Dressed with "a plume in her hat, a silk dress, a muff, an umbrella-sunshade, a card case, and a pair of white gloves fresh from the cleaners," she was bound for the Rue Bonaparte to make social calls.
"'Your ears must have been burning...while we were on the yacht with Mme Verdurin. We talked about you all the time.' Swann was genuinely astonished, for he supposed that his name was never uttered in the Verdurin's presence. 'You see,' Mme Cottard went on, 'Mme de Crécy was there; need I say more? Wherever Odette is, it's never long before she begins talking about you...Why she adores you! No, indeed, I am sure it would never do to say anything against you when she was about; one would soon be put in one's place! Whatever we might be doing, if we were looking at a picture, for instance, she would say, "If only we had him here, he's the man who could tell us whether it's genuine or not." No, I assure you, I am not saying it just to flatter you; you have a true friend in her, such as one doesn't find often. I can tell you, besides, that if you don't know it you're the only one who doesn't.' And Swann felt himself overflowing with affection towards her, as well as towards Mme Verdurin (and almost towards Odette...)"
"To counterbalance the morbid feelings that Swann cherished for Odette, Mme Cottard, a wiser physician, in this case, than ever her husband would have been, had grafted on to them others more normal, feelings of gratitude, of friendship, which in Swann's mind would make Odette seem more human..."
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