Proust Marcel – The Side of Guermantes – In search of lost time 3: “The parents of the narrator now live in an apartment in the hotel Guermantes. Madly in love with the duchess, the Narrator keeps watching his comings and goings. While visiting his friend Saint-Loup in garrison at Doncières, he must return hastily to Paris, because of the health of his grandmother. Albertine comes to see him, she accepts his caresses and finally gives himself to him. On leave in Paris, Saint-Loup presents his mistress to the narrator who recognizes in her Rachel the prostitute met a few years ago in a brothel. Finally, for the first time, the narrator has the opportunity to exchange a few words with the Duchess of Guermantes but he then finds that it now leaves him indifferent and realizes the ridiculousness of his past attitude. Back home, the narrator learns that the health of his grandmother has deteriorated further, she will soon die of a crisis of uremia. During an evening, Charlus, the Duke de Guermantes’ brother, asked him to come to his house and showed him a disconcerting, unequivocal attitude. The narrator meets Swann who, gravely ill, is sentenced. The duchess pretends coquettishly not to believe in the gravity of her illness. »(Proust, his characters)