M. de Charlus had too little strength left for the activity of a preparation. We hear often of mortal enemies who open their eyes to gaze upon one another in the hour of death and close them again, made happy. This must be a rare occurrence, except when death surprises us in the midst of life. It is, on the contrary, at the moment when we have nothing left to lose, that we are not bothered by the risks which, when full of life, we would lightly have undertaken. The spirit of vengeance forms part of life, it abandons us as a rule⁠—notwithstanding certain exceptions which, occurring in the heart of the same person, are, as we shall see, human contradictions⁠—on the threshold of death. After having thought for a moment about the Verdurins, M.