de Bréaute wore, as a festive badge, with his pearl-grey gloves, his crush hat and white tie, substituting it for the familiar pair of glasses (as Swann himself did) when he went out to places, bore, glued to its other side, like a specimen prepared on a slide for the microscope, an infinitesimal gaze that swarmed with friendly feeling and never ceased to twinkle at the loftiness of ceilings, the delightfulness of parties, the interestingness of programmes and the excellence of refreshments.
de Bréauté-ren monokuloak, berriz, bere eskularru gris perla koloredunei, kapela luzeari, gorbata zuriari egun seinaleen edergarri gisa gehituak, handiki-giroko festetara joateko etxeko binokuloaren ordez zerabilenak (Swannek ere halaxe egin ohi zuen), monokulo hark, horratik, itsatsita zeraman bere ifrentzuan, mikroskopio pean jarritako historia naturaleko prestaera batek bezala, halako arraitasun infinitesimal eta gainezkarizko begirada bat, etengabe irribarrez ari zena, dela sabaien gorentasunari, dela festen edertasunari, dela programen interesgarritasunari, dela freskagarrien bikaintasunari.