father in what respects
the appearance of the place was still the same, and how far it had
altered since the walk that he had taken with old M. Swann, on the day
of his wife's death; and he seized the opportunity to tell us, once
again, the story of that walk.

In front of us a path bordered with nasturtiums rose in the full glare
of the sun towards the house. But to our right the park stretched away
into the distance, on level ground. Overshadowed by the tall trees which
stood close around it, an 'ornamental water' had been constructed by
Swann's parents but, even in his most artificial creations, nature is
the material upon which man has to work; certain spots will persist in
remaining surrounded by the vassals of their own especial sovereignty,
and will raise their immemorial standards among all the 'laid-out'
scenery of a park, just as they would have done far from any human
interference, in a solitude which must everywhere return to engulf
them, springing up out of the necessities of their exposed position, and
superimposing itself upon the work of man's hands. And so it was that,
at the foot of the path which led down to this artificial lake, there
might be seen, in its two tiers woven of trailing forget-me-nots below
and of periwinkle flowers above, the natural, delicate, blue garland
which binds the luminous, shadowed brows of water-nymphs; while the
iris, its swords sweeping every way in regal profusion, stretched out
over agrimony and water-growing king-cups the lilied sceptres, tattered
glories of yellow and purple, of the kingdom of the lake.

The absence of Mlle. Swann, which--since it preserved me from the
terrible risk of seeing her appear on one of the paths, and of being
identified and scorned by this so privileged little girl who had
Bergotte for a friend and used to go with him to visit cathedrals--made
the exploration of Tansonville, now for the first time permitted me, a
matter of indifference to myself, seemed however to invest the property,
in my grandfather's and father's eyes, with a fresh and transient charm,
and (like an entirely cloudless sky when one is going mountaineering) to
make the day extraordinarily propitious for a walk in this direction;
I should have liked to see their reckoning proved false, to see, by a
miracle, Mlle. Swann appear, with her father, so close to us that we
should not have time to escape, and should therefore be obliged to make
her acquaintance. And so, when I sudd