Chapter 11, Part 2 Summary

Although Claude's nervousness diminishes the moment his foot steps down onto Paris soil, the dinner does not provide the cheerfulness Sandoz had hoped for. As with other things, Claude goes into a tirade about how the country place has changed and adds that it removes all hope of immortality. As usual, Claude turns everything into a discussion of art. He wonders if anything will ever change in the public's tastes or whether the artist's paradise is as non-existent as the Catholic's. He insists that he can only carry on by holding onto the illusion that one day he will be accepted and understood. The conversation leaves both of them wallowing in sentimental misery. As they walk along, they have a desire to go look in at one of their old places, the Café Baudequin. Although that place, too, had changed over...