At such times Swann detested her. āBut Iāve been a fool, too,ā he would argue. āIām paying for other menās pleasures with my money. All the same, sheād better take care, and not pull the string too often, for I might very well stop giving her anything at all. At any rate, weād better knock off supplementary favours for the time being. To think that, only yesterday, when she said she would like to go to Bayreuth for the season, I was such an ass as to offer to take one of those jolly little places the King of Bavaria has there, for the two of us. However she didnāt seem particularly keen; she hasnāt said yes or no yet. Letās hope that sheāll refuse. Good God! Think of listening to Wagner for a fortnight on end with her, who takes about as much interest in music as a fish does in little apples; it will be fun!ā And his hatred, like his love, needing to manifest itself in action, he amused himself with urging his evil imaginings further and further, because, thanks to the perfidies with which he charged Odette, he detested her still more, and would be able, if it turned outā āas he tried to convince himselfā āthat she was indeed guilty of them, to take the opportunity of punishing her, emptying upon her the overflowing vials of his wrath.
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