And so he, who, in old
days, when he travelled, used always to seek out new people and crowded
places, might now be seen fleeing savagely from human society as if it had
cruelly injured him. And how could he not have turned misanthrope, when in
every man he saw a potential lover for Odette? Thus his jealousy did even
more than the happy, passionate desire which he had originally felt for
Odette had done to alter Swann's character, completely changing, in the
eyes of the world, even the outward signs by which that character had been
intelligible.
A month after the evening on which he had intercepted and read Odette's
letter to Forcheville, Swann went to a dinner which the Verdurins were
giving in the Bois. As the party was breaking up he noticed a series of
whispered discussions between Mme. Verdurin and several of her guests, and
thought that he heard the pianist being reminded to come next day to a
party at Chatou; now he, Swann, had not been invited to any party.
The Verdurins had spoken only in whispers, and in vague terms, but the
painter, perhaps without thinking, shouted out: "There must be no lights
of any sort, and he must play the Moonlight Sonata in the dark, for us to
see by.
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