"Yes, life is a dreadful business! We must meet more often, my dear
friend. What is so nice about you is that you are not cheerful. We could
spend a most pleasant evening together."
"I'm sure we could; why not come down to Guermantes? My mother-in-law
would be wild with joy. It's supposed to be very ugly down there, but I
must say, I find the neighborhood not at all unattractive; I have a horror
of 'picturesque spots'."
"I know it well, it's delightful!" replied Swann. "It's almost too
beautiful, too much alive for me just at present; it's a country to be
happy in. It's perhaps because I have lived there, but things there speak
to me so. As soon as a breath of wind gets up, and the cornfields begin to
stir, I feel that some one is going to appear suddenly, that I am going to
hear some news; and those little houses by the water's edge... I should be
quite wretched!"
"Oh! my dearest Charles, do take care; there's that appalling Rampillon
woman; she's seen me; hide me somewhere, do tell me again, quickly, what
it was that happened to her; I get so mixed up; she's just married off her
daughter, or her lover (I never can remember),--perhaps both--to each
other! Oh, no, I remember now, she's been dropped by her Prince.
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