But the spell of a place cannot be simply decanted or transferred, memories cannot be divided up, and of the Prince de Guermantes, now that he had himself destroyed the illusions of my belief by going to live in the Avenue du Bois, little of any note remained. The ceilings which I had been afraid would fall in on me when my name was announced, and beneath which much of the magic and fear of long ago might still for me have hovered, now looked down on parties given by an American lady in whom I had no interest.
