Marcel, exhausted by passion and jealousy, imprisoned Albertina in his apartment. When the jealousy subsided, he realized that he no longer loved his girlfriend. In his opinion, she became very ill and in any case could not reveal anything new to him. When jealousy flashed again, love turned into flour. Before, it seemed to Marcel that Gomorrah was in Balbec, but in Paris he was convinced that Gomorrah had spread all over the world. Once Albertina, without opening her eyes, tenderly called Andre, and all of Marcel's suspicions came to life. Only the sleeping girl aroused his former delight - he admired her, like the canvases of Elstir, but at the same time was tormented by the fact that she was slipping into the realm of dreams. Physical proximity did not bring satisfaction, for Marcel longed to possess a soul that was never given into his hands. In fact, this connection became a burden: constant supervision required his presence, and he could not realize his long-standing dream - to travel to Venice. But the kiss of Albertina had the same healing power as the mother's kiss in Combra.

Marcel was convinced that the girl was constantly lying to him - sometimes even for no reason. For example, she said that she had seen Bergot on the very day that the old writer died. Bergot had been sick for a long time, almost did not leave his house and accepted only his closest friends.Once he came across an article about Vermeer's painting “View of Delft” with a description of the amazing yellow wall. Bergot adored Vermeer, but did not remember this detail. He went to the exhibition, glared at the yellow spot, and then the first blow overtook him. The old man nevertheless got to the sofa, and then crawled to the floor - when he was picked up, he was dead.

At the Hermants mansion, Marcel often met Baron de Charles and Morel, who went to drink tea with Jupien. The violinist fell in love with the vest of his niece, and the baron encouraged this connection - it seemed to him that the married Morel would be more dependent on his generosity. Desiring to introduce the favorite to high society, de Charlie arranged a reception with the Verdurens - the violinist had to play the Ventail septet, saved from oblivion by the girlfriend of his daughter, who had done a titanic work, sorting out the squiggles of the late composer. Marcel listened to the septet in silent awe: thanks to Ventaille he discovered unknown worlds - only art is capable of such insights.

De Charles acted like a host, and his distinguished guests did not pay any attention to Madame Verduren - only the Queen of Naples treated her kindly out of respect for her relative. Marcel knew that the Verdurens had set Morel against the Baron, but did not dare to intervene. An ugly scene took place: Morel publicly accused his patron of trying to seduce him, and de Charles was astonished at the "pose of a frightened nymph." However, the Queen of Naples quickly put in place the upstarts who dared to offend one of the Germans.And Marcel returned home, full of anger towards Albertina: now he understood why the girl so asked to let her go to the Verdurens - in this salon she could meet Mademoiselle Ventaille and her friend without interference.

The constant reproaches of Marcel led to the fact that Albertina refused to kiss him three times for the night. Then she suddenly relented and tendered farewell to her lover. Marcel fell asleep pacified, for he made the final decision - tomorrow he will go to Venice and get rid of Albertina forever. The next morning, Francoise announced to the owner with undisguised pleasure that Mademoiselle had packed her bags and left.