At the sight of a young secretary with a particularly intelligent look, M. de Vaugoubert fastened on M. de Charlus a smile in which a single question visibly shone. M. de Charlus would perhaps readily have compromised someone else, but he was exasperated to feel himself compromised by a smile on another person's lips which could have but one meaning. "I know absolutely nothing about the matter. I beg you to keep your curiosity to yourself. It leaves me more than cold. Besides, in this instance, you are making a mistake of the first order. I believe this young man to be absolutely the opposite."
Marcel Proust, Cities of the Plain, p. 699
Following hard on the heels of yesterday's post the conversation between M. de Vaugoubert and M. de Charlus continues, with the former figuring out that the latter was, to use a term that Communists always used, a fellow traveler, or, in this case, a "Charlus." However, making that discovery does not eliminate the danger, because there are still rules to the game. M. de Vaugoubert overplayed his hand, leading to a remonstrance from the Baron. This brings us back to Proust's earlier discussion of the "solitary," wherein individuals end up isolating themselves because of fear of disapproval, in this case from without and from within.
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