de Charlus who had managed, so far, not only to retain but to enhance still further his position as a Guermantes, being in society an absolutely privileged person, sought after, adulated in the most exclusive circles, and a man who, married to a Bourbon Princess, a woman of eminence, had been able to ensure her happiness, had shown a devotion to her memory more fervent, more scrupulous than is customary in society, and had thus been as good a husband as a son!

“But are you sure that M.