldom, she would call upon
him in the afternoon, to interrupt his musings or the essay on Ver-meer to
which he had latterly returned. His servant would come in to say that Mme.
de Crecy was in the small drawing-room.
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