In Search of Lost Time, Volume VI_ Time Regained - Marcel Proust [259]
LEGRANDIN. Engineer and man of letters; his character and appearance; tirades against the nobility; flowery speech: I 92–93. Strange behaviour to M’s father: 166–67. His snobbery and affectation; his wink; M dines with him: 174–82. His lyrical descriptions of Balbec; refuses to introduce his sister, Mme de Cambremer: 182–86 (see also 547–48). M meets him in Paris, and is rebuked for his social zeal: III 202–3. At Mme de Villeparisis’s; obsequious to her, furious with M: 267–73, 286–87, 371. Raises his hat to M’s grandmother as she drives back with M from the Champs-Elysées after her stroke: 427–29. His sister’s displeasure when M claims acquaintance with him: IV 297–98. Assumes the name Legrand de Méséglise: 660. His kindness to M’s great-aunt: V 7–8. Discussed by Charlus and the Princesse de Parme in connexion with his nephew’s marriage to Jupien’s niece; the Princess invites him to call; changes in his appearance and sexual proclivities; of his two vices, snobbery now giving way to the other: 903–7. Becomes Comte de Méséglise: 913–14. His relations with Théodore: VI 56. A journalist during the war: 125. In old age, ceases to use cosmetics, becomes gloomy and taciturn: 358–59. Resemblance to his nephew: 372–73. His new civility towards Bloch: 418–19.
LÉON, Prince de. Nephew of Mme de Guermantes, brother-in-law of Saint-Loup. Mme de Guermantes’s anecdote about him: V 37–38.
LÉONIE, Aunt (Madame Octave). Her habit of giving M a piece of madeleine dipped in tea or tisane: I 63–64. Bedridden since her husband’s death; her bedroom, her way of life: 66–71. Relations with Françoise: 72–80, and with Eulalie: 93–96. Conversations with Françoise, Eulalie and M. le Curé: 139–51. Her “little jog-trot”: 151. Occasional longing for change; her “counterpane dramas;” plays Françoise and Eulalie off against one another; terrorises Françoise: 160–65. Vague plan to visit Tansonville: 201–2. Her death: 215–17. Leaves her fortune and her furniture to M: II 33. M gives some of her furniture to a brothel-keeper; sells her silver to buy flowers for Mme Swann: 209–10, and her Chinese vase to buy flowers for Gilberte: 272. Françoise sings her praises: III 24–25. M begins to resemble her more and more: V 95–96. Analogy between one of her ploys with Françoise and M’s with Albertine: 475–77.
LEROI, Mme Blanche. A snob; “cuts” Mme de Villeparisis: III 247, 250. Her superior social position: 251, compared to Mme de Villeparisis: 258–60. Her witticism about love: 259–60. The daughter of rich timber merchants; Mme de Villeparisis affects to despise her: 370–71. After the war, her name is all but forgotten: VI 57.
LÉTOURVILLE, Duchesse de. Meets the aged Charlus with M in the Champs-Elysées and is shocked by his appearance: VI 58.
LÉTOURVILLE. Young relative of the above; M meets him on his way into the Princesse de Guermantes’s afternoon party; just out of Saint-Cyr; regards M as an elderly gentleman: VI 59.
LEVY, ESTHER. Cousin of Bloch; her unconcealed admiration for Lea: II 660, 712. Lives with Lea; she and Bloch’s sister attract Albertine’s attention in the Casino at Balbec: IV 272–74. Her amorous intrigue with a young married woman whom she meets in the Grand Hotel: 339–40. M’s suspicions as to her relations with Albertine; he asks Bloch for her photograph: V 105–7. Albertine denies knowing her: 140, but later confesses to having given her a photograph of herself: 460–61, 491–92.
LIFT-BOY at the Grand Hotel, Balbec. M’s first introduction to him and his esoteric craft: II 331. M puzzled by his vocabulary: 518–19. A know-all: 521. The manager gives M his opinion of him: IV 209–10. Glows with pleasure on seeing M again: 221. Go-between with Albertine; his inability to shut doors, his verbal mannerisms, false veneer of intelligence, democratic pride, physical appearance: 256–62. “Camembert” for “Cambremer”: 276–77, 304, 347. His anxiety over his tip: 303–7. Cycles to Doncières station with a telegram for M: 344. His whooping cough: 576–78. Saint-Loup had made advances to him, according to Aimé: V 926–28. Joins the air