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diff --git a/old/mbova11.txt b/old/mbova11.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5b4aca1..0000000 --- a/old/mbova11.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14716 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's etext, Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert -#4 in our series by Gustave Flaubert - -Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check -the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! - -Please take a look at the important information in this header. -We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an -electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. - - -**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** - -**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** - -*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* - -Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and -further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* - - - - - -MADAME BOVARY - -By Gustave Flaubert - -Translated from the French by Eleanor Marx-Aveling - - -To Marie-Antoine-Jules Senard -Member of the Paris Bar, Ex-President of the National Assembly, -and Former Minister of the Interior -Dear and Illustrious Friend, -Permit me to inscribe your name at the head of this book, and -above its dedication; for it is to you, before all, that I owe -its publication. Reading over your magnificent defence, my work -has acquired for myself, as it were, an unexpected authority. - -Accept, then, here, the homage of my gratitude, which, how great -soever it is, will never attain the height of your eloquence and -your devotion. - -Gustave Flaubert -Paris, 12 April 1857 - - -MADAME BOVARY - -Part I - -Chapter One - -We were in class when the head-master came in, followed by a "new -fellow," not wearing the school uniform, and a school servant -carrying a large desk. Those who had been asleep woke up, and -every one rose as if just surprised at his work. - -The head-master made a sign to us to sit down. Then, turning to -the class-master, he said to him in a low voice-- - -"Monsieur Roger, here is a pupil whom I recommend to your care; -he'll be in the second. If his work and conduct are satisfactory, -he will go into one of the upper classes, as becomes his age." - -The "new fellow," standing in the corner behind the door so that -he could hardly be seen, was a country lad of about fifteen, and -taller than any of us. His hair was cut square on his forehead -like a village chorister's; he looked reliable, but very ill at -ease. Although he was not broad-shouldered, his short school -jacket of green cloth with black buttons must have been tight -about the arm-holes, and showed at the opening of the cuffs red -wrists accustomed to being bare. His legs, in blue stockings, -looked out from beneath yellow trousers, drawn tight by braces, -He wore stout, ill-cleaned, hob-nailed boots. - -We began repeating the lesson. He listened with all his ears, as -attentive as if at a sermon, not daring even to cross his legs or -lean on his elbow; and when at two o'clock the bell rang, the -master was obliged to tell him to fall into line with the rest of -us. - -When we came back to work, we were in the habit of throwing our -caps on the ground so as to have our hands more free; we used -from the door to toss them under the form, so that they hit -against the wall and made a lot of dust: it was "the thing." - -But, whether he had not noticed the trick, or did not dare to -attempt it, the "new fellow," was still holding his cap on his -knees even after prayers were over. It was one of those -head-gears of composite order, in which we can find traces of the -bearskin, shako, billycock hat, sealskin cap, and cotton -night-cap; one of those poor things, in fine, whose dumb ugliness -has depths of expression, like an imbecile's face. Oval, -stiffened with whalebone, it began with three round knobs; then -came in succession lozenges of velvet and rabbit-skin separated -by a red band; after that a sort of bag that ended in a cardboard -polygon covered with complicated braiding, from which hung, at -the end of a long thin cord, small twisted gold threads in the -manner of a tassel. The cap was new; its peak shone. - -"Rise," said the master. - -He stood up; his cap fell. The whole class began to laugh. He -stooped to pick it up. A neighbor knocked it down again with his -elbow; he picked it up once more. - -"Get rid of your helmet," said the master, who was a bit of a -wag. - -There was a burst of laughter from the boys, which so thoroughly -put the poor lad out of countenance that he did not know whether -to keep his cap in his hand, leave it on the ground, or put it on -his head. He sat down again and placed it on his knee. - -"Rise," repeated the master, "and tell me your name." - -The new boy articulated in a stammering voice an unintelligible -name. - -"Again!" - -The same sputtering of syllables was heard, drowned by the -tittering of the class. - -"Louder!" cried the master; "louder!" - -The "new fellow" then took a supreme resolution, opened an -inordinately large mouth, and shouted at the top of his voice as -if calling someone in the word "Charbovari." - -A hubbub broke out, rose in crescendo with bursts of shrill -voices (they yelled, barked, stamped, repeated "Charbovari! -Charbovari"), then died away into single notes, growing quieter -only with great difficulty, and now and again suddenly -recommencing along the line of a form whence rose here and there, -like a damp cracker going off, a stifled laugh. - -However, amid a rain of impositions, order was gradually -re-established in the class; and the master having succeeded in -catching the name of "Charles Bovary," having had it dictated to -him, spelt out, and re-read, at once ordered the poor devil to go -and sit down on the punishment form at the foot of the master's -desk. He got up, but before going hesitated. - -"What are you looking for?" asked the master. - -"My c-a-p," timidly said the "new fellow," casting troubled looks -round him. - -"Five hundred lines for all the class!" shouted in a furious -voice stopped, like the Quos ego*, a fresh outburst. "Silence!" -continued the master indignantly, wiping his brow with his -handkerchief, which he had just taken from his cap. "As to you, -'new boy,' you will conjugate 'ridiculus sum'** twenty times." - -Then, in a gentler tone, "Come, you'll find your cap again; it -hasn't been stolen." - -*A quotation from the Aeneid signifying a threat. - -**I am ridiculous. - -Quiet was restored. Heads bent over desks, and the "new fellow" -remained for two hours in an exemplary attitude, although from -time to time some paper pellet flipped from the tip of a pen came -bang in his face. But he wiped his face with one hand and -continued motionless, his eyes lowered. - -In the evening, at preparation, he pulled out his pens from his -desk, arranged his small belongings, and carefully ruled his -paper. We saw him working conscientiously, looking up every word -in the dictionary, and taking the greatest pains. Thanks, no -doubt, to the willingness he showed, he had not to go down to the -class below. But though he knew his rules passably, he had little -finish in composition. It was the cure of his village who had -taught him his first Latin; his parents, from motives of economy, -having sent him to school as late as possible. - -His father, Monsieur Charles Denis Bartolome Bovary, retired -assistant-surgeon-major, compromised about 1812 in certain -conscription scandals, and forced at this time to leave the -service, had taken advantage of his fine figure to get hold of a -dowry of sixty thousand francs that offered in the person of a -hosier's daughter who had fallen in love with his good looks. A -fine man, a great talker, making his spurs ring as he walked, -wearing whiskers that ran into his moustache, his fingers always -garnished with rings and dressed in loud colours, he had the dash -of a military man with the easy go of a commercial traveller. - -Once married, he lived for three or four years on his wife's -fortune, dining well, rising late, smoking long porcelain pipes, -not coming in at night till after the theatre, and haunting -cafes. The father-in-law died, leaving little; he was indignant -at this, "went in for the business," lost some money in it, then -retired to the country, where he thought he would make money. - -But, as he knew no more about farming than calico, as he rode his -horses instead of sending them to plough, drank his cider in -bottle instead of selling it in cask, ate the finest poultry in -his farmyard, and greased his hunting-boots with the fat of his -pigs, he was not long in finding out that he would do better to -give up all speculation. - -For two hundred francs a year he managed to live on the border of -the provinces of Caux and Picardy, in a kind of place half farm, -half private house; and here, soured, eaten up with regrets, -cursing his luck, jealous of everyone, he shut himself up at the -age of forty-five, sick of men, he said, and determined to live -at peace. - -His wife had adored him once on a time; she had bored him with a -thousand servilities that had only estranged him the more. Lively -once, expansive and affectionate, in growing older she had become -(after the fashion of wine that, exposed to air, turns to -vinegar) ill-tempered, grumbling, irritable. She had suffered so -much without complaint at first, until she had seem him going -after all the village drabs, and until a score of bad houses sent -him back to her at night, weary, stinking drunk. Then her pride -revolted. After that she was silent, burying her anger in a dumb -stoicism that she maintained till her death. She was constantly -going about looking after business matters. She called on the -lawyers, the president, remembered when bills fell due, got them -renewed, and at home ironed, sewed, washed, looked after the -workmen, paid the accounts, while he, troubling himself about -nothing, eternally besotted in sleepy sulkiness, whence he only -roused himself to say disagreeable things to her, sat smoking by -the fire and spitting into the cinders. - -When she had a child, it had to be sent out to nurse. When he -came home, the lad was spoilt as if he were a prince. His mother -stuffed him with jam; his father let him run about barefoot, and, -playing the philosopher, even said he might as well go about -quite naked like the young of animals. As opposed to the maternal -ideas, he had a certain virile idea of childhood on which he -sought to mould his son, wishing him to be brought up hardily, -like a Spartan, to give him a strong constitution. He sent him to -bed without any fire, taught him to drink off large draughts of -rum and to jeer at religious processions. But, peaceable by -nature, the lad answered only poorly to his notions. His mother -always kept him near her; she cut out cardboard for him, told him -tales, entertained him with endless monologues full of melancholy -gaiety and charming nonsense. In her life's isolation she -centered on the child's head all her shattered, broken little -vanities. She dreamed of high station; she already saw him, tall, -handsome, clever, settled as an engineer or in the law. She -taught him to read, and even, on an old piano, she had taught him -two or three little songs. But to all this Monsieur Bovary, -caring little for letters, said, "It was not worth while. Would -they ever have the means to send him to a public school, to buy -him a practice, or start him in business? Besides, with cheek a -man always gets on in the world." Madame Bovary bit her lips, and -the child knocked about the village. - -He went after the labourers, drove away with clods of earth the -ravens that were flying about. He ate blackberries along the -hedges, minded the geese with a long switch, went haymaking -during harvest, ran about in the woods, played hop-scotch under -the church porch on rainy days, and at great fetes begged the -beadle to let him toll the bells, that he might hang all his -weight on the long rope and feel himself borne upward by it in -its swing. Meanwhile he grew like an oak; he was strong on hand, -fresh of colour. - -When he was twelve years old his mother had her own way; he began -lessons. The cure took him in hand; but the lessons were so short -and irregular that they could not be of much use. They were given -at spare moments in the sacristy, standing up, hurriedly, between -a baptism and a burial; or else the cure, if he had not to go -out, sent for his pupil after the Angelus*. They went up to his -room and settled down; the flies and moths fluttered round the -candle. It was close, the child fell asleep, and the good man, -beginning to doze with his hands on his stomach, was soon snoring -with his mouth wide open. On other occasions, when Monsieur le -Cure, on his way back after administering the viaticum to some -sick person in the neighbourhood, caught sight of Charles playing -about the fields, he called him, lectured him for a quarter of an -hour and took advantage of the occasion to make him conjugate his -verb at the foot of a tree. The rain interrupted them or an -acquaintance passed. All the same he was always pleased with him, -and even said the "young man" had a very good memory. - -*A devotion said at morning, noon, and evening, at the sound of a -bell. Here, the evening prayer. - -Charles could not go on like this. Madame Bovary took strong -steps. Ashamed, or rather tired out, Monsieur Bovary gave in -without a struggle, and they waited one year longer, so that the -lad should take his first communion. - -Six months more passed, and the year after Charles was finally -sent to school at Rouen, where his father took him towards the -end of October, at the time of the St. Romain fair. - -It would now be impossible for any of us to remember anything -about him. He was a youth of even temperament, who played in -playtime, worked in school-hours, was attentive in class, slept -well in the dormitory, and ate well in the refectory. He had in -loco parentis* a wholesale ironmonger in the Rue Ganterie, who -took him out once a month on Sundays after his shop was shut, -sent him for a walk on the quay to look at the boats, and then -brought him back to college at seven o'clock before supper. Every -Thursday evening he wrote a long letter to his mother with red -ink and three wafers; then he went over his history note-books, -or read an old volume of "Anarchasis" that was knocking about the -study. When he went for walks he talked to the servant, who, like -himself, came from the country. - -*In place of a parent. - -By dint of hard work he kept always about the middle of the -class; once even he got a certificate in natural history. But at -the end of his third year his parents withdrew him from the -school to make him study medicine, convinced that he could even -take his degree by himself. - -His mother chose a room for him on the fourth floor of a dyer's -she knew, overlooking the Eau-de-Robec. She made arrangements for -his board, got him furniture, table and two chairs, sent home for -an old cherry-tree bedstead, and bought besides a small cast-iron -stove with the supply of wood that was to warm the poor child. - -Then at the end of a week she departed, after a thousand -injunctions to be good now that he was going to be left to -himself. - -The syllabus that he read on the notice-board stunned him; -lectures on anatomy, lectures on pathology, lectures on -physiology, lectures on pharmacy, lectures on botany and clinical -medicine, and therapeutics, without counting hygiene and materia -medica--all names of whose etymologies he was ignorant, and that -were to him as so many doors to sanctuaries filled with -magnificent darkness. - -He understood nothing of it all; it was all very well to listen-- -he did not follow. Still he worked; he had bound note-books, he -attended all the courses, never missed a single lecture. He did -his little daily task like a mill-horse, who goes round and round -with his eyes bandaged, not knowing what work he is doing. - -To spare him expense his mother sent him every week by the -carrier a piece of veal baked in the oven, with which he lunched -when he came back from the hospital, while he sat kicking his -feet against the wall. After this he had to run off to lectures, -to the operation-room, to the hospital, and return to his home at -the other end of the town. In the evening, after the poor dinner -of his landlord, he went back to his room and set to work again -in his wet clothes, which smoked as he sat in front of the hot -stove. - -On the fine summer evenings, at the time when the close streets -are empty, when the servants are playing shuttle-cock at the -doors, he opened his window and leaned out. The river, that makes -of this quarter of Rouen a wretched little Venice, flowed beneath -him, between the bridges and the railings, yellow, violet, or -blue. Working men, kneeling on the banks, washed their bare arms -in the water. On poles projecting from the attics, skeins of -cotton were drying in the air. Opposite, beyond the roots spread -the pure heaven with the red sun setting. How pleasant it must be -at home! How fresh under the beech-tree! And he expanded his -nostrils to breathe in the sweet odours of the country which did -not reach him. - -He grew thin, his figure became taller, his face took a saddened -look that made it nearly interesting. Naturally, through -indifference, he abandoned all the resolutions he had made. Once -he missed a lecture; the next day all the lectures; and, enjoying -his idleness, little by little, he gave up work altogether. He -got into the habit of going to the public-house, and had a -passion for dominoes. To shut himself up every evening in the -dirty public room, to push about on marble tables the small sheep -bones with black dots, seemed to him a fine proof of his freedom, -which raised him in his own esteem. It was beginning to see life, -the sweetness of stolen pleasures; and when he entered, he put -his hand on the door-handle with a joy almost sensual. Then many -things hidden within him came out; he learnt couplets by heart -and sang them to his boon companions, became enthusiastic about -Beranger, learnt how to make punch, and, finally, how to make -love. - -Thanks to these preparatory labours, he failed completely in his -examination for an ordinary degree. He was expected home the same -night to celebrate his success. He started on foot, stopped at -the beginning of the village, sent for his mother, and told her -all. She excused him, threw the blame of his failure on the -injustice of the examiners, encouraged him a little, and took -upon herself to set matters straight. It was only five years -later that Monsieur Bovary knew the truth; it was old then, and -he accepted it. Moreover, he could not believe that a man born of -him could be a fool. - -So Charles set to work again and crammed for his examination, -ceaselessly learning all the old questions by heart. He passed -pretty well. What a happy day for his mother! They gave a grand -dinner. - -Where should he go to practice? To Tostes, where there was only -one old doctor. For a long time Madame Bovary had been on the -look-out for his death, and the old fellow had barely been packed -off when Charles was installed, opposite his place, as his -successor. - -But it was not everything to have brought up a son, to have had -him taught medicine, and discovered Tostes, where he could -practice it; he must have a wife. She found him one--the widow of -a bailiff at Dieppe--who was forty-five and had an income of -twelve hundred francs. Though she was ugly, as dry as a bone, her -face with as many pimples as the spring has buds, Madame Dubuc -had no lack of suitors. To attain her ends Madame Bovary had to -oust them all, and she even succeeded in very cleverly baffling -the intrigues of a port-butcher backed up by the priests. - -Charles had seen in marriage the advent of an easier life, -thinking he would be more free to do as he liked with himself and -his money. But his wife was master; he had to say this and not -say that in company, to fast every Friday, dress as she liked, -harass at her bidding those patients who did not pay. She opened -his letter, watched his comings and goings, and listened at the -partition-wall when women came to consult him in his surgery. - -She must have her chocolate every morning, attentions without -end. She constantly complained of her nerves, her chest, her -liver. The noise of footsteps made her ill; when people left her, -solitude became odious to her; if they came back, it was -doubtless to see her die. When Charles returned in the evening, -she stretched forth two long thin arms from beneath the sheets, -put them round his neck, and having made him sit down on the edge -of the bed, began to talk to him of her troubles: he was -neglecting her, he loved another. She had been warned she would -be unhappy; and she ended by asking him for a dose of medicine -and a little more love. - - - -Chapter Two - -One night towards eleven o'clock they were awakened by the noise -of a horse pulling up outside their door. The servant opened the -garret-window and parleyed for some time with a man in the street -below. He came for the doctor, had a letter for him. Natasie came -downstairs shivering and undid the bars and bolts one after the -other. The man left his horse, and, following the servant, -suddenly came in behind her. He pulled out from his wool cap with -grey top-knots a letter wrapped up in a rag and presented it -gingerly to Charles, who rested on his elbow on the pillow to -read it. Natasie, standing near the bed, held the light. Madame -in modesty had turned to the wall and showed only her back. - -This letter, sealed with a small seal in blue wax, begged -Monsieur Bovary to come immediately to the farm of the Bertaux to -set a broken leg. Now from Tostes to the Bertaux was a good -eighteen miles across country by way of Longueville and -Saint-Victor. It was a dark night; Madame Bovary junior was -afraid of accidents for her husband. So it was decided the -stable-boy should go on first; Charles would start three hours -later when the moon rose. A boy was to be sent to meet him, and -show him the way to the farm, and open the gates for him. - -Towards four o'clock in the morning, Charles, well wrapped up in -his cloak, set out for the Bertaux. Still sleepy from the warmth -of his bed, he let himself be lulled by the quiet trot of his -horse. When it stopped of its own accord in front of those holes -surrounded with thorns that are dug on the margin of furrows, -Charles awoke with a start, suddenly remembered the broken leg, -and tried to call to mind all the fractures he knew. The rain had -stopped, day was breaking, and on the branches of the leafless -trees birds roosted motionless, their little feathers bristling -in the cold morning wind. The flat country stretched as far as -eye could see, and the tufts of trees round the farms at long -intervals seemed like dark violet stains on the cast grey -surface, that on the horizon faded into the gloom of the sky. - -Charles from time to time opened his eyes, his mind grew weary, -and, sleep coming upon him, he soon fell into a doze wherein, his -recent sensations blending with memories, he became conscious of -a double self, at once student and married man, lying in his bed -as but now, and crossing the operation theatre as of old. The -warm smell of poultices mingled in his brain with the fresh odour -of dew; he heard the iron rings rattling along the curtain-rods -of the bed and saw his wife sleeping. As he passed Vassonville he -came upon a boy sitting on the grass at the edge of a ditch. - -"Are you the doctor?" asked the child. - -And on Charles's answer he took his wooden shoes in his hands and -ran on in front of him. - -The general practitioner, riding along, gathered from his guide's -talk that Monsieur Rouault must be one of the well-to-do farmers. - -He had broken his leg the evening before on his way home from a -Twelfth-night feast at a neighbour's. His wife had been dead for -two years. There was with him only his daughter, who helped him -to keep house. - -The ruts were becoming deeper; they were approaching the Bertaux. - -The little lad, slipping through a hole in the hedge, -disappeared; then he came back to the end of a courtyard to open -the gate. The horse slipped on the wet grass; Charles had to -stoop to pass under the branches. The watchdogs in their kennels -barked, dragging at their chains. As he entered the Bertaux, the -horse took fright and stumbled. - -It was a substantial-looking farm. In the stables, over the top -of the open doors, one could see great cart-horses quietly -feeding from new racks. Right along the outbuildings extended a -large dunghill, from which manure liquid oozed, while amidst -fowls and turkeys, five or six peacocks, a luxury in Chauchois -farmyards, were foraging on the top of it. The sheepfold was -long, the barn high, with walls smooth as your hand. Under the -cart-shed were two large carts and four ploughs, with their -whips, shafts and harnesses complete, whose fleeces of blue wool -were getting soiled by the fine dust that fell from the -granaries. The courtyard sloped upwards, planted with trees set -out symmetrically, and the chattering noise of a flock of geese -was heard near the pond. - -A young woman in a blue merino dress with three flounces came to -the threshold of the door to receive Monsieur Bovary, whom she -led to the kitchen, where a large fire was blazing. The servant's -breakfast was boiling beside it in small pots of all sizes. Some -damp clothes were drying inside the chimney-corner. The shovel, -tongs, and the nozzle of the bellows, all of colossal size, shone -like polished steel, while along the walls hung many pots and -pans in which the clear flame of the hearth, mingling with the -first rays of the sun coming in through the window, was mirrored -fitfully. - -Charles went up the first floor to see the patient. He found him -in his bed, sweating under his bed-clothes, having thrown his -cotton nightcap right away from him. He was a fat little man of -fifty, with white skin and blue eyes, the forepart of his head -bald, and he wore earrings. By his side on a chair stood a large -decanter of brandy, whence he poured himself a little from time -to time to keep up his spirits; but as soon as he caught sight of -the doctor his elation subsided, and instead of swearing, as he -had been doing for the last twelve hours, began to groan freely. - -The fracture was a simple one, without any kind of complication. - -Charles could not have hoped for an easier case. Then calling to -mind the devices of his masters at the bedsides of patients, he -comforted the sufferer with all sorts of kindly remarks, those -Caresses of the surgeon that are like the oil they put on -bistouries. In order to make some splints a bundle of laths was -brought up from the cart-house. Charles selected one, cut it into -two pieces and planed it with a fragment of windowpane, while the -servant tore up sheets to make bandages, and Mademoiselle Emma -tried to sew some pads. As she was a long time before she found -her work-case, her father grew impatient; she did not answer, but -as she sewed she pricked her fingers, which she then put to her -mouth to suck them. Charles was surprised at the whiteness of her -nails. They were shiny, delicate at the tips, more polished than -the ivory of Dieppe, and almond-shaped. Yet her hand was not -beautiful, perhaps not white enough, and a little hard at the -knuckles; besides, it was too long, with no soft inflections in -the outlines. Her real beauty was in her eyes. Although brown, -they seemed black because of the lashes, and her look came at you -frankly, with a candid boldness. - -The bandaging over, the doctor was invited by Monsieur Rouault -himself to "pick a bit" before he left. - -Charles went down into the room on the ground floor. Knives and -forks and silver goblets were laid for two on a little table at -the foot of a huge bed that had a canopy of printed cotton with -figures representing Turks. There was an odour of iris-root and -damp sheets that escaped from a large oak chest opposite the -window. On the floor in corners were sacks of flour stuck upright -in rows. These were the overflow from the neighbouring granary, -to which three stone steps led. By way of decoration for the -apartment, hanging to a nail in the middle of the wall, whose -green paint scaled off from the effects of the saltpetre, was a -crayon head of Minerva in gold frame, underneath which was -written in Gothic letters "To dear Papa." - -First they spoke of the patient, then of the weather, of the -great cold, of the wolves that infested the fields at night. - -Mademoiselle Rouault did not at all like the country, especially -now that she had to look after the farm almost alone. As the room -was chilly, she shivered as she ate. This showed something of her -full lips, that she had a habit of biting when silent. - -Her neck stood out from a white turned-down collar. Her hair, -whose two black folds seemed each of a single piece, so smooth -were they, was parted in the middle by a delicate line that curved -slightly with the curve of the head; and, just showing the tip of -the ear, it was joined behind in a thick chignon, with a wavy -movement at the temples that the country doctor saw now for the -first time in his life. The upper part of her cheek was -rose-coloured. She had, like a man, thrust in between two buttons -of her bodice a tortoise-shell eyeglass. - -When Charles, after bidding farewell to old Rouault, returned to -the room before leaving, he found her standing, her forehead -against the window, looking into the garden, where the bean props -had been knocked down by the wind. She turned round. "Are you -looking for anything?" she asked. - -"My whip, if you please," he answered. - -He began rummaging on the bed, behind the doors, under the -chairs. It had fallen to the floor, between the sacks and the -wall. Mademoiselle Emma saw it, and bent over the flour sacks. - -Charles out of politeness made a dash also, and as he stretched -out his arm, at the same moment felt his breast brush against the -back of the young girl bending beneath him. She drew herself up, -scarlet, and looked at him over her shoulder as she handed him -his whip. - -Instead of returning to the Bertaux in three days as he had -promised, he went back the very next day, then regularly twice a -week, without counting the visits he paid now and then as if by -accident. - -Everything, moreover, went well; the patient progressed -favourably; and when, at the end of forty-six days, old Rouault -was seen trying to walk alone in his "den," Monsieur Bovary began -to be looked upon as a man of great capacity. Old Rouault said -that he could not have been cured better by the first doctor of -Yvetot, or even of Rouen. - -As to Charles, he did not stop to ask himself why it was a -pleasure to him to go to the Bertaux. Had he done so, he would, -no doubt, have attributed his zeal to the importance of the case, -or perhaps to the money he hoped to make by it. Was it for this, -however, that his visits to the farm formed a delightful -exception to the meagre occupations of his life? On these days he -rose early, set off at a gallop, urging on his horse, then got -down to wipe his boots in the grass and put on black gloves -before entering. He liked going into the courtyard, and noticing -the gate turn against his shoulder, the cock crow on the wall, -the lads run to meet him. He liked the granary and the stables; -he liked old Rouault, who pressed his hand and called him his -saviour; he like the small wooden shoes of Mademoiselle Emma on -the scoured flags of the kitchen--her high heels made her a -little taller; and when she walked in front of him, the wooden -soles springing up quickly struck with a sharp sound against the -leather of her boots. - -She always accompanied him to the first step of the stairs. When -his horse had not yet been brought round she stayed there. They -had said "Good-bye"; there was no more talking. The open air -wrapped her round, playing with the soft down on the back of her -neck, or blew to and fro on her hips the apron-strings, that -fluttered like streamers. Once, during a thaw the bark of the -trees in the yard was oozing, the snow on the roofs of the -outbuildings was melting; she stood on the threshold, and went to -fetch her sunshade and opened it. The sunshade of silk of the -colour of pigeons' breasts, through which the sun shone, lighted -up with shifting hues the white skin of her face. She smiled -under the tender warmth, and drops of water could be heard -falling one by one on the stretched silk. - -During the first period of Charles's visits to the Bertaux, -Madame Bovary junior never failed to inquire after the invalid, -and she had even chosen in the book that she kept on a system of -double entry a clean blank page for Monsieur Rouault. But when -she heard he had a daughter, she began to make inquiries, and she -learnt the Mademoiselle Rouault, brought up at the Ursuline -Convent, had received what is called "a good education"; and so -knew dancing, geography, drawing, how to embroider and play the -piano. That was the last straw. - -"So it is for this," she said to herself, "that his face beams -when he goes to see her, and that he puts on his new waistcoat at -the risk of spoiling it with the rain. Ah! that woman! That -woman!" - -And she detested her instinctively. At first she solaced herself -by allusions that Charles did not understand, then by casual -observations that he let pass for fear of a storm, finally by -open apostrophes to which he knew not what to answer. "Why did he -go back to the Bertaux now that Monsieur Rouault was cured and -that these folks hadn't paid yet? Ah! it was because a young lady -was there, some one who know how to talk, to embroider, to be -witty. That was what he cared about; he wanted town misses." And -she went on-- - -"The daughter of old Rouault a town miss! Get out! Their -grandfather was a shepherd, and they have a cousin who was almost -had up at the assizes for a nasty blow in a quarrel. It is not -worth while making such a fuss, or showing herself at church on -Sundays in a silk gown like a countess. Besides, the poor old -chap, if it hadn't been for the colza last year, would have had -much ado to pay up his arrears." - -For very weariness Charles left off going to the Bertaux. Heloise -made him swear, his hand on the prayer-book, that he would go -there no more after much sobbing and many kisses, in a great -outburst of love. He obeyed then, but the strength of his desire -protested against the servility of his conduct; and he thought, -with a kind of naive hypocrisy, that his interdict to see her -gave him a sort of right to love her. And then the widow was -thin; she had long teeth; wore in all weathers a little black -shawl, the edge of which hung down between her shoulder-blades; -her bony figure was sheathed in her clothes as if they were a -scabbard; they were too short, and displayed her ankles with the -laces of her large boots crossed over grey stockings. - -Charles's mother came to see them from time to time, but after a -few days the daughter-in-law seemed to put her own edge on her, -and then, like two knives, they scarified him with their -reflections and observations. It was wrong of him to eat so much. - -Why did he always offer a glass of something to everyone who -came? What obstinacy not to wear flannels! In the spring it came -about that a notary at Ingouville, the holder of the widow -Dubuc's property, one fine day went off, taking with him all the -money in his office. Heloise, it is true, still possessed, -besides a share in a boat valued at six thousand francs, her -house in the Rue St. Francois; and yet, with all this fortune -that had been so trumpeted abroad, nothing, excepting perhaps a -little furniture and a few clothes, had appeared in the -household. The matter had to be gone into. The house at Dieppe -was found to be eaten up with mortgages to its foundations; what -she had placed with the notary God only knew, and her share in -the boat did not exceed one thousand crowns. She had lied, the -good lady! In his exasperation, Monsieur Bovary the elder, -smashing a chair on the flags, accused his wife of having caused -misfortune to the son by harnessing him to such a harridan, whose -harness wasn't worth her hide. They came to Tostes. Explanations -followed. There were scenes. Heloise in tears, throwing her arms -about her husband, implored him to defend her from his parents. - -Charles tried to speak up for her. They grew angry and left the -house. - -But "the blow had struck home." A week after, as she was hanging -up some washing in her yard, she was seized with a spitting of -blood, and the next day, while Charles had his back turned to her -drawing the window-curtain, she said, "O God!" gave a sigh and -fainted. She was dead! What a surprise! When all was over at the -cemetery Charles went home. He found no one downstairs; he went -up to the first floor to their room; say her dress still hanging -at the foot of the alcove; then, leaning against the -writing-table, he stayed until the evening, buried in a sorrowful -reverie. She had loved him after all! - - - -Chapter Three - -One morning old Rouault brought Charles the money for setting his -leg--seventy-five francs in forty-sou pieces, and a turkey. He -had heard of his loss, and consoled him as well as he could. - -"I know what it is," said he, clapping him on the shoulder; "I've -been through it. When I lost my dear departed, I went into the -fields to be quite alone. I fell at the foot of a tree; I cried; -I called on God; I talked nonsense to Him. I wanted to be like -the moles that I saw on the branches, their insides swarming with -worms, dead, and an end of it. And when I thought that there were -others at that very moment with their nice little wives holding -them in their embrace, I struck great blows on the earth with my -stick. I was pretty well mad with not eating; the very idea of -going to a cafe disgusted me--you wouldn't believe it. Well, -quite softly, one day following another, a spring on a winter, -and an autumn after a summer, this wore away, piece by piece, -crumb by crumb; it passed away, it is gone, I should say it has -sunk; for something always remains at the bottom as one would -say--a weight here, at one's heart. But since it is the lot of -all of us, one must not give way altogether, and, because others -have died, want to die too. You must pull yourself together, -Monsieur Bovary. It will pass away. Come to see us; my daughter -thinks of you now and again, d'ye know, and she says you are -forgetting her. Spring will soon be here. We'll have some -rabbit-shooting in the warrens to amuse you a bit." - -Charles followed his advice. He went back to the Bertaux. He -found all as he had left it, that is to say, as it was five -months ago. The pear trees were already in blossom, and Farmer -Rouault, on his legs again, came and went, making the farm more -full of life. - -Thinking it his duty to heap the greatest attention upon the -doctor because of his sad position, he begged him not to take his -hat off, spoke to him in an undertone as if he had been ill, and -even pretended to be angry because nothing rather lighter had -been prepared for him than for the others, such as a little -clotted cream or stewed pears. He told stories. Charles found -himself laughing, but the remembrance of his wife suddenly coming -back to him depressed him. Coffee was brought in; he thought no -more about her. - -He thought less of her as he grew accustomed to living alone. The -new delight of independence soon made his loneliness bearable. He -could now change his meal-times, go in or out without -explanation, and when he was very tired stretch himself at full -length on his bed. So he nursed and coddled himself and accepted -the consolations that were offered him. On the other hand, the -death of his wife had not served him ill in his business, since -for a month people had been saying, "The poor young man! what a -loss!" His name had been talked about, his practice had -increased; and moreover, he could go to the Bertaux just as he -liked. He had an aimless hope, and was vaguely happy; he thought -himself better looking as he brushed his whiskers before the -looking-glass. - -One day he got there about three o'clock. Everybody was in the -fields. He went into the kitchen, but did not at once catch sight -of Emma; the outside shutters were closed. Through the chinks of -the wood the sun sent across the flooring long fine rays that -were broken at the corners of the furniture and trembled along -the ceiling. Some flies on the table were crawling up the glasses -that had been used, and buzzing as they drowned themselves in the -dregs of the cider. The daylight that came in by the chimney made -velvet of the soot at the back of the fireplace, and touched with -blue the cold cinders. Between the window and the hearth Emma was -sewing; she wore no fichu; he could see small drops of -perspiration on her bare shoulders. - -After the fashion of country folks she asked him to have -something to drink. He said no; she insisted, and at last -laughingly offered to have a glass of liqueur with him. So she -went to fetch a bottle of curacao from the cupboard, reached down -two small glasses, filled one to the brim, poured scarcely -anything into the other, and, after having clinked glasses, -carried hers to her mouth. As it was almost empty she bent back -to drink, her head thrown back, her lips pouting, her neck on the -strain. She laughed at getting none of it, while with the tip of -her tongue passing between her small teeth she licked drop by -drop the bottom of her glass. - -She sat down again and took up her work, a white cotton stocking -she was darning. She worked with her head bent down; she did not -speak, nor did Charles. The air coming in under the door blew a -little dust over the flags; he watched it drift along, and heard -nothing but the throbbing in his head and the faint clucking of a -hen that had laid an egg in the yard. Emma from time to time -cooled her cheeks with the palms of her hands, and cooled these -again on the knobs of the huge fire-dogs. - -She complained of suffering since the beginning of the season -from giddiness; she asked if sea-baths would do her any good; she -began talking of her convent, Charles of his school; words came -to them. They went up into her bedroom. She showed him her old -music-books, the little prizes she had won, and the oak-leaf -crowns, left at the bottom of a cupboard. She spoke to him, too, -of her mother, of the country, and even showed him the bed in the -garden where, on the first Friday of every month, she gathered -flowers to put on her mother's tomb. But the gardener they had -never knew anything about it; servants are so stupid! She would -have dearly liked, if only for the winter, to live in town, -although the length of the fine days made the country perhaps -even more wearisome in the summer. And, according to what she was -saying, her voice was clear, sharp, or, on a sudden all languor, -drawn out in modulations that ended almost in murmurs as she -spoke to herself, now joyous, opening big naive eyes, then with -her eyelids half closed, her look full of boredom, her thoughts -wandering. - -Going home at night, Charles went over her words one by one, -trying to recall them, to fill out their sense, that he might -piece out the life she had lived before he knew her. But he never -saw her in his thoughts other than he had seen her the first -time, or as he had just left her. Then he asked himself what -would become of her--if she would be married, and to whom! Alas! -Old Rouault was rich, and she!--so beautiful! But Emma's face -always rose before his eyes, and a monotone, like the humming of -a top, sounded in his ears, "If you should marry after all! If -you should marry!" At night he could not sleep; his throat was -parched; he was athirst. He got up to drink from the water-bottle -and opened the window. The night was covered with stars, a warm -wind blowing in the distance; the dogs were barking. He turned -his head towards the Bertaux. - -Thinking that, after all, he should lose nothing, Charles -promised himself to ask her in marriage as soon as occasion -offered, but each time such occasion did offer the fear of not -finding the right words sealed his lips. - -Old Rouault would not have been sorry to be rid of his daughter, -who was of no use to him in the house. In his heart he excused -her, thinking her too clever for farming, a calling under the ban -of Heaven, since one never saw a millionaire in it. Far from -having made a fortune by it, the good man was losing every year; -for if he was good in bargaining, in which he enjoyed the dodges -of the trade, on the other hand, agriculture properly so called, -and the internal management of the farm, suited him less than -most people. He did not willingly take his hands out of his -pockets, and did not spare expense in all that concerned himself, -liking to eat well, to have good fires, and to sleep well. He -liked old cider, underdone legs of mutton, glorias* well beaten -up. He took his meals in the kitchen alone, opposite the fire, on -a little table brought to him all ready laid as on the stage. - -*A mixture of coffee and spirits. - -When, therefore, he perceived that Charles's cheeks grew red if -near his daughter, which meant that he would propose for her one -of these days, he chewed the cud of the matter beforehand. He -certainly thought him a little meagre, and not quite the -son-in-law he would have liked, but he was said to be well -brought-up, economical, very learned, and no doubt would not make -too many difficulties about the dowry. Now, as old Rouault would -soon be forced to sell twenty-two acres of "his property," -as he owed a good deal to the mason, to the harness-maker, and as -the shaft of the cider-press wanted renewing, "If he asks for -her," he said to himself, "I'll give her to him." - -At Michaelmas Charles went to spend three days at the Bertaux. - -The last had passed like the others in procrastinating from hour -to hour. Old Rouault was seeing him off; they were walking along -the road full of ruts; they were about to part. This was the -time. Charles gave himself as far as to the corner of the hedge, -and at last, when past it-- - -"Monsieur Rouault," he murmured, "I should like to say something -to you." - -They stopped. Charles was silent. - -"Well, tell me your story. Don't I know all about it?" said old -Rouault, laughing softly. - -"Monsieur Rouault--Monsieur Rouault," stammered Charles. - -"I ask nothing better", the farmer went on. "Although, no doubt, -the little one is of my mind, still we must ask her opinion. So -you get off--I'll go back home. If it is "yes", you needn't -return because of all the people about, and besides it would -upset her too much. But so that you mayn't be eating your heart, -I'll open wide the outer shutter of the window against the wall; -you can see it from the back by leaning over the hedge." - -And he went off. - -Charles fastened his horse to a tree; he ran into the road and -waited. Half an hour passed, then he counted nineteen minutes by -his watch. Suddenly a noise was heard against the wall; the -shutter had been thrown back; the hook was still swinging. - -The next day by nine o'clock he was at the farm. Emma blushed as -he entered, and she gave a little forced laugh to keep herself in -countenance. Old Rouault embraced his future son-in-law. The -discussion of money matters was put off; moreover, there was -plenty of time before them, as the marriage could not decently -take place till Charles was out of mourning, that is to say, -about the spring of the next year. - -The winter passed waiting for this. Mademoiselle Rouault was busy -with her trousseau. Part of it was ordered at Rouen, and she made -herself chemises and nightcaps after fashion-plates that she -borrowed. When Charles visited the farmer, the preparations for -the wedding were talked over; they wondered in what room they -should have dinner; they dreamed of the number of dishes that -would be wanted, and what should be entrees. - -Emma would, on the contrary, have preferred to have a midnight -wedding with torches, but old Rouault could not understand such -an idea. So there was a wedding at which forty-three persons were -present, at which they remained sixteen hours at table, began -again the next day, and to some extent on the days following. - - - -Chapter Four - -The guests arrived early in carriages, in one-horse chaises, -two-wheeled cars, old open gigs, waggonettes with leather hoods, -and the young people from the nearer villages in carts, in which -they stood up in rows, holding on to the sides so as not to fall, -going at a trot and well shaken up. Some came from a distance of -thirty miles, from Goderville, from Normanville, and from Cany. - -All the relatives of both families had been invited, quarrels -between friends arranged, acquaintances long since lost sight of -written to. - -From time to time one heard the crack of a whip behind the hedge; -then the gates opened, a chaise entered. Galloping up to the foot -of the steps, it stopped short and emptied its load. They got -down from all sides, rubbing knees and stretching arms. The -ladies, wearing bonnets, had on dresses in the town fashion, gold -watch chains, pelerines with the ends tucked into belts, or -little coloured fichus fastened down behind with a pin, and that -left the back of the neck bare. The lads, dressed like their -papas, seemed uncomfortable in their new clothes (many that day -hand-sewed their first pair of boots), and by their sides, -speaking never a work, wearing the white dress of their first -communion lengthened for the occasion were some big girls of -fourteen or sixteen, cousins or elder sisters no doubt, rubicund, -bewildered, their hair greasy with rose pomade, and very much -afraid of dirtying their gloves. As there were not enough -stable-boys to unharness all the carriages, the gentlemen turned -up their sleeves and set about it themselves. According to their -different social positions they wore tail-coats, overcoats, -shooting jackets, cutaway-coats; fine tail-coats, redolent of -family respectability, that only came out of the wardrobe on -state occasions; overcoats with long tails flapping in the wind -and round capes and pockets like sacks; shooting jackets of -coarse cloth, generally worn with a cap with a brass-bound peak; -very short cutaway-coats with two small buttons in the back, -close together like a pair of eyes, and the tails of which seemed -cut out of one piece by a carpenter's hatchet. Some, too (but -these, you may be sure, would sit at the bottom of the table), -wore their best blouses--that is to say, with collars turned down -to the shoulders, the back gathered into small plaits and the -waist fastened very low down with a worked belt. - -And the shirts stood out from the chests like cuirasses! Everyone -had just had his hair cut; ears stood out from the heads; they -had been close-shaved; a few, even, who had had to get up before -daybreak, and not been able to see to shave, had diagonal gashes -under their noses or cuts the size of a three-franc piece along -the jaws, which the fresh air en route had enflamed, so that the -great white beaming faces were mottled here and there with red -dabs. - -The mairie was a mile and a half from the farm, and they went -thither on foot, returning in the same way after the ceremony in -the church. The procession, first united like one long coloured -scarf that undulated across the fields, along the narrow path -winding amid the green corn, soon lengthened out, and broke up -into different groups that loitered to talk. The fiddler walked -in front with his violin, gay with ribbons at its pegs. Then came -the married pair, the relations, the friends, all following -pell-mell; the children stayed behind amusing themselves plucking -the bell-flowers from oat-ears, or playing amongst themselves -unseen. Emma's dress, too long, trailed a little on the ground; -from time to time she stopped to pull it up, and then delicately, -with her gloved hands, she picked off the coarse grass and the -thistledowns, while Charles, empty handed, waited till she had -finished. Old Rouault, with a new silk hat and the cuffs of his -black coat covering his hands up to the nails, gave his arm to -Madame Bovary senior. As to Monsieur Bovary senior, who, heartily -despising all these folk, had come simply in a frock-coat of -military cut with one row of buttons--he was passing compliments -of the bar to a fair young peasant. She bowed, blushed, and did -not know what to say. The other wedding guests talked of their -business or played tricks behind each other's backs, egging one -another on in advance to be jolly. Those who listened could -always catch the squeaking of the fiddler, who went on playing -across the fields. When he saw that the rest were far behind he -stopped to take breath, slowly rosined his bow, so that the -strings should sound more shrilly, then set off again, by turns -lowering and raising his neck, the better to mark time for -himself. The noise of the instrument drove away the little birds -from afar. - -The table was laid under the cart-shed. On it were four sirloins, -six chicken fricassees, stewed veal, three legs of mutton, and in -the middle a fine roast suckling pig, flanked by four -chitterlings with sorrel. At the corners were decanters of -brandy. Sweet bottled-cider frothed round the corks, and all the -glasses had been filled to the brim with wine beforehand. Large -dishes of yellow cream, that trembled with the least shake of the -table, had designed on their smooth surface the initials of the -newly wedded pair in nonpareil arabesques. A confectioner of -Yvetot had been intrusted with the tarts and sweets. As he had -only just set up on the place, he had taken a lot of trouble, and -at dessert he himself brought in a set dish that evoked loud -cries of wonderment. To begin with, at its base there was a -square of blue cardboard, representing a temple with porticoes, -colonnades, and stucco statuettes all round, and in the niches -constellations of gilt paper stars; then on the second stage was -a dungeon of Savoy cake, surrounded by many fortifications in -candied angelica, almonds, raisins, and quarters of oranges; and -finally, on the upper platform a green field with rocks set in -lakes of jam, nutshell boats, and a small Cupid balancing himself -in a chocolate swing whose two uprights ended in real roses for -balls at the top. - -Until night they ate. When any of them were too tired of sitting, -they went out for a stroll in the yard, or for a game with corks -in the granary, and then returned to table. Some towards the -finish went to sleep and snored. But with the coffee everyone -woke up. Then they began songs, showed off tricks, raised heavy -weights, performed feats with their fingers, then tried lifting -carts on their shoulders, made broad jokes, kissed the women. At -night when they left, the horses, stuffed up to the nostrils with -oats, could hardly be got into the shafts; they kicked, reared, -the harness broke, their masters laughed or swore; and all night -in the light of the moon along country roads there were runaway -carts at full gallop plunging into the ditches, jumping over yard -after yard of stones, clambering up the hills, with women leaning -out from the tilt to catch hold of the reins. - -Those who stayed at the Bertaux spent the night drinking in the -kitchen. The children had fallen asleep under the seats. - -The bride had begged her father to be spared the usual marriage -pleasantries. However, a fishmonger, one of their cousins (who -had even brought a pair of soles for his wedding present), began -to squirt water from his mouth through the keyhole, when old -Rouault came up just in time to stop him, and explain to him that -the distinguished position of his son-in-law would not allow of -such liberties. The cousin all the same did not give in to these -reasons readily. In his heart he accused old Rouault of being -proud, and he joined four or five other guests in a corner, who -having, through mere chance, been several times running served -with the worst helps of meat, also were of opinion they had been -badly used, and were whispering about their host, and with -covered hints hoping he would ruin himself. - -Madame Bovary, senior, had not opened her mouth all day. She had -been consulted neither as to the dress of her daughter-in-law nor -as to the arrangement of the feast; she went to bed early. Her -husband, instead of following her, sent to Saint-Victor for some -cigars, and smoked till daybreak, drinking kirsch-punch, a -mixture unknown to the company. This added greatly to the -consideration in which he was held. - -Charles, who was not of a facetious turn, did not shine at the -wedding. He answered feebly to the puns, doubles entendres*, -compliments, and chaff that it was felt a duty to let off at him -as soon as the soup appeared. - -*Double meanings. - -The next day, on the other hand, he seemed another man. It was he -who might rather have been taken for the virgin of the evening -before, whilst the bride gave no sign that revealed anything. The -shrewdest did not know what to make of it, and they looked at her -when she passed near them with an unbounded concentration of -mind. But Charles concealed nothing. He called her "my wife", -tutoyed* her, asked for her of everyone, looked for her -everywhere, and often he dragged her into the yards, where he -could be seen from far between the trees, putting his arm around -her waist, and walking half-bending over her, ruffling the -chemisette of her bodice with his head. - -*Used the familiar form of address. - -Two days after the wedding the married pair left. Charles, on -account of his patients, could not be away longer. Old Rouault -had them driven back in his cart, and himself accompanied them as -far as Vassonville. Here he embraced his daughter for the last -time, got down, and went his way. When he had gone about a -hundred paces he stopped, and as he saw the cart disappearing, -its wheels turning in the dust, he gave a deep sigh. Then he -remembered his wedding, the old times, the first pregnancy of his -wife; he, too, had been very happy the day when he had taken her -from her father to his home, and had carried her off on a -pillion, trotting through the snow, for it was near -Christmas-time, and the country was all white. She held him by -one arm, her basket hanging from the other; the wind blew the -long lace of her Cauchois headdress so that it sometimes flapped -across his mouth, and when he turned his head he saw near him, on -his shoulder, her little rosy face, smiling silently under the -gold bands of her cap. To warm her hands she put them from time -to time in his breast. How long ago it all was! Their son would -have been thirty by now. Then he looked back and saw nothing on -the road. He felt dreary as an empty house; and tender memories -mingling with the sad thoughts in his brain, addled by the fumes -of the feast, he felt inclined for a moment to take a turn -towards the church. As he was afraid, however, that this sight -would make him yet more sad, he went right away home. - -Monsieur and Madame Charles arrived at Tostes about six o'clock. - -The neighbors came to the windows to see their doctor's new wife. - -The old servant presented herself, curtsied to her, apologised -for not having dinner ready, and suggested that madame, in the -meantime, should look over her house. - - - -Chapter Five - -The brick front was just in a line with the street, or rather the -road. Behind the door hung a cloak with a small collar, a bridle, -and a black leather cap, and on the floor, in a corner, were a -pair of leggings, still covered with dry mud. On the right was -the one apartment, that was both dining and sitting room. A -canary yellow paper, relieved at the top by a garland of pale -flowers, was puckered everywhere over the badly stretched canvas; -white calico curtains with a red border hung crossways at the -length of the window; and on the narrow mantelpiece a clock with -a head of Hippocrates shone resplendent between two plate -candlesticks under oval shades. On the other side of the passage -was Charles's consulting room, a little room about six paces -wide, with a table, three chairs, and an office chair. Volumes of -the "Dictionary of Medical Science," uncut, but the binding -rather the worse for the successive sales through which they had -gone, occupied almost along the six shelves of a deal bookcase. - -The smell of melted butter penetrated through the walls when he -saw patients, just as in the kitchen one could hear the people -coughing in the consulting room and recounting their histories. - -Then, opening on the yard, where the stable was, came a large -dilapidated room with a stove, now used as a wood-house, cellar, -and pantry, full of old rubbish, of empty casks, agricultural -implements past service, and a mass of dusty things whose use it -was impossible to guess. - -The garden, longer than wide, ran between two mud walls with -espaliered apricots, to a hawthorn hedge that separated it from -the field. In the middle was a slate sundial on a brick pedestal; -four flower beds with eglantines surrounded symmetrically the -more useful kitchen garden bed. Right at the bottom, under the -spruce bushes, was a cure in plaster reading his breviary. - -Emma went upstairs. The first room was not furnished, but in the -second, which was their bedroom, was a mahogany bedstead in an -alcove with red drapery. A shell box adorned the chest of -drawers, and on the secretary near the window a bouquet of orange -blossoms tied with white satin ribbons stood in a bottle. It was -a bride's bouquet; it was the other one's. She looked at it. -Charles noticed it; he took it and carried it up to the attic, -while Emma seated in an arm-chair (they were putting her things -down around her) thought of her bridal flowers packed up in a -bandbox, and wondered, dreaming, what would be done with them if -she were to die. - -During the first days she occupied herself in thinking about -changes in the house. She took the shades off the candlesticks, -had new wallpaper put up, the staircase repainted, and seats made -in the garden round the sundial; she even inquired how she could -get a basin with a jet fountain and fishes. Finally her husband, -knowing that she liked to drive out, picked up a second-hand -dogcart, which, with new lamps and splashboard in striped -leather, looked almost like a tilbury. - -He was happy then, and without a care in the world. A meal -together, a walk in the evening on the highroad, a gesture of her -hands over her hair, the sight of her straw hat hanging from the -window-fastener, and many another thing in which Charles had -never dreamed of pleasure, now made up the endless round of his -happiness. In bed, in the morning, by her side, on the pillow, he -watched the sunlight sinking into the down on her fair cheek, -half hidden by the lappets of her night-cap. Seen thus closely, -her eyes looked to him enlarged, especially when, on waking up, -she opened and shut them rapidly many times. Black in the shade, -dark blue in broad daylight, they had, as it were, depths of -different colours, that, darker in the centre, grew paler towards -the surface of the eye. His own eyes lost themselves in these -depths; he saw himself in miniature down to the shoulders, with -his handkerchief round his head and the top of his shirt open. He -rose. She came to the window to see him off, and stayed leaning -on the sill between two pots of geranium, clad in her dressing -gown hanging loosely about her. Charles, in the street buckled -his spurs, his foot on the mounting stone, while she talked to -him from above, picking with her mouth some scrap of flower or -leaf that she blew out at him. Then this, eddying, floating, -described semicircles in the air like a bird, and was caught -before it reached the ground in the ill-groomed mane of the old -white mare standing motionless at the door. Charles from -horseback threw her a kiss; she answered with a nod; she shut the -window, and he set off. And then along the highroad, spreading -out its long ribbon of dust, along the deep lanes that the trees -bent over as in arbours, along paths where the corn reached to -the knees, with the sun on his back and the morning air in his -nostrils, his heart full of the joys of the past night, his mind -at rest, his flesh at ease, he went on, re-chewing his happiness, -like those who after dinner taste again the truffles which they -are digesting. - -Until now what good had he had of his life? His time at school, -when he remained shut up within the high walls, alone, in the -midst of companions richer than he or cleverer at their work, who -laughed at his accent, who jeered at his clothes, and whose -mothers came to the school with cakes in their muffs? Later on, -when he studied medicine, and never had his purse full enough to -treat some little work-girl who would have become his mistress? -Afterwards, he had lived fourteen months with the widow, whose -feet in bed were cold as icicles. But now he had for life this -beautiful woman whom he adored. For him the universe did not -extend beyond the circumference of her petticoat, and he -reproached himself with not loving her. He wanted to see her -again; he turned back quickly, ran up the stairs with a beating -heart. Emma, in her room, was dressing; he came up on tiptoe, -kissed her back; she gave a cry. - -He could not keep from constantly touching her comb, her ring, -her fichu; sometimes he gave her great sounding kisses with all -his mouth on her cheeks, or else little kisses in a row all along -her bare arm from the tip of her fingers up to her shoulder, and -she put him away half-smiling, half-vexed, as you do a child who -hangs about you. - -Before marriage she thought herself in love; but the happiness -that should have followed this love not having come, she must, -she thought, have been mistaken. And Emma tried to find out what -one meant exactly in life by the words felicity, passion, -rapture, that had seemed to her so beautiful in books. - - - -Chapter Six - -She had read "Paul and Virginia," and she had dreamed of the -little bamboo-house, the nigger Domingo, the dog Fiddle, but -above all of the sweet friendship of some dear little brother, -who seeks red fruit for you on trees taller than steeples, or who -runs barefoot over the sand, bringing you a bird's nest. - -When she was thirteen, her father himself took her to town to -place her in the convent. They stopped at an inn in the St. -Gervais quarter, where, at their supper, they used painted plates -that set forth the story of Mademoiselle de la Valliere. The -explanatory legends, chipped here and there by the scratching of -knives, all glorified religion, the tendernesses of the heart, -and the pomps of court. - -Far from being bored at first at the convent, she took pleasure -in the society of the good sisters, who, to amuse her, took her -to the chapel, which one entered from the refectory by a long -corridor. She played very little during recreation hours, knew -her catechism well, and it was she who always answered Monsieur -le Vicaire's difficult questions. Living thus, without every -leaving the warm atmosphere of the classrooms, and amid these -pale-faced women wearing rosaries with brass crosses, she was -softly lulled by the mystic languor exhaled in the perfumes of -the altar, the freshness of the holy water, and the lights of the -tapers. Instead of attending to mass, she looked at the pious -vignettes with their azure borders in her book, and she loved the -sick lamb, the sacred heart pierced with sharp arrows, or the -poor Jesus sinking beneath the cross he carries. She tried, by -way of mortification, to eat nothing a whole day. She puzzled her -head to find some vow to fulfil. - -When she went to confession, she invented little sins in order -that she might stay there longer, kneeling in the shadow, her -hands joined, her face against the grating beneath the whispering -of the priest. The comparisons of betrothed, husband, celestial -lover, and eternal marriage, that recur in sermons, stirred -within her soul depths of unexpected sweetness. - -In the evening, before prayers, there was some religious reading -in the study. On week-nights it was some abstract of sacred -history or the Lectures of the Abbe Frayssinous, and on Sundays -passages from the "Genie du Christianisme," as a recreation. How -she listened at first to the sonorous lamentations of its -romantic melancholies reechoing through the world and eternity! -If her childhood had been spent in the shop-parlour of some -business quarter, she might perhaps have opened her heart to -those lyrical invasions of Nature, which usually come to us only -through translation in books. But she knew the country too well; -she knew the lowing of cattle, the milking, the ploughs. - -Accustomed to calm aspects of life, she turned, on the contrary, -to those of excitement. She loved the sea only for the sake of -its storms, and the green fields only when broken up by ruins. - -She wanted to get some personal profit out of things, and she -rejected as useless all that did not contribute to the immediate -desires of her heart, being of a temperament more sentimental -than artistic, looking for emotions, not landscapes. - -At the convent there was an old maid who came for a week each -month to mend the linen. Patronized by the clergy, because she -belonged to an ancient family of noblemen ruined by the -Revolution, she dined in the refectory at the table of the good -sisters, and after the meal had a bit of chat with them before -going back to her work. The girls often slipped out from the -study to go and see her. She knew by heart the love songs of the -last century, and sang them in a low voice as she stitched away. - -She told stories, gave them news, went errands in the town, and -on the sly lent the big girls some novel, that she always carried -in the pockets of her apron, and of which the good lady herself -swallowed long chapters in the intervals of her work. They were -all love, lovers, sweethearts, persecuted ladies fainting in -lonely pavilions, postilions killed at every stage, horses ridden -to death on every page, sombre forests, heartaches, vows, sobs, -tears and kisses, little skiffs by moonlight, nightingales in -shady groves, "gentlemen" brave as lions, gentle as lambs, -virtuous as no one ever was, always well dressed, and weeping -like fountains. For six months, then, Emma, at fifteen years of -age, made her hands dirty with books from old lending libraries. - -Through Walter Scott, later on, she fell in love with historical -events, dreamed of old chests, guard-rooms and minstrels. She -would have liked to live in some old manor-house, like those -long-waisted chatelaines who, in the shade of pointed arches, -spent their days leaning on the stone, chin in hand, watching a -cavalier with white plume galloping on his black horse from the -distant fields. At this time she had a cult for Mary Stuart and -enthusiastic veneration for illustrious or unhappy women. Joan of -Arc, Heloise, Agnes Sorel, the beautiful Ferroniere, and Clemence -Isaure stood out to her like comets in the dark immensity of -heaven, where also were seen, lost in shadow, and all -unconnected, St. Louis with his oak, the dying Bayard, some -cruelties of Louis XI, a little of St. Bartholomew's Day, the -plume of the Bearnais, and always the remembrance of the plates -painted in honour of Louis XIV. - -In the music class, in the ballads she sang, there was nothing -but little angels with golden wings, madonnas, lagunes, -gondoliers;-mild compositions that allowed her to catch a glimpse -athwart the obscurity of style and the weakness of the music of -the attractive phantasmagoria of sentimental realities. Some of -her companions brought "keepsakes" given them as new year's gifts -to the convent. These had to be hidden; it was quite an -undertaking; they were read in the dormitory. Delicately handling -the beautiful satin bindings, Emma looked with dazzled eyes at -the names of the unknown authors, who had signed their verses for -the most part as counts or viscounts. - -She trembled as she blew back the tissue paper over the engraving -and saw it folded in two and fall gently against the page. Here -behind the balustrade of a balcony was a young man in a short -cloak, holding in his arms a young girl in a white dress wearing -an alms-bag at her belt; or there were nameless portraits of -English ladies with fair curls, who looked at you from under -their round straw hats with their large clear eyes. Some there -were lounging in their carriages, gliding through parks, a -greyhound bounding along in front of the equipage driven at a -trot by two midget postilions in white breeches. Others, dreaming -on sofas with an open letter, gazed at the moon through a -slightly open window half draped by a black curtain. The naive -ones, a tear on their cheeks, were kissing doves through the bars -of a Gothic cage, or, smiling, their heads on one side, were -plucking the leaves of a marguerite with their taper fingers, -that curved at the tips like peaked shoes. And you, too, were -there, Sultans with long pipes reclining beneath arbours in the -arms of Bayaderes; Djiaours, Turkish sabres, Greek caps; and you -especially, pale landscapes of dithyrambic lands, that often show -us at once palm trees and firs, tigers on the right, a lion to -the left, Tartar minarets on the horizon; the whole framed by a -very neat virgin forest, and with a great perpendicular sunbeam -trembling in the water, where, standing out in relief like white -excoriations on a steel-grey ground, swans are swimming about. - -And the shade of the argand lamp fastened to the wall above -Emma's head lighted up all these pictures of the world, that -passed before her one by one in the silence of the dormitory, and -to the distant noise of some belated carriage rolling over the -Boulevards. - -When her mother died she cried much the first few days. She had a -funeral picture made with the hair of the deceased, and, in a -letter sent to the Bertaux full of sad reflections on life, she -asked to be buried later on in the same grave. The goodman -thought she must be ill, and came to see her. Emma was secretly -pleased that she had reached at a first attempt the rare ideal of -pale lives, never attained by mediocre hearts. She let herself -glide along with Lamartine meanderings, listened to harps on -lakes, to all the songs of dying swans, to the falling of the -leaves, the pure virgins ascending to heaven, and the voice of -the Eternal discoursing down the valleys. She wearied of it, -would not confess it, continued from habit, and at last was -surprised to feel herself soothed, and with no more sadness at -heart than wrinkles on her brow. - -The good nuns, who had been so sure of her vocation, perceived -with great astonishment that Mademoiselle Rouault seemed to be -slipping from them. They had indeed been so lavish to her of -prayers, retreats, novenas, and sermons, they had so often -preached the respect due to saints and martyrs, and given so much -good advice as to the modesty of the body and the salvation of -her soul, that she did as tightly reined horses; she pulled up -short and the bit slipped from her teeth. This nature, positive -in the midst of its enthusiasms, that had loved the church for -the sake of the flowers, and music for the words of the songs, -and literature for its passional stimulus, rebelled against the -mysteries of faith as it grew irritated by discipline, a thing -antipathetic to her constitution. When her father took her from -school, no one was sorry to see her go. The Lady Superior even -thought that she had latterly been somewhat irreverent to the -community. - -Emma, at home once more, first took pleasure in looking after the -servants, then grew disgusted with the country and missed her -convent. When Charles came to the Bertaux for the first time, she -thought herself quite disillusioned, with nothing more to learn, -and nothing more to feel. - -But the uneasiness of her new position, or perhaps the -disturbance caused by the presence of this man, had sufficed to -make her believe that she at last felt that wondrous passion -which, till then, like a great bird with rose-coloured wings, -hung in the splendour of the skies of poesy; and now she could -not think that the calm in which she lived was the happiness she -had dreamed. - - - -Chapter Seven - -She thought, sometimes, that, after all, this was the happiest -time of her life--the honeymoon, as people called it. To taste -the full sweetness of it, it would have been necessary doubtless -to fly to those lands with sonorous names where the days after -marriage are full of laziness most suave. In post chaises behind -blue silken curtains to ride slowly up steep road, listening to -the song of the postilion re-echoed by the mountains, along with -the bells of goats and the muffled sound of a waterfall; at -sunset on the shores of gulfs to breathe in the perfume of lemon -trees; then in the evening on the villa-terraces above, hand in -hand to look at the stars, making plans for the future. It seemed -to her that certain places on earth must bring happiness, as a -plant peculiar to the soil, and that cannot thrive elsewhere. Why -could not she lean over balconies in Swiss chalets, or enshrine -her melancholy in a Scotch cottage, with a husband dressed in a -black velvet coat with long tails, and thin shoes, a pointed hat -and frills? Perhaps she would have liked to confide all these -things to someone. But how tell an undefinable uneasiness, -variable as the clouds, unstable as the winds? Words failed -her--the opportunity, the courage. - -If Charles had but wished it, if he had guessed it, if his look -had but once met her thought, it seemed to her that a sudden -plenty would have gone out from her heart, as the fruit falls -from a tree when shaken by a hand. But as the intimacy of their -life became deeper, the greater became the gulf that separated -her from him. - -Charles's conversation was commonplace as a street pavement, and -everyone's ideas trooped through it in their everyday garb, -without exciting emotion, laughter, or thought. He had never had -the curiosity, he said, while he lived at Rouen, to go to the -theatre to see the actors from Paris. He could neither swim, nor -fence, nor shoot, and one day he could not explain some term of -horsemanship to her that she had come across in a novel. - -A man, on the contrary, should he not know everything, excel in -manifold activities, initiate you into the energies of passion, -the refinements of life, all mysteries? But this one taught -nothing, knew nothing, wished nothing. He thought her happy; and -she resented this easy calm, this serene heaviness, the very -happiness she gave him. - -Sometimes she would draw; and it was great amusement to Charles -to stand there bolt upright and watch her bend over her -cardboard, with eyes half-closed the better to see her work, or -rolling, between her fingers, little bread-pellets. As to the -piano, the more quickly her fingers glided over it the more he -wondered. She struck the notes with aplomb, and ran from top to -bottom of the keyboard without a break. Thus shaken up, the old -instrument, whose strings buzzed, could be heard at the other end -of the village when the window was open, and often the bailiff's -clerk, passing along the highroad bare-headed and in list -slippers, stopped to listen, his sheet of paper in his hand. - -Emma, on the other hand, knew how to look after her house. She -sent the patients' accounts in well-phrased letters that had no -suggestion of a bill. When they had a neighbour to dinner on -Sundays, she managed to have some tasty dish--piled up pyramids -of greengages on vine leaves, served up preserves turned out into -plates--and even spoke of buying finger-glasses for dessert. From -all this much consideration was extended to Bovary. - -Charles finished by rising in his own esteem for possessing such -a wife. He showed with pride in the sitting room two small pencil -sketched by her that he had had framed in very large frames, and -hung up against the wallpaper by long green cords. People -returning from mass saw him at his door in his wool-work -slippers. - -He came home late--at ten o'clock, at midnight sometimes. Then he -asked for something to eat, and as the servant had gone to bed, -Emma waited on him. He took off his coat to dine more at his -ease. He told her, one after the other, the people he had met, -the villages where he had been, the prescriptions ha had written, -and, well pleased with himself, he finished the remainder of the -boiled beef and onions, picked pieces off the cheese, munched an -apple, emptied his water-bottle, and then went to bed, and lay on -his back and snored. - -As he had been for a time accustomed to wear nightcaps, his -handkerchief would not keep down over his ears, so that his hair -in the morning was all tumbled pell-mell about his face and -whitened with the feathers of the pillow, whose strings came -untied during the night. He always wore thick boots that had two -long creases over the instep running obliquely towards the ankle, -while the rest of the upper continued in a straight line as if -stretched on a wooden foot. He said that "was quite good enough -for the country." - -His mother approved of his economy, for she came to see him as -formerly when there had been some violent row at her place; and -yet Madame Bovary senior seemed prejudiced against her -daughter-in-law. She thought "her ways too fine for their -position"; the wood, the sugar, and the candles disappeared as -"at a grand establishment," and the amount of firing in the -kitchen would have been enough for twenty-five courses. She put -her linen in order for her in the presses, and taught her to keep -an eye on the butcher when he brought the meat. Emma put up with -these lessons. Madame Bovary was lavish of them; and the words -"daughter" and "mother" were exchanged all day long, accompanied -by little quiverings of the lips, each one uttering gentle words -in a voice trembling with anger. - -In Madame Dubuc's time the old woman felt that she was still the -favorite; but now the love of Charles for Emma seemed to her a -desertion from her tenderness, an encroachment upon what was -hers, and she watched her son's happiness in sad silence, as a -ruined man looks through the windows at people dining in his old -house. She recalled to him as remembrances her troubles and her -sacrifices, and, comparing these with Emma's negligence, came to -the conclusion that it was not reasonable to adore her so -exclusively. - -Charles knew not what to answer: he respected his mother, and he -loved his wife infinitely; he considered the judgment of the one -infallible, and yet he thought the conduct of the other -irreproachable. When Madam Bovary had gone, he tried timidly and -in the same terms to hazard one or two of the more anodyne -observations he had heard from his mamma. Emma proved to him with -a word that he was mistaken, and sent him off to his patients. - -And yet, in accord with theories she believed right, she wanted -to make herself in love with him. By moonlight in the garden she -recited all the passionate rhymes she knew by heart, and, -sighing, sang to him many melancholy adagios; but she found -herself as calm after as before, and Charles seemed no more -amorous and no more moved. - -When she had thus for a while struck the flint on her heart -without getting a spark, incapable, moreover, of understanding -what she did not experience as of believing anything that did not -present itself in conventional forms, she persuaded herself -without difficulty that Charles's passion was nothing very -exorbitant. His outbursts became regular; he embraced her at -certain fixed times. It was one habit among other habits, and, -like a dessert, looked forward to after the monotony of dinner. - -A gamekeeper, cured by the doctor of inflammation of the lungs, -had given madame a little Italian greyhound; she took her out -walking, for she went out sometimes in order to be alone for a -moment, and not to see before her eyes the eternal garden and the -dusty road. She went as far as the beeches of Banneville, near -the deserted pavilion which forms an angle of the wall on the -side of the country. Amidst the vegetation of the ditch there are -long reeds with leaves that cut you. - -She began by looking round her to see if nothing had changed -since last she had been there. She found again in the same places -the foxgloves and wallflowers, the beds of nettles growing round -the big stones, and the patches of lichen along the three -windows, whose shutters, always closed, were rotting away on -their rusty iron bars. Her thoughts, aimless at first, wandered -at random, like her greyhound, who ran round and round in the -fields, yelping after the yellow butterflies, chasing the -shrew-mice, or nibbling the poppies on the edge of a cornfield. - -Then gradually her ideas took definite shape, and, sitting on the -grass that she dug up with little prods of her sunshade, Emma -repeated to herself, "Good heavens! Why did I marry?" - -She asked herself if by some other chance combination it would -have not been possible to meet another man; and she tried to -imagine what would have been these unrealised events, this -different life, this unknown husband. All, surely, could not be -like this one. He might have been handsome, witty, distinguished, -attractive, such as, no doubt, her old companions of the convent -had married. What were they doing now? In town, with the noise of -the streets, the buzz of the theatres and the lights of the -ballroom, they were living lives where the heart expands, the -senses bourgeon out. But she--her life was cold as a garret whose -dormer window looks on the north, and ennui, the silent spider, -was weaving its web in the darkness in every corner of her heart. - -She recalled the prize days, when she mounted the platform to -receive her little crowns, with her hair in long plaits. In her -white frock and open prunella shoes she had a pretty way, and -when she went back to her seat, the gentlemen bent over her to -congratulate her; the courtyard was full of carriages; farewells -were called to her through their windows; the music master with -his violin case bowed in passing by. How far all of this! How far -away! She called Djali, took her between her knees, and smoothed -the long delicate head, saying, "Come, kiss mistress; you have no -troubles." - -Then noting the melancholy face of the graceful animal, who -yawned slowly, she softened, and comparing her to herself, spoke -to her aloud as to somebody in trouble whom one is consoling. - -Occasionally there came gusts of winds, breezes from the sea -rolling in one sweep over the whole plateau of the Caux country, -which brought even to these fields a salt freshness. The rushes, -close to the ground, whistled; the branches trembled in a swift -rustling, while their summits, ceaselessly swaying, kept up a -deep murmur. Emma drew her shawl round her shoulders and rose. - -In the avenue a green light dimmed by the leaves lit up the short -moss that crackled softly beneath her feet. The sun was setting; -the sky showed red between the branches, and the trunks of the -trees, uniform, and planted in a straight line, seemed a brown -colonnade standing out against a background of gold. A fear took -hold of her; she called Djali, and hurriedly returned to Tostes -by the high road, threw herself into an armchair, and for the -rest of the evening did not speak. - -But towards the end of September something extraordinary fell -upon her life; she was invited by the Marquis d'Andervilliers to -Vaubyessard. - -Secretary of State under the Restoration, the Marquis, anxious to -re-enter political life, set about preparing for his candidature -to the Chamber of Deputies long beforehand. In the winter he -distributed a great deal of wood, and in the Conseil General -always enthusiastically demanded new roads for his -arrondissement. During the dog-days he had suffered from an -abscess, which Charles had cured as if by miracle by giving a -timely little touch with the lancet. The steward sent to Tostes -to pay for the operation reported in the evening that he had seen -some superb cherries in the doctor's little garden. Now cherry -trees did not thrive at Vaubyessard; the Marquis asked Bovary for -some slips; made it his business to thank his personally; saw -Emma; thought she had a pretty figure, and that she did not bow -like a peasant; so that he did not think he was going beyond the -bounds of condescension, nor, on the other hand, making a -mistake, in inviting the young couple. - -On Wednesday at three o'clock, Monsieur and Madame Bovary, seated -in their dog-cart, set out for Vaubyessard, with a great trunk -strapped on behind and a bonnet-box in front of the apron. -Besides these Charles held a bandbox between his knees. - -They arrived at nightfall, just as the lamps in the park were -being lit to show the way for the carriages. - - - -Chapter Eight - -The chateau, a modern building in Italian style, with two -projecting wings and three flights of steps, lay at the foot of -an immense green-sward, on which some cows were grazing among -groups of large trees set out at regular intervals, while large -beds of arbutus, rhododendron, syringas, and guelder roses bulged -out their irregular clusters of green along the curve of the -gravel path. A river flowed under a bridge; through the mist one -could distinguish buildings with thatched roofs scattered over -the field bordered by two gently sloping, well timbered hillocks, -and in the background amid the trees rose in two parallel lines -the coach houses and stables, all that was left of the ruined old -chateau. - -Charles's dog-cart pulled up before the middle flight of steps; -servants appeared; the Marquis came forward, and, offering his -arm to the doctor's wife, conducted her to the vestibule. - -It was paved with marble slabs, was very lofty, and the sound of -footsteps and that of voices re-echoed through it as in a church. - -Opposite rose a straight staircase, and on the left a gallery -overlooking the garden led to the billiard room, through whose -door one could hear the click of the ivory balls. As she crossed -it to go to the drawing room, Emma saw standing round the table -men with grave faces, their chins resting on high cravats. They -all wore orders, and smiled silently as they made their strokes. - -On the dark wainscoting of the walls large gold frames bore at -the bottom names written in black letters. She read: -"Jean-Antoine d'Andervilliers d'Yvervonbille, Count de la -Vaubyessard and Baron de la Fresnay, killed at the battle of -Coutras on the 20th of October, 1857." And on another: -"Jean-Antoine-Henry-Guy d'Andervilliers de la Vaubyessard, -Admiral of France and Chevalier of the Order of St. Michael, -wounded at the battle of the Hougue-Saint-Vaast on the 29th of -May, 1692; died at Vaubyessard on the 23rd of January 1693." One -could hardly make out those that followed, for the light of the -lamps lowered over the green cloth threw a dim shadow round the -room. Burnishing the horizontal pictures, it broke up against -these in delicate lines where there were cracks in the varnish, -and from all these great black squares framed in with gold stood -out here and there some lighter portion of the painting--a pale -brow, two eyes that looked at you, perukes flowing over and -powdering red-coated shoulders, or the buckle of a garter above a -well-rounded calf. - -The Marquis opened the drawing room door; one of the ladies (the -Marchioness herself) came to meet Emma. She made her sit down by -her on an ottoman, and began talking to her as amicably as if she -had known her a long time. She was a woman of about forty, with -fine shoulders, a hook nose, a drawling voice, and on this -evening she wore over her brown hair a simple guipure fichu that -fell in a point at the back. A fair young woman sat in a -high-backed chair in a corner; and gentlemen with flowers in -their buttonholes were talking to ladies round the fire. - -At seven dinner was served. The men, who were in the majority, -sat down at the first table in the vestibule; the ladies at the -second in the dining room with the Marquis and Marchioness. - -Emma, on entering, felt herself wrapped round by the warm air, a -blending of the perfume of flowers and of the fine linen, of the -fumes of the viands, and the odour of the truffles. The silver -dish covers reflected the lighted wax candles in the candelabra, -the cut crystal covered with light steam reflected from one to -the other pale rays; bouquets were placed in a row the whole -length of the table; and in the large-bordered plates each -napkin, arranged after the fashion of a bishop's mitre, held -between its two gaping folds a small oval shaped roll. The red -claws of lobsters hung over the dishes; rich fruit in open -baskets was piled up on moss; there were quails in their plumage; -smoke was rising; and in silk stockings, knee-breeches, white -cravat, and frilled shirt, the steward, grave as a judge, -offering ready carved dishes between the shoulders of the guests, -with a touch of the spoon gave you the piece chosen. On the large -stove of porcelain inlaid with copper baguettes the statue of a -woman, draped to the chin, gazed motionless on the room full of -life. - -Madame Bovary noticed that many ladies had not put their gloves -in their glasses. - -But at the upper end of the table, alone amongst all these women, -bent over his full plate, and his napkin tied round his neck like -a child, an old man sat eating, letting drops of gravy drip from -his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot, and he wore a little queue -tied with black ribbon. He was the Marquis's father-in-law, the -old Duke de Laverdiere, once on a time favourite of the Count -d'Artois, in the days of the Vaudreuil hunting-parties at the -Marquis de Conflans', and had been, it was said, the lover of -Queen Marie Antoinette, between Monsieur de Coigny and Monsieur -de Lauzun. He had lived a life of noisy debauch, full of duels, -bets, elopements; he had squandered his fortune and frightened -all his family. A servant behind his chair named aloud to him in -his ear the dishes that he pointed to stammering, and constantly -Emma's eyes turned involuntarily to this old man with hanging -lips, as to something extraordinary. He had lived at court and -slept in the bed of queens! Iced champagne was poured out. Emma -shivered all over as she felt it cold in her mouth. She had never -seen pomegranates nor tasted pineapples. The powdered sugar even -seemed to her whiter and finer than elsewhere. - -The ladies afterwards went to their rooms to prepare for the -ball. - -Emma made her toilet with the fastidious care of an actress on -her debut. She did her hair according to the directions of the -hairdresser, and put on the barege dress spread out upon the bed. - -Charles's trousers were tight across the belly. - -"My trouser-straps will be rather awkward for dancing," he said. - -"Dancing?" repeated Emma. - -"Yes!" - -"Why, you must be mad! They would make fun of you; keep your -place. Besides, it is more becoming for a doctor," she added. - -Charles was silent. He walked up and down waiting for Emma to -finish dressing. - -He saw her from behind in the glass between two lights. Her black -eyes seemed blacker than ever. Her hair, undulating towards the -ears, shone with a blue lustre; a rose in her chignon trembled on -its mobile stalk, with artificial dewdrops on the tip of the -leaves. She wore a gown of pale saffron trimmed with three -bouquets of pompon roses mixed with green. - -Charles came and kissed her on her shoulder. - -"Let me alone!" she said; "you are tumbling me." - -One could hear the flourish of the violin and the notes of a -horn. She went downstairs restraining herself from running. - -Dancing had begun. Guests were arriving. There was some crushing. - -She sat down on a form near the door. - -The quadrille over, the floor was occupied by groups of men -standing up and talking and servants in livery bearing large -trays. Along the line of seated women painted fans were -fluttering, bouquets half hid smiling faces, and gold stoppered -scent-bottles were turned in partly-closed hands, whose white -gloves outlined the nails and tightened on the flesh at the -wrists. Lace trimmings, diamond brooches, medallion bracelets -trembled on bodices, gleamed on breasts, clinked on bare arms. - -The hair, well-smoothed over the temples and knotted at the nape, -bore crowns, or bunches, or sprays of mytosotis, jasmine, -pomegranate blossoms, ears of corn, and corn-flowers. Calmly -seated in their places, mothers with forbidding countenances were -wearing red turbans. - -Emma's heart beat rather faster when, her partner holding her by -the tips of the fingers, she took her place in a line with the -dancers, and waited for the first note to start. But her emotion -soon vanished, and, swaying to the rhythm of the orchestra, she -glided forward with slight movements of the neck. A smile rose to -her lips at certain delicate phrases of the violin, that -sometimes played alone while the other instruments were silent; -one could hear the clear clink of the louis d'or that were being -thrown down upon the card tables in the next room; then all -struck again, the cornet-a-piston uttered its sonorous note, feet -marked time, skirts swelled and rustled, hands touched and -parted; the same eyes falling before you met yours again. - -A few men (some fifteen or so), of twenty-five to forty, -scattered here and there among the dancers or talking at the -doorways, distinguished themselves from the crowd by a certain -air of breeding, whatever their differences in age, dress, or -face. - -Their clothes, better made, seemed of finer cloth, and their -hair, brought forward in curls towards the temples, glossy with -more delicate pomades. They had the complexion of wealth--that -clear complexion that is heightened by the pallor of porcelain, -the shimmer of satin, the veneer of old furniture, and that an -ordered regimen of exquisite nurture maintains at its best. Their -necks moved easily in their low cravats, their long whiskers fell -over their turned-down collars, they wiped their lips upon -handkerchiefs with embroidered initials that gave forth a subtle -perfume. Those who were beginning to grow old had an air of -youth, while there was something mature in the faces of the -young. In their unconcerned looks was the calm of passions daily -satiated, and through all their gentleness of manner pierced that -peculiar brutality, the result of a command of half-easy things, -in which force is exercised and vanity amused--the management of -thoroughbred horses and the society of loose women. - -A few steps from Emma a gentleman in a blue coat was talking of -Italy with a pale young woman wearing a parure of pearls. - -They were praising the breadth of the columns of St. Peter's, -Tivoly, Vesuvius, Castellamare, and Cassines, the roses of Genoa, -the Coliseum by moonlight. With her other ear Emma was listening -to a conversation full of words she did not understand. A circle -gathered round a very young man who the week before had beaten -"Miss Arabella" and "Romolus," and won two thousand louis jumping -a ditch in England. One complained that his racehorses were -growing fat; another of the printers' errors that had disfigured -the name of his horse. - -The atmosphere of the ball was heavy; the lamps were growing dim. - -Guests were flocking to the billiard room. A servant got upon a -chair and broke the window-panes. At the crash of the glass -Madame Bovary turned her head and saw in the garden the faces of -peasants pressed against the window looking in at them. Then the -memory of the Bertaux came back to her. She saw the farm again, -the muddy pond, her father in a blouse under the apple trees, and -she saw herself again as formerly, skimming with her finger the -cream off the milk-pans in the dairy. But in the refulgence of -the present hour her past life, so distinct until then, faded -away completely, and she almost doubted having lived it. She was -there; beyond the ball was only shadow overspreading all the -rest. She was just eating a maraschino ice that she held with her -left hand in a silver-gilt cup, her eyes half-closed, and the -spoon between her teeth. - -A lady near her dropped her fan. A gentlemen was passing. - -"Would you be so good," said the lady, "as to pick up my fan that -has fallen behind the sofa?" - -The gentleman bowed, and as he moved to stretch out his arm, Emma -saw the hand of a young woman throw something white, folded in a -triangle, into his hat. The gentleman, picking up the fan, -offered it to the lady respectfully; she thanked him with an -inclination of the head, and began smelling her bouquet. - -After supper, where were plenty of Spanish and Rhine wines, soups -a la bisque and au lait d'amandes*, puddings a la Trafalgar, and -all sorts of cold meats with jellies that trembled in the dishes, -the carriages one after the other began to drive off. Raising the -corners of the muslin curtain, one could see the light of their -lanterns glimmering through the darkness. The seats began to -empty, some card-players were still left; the musicians were -cooling the tips of their fingers on their tongues. Charles was -half asleep, his back propped against a door. - -*With almond milk - -At three o'clock the cotillion began. Emma did not know how to waltz. -Everyone was waltzing, Mademoiselle d'Andervilliers herself and the -Marquis; only the guests staying at the castle were still there, -about a dozen persons. - -One of the waltzers, however, who was familiarly called Viscount, -and whose low cut waistcoat seemed moulded to his chest, came a -second time to ask Madame Bovary to dance, assuring her that he -would guide her, and that she would get through it very well. - -They began slowly, then went more rapidly. They turned; all -around them was turning--the lamps, the furniture, the -wainscoting, the floor, like a disc on a pivot. On passing near -the doors the bottom of Emma's dress caught against his trousers. - -Their legs commingled; he looked down at her; she raised her eyes -to his. A torpor seized her; she stopped. They started again, and -with a more rapid movement; the Viscount, dragging her along -disappeared with her to the end of the gallery, where panting, -she almost fell, and for a moment rested her head upon his -breast. And then, still turning, but more slowly, he guided her -back to her seat. She leaned back against the wall and covered -her eyes with her hands. - -When she opened them again, in the middle of the drawing room -three waltzers were kneeling before a lady sitting on a stool. - -She chose the Viscount, and the violin struck up once more. - -Everyone looked at them. They passed and re-passed, she with -rigid body, her chin bent down, and he always in the same pose, -his figure curved, his elbow rounded, his chin thrown forward. -That woman knew how to waltz! They kept up a long time, and tired -out all the others. - -Then they talked a few moments longer, and after the goodnights, -or rather good mornings, the guests of the chateau retired to -bed. - -Charles dragged himself up by the balusters. His "knees were -going up into his body." He had spent five consecutive hours -standing bolt upright at the card tables, watching them play -whist, without understanding anything about it, and it was with a -deep sigh of relief that he pulled off his boots. - -Emma threw a shawl over her shoulders, opened the window, and -leant out. - -The night was dark; some drops of rain were falling. She breathed -in the damp wind that refreshed her eyelids. The music of the -ball was still murmuring in her ears. And she tried to keep -herself awake in order to prolong the illusion of this -luxurious life that she would soon have to give up. - -Day began to break. She looked long at the windows of the -chateau, trying to guess which were the rooms of all those she -had noticed the evening before. She would fain have known their -lives, have penetrated, blended with them. But she was shivering -with cold. She undressed, and cowered down between the sheets -against Charles, who was asleep. - -There were a great many people to luncheon. The repast lasted ten -minutes; no liqueurs were served, which astonished the doctor. - -Next, Mademoiselle d'Andervilliers collected some pieces of roll -in a small basket to take them to the swans on the ornamental -waters, and they went to walk in the hot-houses, where strange -plants, bristling with hairs, rose in pyramids under hanging -vases, whence, as from over-filled nests of serpents, fell long -green cords interlacing. The orangery, which was at the other -end, led by a covered way to the outhouses of the chateau. The -Marquis, to amuse the young woman, took her to see the stables. - -Above the basket-shaped racks porcelain slabs bore the names of -the horses in black letters. Each animal in its stall whisked its -tail when anyone went near and said "Tchk! tchk!" The boards of -the harness room shone like the flooring of a drawing room. The -carriage harness was piled up in the middle against two twisted -columns, and the bits, the whips, the spurs, the curbs, were -ranged in a line all along the wall. - -Charles, meanwhile, went to ask a groom to put his horse to. The -dog-cart was brought to the foot of the steps, and, all the -parcels being crammed in, the Bovarys paid their respects to the -Marquis and Marchioness and set out again for Tostes. - -Emma watched the turning wheels in silence. Charles, on the -extreme edge of the seat, held the reins with his two arms wide -apart, and the little horse ambled along in the shafts that were -too big for him. The loose reins hanging over his crupper were -wet with foam, and the box fastened on behind the chaise gave -great regular bumps against it. - -They were on the heights of Thibourville when suddenly some -horsemen with cigars between their lips passed laughing. Emma -thought she recognized the Viscount, turned back, and caught on -the horizon only the movement of the heads rising or falling with -the unequal cadence of the trot or gallop. - -A mile farther on they had to stop to mend with some string the -traces that had broken. - -But Charles, giving a last look to the harness, saw something on -the ground between his horse's legs, and he picked up a -cigar-case with a green silk border and beblazoned in the centre -like the door of a carriage. - -"There are even two cigars in it," said he; "they'll do for this -evening after dinner." - -"Why, do you smoke?" she asked. - -"Sometimes, when I get a chance." - -He put his find in his pocket and whipped up the nag. - -When they reached home the dinner was not ready. Madame lost her -temper. Nastasie answered rudely. - -"Leave the room!" said Emma. "You are forgetting yourself. I give -you warning." - -For dinner there was onion soup and a piece of veal with sorrel. - -Charles, seated opposite Emma, rubbed his hands gleefully. - -"How good it is to be at home again!" - -Nastasie could be heard crying. He was rather fond of the poor -girl. She had formerly, during the wearisome time of his -widowhood, kept him company many an evening. She had been his -first patient, his oldest acquaintance in the place. - -"Have you given her warning for good?" he asked at last. - -"Yes. Who is to prevent me?" she replied. - -Then they warmed themselves in the kitchen while their room was -being made ready. Charles began to smoke. He smoked with lips -protruding, spitting every moment, recoiling at every puff. - -"You'll make yourself ill," she said scornfully. - -He put down his cigar and ran to swallow a glass of cold water at -the pump. Emma seizing hold of the cigar case threw it quickly to -the back of the cupboard. - -The next day was a long one. She walked about her little garden, -up and down the same walks, stopping before the beds, before the -espalier, before the plaster curate, looking with amazement at -all these things of once-on-a-time that she knew so well. How far -off the ball seemed already! What was it that thus set so far -asunder the morning of the day before yesterday and the evening -of to-day? Her journey to Vaubyessard had made a hole in her -life, like one of those great crevices that a storm will -sometimes make in one night in mountains. Still she was resigned. -She devoutly put away in her drawers her beautiful dress, down to -the satin shoes whose soles were yellowed with the slippery wax -of the dancing floor. Her heart was like these. In its friction -against wealth something had come over it that could not be -effaced. - -The memory of this ball, then, became an occupation for Emma. - -Whenever the Wednesday came round she said to herself as she -awoke, "Ah! I was there a week--a fortnight--three weeks ago." - -And little by little the faces grew confused in her remembrance. - -She forgot the tune of the quadrilles; she no longer saw the -liveries and appointments so distinctly; some details escaped -her, but the regret remained with her. - - - -Chapter Nine - -Often when Charles was out she took from the cupboard, between -the folds of the linen where she had left it, the green silk -cigar case. She looked at it, opened it, and even smelt the odour -of the lining--a mixture of verbena and tobacco. Whose was it? -The Viscount's? Perhaps it was a present from his mistress. It -had been embroidered on some rosewood frame, a pretty little -thing, hidden from all eyes, that had occupied many hours, and -over which had fallen the soft curls of the pensive worker. A -breath of love had passed over the stitches on the canvas; each -prick of the needle had fixed there a hope or a memory, and all -those interwoven threads of silk were but the continuity of the -same silent passion. And then one morning the Viscount had taken -it away with him. Of what had they spoken when it lay upon the -wide-mantelled chimneys between flower-vases and Pompadour -clocks? She was at Tostes; he was at Paris now, far away! What -was this Paris like? What a vague name! She repeated it in a low -voice, for the mere pleasure of it; it rang in her ears like a -great cathedral bell; it shone before her eyes, even on the -labels of her pomade-pots. - -At night, when the carriers passed under her windows in their -carts singing the "Marjolaine," she awoke, and listened to the -noise of the iron-bound wheels, which, as they gained the country -road, was soon deadened by the soil. "They will be there -to-morrow!" she said to herself. - -And she followed them in thought up and down the hills, -traversing villages, gliding along the highroads by the light of -the stars. At the end of some indefinite distance there was -always a confused spot, into which her dream died. - -She bought a plan of Paris, and with the tip of her finger on the -map she walked about the capital. She went up the boulevards, -stopping at every turning, between the lines of the streets, in -front of the white squares that represented the houses. At last -she would close the lids of her weary eyes, and see in the -darkness the gas jets flaring in the wind and the steps of -carriages lowered with much noise before the peristyles of -theatres. - -She took in "La Corbeille," a lady's journal, and the "Sylphe des -Salons." She devoured, without skipping a word, all the accounts -of first nights, races, and soirees, took interest in the debut -of a singer, in the opening of a new shop. She knew the latest -fashions, the addresses of the best tailors, the days of the Bois -and the Opera. In Eugene Sue she studied descriptions of -furniture; she read Balzac and George Sand, seeking in them -imaginary satisfaction for her own desires. Even at table she had -her book by her, and turned over the pages while Charles ate and -talked to her. The memory of the Viscount always returned as she -read. Between him and the imaginary personages she made -comparisons. But the circle of which he was the centre gradually -widened round him, and the aureole that he bore, fading from his -form, broadened out beyond, lighting up her other dreams. - -Paris, more vague than the ocean, glimmered before Emma's eyes in -an atmosphere of vermilion. The many lives that stirred amid this -tumult were, however, divided into parts, classed as distinct -pictures. Emma perceived only two or three that hid from her all -the rest, and in themselves represented all humanity. The world -of ambassadors moved over polished floors in drawing rooms lined -with mirrors, round oval tables covered with velvet and -gold-fringed cloths. There were dresses with trains, deep -mysteries, anguish hidden beneath smiles. Then came the society -of the duchesses; all were pale; all got up at four o'clock; the -women, poor angels, wore English point on their petticoats; and -the men, unappreciated geniuses under a frivolous outward -seeming, rode horses to death at pleasure parties, spent the -summer season at Baden, and towards the forties married -heiresses. In the private rooms of restaurants, where one sups -after midnight by the light of wax candles, laughed the motley -crowd of men of letters and actresses. They were prodigal as -kings, full of ideal, ambitious, fantastic frenzy. This was an -existence outside that of all others, between heaven and earth, -in the midst of storms, having something of the sublime. For the -rest of the world it was lost, with no particular place and as if -non-existent. The nearer things were, moreover, the more her -thoughts turned away from them. All her immediate surroundings, -the wearisome country, the middle-class imbeciles, the mediocrity -of existence, seemed to her exceptional, a peculiar chance that -had caught hold of her, while beyond stretched, as far as eye -could see, an immense land of joys and passions. She confused in -her desire the sensualities of luxury with the delights of the -heart, elegance of manners with delicacy of sentiment. Did not -love, like Indian plants, need a special soil, a particular -temperature? Signs by moonlight, long embraces, tears flowing -over yielded hands, all the fevers of the flesh and the languors -of tenderness could not be separated from the balconies of great -castles full of indolence, from boudoirs with silken curtains and -thick carpets, well-filled flower-stands, a bed on a raised dias, -nor from the flashing of precious stones and the shoulder-knots -of liveries. - -The lad from the posting house who came to groom the mare every -morning passed through the passage with his heavy wooden shoes; -there were holes in his blouse; his feet were bare in list -slippers. And this was the groom in knee-britches with whom she -had to be content! His work done, he did not come back again all -day, for Charles on his return put up his horse himself, -unsaddled him and put on the halter, while the servant-girl -brought a bundle of straw and threw it as best she could into the -manger. - -To replace Nastasie (who left Tostes shedding torrents of tears) -Emma took into her service a young girl of fourteen, an orphan -with a sweet face. She forbade her wearing cotton caps, taught -her to address her in the third person, to bring a glass of water -on a plate, to knock before coming into a room, to iron, starch, -and to dress her--wanted to make a lady's-maid of her. The new -servant obeyed without a murmur, so as not to be sent away; and -as madame usually left the key in the sideboard, Felicite every -evening took a small supply of sugar that she ate alone in her -bed after she had said her prayers. - -Sometimes in the afternoon she went to chat with the postilions. - -Madame was in her room upstairs. She wore an open dressing gown -that showed between the shawl facings of her bodice a pleated -chamisette with three gold buttons. Her belt was a corded girdle -with great tassels, and her small garnet coloured slippers had a -large knot of ribbon that fell over her instep. She had bought -herself a blotting book, writing case, pen-holder, and envelopes, -although she had no one to write to; she dusted her what-not, -looked at herself in the glass, picked up a book, and then, -dreaming between the lines, let it drop on her knees. She longed -to travel or to go back to her convent. She wished at the same -time to die and to live in Paris. - -Charles in snow and rain trotted across country. He ate omelettes -on farmhouse tables, poked his arm into damp beds, received the -tepid spurt of blood-lettings in his face, listened to -death-rattles, examined basins, turned over a good deal of dirty -linen; but every evening he found a blazing fire, his dinner -ready, easy-chairs, and a well-dressed woman, charming with an -odour of freshness, though no one could say whence the perfume -came, or if it were not her skin that made odorous her chemise. - -She charmed him by numerous attentions; now it was some new way -of arranging paper sconces for the candles, a flounce that she -altered on her gown, or an extraordinary name for some very -simple dish that the servant had spoilt, but that Charles -swallowed with pleasure to the last mouthful. At Rouen she saw -some ladies who wore a bunch of charms on the watch-chains; she -bought some charms. She wanted for her mantelpiece two large blue -glass vases, and some time after an ivory necessaire with a -silver-gilt thimble. The less Charles understood these -refinements the more they seduced him. They added something to -the pleasure of the senses and to the comfort of his fireside. It -was like a golden dust sanding all along the narrow path of his -life. - -He was well, looked well; his reputation was firmly established. - -The country-folk loved him because he was not proud. He petted -the children, never went to the public house, and, moreover, his -morals inspired confidence. He was specially successful with -catarrhs and chest complaints. Being much afraid of killing his -patients, Charles, in fact only prescribed sedatives, from time -to time and emetic, a footbath, or leeches. It was not that he -was afraid of surgery; he bled people copiously like horses, and -for the taking out of teeth he had the "devil's own wrist." - -Finally, to keep up with the times, he took in "La Ruche -Medicale," a new journal whose prospectus had been sent him. He -read it a little after dinner, but in about five minutes the -warmth of the room added to the effect of his dinner sent him to -sleep; and he sat there, his chin on his two hands and his hair -spreading like a mane to the foot of the lamp. Emma looked at him -and shrugged her shoulders. Why, at least, was not her husband -one of those men of taciturn passions who work at their books all -night, and at last, when about sixty, the age of rheumatism sets -in, wear a string of orders on their ill-fitting black coat? She -could have wished this name of Bovary, which was hers, had been -illustrious, to see it displayed at the booksellers', repeated in -the newspapers, known to all France. But Charles had no ambition. - -An Yvetot doctor whom he had lately met in consultation had -somewhat humiliated him at the very bedside of the patient, -before the assembled relatives. When, in the evening, Charles -told her this anecdote, Emma inveighed loudly against his -colleague. Charles was much touched. He kissed her forehead with -a tear in his eyes. But she was angered with shame; she felt a -wild desire to strike him; she went to open the window in the -passage and breathed in the fresh air to calm herself. - -"What a man! What a man!" she said in a low voice, biting her -lips. - -Besides, she was becoming more irritated with him. As he grew -older his manner grew heavier; at dessert he cut the corks of the -empty bottles; after eating he cleaned his teeth with his tongue; -in taking soup he made a gurgling noise with every spoonful; and, -as he was getting fatter, the puffed-out cheeks seemed to push -the eyes, always small, up to the temples. - -Sometimes Emma tucked the red borders of his under-vest unto his -waistcoat, rearranged his cravat, and threw away the dirty gloves -he was going to put on; and this was not, as he fancied, for -himself; it was for herself, by a diffusion of egotism, of -nervous irritation. Sometimes, too, she told him of what she had -read, such as a passage in a novel, of a new play, or an anecdote -of the "upper ten" that she had seen in a feuilleton; for, after -all, Charles was something, an ever-open ear, and ever-ready -approbation. She confided many a thing to her greyhound. She -would have done so to the logs in the fireplace or to the -pendulum of the clock. - -At the bottom of her heart, however, she was waiting for -something to happen. Like shipwrecked sailors, she turned -despairing eyes upon the solitude of her life, seeking afar off -some white sail in the mists of the horizon. She did not know -what this chance would be, what wind would bring it her, towards -what shore it would drive her, if it would be a shallop or a -three-decker, laden with anguish or full of bliss to the -portholes. But each morning, as she awoke, she hoped it would -come that day; she listened to every sound, sprang up with a -start, wondered that it did not come; then at sunset, always more -saddened, she longed for the morrow. - -Spring came round. With the first warm weather, when the pear -trees began to blossom, she suffered from dyspnoea. - -From the beginning of July she counted how many weeks there were -to October, thinking that perhaps the Marquis d'Andervilliers -would give another ball at Vaubyessard. But all September passed -without letters or visits. - -After the ennui of this disappointment her heart once more -remained empty, and then the same series of days recommenced. So -now they would thus follow one another, always the same, -immovable, and bringing nothing. Other lives, however flat, had -at least the chance of some event. One adventure sometimes -brought with it infinite consequences and the scene changed. But -nothing happened to her; God had willed it so! The future was a -dark corridor, with its door at the end shut fast. - -She gave up music. What was the good of playing? Who would hear -her? Since she could never, in a velvet gown with short sleeves, -striking with her light fingers the ivory keys of an Erard at a -concert, feel the murmur of ecstasy envelop her like a breeze, it -was not worth while boring herself with practicing. Her drawing -cardboard and her embroidery she left in the cupboard. What was -the good? What was the good? Sewing irritated her. "I have read -everything," she said to herself. And she sat there making the -tongs red-hot, or looked at the rain falling. - -How sad she was on Sundays when vespers sounded! She listened -with dull attention to each stroke of the cracked bell. A cat -slowly walking over some roof put up his back in the pale rays of -the sum. The wind on the highroad blew up clouds of dust. Afar -off a dog sometimes howled; and the bell, keeping time, continued -its monotonous ringing that died away over the fields. - -But the people came out from church. The women in waxed clogs, -the peasants in new blouses, the little bare-headed children -skipping along in front of them, all were going home. And till -nightfall, five or six men, always the same, stayed playing at -corks in front of the large door of the inn. - -The winter was severe. The windows every morning were covered -with rime, and the light shining through them, dim as through -ground-glass, sometimes did not change the whole day long. At -four o'clock the lamp had to be lighted. - -On fine days she went down into the garden. The dew had left on -the cabbages a silver lace with long transparent threads -spreading from one to the other. No birds were to be heard; -everything seemed asleep, the espalier covered with straw, and -the vine, like a great sick serpent under the coping of the wall, -along which, on drawing hear, one saw the many-footed woodlice -crawling. Under the spruce by the hedgerow, the curie in the -three-cornered hat reading his breviary had lost his right foot, -and the very plaster, scaling off with the frost, had left white -scabs on his face. - -Then she went up again, shut her door, put on coals, and fainting -with the heat of the hearth, felt her boredom weigh more heavily -than ever. She would have liked to go down and talk to the -servant, but a sense of shame restrained her. - -Every day at the same time the schoolmaster in a black skullcap -opened the shutters of his house, and the rural policeman, -wearing his sabre over his blouse, passed by. Night and morning -the post-horses, three by three, crossed the street to water at -the pond. From time to time the bell of a public house door rang, -and when it was windy one could hear the little brass basins that -served as signs for the hairdresser's shop creaking on their two -rods. This shop had as decoration an old engraving of a -fashion-plate stuck against a windowpane and the wax bust of a -woman with yellow hair. He, too, the hairdresser, lamented his -wasted calling, his hopeless future, and dreaming of some shop in -a big town--at Rouen, for example, overlooking the harbour, near -the theatre--he walked up and down all day from the mairie to the -church, sombre and waiting for customers. When Madame Bovary -looked up, she always saw him there, like a sentinel on duty, -with his skullcap over his ears and his vest of lasting. - -Sometimes in the afternoon outside the window of her room, the -head of a man appeared, a swarthy head with black whiskers, -smiling slowly, with a broad, gentle smile that showed his white -teeth. A waltz immediately began and on the organ, in a little -drawing room, dancers the size of a finger, women in pink -turbans, Tyrolians in jackets, monkeys in frock coats, gentlemen -in knee-breeches, turned and turned between the sofas, the -consoles, multiplied in the bits of looking glass held together -at their corners by a piece of gold paper. The man turned his -handle, looking to the right and left, and up at the windows. Now -and again, while he shot out a long squirt of brown saliva -against the milestone, with his knee raised his instrument, whose -hard straps tired his shoulder; and now, doleful and drawling, or -gay and hurried, the music escaped from the box, droning through -a curtain of pink taffeta under a brass claw in arabesque. They -were airs played in other places at the theatres, sung in drawing -rooms, danced to at night under lighted lustres, echoes of the -world that reached even to Emma. Endless sarabands ran through -her head, and, like an Indian dancing girl on the flowers of a -carpet, her thoughts leapt with the notes, swung from dream to -dream, from sadness to sadness. When the man had caught some -coppers in his cap, he drew down an old cover of blue cloth, -hitched his organ on to his back, and went off with a heavy -tread. She watched him going. - -But it was above all the meal-times that were unbearable to her, -in this small room on the ground floor, with its smoking stove, -its creaking door, the walls that sweated, the damp flags; all -the bitterness in life seemed served up on her plate, and with -smoke of the boiled beef there rose from her secret soul whiffs -of sickliness. Charles was a slow eater; she played with a few -nuts, or, leaning on her elbow, amused herself with drawing lines -along the oilcloth table cover with the point of her knife. - -She now let everything in her household take care of itself, and -Madame Bovary senior, when she came to spend part of Lent at -Tostes, was much surprised at the change. She who was formerly so -careful, so dainty, now passed whole days without dressing, wore -grey cotton stockings, and burnt tallow candles. She kept saying -they must be economical since they were not rich, adding that she -was very contented, very happy, that Tostes pleased her very -much, with other speeches that closed the mouth of her -mother-in-law. Besides, Emma no longer seemed inclined to follow -her advice; once even, Madame Bovary having thought fit to -maintain that mistresses ought to keep an eye on the religion of -their servants, she had answered with so angry a look and so cold -a smile that the good woman did not interfere again. - -Emma was growing difficult, capricious. She ordered dishes for -herself, then she did not touch them; one day drank only pure -milk, the next cups of tea by the dozen. Often she persisted in -not going out, then, stifling, threw open the windows and put on -light dresses. After she had well scolded her servant she gave -her presents or sent her out to see neighbours, just as she -sometimes threw beggars all the silver in her purse, although she -was by no means tender-hearted or easily accessible to the -feelings of others, like most country-bred people, who always -retain in their souls something of the horny hardness of the -paternal hands. - -Towards the end of February old Rouault, in memory of his cure, -himself brought his son-in-law a superb turkey, and stayed three -days at Tostes. Charles being with his patients, Emma kept him -company. He smoked in the room, spat on the firedogs, talked -farming, calves, cows, poultry, and municipal council, so that -when he left she closed the door on him with a feeling of -satisfaction that surprised even herself. Moreover she no longer -concealed her contempt for anything or anybody, and at times she -set herself to express singular opinions, finding fault with that -which others approved, and approving things perverse and immoral, -all of which made her husband open his eyes widely. - -Would this misery last for ever? Would she never issue from it? -Yet she was as good as all the women who were living happily. She -had seen duchesses at Vaubyessard with clumsier waists and -commoner ways, and she execrated the injustice of God. She leant -her head against the walls to weep; she envied lives of stir; -longed for masked balls, for violent pleasures, with all the -wildness that she did not know, but that these must surely yield. - -She grew pale and suffered from palpitations of the heart. - -Charles prescribed valerian and camphor baths. Everything that -was tried only seemed to irritate her the more. - -On certain days she chatted with feverish rapidity, and this -over-excitement was suddenly followed by a state of torpor, in -which she remained without speaking, without moving. What then -revived her was pouring a bottle of eau-de-cologne over her arms. - -As she was constantly complaining about Tostes, Charles fancied -that her illness was no doubt due to some local cause, and fixing -on this idea, began to think seriously of setting up elsewhere. - -From that moment she drank vinegar, contracted a sharp little -cough, and completely lost her appetite. - -It cost Charles much to give up Tostes after living there four -years and "when he was beginning to get on there." Yet if it must -be! He took her to Rouen to see his old master. It was a nervous -complaint: change of air was needed. - -After looking about him on this side and on that, Charles learnt -that in the Neufchatel arrondissement there was a considerable -market town called Yonville-l'Abbaye, whose doctor, a Polish -refugee, had decamped a week before. Then he wrote to the chemist -of the place to ask the number of the population, the distance -from the nearest doctor, what his predecessor had made a year, -and so forth; and the answer being satisfactory, he made up his -mind to move towards the spring, if Emma's health did not -improve. - -One day when, in view of her departure, she was tidying a drawer, -something pricked her finger. It was a wire of her wedding -bouquet. The orange blossoms were yellow with dust and the silver -bordered satin ribbons frayed at the edges. She threw it into the -fire. It flared up more quickly than dry straw. Then it was, like -a red bush in the cinders, slowly devoured. She watched it burn. - -The little pasteboard berries burst, the wire twisted, the gold -lace melted; and the shriveled paper corollas, fluttering like -black butterflies at the back of the stove, at least flew up the -chimney. - -When they left Tostes at the month of March, Madame Bovary was -pregnant. - - - -Part II - -Chapter One - -Yonville-l'Abbaye (so called from an old Capuchin abbey of which -not even the ruins remain) is a market-town twenty-four miles -from Rouen, between the Abbeville and Beauvais roads, at the foot -of a valley watered by the Rieule, a little river that runs into -the Andelle after turning three water-mills near its mouth, where -there are a few trout that the lads amuse themselves by fishing -for on Sundays. - -We leave the highroad at La Boissiere and keep straight on to the -top of the Leux hill, whence the valley is seen. The river that -runs through it makes of it, as it were, two regions with -distinct physiognomies--all on the left is pasture land, all of -the right arable. The meadow stretches under a bulge of low hills -to join at the back with the pasture land of the Bray country, -while on the eastern side, the plain, gently rising, broadens -out, showing as far as eye can follow its blond cornfields. The -water, flowing by the grass, divides with a white line the colour -of the roads and of the plains, and the country is like a great -unfolded mantle with a green velvet cape bordered with a fringe -of silver. - -Before us, on the verge of the horizon, lie the oaks of the -forest of Argueil, with the steeps of the Saint-Jean hills -scarred from top to bottom with red irregular lines; they are -rain tracks, and these brick-tones standing out in narrow streaks -against the grey colour of the mountain are due to the quantity -of iron springs that flow beyond in the neighboring country. - -Here we are on the confines of Normandy, Picardy, and the -Ile-de-France, a bastard land whose language is without accent -and its landscape is without character. It is there that they -make the worst Neufchatel cheeses of all the arrondissement; and, -on the other hand, farming is costly because so much manure is -needed to enrich this friable soil full of sand and flints. - -Up to 1835 there was no practicable road for getting to Yonville, -but about this time a cross-road was made which joins that of -Abbeville to that of Amiens, and is occasionally used by the -Rouen wagoners on their way to Flanders. Yonville-l'Abbaye has -remained stationary in spite of its "new outlet." Instead of -improving the soil, they persist in keeping up the pasture lands, -however depreciated they may be in value, and the lazy borough, -growing away from the plain, has naturally spread riverwards. It -is seem from afar sprawling along the banks like a cowherd taking -a siesta by the water-side. - -At the foot of the hill beyond the bridge begins a roadway, -planted with young aspens, that leads in a straight line to the -first houses in the place. These, fenced in by hedges, are in the -middle of courtyards full of straggling buildings, wine-presses, -cart-sheds and distilleries scattered under thick trees, with -ladders, poles, or scythes hung on to the branches. The thatched -roofs, like fur caps drawn over eyes, reach down over about a -third of the low windows, whose coarse convex glasses have knots -in the middle like the bottoms of bottles. Against the plaster -wall diagonally crossed by black joists, a meagre pear-tree -sometimes leans and the ground-floors have at their door a small -swing-gate to keep out the chicks that come pilfering crumbs of -bread steeped in cider on the threshold. But the courtyards grow -narrower, the houses closer together, and the fences disappear; a -bundle of ferns swings under a window from the end of a -broomstick; there is a blacksmith's forge and then a -wheelwright's, with two or three new carts outside that partly -block the way. Then across an open space appears a white house -beyond a grass mound ornamented by a Cupid, his finger on his -lips; two brass vases are at each end of a flight of steps; -scutcheons* blaze upon the door. It is the notary's house, and -the finest in the place. - -*The panonceaux that have to be hung over the doors of notaries. - -The Church is on the other side of the street, twenty paces -farther down, at the entrance of the square. The little cemetery -that surrounds it, closed in by a wall breast high, is so full of -graves that the old stones, level with the ground, form a -continuous pavement, on which the grass of itself has marked out -regular green squares. The church was rebuilt during the last -years of the reign of Charles X. The wooden roof is beginning to -rot from the top, and here and there has black hollows in its -blue colour. Over the door, where the organ should be, is a loft -for the men, with a spiral staircase that reverberates under -their wooden shoes. - -The daylight coming through the plain glass windows falls -obliquely upon the pews ranged along the walls, which are adorned -here and there with a straw mat bearing beneath it the words in -large letters, "Mr. So-and-so's pew." Farther on, at a spot where -the building narrows, the confessional forms a pendant to a -statuette of the Virgin, clothed in a satin robe, coifed with a -tulle veil sprinkled with silver stars, and with red cheeks, like -an idol of the Sandwich Islands; and, finally, a copy of the -"Holy Family, presented by the Minister of the Interior," -overlooking the high altar, between four candlesticks, closes in -the perspective. The choir stalls, of deal wood, have been left -unpainted. - -The market, that is to say, a tiled roof supported by some twenty -posts, occupies of itself about half the public square of -Yonville. The town hall, constructed "from the designs of a Paris -architect," is a sort of Greek temple that forms the corner next -to the chemist's shop. On the ground-floor are three Ionic -columns and on the first floor a semicircular gallery, while the -dome that crowns it is occupied by a Gallic cock, resting one -foot upon the "Charte" and holding in the other the scales of -Justice. - -But that which most attracts the eye is opposite the Lion d'Or -inn, the chemist's shop of Monsieur Homais. In the evening -especially its argand lamp is lit up and the red and green jars -that embellish his shop-front throw far across the street their -two streams of colour; then across them as if in Bengal lights is -seen the shadow of the chemist leaning over his desk. His house -from top to bottom is placarded with inscriptions written in -large hand, round hand, printed hand: "Vichy, Seltzer, Barege -waters, blood purifiers, Raspail patent medicine, Arabian -racahout, Darcet lozenges, Regnault paste, trusses, baths, -hygienic chocolate," etc. And the signboard, which takes up all -the breadth of the shop, bears in gold letters, "Homais, -Chemist." Then at the back of the shop, behind the great scales -fixed to the counter, the word "Laboratory" appears on a scroll -above a glass door, which about half-way up once more repeats -"Homais" in gold letters on a black ground. - -Beyond this there is nothing to see at Yonville. The street (the -only one) a gunshot in length and flanked by a few shops on -either side stops short at the turn of the highroad. If it is -left on the right hand and the foot of the Saint-Jean hills -followed the cemetery is soon reached. - -At the time of the cholera, in order to enlarge this, a piece of -wall was pulled down, and three acres of land by its side -purchased; but all the new portion is almost tenantless; the -tombs, as heretofore, continue to crowd together towards the -gate. The keeper, who is at once gravedigger and church beadle -(thus making a double profit out of the parish corpses), has -taken advantage of the unused plot of ground to plant potatoes -there. From year to year, however, his small field grows smaller, -and when there is an epidemic, he does not know whether to -rejoice at the deaths or regret the burials. - -"You live on the dead, Lestiboudois!" the curie at last said to -him one day. This grim remark made him reflect; it checked him -for some time; but to this day he carries on the cultivation of -his little tubers, and even maintains stoutly that they grow -naturally. - -Since the events about to be narrated, nothing in fact has -changed at Yonville. The tin tricolour flag still swings at the -top of the church-steeple; the two chintz streamers still flutter -in the wind from the linen-draper's; the chemist's fetuses, like -lumps of white amadou, rot more and more in their turbid alcohol, -and above the big door of the inn the old golden lion, faded by -rain, still shows passers-by its poodle mane. - -On the evening when the Bovarys were to arrive at Yonville, Widow -Lefrancois, the landlady of this inn, was so very busy that she -sweated great drops as she moved her saucepans. To-morrow was -market-day. The meat had to be cut beforehand, the fowls drawn, -the soup and coffee made. Moreover, she had the boarders' meal to -see to, and that of the doctor, his wife, and their servant; the -billiard-room was echoing with bursts of laughter; three millers -in a small parlour were calling for brandy; the wood was blazing, -the brazen pan was hissing, and on the long kitchen table, amid -the quarters of raw mutton, rose piles of plates that rattled -with the shaking of the block on which spinach was being chopped. - -From the poultry-yard was heard the screaming of the fowls whom -the servant was chasing in order to wring their necks. - -A man slightly marked with small-pox, in green leather slippers, -and wearing a velvet cap with a gold tassel, was warming his back -at the chimney. His face expressed nothing but self-satisfaction, -and he appeared to take life as calmly as the goldfinch suspended -over his head in its wicker cage: this was the chemist. - -"Artemise!" shouted the landlady, "chop some wood, fill the water -bottles, bring some brandy, look sharp! If only I knew what -dessert to offer the guests you are expecting! Good heavens! -Those furniture-movers are beginning their racket in the -billiard-room again; and their van has been left before the front -door! The 'Hirondelle' might run into it when it draws up. Call -Polyte and tell him to put it up. Only think, Monsieur Homais, -that since morning they have had about fifteen games, and drunk -eight jars of cider! Why, they'll tear my cloth for me," she went -on, looking at them from a distance, her strainer in her hand. - -"That wouldn't be much of a loss," replied Monsieur Homais. "You -would buy another." - -"Another billiard-table!" exclaimed the widow. - -"Since that one is coming to pieces, Madame Lefrancois. I tell -you again you are doing yourself harm, much harm! And besides, -players now want narrow pockets and heavy cues. Hazards aren't -played now; everything is changed! One must keep pace with the -times! Just look at Tellier!" - -The hostess reddened with vexation. The chemist went on-- - -"You may say what you like; his table is better than yours; and -if one were to think, for example, of getting up a patriotic pool -for Poland or the sufferers from the Lyons floods--" - -"It isn't beggars like him that'll frighten us," interrupted the -landlady, shrugging her fat shoulders. "Come, come, Monsieur -Homais; as long as the 'Lion d'Or' exists people will come to it. -We've feathered our nest; while one of these days you'll find the -'Cafe Francais' closed with a big placard on the shutters. Change -my billiard-table!" she went on, speaking to herself, "the table -that comes in so handy for folding the washing, and on which, in -the hunting season, I have slept six visitors! But that dawdler, -Hivert, doesn't come!" - -"Are you waiting for him for your gentlemen's dinner?" - -"Wait for him! And what about Monsieur Binet? As the clock -strikes six you'll see him come in, for he hasn't his equal under -the sun for punctuality. He must always have his seat in the -small parlour. He'd rather die than dine anywhere else. And so -squeamish as he is, and so particular about the cider! Not like -Monsieur Leon; he sometimes comes at seven, or even half-past, -and he doesn't so much as look at what he eats. Such a nice young -man! Never speaks a rough word!" - -"Well, you see, there's a great difference between an educated -man and an old carabineer who is now a tax-collector." - -Six o'clock struck. Binet came in. - -He wore a blue frock-coat falling in a straight line round his -thin body, and his leather cap, with its lappets knotted over the -top of his head with string, showed under the turned-up peak a -bald forehead, flattened by the constant wearing of a helmet. He -wore a black cloth waistcoat, a hair collar, grey trousers, and, -all the year round, well-blacked boots, that had two parallel -swellings due to the sticking out of his big-toes. Not a hair -stood out from the regular line of fair whiskers, which, -encircling his jaws, framed, after the fashion of a garden -border, his long, wan face, whose eyes were small and the nose -hooked. Clever at all games of cards, a good hunter, and writing -a fine hand, he had at home a lathe, and amused himself by -turning napkin rings, with which he filled up his house, with the -jealousy of an artist and the egotism of a bourgeois. - -He went to the small parlour, but the three millers had to be got -out first, and during the whole time necessary for laying the -cloth, Binet remained silent in his place near the stove. Then he -shut the door and took off his cap in his usual way. - -"It isn't with saying civil things that he'll wear out his -tongue," said the chemist, as soon as he was along with the -landlady. - -"He never talks more," she replied. "Last week two travelers in -the cloth line were here--such clever chaps who told such jokes -in the evening, that I fairly cried with laughing; and he stood -there like a dab fish and never said a word." - -"Yes," observed the chemist; "no imagination, no sallies, nothing -that makes the society-man." - -"Yet they say he has parts," objected the landlady. - -"Parts!" replied Monsieur Homais; "he, parts! In his own line it -is possible," he added in a calmer tone. And he went on-- - -"Ah! That a merchant, who has large connections, a jurisconsult, -a doctor, a chemist, should be thus absent-minded, that they -should become whimsical or even peevish, I can understand; such -cases are cited in history. But at least it is because they are -thinking of something. Myself, for example, how often has it -happened to me to look on the bureau for my pen to write a label, -and to find, after all, that I had put it behind my ear!" - -Madame Lefrancois just then went to the door to see if the -"Hirondelle" were not coming. She started. A man dressed in black -suddenly came into the kitchen. By the last gleam of the twilight -one could see that his face was rubicund and his form athletic. - -"What can I do for you, Monsieur le Curie?" asked the landlady, -as she reached down from the chimney one of the copper -candlesticks placed with their candles in a row. "Will you take -something? A thimbleful of Cassis*? A glass of wine?" - -*Black currant liqueur. - -The priest declined very politely. He had come for his umbrella, -that he had forgotten the other day at the Ernemont convent, and -after asking Madame Lefrancois to have it sent to him at the -presbytery in the evening, he left for the church, from which the -Angelus was ringing. - -When the chemist no longer heard the noise of his boots along the -square, he thought the priest's behaviour just now very -unbecoming. This refusal to take any refreshment seemed to him -the most odious hypocrisy; all priests tippled on the sly, and -were trying to bring back the days of the tithe. - -The landlady took up the defence of her curie. - -"Besides, he could double up four men like you over his knee. -Last year he helped our people to bring in the straw; he carried -as many as six trusses at once, he is so strong." - -"Bravo!" said the chemist. "Now just send your daughters to -confess to fellows which such a temperament! I, if I were the -Government, I'd have the priests bled once a month. Yes, Madame -Lefrancois, every month--a good phlebotomy, in the interests of -the police and morals." - -"Be quiet, Monsieur Homais. You are an infidel; you've no -religion." - -The chemist answered: "I have a religion, my religion, and I even -have more than all these others with their mummeries and their -juggling. I adore God, on the contrary. I believe in the Supreme -Being, in a Creator, whatever he may be. I care little who has -placed us here below to fulfil our duties as citizens and fathers -of families; but I don't need to go to church to kiss silver -plates, and fatten, out of my pocket, a lot of good-for-nothings -who live better than we do. For one can know Him as well in a -wood, in a field, or even contemplating the eternal vault like -the ancients. My God! Mine is the God of Socrates, of Franklin, -of Voltaire, and of Beranger! I am for the profession of faith of -the 'Savoyard Vicar,' and the immortal principles of '89! And I -can't admit of an old boy of a God who takes walks in his garden -with a cane in his hand, who lodges his friends in the belly of -whales, dies uttering a cry, and rises again at the end of three -days; things absurd in themselves, and completely opposed, -moreover, to all physical laws, which prove to us, by the way, -that priests have always wallowed in turpid ignorance, in which -they would fain engulf the people with them." - -He ceased, looking round for an audience, for in his bubbling -over the chemist had for a moment fancied himself in the midst of -the town council. But the landlady no longer heeded him; she was -listening to a distant rolling. One could distinguish the noise -of a carriage mingled with the clattering of loose horseshoes -that beat against the ground, and at last the "Hirondelle" -stopped at the door. - -It was a yellow box on two large wheels, that, reaching to the -tilt, prevented travelers from seeing the road and dirtied their -shoulders. The small panes of the narrow windows rattled in their -sashes when the coach was closed, and retained here and there -patches of mud amid the old layers of dust, that not even storms -of rain had altogether washed away. It was drawn by three horses, -the first a leader, and when it came down-hill its bottom jolted -against the ground. - -Some of the inhabitants of Yonville came out into the square; -they all spoke at once, asking for news, for explanations, for -hampers. Hivert did not know whom to answer. It was he who did -the errands of the place in town. He went to the shops and -brought back rolls of leather for the shoemaker, old iron for the -farrier, a barrel of herrings for his mistress, caps from the -milliner's, locks from the hair-dresser's and all along the road -on his return journey he distributed his parcels, which he threw, -standing upright on his seat and shouting at the top of his -voice, over the enclosures of the yards. - -An accident had delayed him. Madame Bovary's greyhound had run -across the field. They had whistled for him a quarter of an hour; -Hivert had even gone back a mile and a half expecting every -moment to catch sight of her; but it had been necessary to go on. - -Emma had wept, grown angry; she had accused Charles of this -misfortune. Monsieur Lheureux, a draper, who happened to be in -the coach with her, had tried to console her by a number of -examples of lost dogs recognizing their masters at the end of -long years. One, he said had been told of, who had come back to -Paris from Constantinople. Another had gone one hundred and fifty -miles in a straight line, and swum four rivers; and his own -father had possessed a poodle, which, after twelve years of -absence, had all of a sudden jumped on his back in the street as -he was going to dine in town. - - - -Chapter Two - -Emma got out first, then Felicite, Monsieur Lheureux, and a -nurse, and they had to wake up Charles in his corner, where he -had slept soundly since night set in. - -Homais introduced himself; he offered his homages to madame and -his respects to monsieur; said he was charmed to have been able -to render them some slight service, and added with a cordial air -that he had ventured to invite himself, his wife being away. - -When Madame Bovary was in the kitchen she went up to the chimney. - -With the tips of her fingers she caught her dress at the knee, -and having thus pulled it up to her ankle, held out her foot in -its black boot to the fire above the revolving leg of mutton. The -flame lit up the whole of her, penetrating with a crude light the -woof of her gowns, the fine pores of her fair skin, and even her -eyelids, which she blinked now and again. A great red glow passed -over her with the blowing of the wind through the half-open door. - -On the other side of the chimney a young man with fair hair -watched her silently. - -As he was a good deal bored at Yonville, where he was a clerk at -the notary's, Monsieur Guillaumin, Monsieur Leon Dupuis (it was -he who was the second habitue of the "Lion d'Or") frequently put -back his dinner-hour in hope that some traveler might come to the -inn, with whom he could chat in the evening. On the days when his -work was done early, he had, for want of something else to do, to -come punctually, and endure from soup to cheese a tete-a-tete -with Binet. It was therefore with delight that he accepted the -landlady's suggestion that he should dine in company with the -newcomers, and they passed into the large parlour where Madame -Lefrancois, for the purpose of showing off, had had the table -laid for four. - -Homais asked to be allowed to keep on his skull-cap, for fear of -coryza; then, turning to his neighbour-- - -"Madame is no doubt a little fatigued; one gets jolted so -abominably in our 'Hirondelle.'" - -"That is true," replied Emma; "but moving about always amuses me. -I like change of place." - -"It is so tedious," sighed the clerk, "to be always riveted to -the same places." - -"If you were like me," said Charles, "constantly obliged to be in -the saddle"-- - -"But," Leon went on, addressing himself to Madame Bovary, -"nothing, it seems to me, is more pleasant--when one can," he -added. - -"Moreover," said the druggist, "the practice of medicine is not -very hard work in our part of the world, for the state of our -roads allows us the use of gigs, and generally, as the farmers -are prosperous, they pay pretty well. We have, medically -speaking, besides the ordinary cases of enteritis, bronchitis, -bilious affections, etc., now and then a few intermittent fevers -at harvest-time; but on the whole, little of a serious nature, -nothing special to note, unless it be a great deal of scrofula, -due, no doubt, to the deplorable hygienic conditions of our -peasant dwellings. Ah! you will find many prejudices to combat, -Monsieur Bovary, much obstinacy of routine, with which all the -efforts of your science will daily come into collision; for -people still have recourse to novenas, to relics, to the priest, -rather than come straight to the doctor or the chemist. The -climate, however, is not, truth to tell, bad, and we even have a -few nonagenarians in our parish. The thermometer (I have made -some observations) falls in winter to 4 degrees Centigrade at the -outside, which gives us 24 degrees Reaumur as the maximum, or -otherwise 54 degrees Fahrenheit (English scale), not more. And, -as a matter of fact, we are sheltered from the north winds by the -forest of Argueil on the one side, from the west winds by the St. -Jean range on the other; and this heat, moreover, which, on -account of the aqueous vapours given off by the river and the -considerable number of cattle in the fields, which, as you know, -exhale much ammonia, that is to say, nitrogen, hydrogen and -oxygen (no, nitrogen and hydrogen alone), and which sucking up -into itself the humus from the ground, mixing together all those -different emanations, unites them into a stack, so to say, and -combining with the electricity diffused through the atmosphere, -when there is any, might in the long run, as in tropical -countries, engender insalubrious miasmata--this heat, I say, -finds itself perfectly tempered on the side whence it comes, or -rather whence it should come--that is to say, the southern side-- -by the south-eastern winds, which, having cooled themselves -passing over the Seine, reach us sometimes all at once like -breezes from Russia." - -"At any rate, you have some walks in the neighbourhood?" -continued Madame Bovary, speaking to the young man. - -"Oh, very few," he answered. "There is a place they call La -Pature, on the top of the hill, on the edge of the forest. -Sometimes, on Sundays, I go and stay there with a book, watching -the sunset." - -"I think there is nothing so admirable as sunsets," she resumed; -"but especially by the side of the sea." - -"Oh, I adore the sea!" said Monsieur Leon. - -"And then, does it not seem to you," continued Madame Bovary, -"that the mind travels more freely on this limitless expanse, the -contemplation of which elevates the soul, gives ideas of the -infinite, the ideal?" - -"It is the same with mountainous landscapes," continued Leon. "A -cousin of mine who travelled in Switzerland last year told me -that one could not picture to oneself the poetry of the lakes, -the charm of the waterfalls, the gigantic effect of the glaciers. -One sees pines of incredible size across torrents, cottages -suspended over precipices, and, a thousand feet below one, whole -valleys when the clouds open. Such spectacles must stir to -enthusiasm, incline to prayer, to ecstasy; and I no longer marvel -at that celebrated musician who, the better to inspire his -imagination, was in the habit of playing the piano before some -imposing site." - -"You play?" she asked. - -"No, but I am very fond of music," he replied. - -"Ah! don't you listen to him, Madame Bovary," interrupted Homais, -bending over his plate. "That's sheer modesty. Why, my dear -fellow, the other day in your room you were singing 'L'Ange -Gardien' ravishingly. I heard you from the laboratory. You gave -it like an actor." - -Leon, in fact, lodged at the chemist's where he had a small room -on the second floor, overlooking the Place. He blushed at the -compliment of his landlord, who had already turned to the doctor, -and was enumerating to him, one after the other, all the -principal inhabitants of Yonville. He was telling anecdotes, -giving information; the fortune of the notary was not known -exactly, and "there was the Tuvache household," who made a good -deal of show. - -Emma continued, "And what music do you prefer?" - -"Oh, German music; that which makes you dream." - -"Have you been to the opera?" - -"Not yet; but I shall go next year, when I am living at Paris to -finish reading for the bar." - -"As I had the honour of putting it to your husband," said the -chemist, "with regard to this poor Yanoda who has run away, you -will find yourself, thanks to his extravagance, in the possession -of one of the most comfortable houses of Yonville. Its greatest -convenience for a doctor is a door giving on the Walk, where one -can go in and out unseen. Moreover, it contains everything that -is agreeable in a household--a laundry, kitchen with offices, -sitting-room, fruit-room, and so on. He was a gay dog, who didn't -care what he spent. At the end of the garden, by the side of the -water, he had an arbour built just for the purpose of drinking -beer in summer; and if madame is fond of gardening she will be -able--" - -"My wife doesn't care about it," said Charles; "although she has -been advised to take exercise, she prefers always sitting in her -room reading." - -"Like me," replied Leon. "And indeed, what is better than to sit -by one's fireside in the evening with a book, while the wind -beats against the window and the lamp is burning?" - -"What, indeed?" she said, fixing her large black eyes wide open -upon him. - -"One thinks of nothing," he continued; "the hours slip by. -Motionless we traverse countries we fancy we see, and your -thought, blending with the fiction, playing with the details, -follows the outline of the adventures. It mingles with the -characters, and it seems as if it were yourself palpitating -beneath their costumes." - -"That is true! That is true?" she said. - -"Has it ever happened to you," Leon went on, "to come across some -vague idea of one's own in a book, some dim image that comes back -to you from afar, and as the completest expression of your own -slightest sentiment?" - -"I have experienced it," she replied. - -"That is why," he said, "I especially love the poets. I think -verse more tender than prose, and that it moves far more easily -to tears." - -"Still in the long run it is tiring," continued Emma. Now I, on -the contrary, adore stories that rush breathlessly along, that -frighten one. I detest commonplace heroes and moderate -sentiments, such as there are in nature." - -"In fact," observed the clerk, "these works, not touching the -heart, miss, it seems to me, the true end of art. It is so sweet, -amid all the disenchantments of life, to be able to dwell in -thought upon noble characters, pure affections, and pictures of -happiness. For myself, living here far from the world, this is my -one distraction; but Yonville affords so few resources." - -"Like Tostes, no doubt," replied Emma; "and so I always -subscribed to a lending library." - -"If madame will do me the honour of making use of it", said the -chemist, who had just caught the last words, "I have at her -disposal a library composed of the best authors, Voltaire, -Rousseau, Delille, Walter Scott, the 'Echo des Feuilletons'; and -in addition I receive various periodicals, among them the 'Fanal -de Rouen' daily, having the advantage to be its correspondent for -the districts of Buchy, Forges, Neufchatel, Yonville, and -vicinity." - -For two hours and a half they had been at table; for the servant -Artemis, carelessly dragging her old list slippers over the -flags, brought one plate after the other, forgot everything, and -constantly left the door of the billiard-room half open, so that -it beat against the wall with its hooks. - -Unconsciously, Leon, while talking, had placed his foot on one of -the bars of the chair on which Madame Bovary was sitting. She -wore a small blue silk necktie, that kept up like a ruff a -gauffered cambric collar, and with the movements of her head the -lower part of her face gently sunk into the linen or came out -from it. Thus side by side, while Charles and the chemist -chatted, they entered into one of those vague conversations where -the hazard of all that is said brings you back to the fixed -centre of a common sympathy. The Paris theatres, titles of -novels, new quadrilles, and the world they did not know; Tostes, -where she had lived, and Yonville, where they were; they examined -all, talked of everything till to the end of dinner. - -When coffee was served Felicite went away to get ready the room -in the new house, and the guests soon raised the siege. Madame -Lefrancois was asleep near the cinders, while the stable-boy, -lantern in hand, was waiting to show Monsieur and Madame Bovary -the way home. Bits of straw stuck in his red hair, and he limped -with his left leg. When he had taken in his other hand the cure's -umbrella, they started. - -The town was asleep; the pillars of the market threw great -shadows; the earth was all grey as on a summer's night. But as -the doctor's house was only some fifty paces from the inn, they -had to say good-night almost immediately, and the company -dispersed. - -As soon as she entered the passage, Emma felt the cold of the -plaster fall about her shoulders like damp linen. The walls were -new and the wooden stairs creaked. In their bedroom, on the first -floor, a whitish light passed through the curtainless windows. - -She could catch glimpses of tree tops, and beyond, the fields, -half-drowned in the fog that lay reeking in the moonlight along -the course of the river. In the middle of the room, pell-mell, -were scattered drawers, bottles, curtain-rods, gilt poles, with -mattresses on the chairs and basins on the ground--the two men -who had brought the furniture had left everything about -carelessly. - -This was the fourth time that she had slept in a strange place. - -The first was the day of her going to the convent; the second, of -her arrival at Tostes; the third, at Vaubyessard; and this was -the fourth. And each one had marked, as it were, the inauguration -of a new phase in her life. She did not believe that things could -present themselves in the same way in different places, and since -the portion of her life lived had been bad, no doubt that which -remained to be lived would be better. - - - -Chapter Three - -The next day, as she was getting up, she saw the clerk on the -Place. She had on a dressing-gown. He looked up and bowed. She -nodded quickly and reclosed the window. - -Leon waited all day for six o'clock in the evening to come, but -on going to the inn, he found no one but Monsieur Binet, already -at table. The dinner of the evening before had been a -considerable event for him; he had never till then talked for two -hours consecutively to a "lady." How then had he been able to -explain, and in such language, the number of things that he could -not have said so well before? He was usually shy, and maintained -that reserve which partakes at once of modesty and dissimulation. - -At Yonville he was considered "well-bred." He listened to the -arguments of the older people, and did not seem hot about -politics--a remarkable thing for a young man. Then he had some -accomplishments; he painted in water-colours, could read the key -of G, and readily talked literature after dinner when he did not -play cards. Monsieur Homais respected him for his education; -Madame Homais liked him for his good-nature, for he often took -the little Homais into the garden--little brats who were always -dirty, very much spoilt, and somewhat lymphatic, like their -mother. Besides the servant to look after them, they had Justin, -the chemist's apprentice, a second cousin of Monsieur Homais, who -had been taken into the house from charity, and who was useful at -the same time as a servant. - -The druggist proved the best of neighbours. He gave Madame Bovary -information as to the trades-people, sent expressly for his own -cider merchant, tasted the drink himself, and saw that the casks -were properly placed in the cellar; he explained how to set about -getting in a supply of butter cheap, and made an arrangement with -Lestiboudois, the sacristan, who, besides his sacerdotal and -funeral functions, looked after the principal gardens at Yonville -by the hour or the year, according to the taste of the customers. - -The need of looking after others was not the only thing that -urged the chemist to such obsequious cordiality; there was a plan -underneath it all. - -He had infringed the law of the 19th Ventose, year xi., article -I, which forbade all persons not having a diploma to practise -medicine; so that, after certain anonymous denunciations, Homais -had been summoned to Rouen to see the procurer of the king in his -own private room; the magistrate receiving him standing up, -ermine on shoulder and cap on head. It was in the morning, before -the court opened. In the corridors one heard the heavy boots of -the gendarmes walking past, and like a far-off noise great locks -that were shut. The druggist's ears tingled as if he were about -to have an apoplectic stroke; he saw the depths of dungeons, his -family in tears, his shop sold, all the jars dispersed; and he -was obliged to enter a cafe and take a glass of rum and seltzer -to recover his spirits. - -Little by little the memory of this reprimand grew fainter, and -he continued, as heretofore, to give anodyne consultations in his -back-parlour. But the mayor resented it, his colleagues were -jealous, everything was to be feared; gaining over Monsieur -Bovary by his attentions was to earn his gratitude, and prevent -his speaking out later on, should he notice anything. So every -morning Homais brought him "the paper," and often in the -afternoon left his shop for a few moments to have a chat with the -Doctor. - -Charles was dull: patients did not come. He remained seated for -hours without speaking, went into his consulting room to sleep, -or watched his wife sewing. Then for diversion he employed -himself at home as a workman; he even tried to do up the attic -with some paint which had been left behind by the painters. But -money matters worried him. He had spent so much for repairs at -Tostes, for madame's toilette, and for the moving, that the whole -dowry, over three thousand crowns, had slipped away in two years. - -Then how many things had been spoilt or lost during their -carriage from Tostes to Yonville, without counting the plaster -cure, who falling out of the coach at an over-severe jolt, had -been dashed into a thousand fragments on the pavements of -Quincampoix! A pleasanter trouble came to distract him, namely, -the pregnancy of his wife. As the time of her confinement -approached he cherished her the more. It was another bond of the -flesh establishing itself, and, as it were, a continued sentiment -of a more complex union. When from afar he saw her languid walk, -and her figure without stays turning softly on her hips; when -opposite one another he looked at her at his ease, while she took -tired poses in her armchair, then his happiness knew no bounds; -he got up, embraced her, passed his hands over her face, called -her little mamma, wanted to make her dance, and half-laughing, -half-crying, uttered all kinds of caressing pleasantries that -came into his head. The idea of having begotten a child delighted -him. Now he wanted nothing. He knew human life from end to end, -and he sat down to it with serenity. - -Emma at first felt a great astonishment; then was anxious to be -delivered that she might know what it was to be a mother. But not -being able to spend as much as she would have liked, to have a -swing-bassinette with rose silk curtains, and embroidered caps, -in a fit of bitterness she gave up looking after the trousseau, -and ordered the whole of it from a village needlewoman, without -choosing or discussing anything. Thus she did not amuse herself -with those preparations that stimulate the tenderness of mothers, -and so her affection was from the very outset, perhaps, to some -extent attenuated. - -As Charles, however, spoke of the boy at every meal, she soon -began to think of him more consecutively. - -She hoped for a son; he would be strong and dark; she would call -him George; and this idea of having a male child was like an -expected revenge for all her impotence in the past. A man, at -least, is free; he may travel over passions and over countries, -overcome obstacles, taste of the most far-away pleasures. But a -woman is always hampered. At once inert and flexible, she has -against her the weakness of the flesh and legal dependence. Her -will, like the veil of her bonnet, held by a string, flutters in -every wind; there is always some desire that draws her, some -conventionality that restrains. - -She was confined on a Sunday at about six o'clock, as the sun was -rising. - -"It is a girl!" said Charles. - -She turned her head away and fainted. - -Madame Homais, as well as Madame Lefrancois of the Lion d'Or, -almost immediately came running in to embrace her. The chemist, -as man of discretion, only offered a few provincial felicitations -through the half-opened door. He wished to see the child and -thought it well made. - -Whilst she was getting well she occupied herself much in seeking -a name for her daughter. First she went over all those that have -Italian endings, such as Clara, Louisa, Amanda, Atala; she liked -Galsuinde pretty well, and Yseult or Leocadie still better. - -Charles wanted the child to be called after her mother; Emma -opposed this. They ran over the calendar from end to end, and -then consulted outsiders. - -"Monsieur Leon," said the chemist, "with whom I was talking about -it the other day, wonders you do not chose Madeleine. It is very -much in fashion just now." - -But Madame Bovary, senior, cried out loudly against this name of -a sinner. As to Monsieur Homais, he had a preference for all -those that recalled some great man, an illustrious fact, or a -generous idea, and it was on this system that he had baptized his -four children. Thus Napoleon represented glory and Franklin -liberty; Irma was perhaps a concession to romanticism, but -Athalie was a homage to the greatest masterpiece of the French -stage. For his philosophical convictions did not interfere with -his artistic tastes; in him the thinker did not stifle the man of -sentiment; he could make distinctions, make allowances for -imagination and fanaticism. In this tragedy, for example, he -found fault with the ideas, but admired the style; he detested -the conception, but applauded all the details, and loathed the -characters while he grew enthusiastic over their dialogue. When -he read the fine passages he was transported, but when he thought -that mummers would get something out of them for their show, he -was disconsolate; and in this confusion of sentiments in which he -was involved he would have liked at once to crown Racine with both -his hands and discuss with him for a good quarter of an hour. - -At last Emma remembered that at the chateau of Vaubyessard she -had heard the Marchioness call a young lady Berthe; from that -moment this name was chosen; and as old Rouault could not come, -Monsieur Homais was requested to stand godfather. His gifts were -all products from his establishment, to wit: six boxes of -jujubes, a whole jar of racahout, three cakes of marshmallow -paste, and six sticks of sugar-candy into the bargain that he had -come across in a cupboard. On the evening of the ceremony there -was a grand dinner; the cure was present; there was much -excitement. Monsieur Homais towards liqueur-time began singing -"Le Dieu des bonnes gens." Monsieur Leon sang a barcarolle, and -Madame Bovary, senior, who was godmother, a romance of the time -of the Empire; finally, M. Bovary, senior, insisted on having the -child brought down, and began baptizing it with a glass of -champagne that he poured over its head. This mockery of the first -of the sacraments made the Abbe Bournisien angry; old Bovary -replied by a quotation from "La Guerre des Dieux"; the cure -wanted to leave; the ladies implored, Homais interfered; and they -succeeded in making the priest sit down again, and he quietly -went on with the half-finished coffee in his saucer. - -Monsieur Bovary, senior, stayed at Yonville a month, dazzling the -natives by a superb policeman's cap with silver tassels that he -wore in the morning when he smoked his pipe in the square. Being -also in the habit of drinking a good deal of brandy, he often -sent the servant to the Lion d'Or to buy him a bottle, which was -put down to his son's account, and to perfume his handkerchiefs -he used up his daughter-in-law's whole supply of eau-de-cologne. - -The latter did not at all dislike his company. He had knocked -about the world, he talked about Berlin, Vienna, and Strasbourg, -of his soldier times, of the mistresses he had had, the grand -luncheons of which he had partaken; then he was amiable, and -sometimes even, either on the stairs, or in the garden, would -seize hold of her waist, crying, "Charles, look out for -yourself." - -Then Madame Bovary, senior, became alarmed for her son's -happiness, and fearing that her husband might in the long-run -have an immoral influence upon the ideas of the young woman, took -care to hurry their departure. Perhaps she had more serious -reasons for uneasiness. Monsieur Bovary was not the man to -respect anything. - -One day Emma was suddenly seized with the desire to see her -little girl, who had been put to nurse with the carpenter's wife, -and, without looking at the calendar to see whether the six weeks -of the Virgin were yet passed, she set out for the Rollets' -house, situated at the extreme end of the village, between the -highroad and the fields. - -It was mid-day, the shutters of the houses were closed and the -slate roofs that glittered beneath the fierce light of the blue -sky seemed to strike sparks from the crest of the gables. A heavy -wind was blowing; Emma felt weak as she walked; the stones of the -pavement hurt her; she was doubtful whether she would not go home -again, or go in somewhere to rest. - -At this moment Monsieur Leon came out from a neighbouring door -with a bundle of papers under his arm. He came to greet her, and -stood in the shade in front of the Lheureux's shop under the -projecting grey awning. - -Madame Bovary said she was going to see her baby, but that she -was beginning to grow tired. - -"If--" said Leon, not daring to go on. - -"Have you any business to attend to?" she asked. - -And on the clerk's answer, she begged him to accompany her. That -same evening this was known in Yonville, and Madame Tuvache, the -mayor's wife, declared in the presence of her servant that -"Madame Bovary was compromising herself." - -To get to the nurse's it was necessary to turn to the left on -leaving the street, as if making for the cemetery, and to follow -between little houses and yards a small path bordered with privet -hedges. They were in bloom, and so were the speedwells, -eglantines, thistles, and the sweetbriar that sprang up from the -thickets. Through openings in the hedges one could see into the -huts, some pigs on a dung-heap, or tethered cows rubbing their -horns against the trunk of trees. The two, side by side walked -slowly, she leaning upon him, and he restraining his pace, which -he regulated by hers; in front of them a swarm of midges -fluttered, buzzing in the warm air. - -They recognized the house by an old walnut-tree which shaded it. - -Low and covered with brown tiles, there hung outside it, beneath -the dormer-window of the garret, a string of onions. Faggots -upright against a thorn fence surrounded a bed of lettuce, a few -square feet of lavender, and sweet peas strung on sticks. Dirty -water was running here and there on the grass, and all round were -several indefinite rags, knitted stockings, a red calico jacket, -and a large sheet of coarse linen spread over the hedge. At the -noise of the gate the nurse appeared with a baby she was suckling -on one arm. With her other hand she was pulling along a poor puny -little fellow, his face covered with scrofula, the son of a Rouen -hosier, whom his parents, too taken up with their business, left -in the country. - -"Go in," she said; "your little one is there asleep." - -The room on the ground-floor, the only one in the dwelling, had -at its farther end, against the wall, a large bed without -curtains, while a kneading-trough took up the side by the window, -one pane of which was mended with a piece of blue paper. In the -corner behind the door, shining hob-nailed shoes stood in a row -under the slab of the washstand, near a bottle of oil with a -feather stuck in its mouth; a Matthieu Laensberg lay on the dusty -mantelpiece amid gunflints, candle-ends, and bits of amadou. - -Finally, the last luxury in the apartment was a "Fame" blowing -her trumpets, a picture cut out, no doubt, from some perfumer's -prospectus and nailed to the wall with six wooden shoe-pegs. - -Emma's child was asleep in a wicker-cradle. She took it up in the -wrapping that enveloped it and began singing softly as she rocked -herself to and fro. - -Leon walked up and down the room; it seemed strange to him to see -this beautiful woman in her nankeen dress in the midst of all -this poverty. Madam Bovary reddened; he turned away, thinking -perhaps there had been an impertinent look in his eyes. Then she -put back the little girl, who had just been sick over her collar. - -The nurse at once came to dry her, protesting that it wouldn't -show. - -"She gives me other doses," she said: "I am always a-washing of -her. If you would have the goodness to order Camus, the grocer, -to let me have a little soap, it would really be more convenient -for you, as I needn't trouble you then." - -"Very well! very well!" said Emma. "Good morning, Madame Rollet," -and she went out, wiping her shoes at the door. - -The good woman accompanied her to the end of the garden, talking -all the time of the trouble she had getting up of nights. - -"I'm that worn out sometimes as I drop asleep on my chair. I'm -sure you might at least give me just a pound of ground coffee; -that'd last me a month, and I'd take it of a morning with some -milk." - -After having submitted to her thanks, Madam Bovary left. She had -gone a little way down the path when, at the sound of wooden -shoes, she turned round. It was the nurse. - -"What is it?" - -Then the peasant woman, taking her aside behind an elm tree, -began talking to her of her husband, who with his trade and six -francs a year that the captain-- - -"Oh, be quick!" said Emma. - -"Well," the nurse went on, heaving sighs between each word, "I'm -afraid he'll be put out seeing me have coffee alone, you know -men--" - -"But you are to have some," Emma repeated; "I will give you some. -You bother me!" - -"Oh, dear! my poor, dear lady! you see in consequence of his -wounds he has terrible cramps in the chest. He even says that -cider weakens him." - -"Do make haste, Mere Rollet!" - -"Well," the latter continued, making a curtsey, "if it weren't -asking too much," and she curtsied once more, "if you would"--and -her eyes begged--"a jar of brandy," she said at last, "and I'd -rub your little one's feet with it; they're as tender as one's -tongue." - -Once rid of the nurse, Emma again took Monsieur Leon's arm. She -walked fast for some time, then more slowly, and looking straight -in front of her, her eyes rested on the shoulder of the young -man, whose frock-coat had a black-velvety collar. His brown hair -fell over it, straight and carefully arranged. She noticed his -nails which were longer than one wore them at Yonville. It was -one of the clerk's chief occupations to trim them, and for this -purpose he kept a special knife in his writing desk. - -They returned to Yonville by the water-side. In the warm season -the bank, wider than at other times, showed to their foot the -garden walls whence a few steps led to the river. It flowed -noiselessly, swift, and cold to the eye; long, thin grasses -huddled together in it as the current drove them, and spread -themselves upon the limpid water like streaming hair; sometimes -at the tip of the reeds or on the leaf of a water-lily an insect -with fine legs crawled or rested. The sun pierced with a ray the -small blue bubbles of the waves that, breaking, followed each -other; branchless old willows mirrored their grey backs in the -water; beyond, all around, the meadows seemed empty. It was the -dinner-hour at the farms, and the young woman and her companion -heard nothing as they walked but the fall of their steps on the -earth of the path, the words they spoke, and the sound of Emma's -dress rustling round her. - -The walls of the gardens with pieces of bottle on their coping -were hot as the glass windows of a conservatory. Wallflowers had -sprung up between the bricks, and with the tip of her open -sunshade Madame Bovary, as she passed, made some of their faded -flowers crumble into a yellow dust, or a spray of overhanging -honeysuckle and clematis caught in its fringe and dangled for a -moment over the silk. - -They were talking of a troupe of Spanish dancers who were -expected shortly at the Rouen theatre. - -"Are you going?" she asked. - -"If I can," he answered. - -Had they nothing else to say to one another? Yet their eyes were -full of more serious speech, and while they forced themselves to -find trivial phrases, they felt the same languor stealing over -them both. It was the whisper of the soul, deep, continuous, -dominating that of their voices. Surprised with wonder at this -strange sweetness, they did not think of speaking of the -sensation or of seeking its cause. Coming joys, like tropical -shores, throw over the immensity before them their inborn -softness, an odorous wind, and we are lulled by this intoxication -without a thought of the horizon that we do not even know. - -In one place the ground had been trodden down by the cattle; they -had to step on large green stones put here and there in the mud. - -She often stopped a moment to look where to place her foot, and -tottering on a stone that shook, her arms outspread, her form -bent forward with a look of indecision, she would laugh, afraid -of falling into the puddles of water. - -When they arrived in front of her garden, Madame Bovary opened -the little gate, ran up the steps and disappeared. - -Leon returned to his office. His chief was away; he just glanced -at the briefs, then cut himself a pen, and at last took up his -hat and went out. - -He went to La Pature at the top of the Argueil hills at the -beginning of the forest; he threw himself upon the ground under -the pines and watched the sky through his fingers. - -"How bored I am!" he said to himself, "how bored I am!" - -He thought he was to be pitied for living in this village, with -Homais for a friend and Monsieru Guillaumin for master. The -latter, entirely absorbed by his business, wearing gold-rimmed -spectacles and red whiskers over a white cravat, understood -nothing of mental refinements, although he affected a stiff -English manner, which in the beginning had impressed the clerk. - -As to the chemist's spouse, she was the best wife in Normandy, -gentle as a sheep, loving her children, her father, her mother, -her cousins, weeping for other's woes, letting everything go in -her household, and detesting corsets; but so slow of movement, -such a bore to listen to, so common in appearance, and of such -restricted conversation, that although she was thirty, he only -twenty, although they slept in rooms next each other and he spoke -to her daily, he never thought that she might be a woman for -another, or that she possessed anything else of her sex than the -gown. - -And what else was there? Binet, a few shopkeepers, two or three -publicans, the cure, and finally, Monsieur Tuvache, the mayor, -with his two sons, rich, crabbed, obtuse persons, who farmed -their own lands and had feasts among themselves, bigoted to boot, -and quite unbearable companions. - -But from the general background of all these human faces Emma's -stood out isolated and yet farthest off; for between her and him -he seemed to see a vague abyss. - -In the beginning he had called on her several times along with -the druggist. Charles had not appeared particularly anxious to -see him again, and Leon did not know what to do between his fear -of being indiscreet and the desire for an intimacy that seemed -almost impossible. - - - -Chapter Four - -When the first cold days set in Emma left her bedroom for the -sitting-room, a long apartment with a low ceiling, in which there -was on the mantelpiece a large bunch of coral spread out against -the looking-glass. Seated in her arm chair near the window, she -could see the villagers pass along the pavement. - -Twice a day Leon went from his office to the Lion d'Or. Emma -could hear him coming from afar; she leant forward listening, and -the young man glided past the curtain, always dressed in the same -way, and without turning his head. But in the twilight, when, her -chin resting on her left hand, she let the embroidery she had -begun fall on her knees, she often shuddered at the apparition of -this shadow suddenly gliding past. She would get up and order the -table to be laid. - -Monsieur Homais called at dinner-time. Skull-cap in hand, he came -in on tiptoe, in order to disturb no one, always repeating the -same phrase, "Good evening, everybody." Then, when he had taken -his seat at the table between the pair, he asked the doctor about -his patients, and the latter consulted his as to the probability -of their payment. Next they talked of "what was in the paper." - -Homais by this hour knew it almost by heart, and he repeated it -from end to end, with the reflections of the penny-a-liners, and -all the stories of individual catastrophes that had occurred in -France or abroad. But the subject becoming exhausted, he was not -slow in throwing out some remarks on the dishes before him. - -Sometimes even, half-rising, he delicately pointed out to madame -the tenderest morsel, or turning to the servant, gave her some -advice on the manipulation of stews and the hygiene of seasoning. - -He talked aroma, osmazome, juices, and gelatine in a bewildering -manner. Moreover, Homais, with his head fuller of recipes than -his shop of jars, excelled in making all kinds of preserves, -vinegars, and sweet liqueurs; he knew also all the latest -inventions in economic stoves, together with the art of -preserving cheese and of curing sick wines. - -At eight o'clock Justin came to fetch him to shut up the shop. - -Then Monsieur Homais gave him a sly look, especially if Felicite -was there, for he half noticed that his apprentice was fond of -the doctor's house. - -"The young dog," he said, "is beginning to have ideas, and the -devil take me if I don't believe he's in love with your servant!" - -But a more serious fault with which he reproached Justin was his -constantly listening to conversation. On Sunday, for example, one -could not get him out of the drawing-room, whither Madame Homais -had called him to fetch the children, who were falling asleep in -the arm-chairs, and dragging down with their backs calico -chair-covers that were too large. - -Not many people came to these soirees at the chemist's, his -scandal-mongering and political opinions having successfully -alienated various respectable persons from him. The clerk never -failed to be there. As soon as he heard the bell he ran to meet -Madame Bovary, took her shawl, and put away under the -shop-counter the thick list shoes that she wore over her boots -when there was snow. - -First they played some hands at trente-et-un; next Monsieur -Homais played ecarte with Emma; Leon behind her gave her advice. - -Standing up with his hands on the back of her chair he saw the -teeth of her comb that bit into her chignon. With every movement -that she made to throw her cards the right side of her dress was -drawn up. From her turned-up hair a dark colour fell over her -back, and growing gradually paler, lost itself little by little -in the shade. Then her dress fell on both sides of her chair, -puffing out full of folds, and reached the ground. When Leon -occasionally felt the sole of his boot resting on it, he drew -back as if he had trodden upon some one. - -When the game of cards was over, the druggist and the Doctor -played dominoes, and Emma, changing her place, leant her elbow on -the table, turning over the leaves of "L'Illustration". She had -brought her ladies' journal with her. Leon sat down near her; -they looked at the engravings together, and waited for one -another at the bottom of the pages. She often begged him to read -her the verses; Leon declaimed them in a languid voice, to which -he carefully gave a dying fall in the love passages. But the -noise of the dominoes annoyed him. Monsieur Homais was strong at -the game; he could beat Charles and give him a double-six. Then -the three hundred finished, they both stretched themselves out in -front of the fire, and were soon asleep. The fire was dying out -in the cinders; the teapot was empty, Leon was still reading. - -Emma listened to him, mechanically turning around the lampshade, -on the gauze of which were painted clowns in carriages, and -tight-rope dances with their balancing-poles. Leon stopped, -pointing with a gesture to his sleeping audience; then they -talked in low tones, and their conversation seemed the more sweet -to them because it was unheard. - -Thus a kind of bond was established between them, a constant -commerce of books and of romances. Monsieur Bovary, little given -to jealousy, did not trouble himself about it. - -On his birthday he received a beautiful phrenological head, all -marked with figures to the thorax and painted blue. This was an -attention of the clerk's. He showed him many others, even to -doing errands for him at Rouen; and the book of a novelist having -made the mania for cactuses fashionable, Leon bought some for -Madame Bovary, bringing them back on his knees in the -"Hirondelle," pricking his fingers on their hard hairs. - -She had a board with a balustrade fixed against her window to -hold the pots. The clerk, too, had his small hanging garden; they -saw each other tending their flowers at their windows. - -Of the windows of the village there was one yet more often -occupied; for on Sundays from morning to night, and every morning -when the weather was bright, one could see at the dormer-window -of the garret the profile of Monsieur Binet bending over his -lathe, whose monotonous humming could be heard at the Lion d'Or. - -One evening on coming home Leon found in his room a rug in velvet -and wool with leaves on a pale ground. He called Madame Homais, -Monsieur Homais, Justin, the children, the cook; he spoke of it -to his chief; every one wanted to see this rug. Why did the -doctor's wife give the clerk presents? It looked queer. They -decided that she must be his lover. - -He made this seem likely, so ceaselessly did he talk of her -charms and of her wit; so much so, that Binet once roughly -answered him-- - -"What does it matter to me since I'm not in her set?" - -He tortured himself to find out how he could make his declaration -to her, and always halting between the fear of displeasing her -and the shame of being such a coward, he wept with discouragement -and desire. Then he took energetic resolutions, wrote letters -that he tore up, put it off to times that he again deferred. - -Often he set out with the determination to dare all; but this -resolution soon deserted him in Emma's presence, and when -Charles, dropping in, invited him to jump into his chaise to go -with him to see some patient in the neighbourhood, he at once -accepted, bowed to madame, and went out. Her husband, was he not -something belonging to her? As to Emma, she did not ask herself -whether she loved. Love, she thought, must come suddenly, with -great outbursts and lightnings--a hurricane of the skies, which -falls upon life, revolutionises it, roots up the will like a -leaf, and sweeps the whole heart into the abyss. She did not know -that on the terrace of houses it makes lakes when the pipes are -choked, and she would thus have remained in her security when she -suddenly discovered a rent in the wall of it. - - - -Chapter Five - -It was a Sunday in February, an afternoon when the snow was -falling. - -They had all, Monsieur and Madame Bovary, Homais, and Monsieur -Leon, gone to see a yarn-mill that was being built in the valley -a mile and a half from Yonville. The druggist had taken Napoleon -and Athalie to give them some exercise, and Justin accompanied -them, carrying the umbrellas on his shoulder. - -Nothing, however, could be less curious than this curiosity. A -great piece of waste ground, on which pell-mell, amid a mass of -sand and stones, were a few break-wheels, already rusty, -surrounded by a quadrangular building pierced by a number of -little windows. The building was unfinished; the sky could be -seen through the joists of the roofing. Attached to the -stop-plank of the gable a bunch of straw mixed with corn-ears -fluttered its tricoloured ribbons in the wind. - -Homais was talking. He explained to the company the future -importance of this establishment, computed the strength of the -floorings, the thickness of the walls, and regretted extremely -not having a yard-stick such as Monsieur Binet possessed for his -own special use. - -Emma, who had taken his arm, bent lightly against his shoulder, -and she looked at the sun's disc shedding afar through the mist -his pale splendour. She turned. Charles was there. His cap was -drawn down over his eyebrows, and his two thick lips were -trembling, which added a look of stupidity to his face; his very -back, his calm back, was irritating to behold, and she saw -written upon his coat all the platitude of the bearer. - -While she was considering him thus, tasting in her irritation a -sort of depraved pleasure, Leon made a step forward. The cold -that made him pale seemed to add a more gentle languor to his -face; between his cravat and his neck the somewhat loose collar -of his shirt showed the skin; the lobe of his ear looked out from -beneath a lock of hair, and his large blue eyes, raised to the -clouds, seemed to Emma more limpid and more beautiful than those -mountain-lakes where the heavens are mirrored. - -"Wretched boy!" suddenly cried the chemist. - -And he ran to his son, who had just precipitated himself into a -heap of lime in order to whiten his boots. At the reproaches with -which he was being overwhelmed Napoleon began to roar, while -Justin dried his shoes with a wisp of straw. But a knife was -wanted; Charles offered his. - -"Ah!" she said to herself, "he carried a knife in his pocket like -a peasant." - -The hoar-frost was falling, and they turned back to Yonville. - -In the evening Madame Bovary did not go to her neighbour's, and -when Charles had left and she felt herself alone, the comparison -re-began with the clearness of a sensation almost actual, and -with that lengthening of perspective which memory gives to -things. Looking from her bed at the clean fire that was burning, -she still saw, as she had down there, Leon standing up with one -hand behind his cane, and with the other holding Athalie, who was -quietly sucking a piece of ice. She thought him charming; she -could not tear herself away from him; she recalled his other -attitudes on other days, the words he had spoken, the sound of -his voice, his whole person; and she repeated, pouting out her -lips as if for a kiss-- - -"Yes, charming! charming! Is he not in love?" she asked herself; -"but with whom? With me?" - -All the proofs arose before her at once; her heart leapt. The -flame of the fire threw a joyous light upon the ceiling; she -turned on her back, stretching out her arms. - -Then began the eternal lamentation: "Oh, if Heaven had out willed -it! And why not? What prevented it?" - -When Charles came home at midnight, she seemed to have just -awakened, and as he made a noise undressing, she complained of a -headache, then asked carelessly what had happened that evening. - -"Monsieur Leon," he said, "went to his room early." - -She could not help smiling, and she fell asleep, her soul filled -with a new delight. - -The next day, at dusk, she received a visit from Monsieur -Lherueux, the draper. He was a man of ability, was this -shopkeeper. Born a Gascon but bred a Norman, he grafted upon his -southern volubility the cunning of the Cauchois. His fat, flabby, -beardless face seemed dyed by a decoction of liquorice, and his -white hair made even more vivid the keen brilliance of his small -black eyes. No one knew what he had been formerly; a pedlar said -some, a banker at Routot according to others. What was certain -was that he made complex calculations in his head that would have -frightened Binet himself. Polite to obsequiousness, he always -held himself with his back bent in the position of one who bows -or who invites. - -After leaving at the door his hat surrounded with crape, he put -down a green bandbox on the table, and began by complaining to -madame, with many civilities, that he should have remained till -that day without gaining her confidence. A poor shop like his was -not made to attract a "fashionable lady"; he emphasized the -words; yet she had only to command, and he would undertake to -provide her with anything she might wish, either in haberdashery -or linen, millinery or fancy goods, for he went to town regularly -four times a month. He was connected with the best houses. You -could speak of him at the "Trois Freres," at the "Barbe d'Or," or -at the "Grand Sauvage"; all these gentlemen knew him as well as -the insides of their pockets. To-day, then he had come to show -madame, in passing, various articles he happened to have, thanks -to the most rare opportunity. And he pulled out half-a-dozen -embroidered collars from the box. - -Madame Bovary examined them. "I do not require anything," she -said. - -Then Monsieur Lheureux delicately exhibited three Algerian -scarves, several packets of English needles, a pair of straw -slippers, and finally, four eggcups in cocoanut wood, carved in -open work by convicts. Then, with both hands on the table, his -neck stretched out, his figure bent forward, open-mouthed, he -watched Emma's look, who was walking up and down undecided amid -these goods. From time to time, as if to remove some dust, he -filliped with his nail the silk of the scarves spread out at full -length, and they rustled with a little noise, making in the green -twilight the gold spangles of their tissue scintillate like -little stars. - -"How much are they?" - -"A mere nothing," he replied, "a mere nothing. But there's no -hurry; whenever it's convenient. We are not Jews." - -She reflected for a few moments, and ended by again declining -Monsieur Lheureux's offer. He replied quite unconcernedly-- - -"Very well. We shall understand one another by and by. I have -always got on with ladies--if I didn't with my own!" - -Emma smiled. - -"I wanted to tell you," he went on good-naturedly, after his -joke, "that it isn't the money I should trouble about. Why, I -could give you some, if need be." - -She made a gesture of surprise. - -"Ah!" said he quickly and in a low voice, "I shouldn't have to go -far to find you some, rely on that." - -And he began asking after Pere Tellier, the proprietor of the -"Cafe Francais," whom Monsieur Bovary was then attending. - -"What's the matter with Pere Tellier? He coughs so that he shakes -his whole house, and I'm afraid he'll soon want a deal covering -rather than a flannel vest. He was such a rake as a young man! -Those sort of people, madame, have not the least regularity; he's -burnt up with brandy. Still it's sad, all the same, to see an -acquaintance go off." - -And while he fastened up his box he discoursed about the doctor's -patients. - -"It's the weather, no doubt," he said, looking frowningly at the -floor, "that causes these illnesses. I, too, don't feel the -thing. One of these days I shall even have to consult the doctor -for a pain I have in my back. Well, good-bye, Madame Bovary. At -your service; your very humble servant." And he closed the door -gently. - -Emma had her dinner served in her bedroom on a tray by the -fireside; she was a long time over it; everything was well with -her. - -"How good I was!" she said to herself, thinking of the scarves. - -She heard some steps on the stairs. It was Leon. She got up and -took from the chest of drawers the first pile of dusters to be -hemmed. When he came in she seemed very busy. - -The conversation languished; Madame Bovary gave it up every few -minutes, whilst he himself seemed quite embarrassed. Seated on a -low chair near the fire, he turned round in his fingers the ivory -thimble-case. She stitched on, or from time to time turned down -the hem of the cloth with her nail. She did not speak; he was -silent, captivated by her silence, as he would have been by her -speech. - -"Poor fellow!" she thought. - -"How have I displeased her?" he asked himself. - -At last, however, Leon said that he should have, one of these -days, to go to Rouen on some office business. - -"Your music subscription is out; am I to renew it?" - -"No," she replied. - -"Why?" - -"Because--" - -And pursing her lips she slowly drew a long stitch of grey -thread. - -This work irritated Leon. It seemed to roughen the ends of her -fingers. A gallant phrase came into his head, but he did not risk -it. - -"Then you are giving it up?" he went on. - -"What?" she asked hurriedly. "Music? Ah! yes! Have I not my house -to look after, my husband to attend to, a thousand things, in -fact, many duties that must be considered first?" - -She looked at the clock. Charles was late. Then, she affected -anxiety. Two or three times she even repeated, "He is so good!" - -The clerk was fond of Monsieur Bovary. But this tenderness on his -behalf astonished him unpleasantly; nevertheless he took up on -his praises, which he said everyone was singing, especially the -chemist. - -"Ah! he is a good fellow," continued Emma. - -"Certainly," replied the clerk. - -And he began talking of Madame Homais, whose very untidy -appearance generally made them laugh. - -"What does it matter?" interrupted Emma. "A good housewife does -not trouble about her appearance." - -Then she relapsed into silence. - -It was the same on the following days; her talks, her manners, -everything changed. She took interest in the housework, went to -church regularly, and looked after her servant with more -severity. - -She took Berthe from nurse. When visitors called, Felicite -brought her in, and Madame Bovary undressed her to show off her -limbs. She declared she adored children; this was her -consolation, her joy, her passion, and she accompanied her -caresses with lyrical outburst which would have reminded anyone -but the Yonville people of Sachette in "Notre Dame de Paris." - -When Charles came home he found his slippers put to warm near the -fire. His waistcoat now never wanted lining, nor his shirt -buttons, and it was quite a pleasure to see in the cupboard the -night-caps arranged in piles of the same height. She no longer -grumbled as formerly at taking a turn in the garden; what he -proposed was always done, although she did not understand the -wishes to which she submitted without a murmur; and when Leon saw -him by his fireside after dinner, his two hands on his stomach, -his two feet on the fender, his two cheeks red with feeding, his -eyes moist with happiness, the child crawling along the carpet, -and this woman with the slender waist who came behind his -arm-chair to kiss his forehead: "What madness!" he said to -himself. "And how to reach her!" - -And thus she seemed so virtuous and inaccessible to him that he -lost all hope, even the faintest. But by this renunciation he -placed her on an extraordinary pinnacle. To him she stood outside -those fleshly attributes from which he had nothing to obtain, and -in his heart she rose ever, and became farther removed from him -after the magnificent manner of an apotheosis that is taking -wing. It was one of those pure feelings that do not interfere -with life, that are cultivated because they are rare, and whose -loss would afflict more than their passion rejoices. - -Emma grew thinner, her cheeks paler, her face longer. With her -black hair, her large eyes, her aquiline nose, her birdlike walk, -and always silent now, did she not seem to be passing through -life scarcely touching it, and to bear on her brow the vague -impress of some divine destiny? She was so sad and so calm, at -once so gentle and so reserved, that near her one felt oneself -seized by an icy charm, as we shudder in churches at the perfume -of the flowers mingling with the cold of the marble. The others -even did not escape from this seduction. The chemist said-- - -"She is a woman of great parts, who wouldn't be misplaced in a -sub-prefecture." - -The housewives admired her economy, the patients her politeness, -the poor her charity. - -But she was eaten up with desires, with rage, with hate. That -dress with the narrow folds hid a distracted fear, of whose -torment those chaste lips said nothing. She was in love with -Leon, and sought solitude that she might with the more ease -delight in his image. The sight of his form troubled the -voluptuousness of this mediation. Emma thrilled at the sound of -his step; then in his presence the emotion subsided, and -afterwards there remained to her only an immense astonishment -that ended in sorrow. - -Leon did not know that when he left her in despair she rose after -he had gone to see him in the street. She concerned herself about -his comings and goings; she watched his face; she invented quite -a history to find an excuse for going to his room. The chemist's -wife seemed happy to her to sleep under the same roof, and her -thoughts constantly centered upon this house, like the "Lion -d'Or" pigeons, who came there to dip their red feet and white -wings in its gutters. But the more Emma recognised her love, the -more she crushed it down, that it might not be evident, that she -might make it less. She would have liked Leon to guess it, and -she imagined chances, catastrophes that should facilitate this. - -What restrained her was, no doubt, idleness and fear, and a sense -of shame also. She thought she had repulsed him too much, that -the time was past, that all was lost. Then, pride, and joy of -being able to say to herself, "I am virtuous," and to look at -herself in the glass taking resigned poses, consoled her a little -for the sacrifice she believed she was making. - -Then the lusts of the flesh, the longing for money, and the -melancholy of passion all blended themselves into one suffering, -and instead of turning her thoughts from it, she clave to it the -more, urging herself to pain, and seeking everywhere occasion for -it. She was irritated by an ill-served dish or by a half-open -door; bewailed the velvets she had not, the happiness she had -missed, her too exalted dreams, her narrow home. - -What exasperated her was that Charles did not seem to notice her -anguish. His conviction that he was making her happy seemed to -her an imbecile insult, and his sureness on this point -ingratitude. For whose sake, then was she virtuous? Was it not -for him, the obstacle to all felicity, the cause of all misery, -and, as it were, the sharp clasp of that complex strap that -bucked her in on all sides. - -On him alone, then, she concentrated all the various hatreds that -resulted from her boredom, and every effort to diminish only -augmented it; for this useless trouble was added to the other -reasons for despair, and contributed still more to the separation -between them. Her own gentleness to herself made her rebel -against him. Domestic mediocrity drove her to lewd fancies, -marriage tenderness to adulterous desires. She would have liked -Charles to beat her, that she might have a better right to hate -him, to revenge herself upon him. She was surprised sometimes at -the atrocious conjectures that came into her thoughts, and she -had to go on smiling, to hear repeated to her at all hours that -she was happy, to pretend to be happy, to let it be believed. - -Yet she had loathing of this hypocrisy. She was seized with the -temptation to flee somewhere with Leon to try a new life; but at -once a vague chasm full of darkness opened within her soul. - -"Besides, he no longer loves me," she thought. "What is to become -of me? What help is to be hoped for, what consolation, what -solace?" - -She was left broken, breathless, inert, sobbing in a low voice, -with flowing tears. - -"Why don't you tell master?" the servant asked her when she came -in during these crises. - -"It is the nerves," said Emma. "Do not speak to him of it; it -would worry him." - -"Ah! yes," Felicite went on, "you are just like La Guerine, Pere -Guerin's daughter, the fisherman at Pollet, that I used to know -at Dieppe before I came to you. She was so sad, so sad, to see -her standing upright on the threshold of her house, she seemed to -you like a winding-sheet spread out before the door. Her illness, -it appears, was a kind of fog that she had in her head, and the -doctors could not do anything, nor the priest either. When she -was taken too bad she went off quite alone to the sea-shore, so -that the customs officer, going his rounds, often found her lying -flat on her face, crying on the shingle. Then, after her -marriage, it went off, they say." - -"But with me," replied Emma, "it was after marriage that it -began." - - - -Chapter Six - -One evening when the window was open, and she, sitting by it, had -been watching Lestiboudois, the beadle, trimming the box, she -suddenly heard the Angelus ringing. - -It was the beginning of April, when the primroses are in bloom, -and a warm wind blows over the flower-beds newly turned, and the -gardens, like women, seem to be getting ready for the summer -fetes. Through the bars of the arbour and away beyond, the river -seen in the fields, meandering through the grass in wandering -curves. The evening vapours rose between the leafless poplars, -touching their outlines with a violet tint, paler and more -transparent than a subtle gauze caught athwart their branches. In -the distance cattle moved about; neither their steps nor their -lowing could be heard; and the bell, still ringing through the -air, kept up its peaceful lamentation. - -With this repeated tinkling the thoughts of the young woman lost -themselves in old memories of her youth and school-days. She -remembered the great candlesticks that rose above the vases full -of flowers on the altar, and the tabernacle with its small -columns. She would have liked to be once more lost in the long -line of white veils, marked off here and there by the stuff black -hoods of the good sisters bending over their prie-Dieu. At mass -on Sundays, when she looked up, she saw the gentle face of the -Virgin amid the blue smoke of the rising incense. Then she was -moved; she felt herself weak and quite deserted, like the down of -a bird whirled by the tempest, and it was unconsciously that she -went towards the church, included to no matter what devotions, so -that her soul was absorbed and all existence lost in it. - -On the Place she met Lestivoudois on his way back, for, in order -not to shorten his day's labour, he preferred interrupting his -work, then beginning it again, so that he rang the Angelus to -suit his own convenience. Besides, the ringing over a little -earlier warned the lads of catechism hour. - -Already a few who had arrived were playing marbles on the stones -of the cemetery. Others, astride the wall, swung their legs, -kicking with their clogs the large nettles growing between the -little enclosure and the newest graves. This was the only green -spot. All the rest was but stones, always covered with a fine -powder, despite the vestry-broom. - -The children in list shoes ran about there as if it were an -enclosure made for them. The shouts of their voices could be -heard through the humming of the bell. This grew less and less -with the swinging of the great rope that, hanging from the top of -the belfry, dragged its end on the ground. Swallows flitted to -and fro uttering little cries, cut the air with the edge of their -wings, and swiftly returned to their yellow nests under the tiles -of the coping. At the end of the church a lamp was burning, the -wick of a night-light in a glass hung up. Its light from a -distance looked like a white stain trembling in the oil. A long -ray of the sun fell across the nave and seemed to darken the -lower sides and the corners. - -"Where is the cure?" asked Madame Bovary of one of the lads, who -was amusing himself by shaking a swivel in a hole too large for -it. - -"He is just coming," he answered. - -And in fact the door of the presbytery grated; Abbe Bournisien -appeared; the children, pell-mell, fled into the church. - -"These young scamps!" murmured the priest, "always the same!" - -Then, picking up a catechism all in rags that he had struck with -is foot, "They respect nothing!" But as soon as he caught sight -of Madame Bovary, "Excuse me," he said; "I did not recognise -you." - -He thrust the catechism into his pocket, and stopped short, -balancing the heavy vestry key between his two fingers. - -The light of the setting sun that fell full upon his face paled -the lasting of his cassock, shiny at the elbows, unravelled at -the hem. Grease and tobacco stains followed along his broad chest -the lines of the buttons, and grew more numerous the farther they -were from his neckcloth, in which the massive folds of his red -chin rested; this was dotted with yellow spots, that disappeared -beneath the coarse hair of his greyish beard. He had just dined -and was breathing noisily. - -"How are you?" he added. - -"Not well," replied Emma; "I am ill." - -"Well, and so am I," answered the priest. "These first warm days -weaken one most remarkably, don't they? But, after all, we are -born to suffer, as St. Paul says. But what does Monsieur Bovary -think of it?" - -"He!" she said with a gesture of contempt. - -"What!" replied the good fellow, quite astonished, doesn't he -prescribe something for you?" - -"Ah!" said Emma, "it is no earthly remedy I need." - -But the cure from time to time looked into the church, where the -kneeling boys were shouldering one another, and tumbling over -like packs of cards. - -"I should like to know--" she went on. - -"You look out, Riboudet," cried the priest in an angry voice; -"I'll warm your ears, you imp!" Then turning to Emma, "He's -Boudet the carpenter's son; his parents are well off, and let him -do just as he pleases. Yet he could learn quickly if he would, -for he is very sharp. And so sometimes for a joke I call him -Riboudet (like the road one takes to go to Maromme) and I even -say 'Mon Riboudet.' Ha! Ha! 'Mont Riboudet.' The other day I -repeated that just to Monsignor, and he laughed at it; he -condescended to laugh at it. And how is Monsieur Bovary?" - -She seemed not to hear him. And he went on-- - -"Always very busy, no doubt; for he and I are certainly the -busiest people in the parish. But he is doctor of the body," he -added with a thick laugh, "and I of the soul." - -She fixed her pleading eyes upon the priest. "Yes," she said, -"you solace all sorrows." - -"Ah! don't talk to me of it, Madame Bovary. This morning I had to -go to Bas-Diauville for a cow that was ill; they thought it was -under a spell. All their cows, I don't know how it is--But pardon -me! Longuemarre and Boudet! Bless me! Will you leave off?" - -And with a bound he ran into the church. - -The boys were just then clustering round the large desk, climbing -over the precentor's footstool, opening the missal; and others on -tiptoe were just about to venture into the confessional. But the -priest suddenly distributed a shower of cuffs among them. Seizing -them by the collars of their coats, he lifted them from the -ground, and deposited them on their knees on the stones of the -choir, firmly, as if he meant planting them there. - -"Yes," said he, when he returned to Emma, unfolding his large -cotton handkerchief, one corner of which he put between his -teeth, "farmers are much to be pitied." - -"Others, too," she replied. - -"Assuredly. Town-labourers, for example." - -"It is not they--" - -"Pardon! I've there known poor mothers of families, virtuous -women, I assure you, real saints, who wanted even bread." - -"But those," replied Emma, and the corners of her mouth twitched -as she spoke, "those, Monsieur le Cure, who have bread and have -no--" - -"Fire in the winter," said the priest. - -"Oh, what does that matter?" - -"What! What does it matter? It seems to me that when one has -firing and food--for, after all--" - -"My God! my God!" she sighed. - -"It is indigestion, no doubt? You must get home, Madame Bovary; -drink a little tea, that will strengthen you, or else a glass of -fresh water with a little moist sugar." - -"Why?" And she looked like one awaking from a dream. - -"Well, you see, you were putting your hand to your forehead. I -thought you felt faint." Then, bethinking himself, "But you were -asking me something? What was it? I really don't remember." - -"I? Nothing! nothing!" repeated Emma. - -And the glance she cast round her slowly fell upon the old man in -the cassock. They looked at one another face to face without -speaking. - -"Then, Madame Bovary," he said at last, "excuse me, but duty -first, you know; I must look after my good-for-nothings. The -first communion will soon be upon us, and I fear we shall be -behind after all. So after Ascension Day I keep them recta* an -extra hour every Wednesday. Poor children! One cannot lead them -too soon into the path of the Lord, as, moreover, he has himself -recommended us to do by the mouth of his Divine Son. Good health -to you, madame; my respects to your husband." - -*On the straight and narrow path. - -And he went into the church making a genuflexion as soon as he -reached the door. - -Emma saw him disappear between the double row of forms, walking -with a heavy tread, his head a little bent over his shoulder, and -with his two hands half-open behind him. - -Then she turned on her heel all of one piece, like a statue on a -pivot, and went homewards. But the loud voice of the priest, the -clear voices of the boys still reached her ears, and went on -behind her. - -"Are you a Christian?" - -"Yes, I am a Christian." - -"What is a Christian?" - -"He who, being baptized-baptized-baptized--" - -She went up the steps of the staircase holding on to the -banisters, and when she was in her room threw herself into an -arm-chair. - -The whitish light of the window-panes fell with soft undulations. - -The furniture in its place seemed to have become more immobile, -and to lose itself in the shadow as in an ocean of darkness. The -fire was out, the clock went on ticking, and Emma vaguely -marvelled at this calm of all things while within herself was -such tumult. But little Berthe was there, between the window and -the work-table, tottering on her knitted shoes, and trying to -come to her mother to catch hold of the ends of her -apron-strings. - -"Leave me alone," said the latter, putting her from her with her -hand. - -The little girl soon came up closer against her knees, and -leaning on them with her arms, she looked up with her large blue -eyes, while a small thread of pure saliva dribbled from her lips -on to the silk apron. - -"Leave me alone," repeated the young woman quite irritably. - -Her face frightened the child, who began to scream. - -"Will you leave me alone?" she said, pushing her with her elbow. - -Berthe fell at the foot of the drawers against the brass handle, -cutting her cheek, which began to bleed, against it. Madame -Bovary sprang to lift her up, broke the bell-rope, called for the -servant with all her might, and she was just going to curse -herself when Charles appeared. It was the dinner-hour; he had -come home. - -"Look, dear!" said Emma, in a calm voice, "the little one fell -down while she was playing, and has hurt herself." - -Charles reassured her; the case was not a serious one, and he -went for some sticking plaster. - -Madame Bovary did not go downstairs to the dining-room; she -wished to remain alone to look after the child. Then watching her -sleep, the little anxiety she felt gradually wore off, and she -seemed very stupid to herself, and very good to have been so -worried just now at so little. Berthe, in fact, no longer sobbed. - -Her breathing now imperceptibly raised the cotton covering. Big -tears lay in the corner of the half-closed eyelids, through whose -lashes one could see two pale sunken pupils; the plaster stuck on -her cheek drew the skin obliquely. - -"It is very strange," thought Emma, "how ugly this child is!" - -When at eleven o'clock Charles came back from the chemist's shop, -whither he had gone after dinner to return the remainder of the -sticking-plaster, he found his wife standing by the cradle. - -"I assure you it's nothing." he said, kissing her on the -forehead. "Don't worry, my poor darling; you will make yourself -ill." - -He had stayed a long time at the chemist's. Although he had not -seemed much moved, Homais, nevertheless, had exerted himself to -buoy him up, to "keep up his spirits." Then they had talked of -the various dangers that threaten childhood, of the carelessness -of servants. Madame Homais knew something of it, having still -upon her chest the marks left by a basin full of soup that a cook -had formerly dropped on her pinafore, and her good parents took -no end of trouble for her. The knives were not sharpened, nor the -floors waxed; there were iron gratings to the windows and strong -bars across the fireplace; the little Homais, in spite of their -spirit, could not stir without someone watching them; at the -slightest cold their father stuffed them with pectorals; and -until they were turned four they all, without pity, had to wear -wadded head-protectors. This, it is true, was a fancy of Madame -Homais'; her husband was inwardly afflicted at it. Fearing the -possible consequences of such compression to the intellectual -organs. He even went so far as to say to her, "Do you want to -make Caribs or Botocudos of them?" - -Charles, however, had several times tried to interrupt the -conversation. "I should like to speak to you," he had whispered -in the clerk's ear, who went upstairs in front of him. - -"Can he suspect anything?" Leon asked himself. His heart beat, -and he racked his brain with surmises. - -At last, Charles, having shut the door, asked him to see himself -what would be the price at Rouen of a fine daguerreotypes. It was -a sentimental surprise he intended for his wife, a delicate -attention--his portrait in a frock-coat. But he wanted first to -know "how much it would be." The inquiries would not put Monsieur -Leon out, since he went to town almost every week. - -Why? Monsieur Homais suspected some "young man's affair" at the -bottom of it, an intrigue. But he was mistaken. Leon was after no -love-making. He was sadder than ever, as Madame Lefrancois saw -from the amount of food he left on his plate. To find out more -about it she questioned the tax-collector. Binet answered roughly -that he "wasn't paid by the police." - -All the same, his companion seemed very strange to him, for Leon -often threw himself back in his chair, and stretching out his -arms. Complained vaguely of life. - -"It's because you don't take enough recreation," said the -collector. - -"What recreation?" - -"If I were you I'd have a lathe." - -"But I don't know how to turn," answered the clerk. - -"Ah! that's true," said the other, rubbing his chin with an air -of mingled contempt and satisfaction. - -Leon was weary of loving without any result; moreover he was -beginning to feel that depression caused by the repetition of the -same kind of life, when no interest inspires and no hope sustains -it. He was so bored with Yonville and its inhabitants, that the -sight of certain persons, of certain houses, irritated him beyond -endurance; and the chemist, good fellow though he was, was -becoming absolutely unbearable to him. Yet the prospect of a new -condition of life frightened as much as it seduced him. - -This apprehension soon changed into impatience, and then Paris -from afar sounded its fanfare of masked balls with the laugh of -grisettes. As he was to finish reading there, why not set out at -once? What prevented him? And he began making home-preparations; -he arranged his occupations beforehand. He furnished in his head -an apartment. He would lead an artist's life there! He would take -lessons on the guitar! He would have a dressing-gown, a Basque -cap, blue velvet slippers! He even already was admiring two -crossed foils over his chimney-piece, with a death's head on the -guitar above them. - -The difficulty was the consent of his mother; nothing, however, -seemed more reasonable. Even his employer advised him to go to -some other chambers where he could advance more rapidly. Taking a -middle course, then, Leon looked for some place as second clerk -at Rouen; found none, and at last wrote his mother a long letter -full of details, in which he set forth the reasons for going to -live at Paris immediately. She consented. - -He did not hurry. Every day for a month Hivert carried boxes, -valises, parcels for him from Yonville to Rouen and from Rouen to -Yonville; and when Leon had packed up his wardrobe, had his three -arm-chairs restuffed, bought a stock of neckties, in a word, had -made more preparations than for a voyage around the world, he put -it off from week to week, until he received a second letter from -his mother urging him to leave, since he wanted to pass his -examination before the vacation. - -When the moment for the farewells had come, Madame Homais wept, -Justin sobbed; Homais, as a man of nerve, concealed his emotion; -he wished to carry his friend's overcoat himself as far as the -gate of the notary, who was taking Leon to Rouen in his carriage. - -The latter had just time to bid farewell to Monsieur Bovary. - -When he reached the head of the stairs, he stopped, he was so out -of breath. As he came in, Madame Bovary arose hurriedly. - -"It is I again!" said Leon. - -"I was sure of it!" - -She bit her lips, and a rush of blood flowing under her skin made -her red from the roots of her hair to the top of her collar. She -remained standing, leaning with her shoulder against the -wainscot. - -"The doctor is not here?" he went on. - -"He is out." She repeated, "He is out." - -Then there was silence. They looked at one another and their -thoughts, confounded in the same agony, clung close together like -two throbbing breasts. - -"I should like to kiss Berthe," said Leon. - -Emma went down a few steps and called Felicite. - -He threw one long look around him that took in the walls, the -decorations, the fireplace, as if to penetrate everything, carry -away everything. But she returned, and the servant brought -Berthe, who was swinging a windmill roof downwards at the end of -a string. Leon kissed her several times on the neck. - -"Good-bye, poor child! good-bye, dear little one! good-bye!" And -he gave her back to her mother. - -"Take her away," she said. - -They remained alone--Madame Bovary, her back turned, her face -pressed against a window-pane; Leon held his cap in his hand, -knocking it softly against his thigh. - -"It is going to rain," said Emma. - -"I have a cloak," he answered. - -"Ah!" - -She turned around, her chin lowered, her forehead bent forward. - -The light fell on it as on a piece of marble, to the curve of the -eyebrows, without one's being able to guess what Emma was seeing -on the horizon or what she was thinking within herself. - -"Well, good-bye," he sighed. - -She raised her head with a quick movement. - -"Yes, good-bye--go!" - -They advanced towards each other; he held out his hand; she -hesitated. - -"In the English fashion, then," she said, giving her own hand -wholly to him, and forcing a laugh. - -Leon felt it between his fingers, and the very essence of all his -being seemed to pass down into that moist palm. Then he opened -his hand; their eyes met again, and he disappeared. - -When he reached the market-place, he stopped and hid behind a -pillar to look for the last time at this white house with the -four green blinds. He thought he saw a shadow behind the window -in the room; but the curtain, sliding along the pole as though no -one were touching it, slowly opened its long oblique folds that -spread out with a single movement, and thus hung straight and -motionless as a plaster wall. Leon set off running. - -From afar he saw his employer's gig in the road, and by it a man -in a coarse apron holding the horse. Homais and Monsieur -Guillaumin were talking. They were waiting for him. - -"Embrace me," said the druggist with tears in his eyes. "Here is -your coat, my good friend. Mind the cold; take care of yourself; -look after yourself." - -"Come, Leon, jump in," said the notary. - -Homais bend over the splash-board, and in a voice broken by sobs -uttered these three sad words-- - -"A pleasant journey!" - -"Good-night," said Monsieur Guillaumin. "Give him his head." They -set out, and Homais went back. - -Madame Bovary had opened her window overlooking the garden and -watched the clouds. They gathered around the sunset on the side -of Rouen and then swiftly rolled back their black columns, behind -which the great rays of the sun looked out like the golden arrows -of a suspended trophy, while the rest of the empty heavens was -white as porcelain. But a gust of wind bowed the poplars, and -suddenly the rain fell; it pattered against the green leaves. - -Then the sun reappeared, the hens clucked, sparrows shook their -wings in the damp thickets, and the pools of water on the gravel -as they flowed away carried off the pink flowers of an acacia. - -"Ah! how far off he must be already!" she thought. - -Monsieur Homais, as usual, came at half-past six during dinner. - -"Well," said he, "so we've sent off our young friend!" - -"So it seems," replied the doctor. Then turning on his chair; -"Any news at home?" - -"Nothing much. Only my wife was a little moved this afternoon. -You know women--a nothing upsets them, especially my wife. And we -should be wrong to object to that, since their nervous -organization is much more malleable than ours." - -"Poor Leon!" said Charles. "How will he live at Paris? Will he -get used to it?" - -Madame Bovary sighed. - -"Get along!" said the chemist, smacking his lips. "The outings at -restaurants, the masked balls, the champagne--all that'll be -jolly enough, I assure you." - -"I don't think he'll go wrong," objected Bovary. - -"Nor do I," said Monsieur Homais quickly; "although he'll have to -do like the rest for fear of passing for a Jesuit. And you don't -know what a life those dogs lead in the Latin quarter with -actresses. Besides, students are thought a great deal of in -Paris. Provided they have a few accomplishments, they are -received in the best society; there are even ladies of the -Faubourg Saint-Germain who fall in love with them, which -subsequently furnishes them opportunities for making very good -matches." - -"But," said the doctor, "I fear for him that down there--" - -"You are right," interrupted the chemist; "that is the reverse of -the medal. And one is constantly obliged to keep one's hand in -one's pocket there. Thus, we will suppose you are in a public -garden. An individual presents himself, well dressed, even -wearing an order, and whom one would take for a diplomatist. He -approaches you, he insinuates himself; offers you a pinch of -snuff, or picks up your hat. Then you become more intimate; he -takes you to a cafe, invites you to his country-house, introduces -you, between two drinks, to all sorts of people; and -three-fourths of the time it's only to plunder your watch or lead -you into some pernicious step. - -"That is true," said Charles; "but I was thinking especially of -illnesses--of typhoid fever, for example, that attacks students -from the provinces." - -Emma shuddered. - -"Because of the change of regimen," continued the chemist, "and -of the perturbation that results therefrom in the whole system. -And then the water at Paris, don't you know! The dishes at -restaurants, all the spiced food, end by heating the blood, and -are not worth, whatever people may say of them, a good soup. For -my own part, I have always preferred plain living; it is more -healthy. So when I was studying pharmacy at Rouen, I boarded in a -boarding house; I dined with the professors." - -And thus he went on, expounding his opinions generally and his -personal likings, until Justin came to fetch him for a mulled egg -that was wanted. - -"Not a moment's peace!" he cried; "always at it! I can't go out -for a minute! Like a plough-horse, I have always to be moiling -and toiling. What drudgery!" Then, when he was at the door, "By -the way, do you know the news?" - -"What news?" - -"That it is very likely," Homais went on, raising his eyebrows -and assuming one of his most serious expression, "that the -agricultural meeting of the Seine-Inferieure will be held this -year at Yonville-l'Abbaye. The rumour, at all events, is going -the round. This morning the paper alluded to it. It would be of -the utmost importance for our district. But we'll talk it over -later on. I can see, thank you; Justin has the lantern." - - - -Chapter Seven - -The next day was a dreary one for Emma. Everything seemed to her -enveloped in a black atmosphere floating confusedly over the -exterior of things, and sorrow was engulfed within her soul with -soft shrieks such as the winter wind makes in ruined castles. It -was that reverie which we give to things that will not return, -the lassitude that seizes you after everything was done; that -pain, in fine, that the interruption of every wonted movement, -the sudden cessation of any prolonged vibration, brings on. - -As on the return from Vaubyessard, when the quadrilles were -running in her head, she was full of a gloomy melancholy, of a -numb despair. Leon reappeared, taller, handsomer, more charming, -more vague. Though separated from her, he had not left her; he -was there, and the walls of the house seemed to hold his shadow. - -She could not detach her eyes from the carpet where he had -walked, from those empty chairs where he had sat. The river still -flowed on, and slowly drove its ripples along the slippery banks. - -They had often walked there to the murmur of the waves over the -moss-covered pebbles. How bright the sun had been! What happy -afternoons they had seen alone in the shade at the end of the -garden! He read aloud, bareheaded, sitting on a footstool of dry -sticks; the fresh wind of the meadow set trembling the leaves of -the book and the nasturtiums of the arbour. Ah! he was gone, the -only charm of her life, the only possible hope of joy. Why had -she not seized this happiness when it came to her? Why not have -kept hold of it with both hands, with both knees, when it was -about to flee from her? And she cursed herself for not having -loved Leon. She thirsted for his lips. The wish took possession -of her to run after and rejoin him, throw herself into his arms -and say to him, "It is I; I am yours." But Emma recoiled -beforehand at the difficulties of the enterprise, and her -desires, increased by regret, became only the more acute. - -Henceforth the memory of Leon was the centre of her boredom; it -burnt there more brightly than the fire travellers have left on -the snow of a Russian steppe. She sprang towards him, she pressed -against him, she stirred carefully the dying embers, sought all -around her anything that could revive it; and the most distant -reminiscences, like the most immediate occasions, what she -experienced as well as what she imagined, her voluptuous desires -that were unsatisfied, her projects of happiness that crackled in -the wind like dead boughs, her sterile virtue, her lost hopes, -the domestic tete-a-tete--she gathered it all up, took -everything, and made it all serve as fuel for her melancholy. - -The flames, however, subsided, either because the supply had -exhausted itself, or because it had been piled up too much. Love, -little by little, was quelled by absence; regret stifled beneath -habit; and this incendiary light that had empurpled her pale sky -was overspread and faded by degrees. In the supineness of her -conscience she even took her repugnance towards her husband for -aspirations towards her lover, the burning of hate for the warmth -of tenderness; but as the tempest still raged, and as passion -burnt itself down to the very cinders, and no help came, no sun -rose, there was night on all sides, and she was lost in the -terrible cold that pierced her. - -Then the evil days of Tostes began again. She thought herself now -far more unhappy; for she had the experience of grief, with the -certainty that it would not end. - -A woman who had laid on herself such sacrifices could well allow -herself certain whims. She bought a Gothic prie-dieu, and in a -month spent fourteen francs on lemons for polishing her nails; -she wrote to Rouen for a blue cashmere gown; she chose one of -Lheureux's finest scarves, and wore it knotted around her waist -over her dressing-gown; and, with closed blinds and a book in her -hand, she lay stretched out on a couch in this garb. - -She often changed her coiffure; she did her hair a la Chinoise, -in flowing curls, in plaited coils; she parted in on one side and -rolled it under like a man's. - -She wanted to learn Italian; she bought dictionaries, a grammar, -and a supply of white paper. She tried serious reading, history, -and philosophy. Sometimes in the night Charles woke up with a -start, thinking he was being called to a patient. "I'm coming," -he stammered; and it was the noise of a match Emma had struck to -relight the lamp. But her reading fared like her piece of -embroidery, all of which, only just begun, filled her cupboard; -she took it up, left it, passed on to other books. - -She had attacks in which she could easily have been driven to -commit any folly. She maintained one day, in opposition to her -husband, that she could drink off a large glass of brandy, and, -as Charles was stupid enough to dare her to, she swallowed the -brandy to the last drop. - -In spite of her vapourish airs (as the housewives of Yonville -called them), Emma, all the same, never seemed gay, and usually -she had at the corners of her mouth that immobile contraction -that puckers the faces of old maids, and those of men whose -ambition has failed. She was pale all over, white as a sheet; the -skin of her nose was drawn at the nostrils, her eyes looked at -you vaguely. After discovering three grey hairs on her temples, -she talked much of her old age. - -She often fainted. One day she even spat blood, and, as Charles -fussed around her showing his anxiety-- - -"Bah!" she answered, "what does it matter?" - -Charles fled to his study and wept there, both his elbows on the -table, sitting in an arm-chair at his bureau under the -phrenological head. - -Then he wrote to his mother begging her to come, and they had -many long consultations together on the subject of Emma. - -What should they decide? What was to be done since she rejected -all medical treatment? "Do you know what your wife wants?" -replied Madame Bovary senior. - -"She wants to be forced to occupy herself with some manual work. -If she were obliged, like so many others, to earn her living, she -wouldn't have these vapours, that come to her from a lot of ideas -she stuffs into her head, and from the idleness in which she -lives." - -"Yet she is always busy," said Charles. - -"Ah! always busy at what? Reading novels, bad books, works -against religion, and in which they mock at priests in speeches -taken from Voltaire. But all that leads you far astray, my poor -child. Anyone who has no religion always ends by turning out -badly." - -So it was decided to stop Emma reading novels. The enterprise did -not seem easy. The good lady undertook it. She was, when she -passed through Rouen, to go herself to the lending-library and -represent that Emma had discontinued her subscription. Would they -not have a right to apply to the police if the librarian -persisted all the same in his poisonous trade? The farewells of -mother and daughter-in-law were cold. During the three weeks that -they had been together they had not exchanged half-a-dozen words -apart from the inquiries and phrases when they met at table and -in the evening before going to bed. - -Madame Bovary left on a Wednesday, the market-day at Yonville. - -The Place since morning had been blocked by a row of carts, -which, on end and their shafts in the air, spread all along the -line of houses from the church to the inn. On the other side -there were canvas booths, where cotton checks, blankets, and -woollen stockings were sold, together with harness for horses, -and packets of blue ribbon, whose ends fluttered in the wind. The -coarse hardware was spread out on the ground between pyramids of -eggs and hampers of cheeses, from which sticky straw stuck out. - -Near the corn-machines clucking hens passed their necks through -the bars of flat cages. The people, crowding in the same place -and unwilling to move thence, sometimes threatened to smash the -shop front of the chemist. On Wednesdays his shop was never -empty, and the people pushed in less to buy drugs than for -consultations. So great was Homais' reputation in the -neighbouring villages. His robust aplomb had fascinated the -rustics. They considered him a greater doctor than all the -doctors. - -Emma was leaning out at the window; she was often there. The -window in the provinces replaces the theatre and the promenade, -she was amusing herself with watching the crowd of boors when she -saw a gentleman in a green velvet coat. He had on yellow gloves, -although he wore heavy gaiters; he was coming towards the -doctor's house, followed by a peasant walking with a bent head -and quite a thoughtful air. - -"Can I see the doctor?" he asked Justin, who was talking on the -doorsteps with Felicite, and, taking him for a servant of the -house--"Tell him that Monsieur Rodolphe Boulanger of La Huchette -is here." - -It was not from territorial vanity that the new arrival added "of -La Huchette" to his name, but to make himself the better known. - -La Huchette, in fact, was an estate near Yonville, where he had -just bought the chateau and two farms that he cultivated himself, -without, however, troubling very much about them. He lived as a -bachelor, and was supposed to have "at least fifteen thousand -francs a year." - -Charles came into the room. Monsieur Boulanger introduced his -man, who wanted to be bled because he felt "a tingling all over." - -"That'll purge me," he urged as an objection to all reasoning. - -So Bovary ordered a bandage and a basin, and asked Justin to hold -it. Then addressing the peasant, who was already pale-- - -"Don't be afraid, my lad." - -"No, no, sir," said the other; "get on." - -And with an air of bravado he held out his great arm. At the -prick of the lancet the blood spurted out, splashing against the -looking-glass. - -"Hold the basin nearer," exclaimed Charles. - -"Lor!" said the peasant, "one would swear it was a little -fountain flowing. How red my blood is! That's a good sign, isn't -it?" - -"Sometimes," answered the doctor, "one feels nothing at first, -and then syncope sets in, and more especially with people of -strong constitution like this man." - -At these words the rustic let go the lancet-case he was twisting -between his fingers. A shudder of his shoulders made the -chair-back creak. His hat fell off. - -"I thought as much," said Bovary, pressing his finger on the -vein. - -The basin was beginning to tremble in Justin's hands; his knees -shook, he turned pale. - -"Emma! Emma!" called Charles. - -With one bound she came down the staircase. - -"Some vinegar," he cried. "O dear! two at once!" - -And in his emotion he could hardly put on the compress. - -"It is nothing," said Monsieur Boulanger quietly, taking Justin -in his arms. He seated him on the table with his back resting -against the wall. - -Madame Bovary began taking off his cravat. The strings of his -shirt had got into a knot, and she was for some minutes moving -her light fingers about the young fellow's neck. Then she poured -some vinegar on her cambric handkerchief; she moistened his -temples with little dabs, and then blew upon them softly. The -ploughman revived, but Justin's syncope still lasted, and his -eyeballs disappeared in the pale sclerotics like blue flowers in -milk. - -"We must hide this from him," said Charles. - -Madame Bovary took the basin to put it under the table. With the -movement she made in bending down, her dress (it was a summer -dress with four flounces, yellow, long in the waist and wide in -the skirt) spread out around her on the flags of the room; and as -Emma stooping, staggered a little as she stretched out her arms. - -The stuff here and there gave with the inflections of her bust. - -Then she went to fetch a bottle of water, and she was melting -some pieces of sugar when the chemist arrived. The servant had -been to fetch him in the tumult. Seeing his pupil's eyes staring -he drew a long breath; then going around him he looked at him -from head to foot. - -"Fool!" he said, "really a little fool! A fool in four letters! A -phlebotomy's a big affair, isn't it! And a fellow who isn't -afraid of anything; a kind of squirrel, just as he is who climbs -to vertiginous heights to shake down nuts. Oh, yes! you just talk -to me, boast about yourself! Here's a fine fitness for practising -pharmacy later on; for under serious circumstances you may be -called before the tribunals in order to enlighten the minds of -the magistrates, and you would have to keep your head then, to -reason, show yourself a man, or else pass for an imbecile." - -Justin did not answer. The chemist went on-- - -"Who asked you to come? You are always pestering the doctor and -madame. On Wednesday, moreover, your presence is indispensable to -me. There are now twenty people in the shop. I left everything -because of the interest I take in you. Come, get along! Sharp! -Wait for me, and keep an eye on the jars." - -When Justin, who was rearranging his dress, had gone, they talked -for a little while about fainting-fits. Madame Bovary had never -fainted. - -"That is extraordinary for a lady," said Monsieur Boulanger; "but -some people are very susceptible. Thus in a duel, I have seen a -second lose consciousness at the mere sound of the loading of -pistols." - -"For my part," said the chemist, "the sight of other people's -blood doesn't affect me at all, but the mere thought of my own -flowing would make me faint if I reflected upon it too much." - -Monsieur Boulanger, however, dismissed his servant, advising him -to calm himself, since his fancy was over. - -"It procured me the advantage of making your acquaintance," he -added, and he looked at Emma as he said this. Then he put three -francs on the corner of the table, bowed negligently, and went -out. - -He was soon on the other side of the river (this was his way back -to La Huchette), and Emma saw him in the meadow, walking under -the poplars, slackening his pace now and then as one who -reflects. - -"She is very pretty," he said to himself; "she is very pretty, -this doctor's wife. Fine teeth, black eyes, a dainty foot, a -figure like a Parisienne's. Where the devil does she come from? -Wherever did that fat fellow pick her up?" - -Monsieur Rodolphe Boulanger was thirty-four; he was of brutal -temperament and intelligent perspicacity, having, moreover, had -much to do with women, and knowing them well. This one had seemed -pretty to him; so he was thinking about her and her husband. - -"I think he is very stupid. She is tired of him, no doubt. He has -dirty nails, and hasn't shaved for three days. While he is -trotting after his patients, she sits there botching socks. And -she gets bored! She would like to live in town and dance polkas -every evening. Poor little woman! She is gaping after love like a -carp after water on a kitchen-table. With three words of -gallantry she'd adore one, I'm sure of it. She'd be tender, -charming. Yes; but how to get rid of her afterwards?" - -Then the difficulties of love-making seen in the distance made -him by contrast think of his mistress. She was an actress at -Rouen, whom he kept; and when he had pondered over this image, -with which, even in remembrance, he was satiated-- - -"Ah! Madame Bovary," he thought, "is much prettier, especially -fresher. Virginie is decidedly beginning to grow fat. She is so -finiky about her pleasures; and, besides, she has a mania for -prawns." - -The fields were empty, and around him Rodolphe only heard the -regular beating of the grass striking against his boots, with a -cry of the grasshopper hidden at a distance among the oats. He -again saw Emma in her room, dressed as he had seen her, and he -undressed her. - -"Oh, I will have her," he cried, striking a blow with his stick -at a clod in front of him. And he at once began to consider the -political part of the enterprise. He asked himself-- - -"Where shall we meet? By what means? We shall always be having -the brat on our hands, and the servant, the neighbours, and -husband, all sorts of worries. Pshaw! one would lose too much -time over it." - -Then he resumed, "She really has eyes that pierce one's heart -like a gimlet. And that pale complexion! I adore pale women!" - -When he reached the top of the Arguiel hills he had made up his -mind. "It's only finding the opportunities. Well, I will call in -now and then. I'll send them venison, poultry; I'll have myself -bled, if need be. We shall become friends; I'll invite them to my -place. By Jove!" added he, "there's the agricultural show coming -on. She'll be there. I shall see her. We'll begin boldly, for -that's the surest way." - - - -Chapter Eight - -At last it came, the famous agricultural show. On the morning of -the solemnity all the inhabitants at their doors were chatting -over the preparations. The pediment of the town hall had been -hung with garlands of ivy; a tent had been erected in a meadow -for the banquet; and in the middle of the Place, in front of the -church, a kind of bombarde was to announce the arrival of the -prefect and the names of the successful farmers who had obtained -prizes. The National Guard of Buchy (there was none at Yonville) -had come to join the corps of firemen, of whom Binet was captain. -On that day he wore a collar even higher than usual; and, tightly -buttoned in his tunic, his figure was so stiff and motionless -that the whole vital portion of his person seemed to have -descended into his legs, which rose in a cadence of set steps -with a single movement. As there was some rivalry between the -tax-collector and the colonel, both, to show off their talents, -drilled their men separately. One saw the red epaulettes and the -black breastplates pass and re-pass alternately; there was no end -to it, and it constantly began again. There had never been such a -display of pomp. Several citizens had scoured their houses the -evening before; tri-coloured flags hung from half-open windows; -all the public-houses were full; and in the lovely weather the -starched caps, the golden crosses, and the coloured neckerchiefs -seemed whiter than snow, shone in the sun, and relieved with the -motley colours the sombre monotony of the frock-coats and blue -smocks. The neighbouring farmers' wives, when they got off their -horses, pulled out the long pins that fastened around them their -dresses, turned up for fear of mud; and the husbands, for their -part, in order to save their hats, kept their handkerchiefs -around them, holding one corner between their teeth. - -The crowd came into the main street from both ends of the -village. People poured in from the lanes, the alleys, the houses; -and from time to time one heard knockers banging against doors -closing behind women with their gloves, who were going out to see -the fete. What was most admired were two long lamp-stands covered -with lanterns, that flanked a platform on which the authorities -were to sit. Besides this there were against the four columns of -the town hall four kinds of poles, each bearing a small standard -of greenish cloth, embellished with inscriptions in gold letters. - -On one was written, "To Commerce"; on the other, "To -Agriculture"; on the third, "To Industry"; and on the fourth, "To -the Fine Arts." - -But the jubilation that brightened all faces seemed to darken -that of Madame Lefrancois, the innkeeper. Standing on her -kitchen-steps she muttered to herself, "What rubbish! what -rubbish! With their canvas booth! Do they think the prefect will -be glad to dine down there under a tent like a gipsy? They call -all this fussing doing good to the place! Then it wasn't worth -while sending to Neufchatel for the keeper of a cookshop! And for -whom? For cowherds! tatterdemalions!" - -The druggist was passing. He had on a frock-coat, nankeen -trousers, beaver shoes, and, for a wonder, a hat with a low -crown. - -"Your servant! Excuse me, I am in a hurry." And as the fat widow -asked where he was going-- - -"It seems odd to you, doesn't it, I who am always more cooped up -in my laboratory than the man's rat in his cheese." - -"What cheese?" asked the landlady. - -"Oh, nothing! nothing!" Homais continued. "I merely wished to -convey to you, Madame Lefrancois, that I usually live at home -like a recluse. To-day, however, considering the circumstances, -it is necessary--" - -"Oh, you're going down there!" she said contemptuously. - -"Yes, I am going," replied the druggist, astonished. "Am I not a -member of the consulting commission?" - -Mere Lefrancois looked at him for a few moments, and ended by -saying with a smile-- - -"That's another pair of shoes! But what does agriculture matter -to you? Do you understand anything about it?" - -"Certainly I understand it, since I am a druggist--that is to -say, a chemist. And the object of chemistry, Madame Lefrancois, -being the knowledge of the reciprocal and molecular action of all -natural bodies, it follows that agriculture is comprised within -its domain. And, in fact, the composition of the manure, the -fermentation of liquids, the analyses of gases, and the influence -of miasmata, what, I ask you, is all this, if it isn't chemistry, -pure and simple?" - -The landlady did not answer. Homais went on-- - -"Do you think that to be an agriculturist it is necessary to have -tilled the earth or fattened fowls oneself? It is necessary -rather to know the composition of the substances in question--the -geological strata, the atmospheric actions, the quality of the -soil, the minerals, the waters, the density of the different -bodies, their capillarity, and what not. And one must be master -of all the principles of hygiene in order to direct, criticize -the construction of buildings, the feeding of animals, the diet -of domestics. And, moreover, Madame Lefrancois, one must know -botany, be able to distinguish between plants, you understand, -which are the wholesome and those that are deleterious, which are -unproductive and which nutritive, if it is well to pull them up -here and re-sow them there, to propagate some, destroy others; in -brief, one must keep pace with science by means of pamphlets and -public papers, be always on the alert to find out improvements." - -The landlady never took her eyes off the "Cafe Francois" and the -chemist went on-- - -"Would to God our agriculturists were chemists, or that at least -they would pay more attention to the counsels of science. Thus -lately I myself wrote a considerable tract, a memoir of over -seventy-two pages, entitled, 'Cider, its Manufacture and its -Effects, together with some New Reflections on the Subject,' that -I sent to the Agricultural Society of Rouen, and which even -procured me the honour of being received among its -members--Section, Agriculture; Class, Pomological. -Well, if my work had been given to the public--" But the druggist -stopped, Madame Lefrancois seemed so preoccupied. - -"Just look at them!" she said. "It's past comprehension! Such a -cookshop as that!" And with a shrug of the shoulders that -stretched out over her breast the stitches of her knitted bodice, -she pointed with both hands at her rival's inn, whence songs were -heard issuing. "Well, it won't last long," she added. "It'll be -over before a week." - -Homais drew back with stupefaction. She came down three steps and -whispered in his ear-- - -"What! you didn't know it? There is to be an execution in next -week. It's Lheureux who is selling him out; he has killed him -with bills." - -"What a terrible catastrophe!" cried the druggist, who always -found expressions in harmony with all imaginable circumstances. - -Then the landlady began telling him the story that she had heard -from Theodore, Monsieur Guillaumin's servant, and although she -detested Tellier, she blamed Lheureux. He was "a wheedler, a -sneak." - -"There!" she said. "Look at him! he is in the market; he is -bowing to Madame Bovary, who's got on a green bonnet. Why, she's -taking Monsieur Boulanger's arm." - -"Madame Bovary!" exclaimed Homais. "I must go at once and pay her -my respects. Perhaps she'll be very glad to have a seat in the -enclosure under the peristyle." And, without heeding Madame -Lefrancois, who was calling him back to tell him more about it, -the druggist walked off rapidly with a smile on his lips, with -straight knees, bowing copiously to right and left, and taking up -much room with the large tails of his frock-coat that fluttered -behind him in the wind. - -Rodolphe, having caught sight of him from afar, hurried on, but -Madame Bovary lost her breath; so he walked more slowly, and, -smiling at her, said in a rough tone-- - -"It's only to get away from that fat fellow, you know, the -druggist." She pressed his elbow. - -"What's the meaning of that?" he asked himself. And he looked at -her out of the corner of his eyes. - -Her profile was so calm that one could guess nothing from it. It -stood out in the light from the oval of her bonnet, with pale -ribbons on it like the leaves of weeds. Her eyes with their long -curved lashes looked straight before her, and though wide open, -they seemed slightly puckered by the cheek-bones, because of the -blood pulsing gently under the delicate skin. A pink line ran -along the partition between her nostrils. Her head was bent upon -her shoulder, and the pearl tips of her white teeth were seen -between her lips. - -"Is she making fun of me?" thought Rodolphe. - -Emma's gesture, however, had only been meant for a warning; for -Monsieur Lheureux was accompanying them, and spoke now and again -as if to enter into the conversation. - -"What a superb day! Everybody is out! The wind is east!" - -And neither Madame Bovary nor Rodolphe answered him, whilst at -the slightest movement made by them he drew near, saying, "I beg -your pardon!" and raised his hat. - -When they reached the farrier's house, instead of following the -road up to the fence, Rodolphe suddenly turned down a path, -drawing with him Madame Bovary. He called out-- - -"Good evening, Monsieur Lheureux! See you again presently." - -"How you got rid of him!" she said, laughing. - -"Why," he went on, "allow oneself to be intruded upon by others? -And as to-day I have the happiness of being with you--" - -Emma blushed. He did not finish his sentence. Then he talked of -the fine weather and of the pleasure of walking on the grass. A -few daisies had sprung up again. - -"Here are some pretty Easter daisies," he said, "and enough of -them to furnish oracles to all the amorous maids in the place." - -He added, "Shall I pick some? What do you think?" - -"Are you in love?" she asked, coughing a little. - -"H'm, h'm! who knows?" answered Rodolphe. - -The meadow began to fill, and the housewives hustled you with -their great umbrellas, their baskets, and their babies. One had -often to get out of the way of a long file of country folk, -servant-maids with blue stockings, flat shoes, silver rings, and -who smelt of milk, when one passed close to them. They walked -along holding one another by the hand, and thus they spread over -the whole field from the row of open trees to the banquet tent. - -But this was the examination time, and the farmers one after the -other entered a kind of enclosure formed by a long cord supported -on sticks. - -The beasts were there, their noses towards the cord, and making a -confused line with their unequal rumps. Drowsy pigs were -burrowing in the earth with their snouts, calves were bleating, -lambs baaing; the cows, on knees folded in, were stretching their -bellies on the grass, slowly chewing the cud, and blinking their -heavy eyelids at the gnats that buzzed round them. Plough-men -with bare arms were holding by the halter prancing stallions that -neighed with dilated nostrils looking towards the mares. These -stood quietly, stretching out their heads and flowing manes, -while their foals rested in their shadow, or now and then came -and sucked them. And above the long undulation of these crowded -animals one saw some white mane rising in the wind like a wave, -or some sharp horns sticking out, and the heads of men running -about. Apart, outside the enclosure, a hundred paces off, was a -large black bull, muzzled, with an iron ring in its nostrils, and -who moved no more than if he had been in bronze. A child in rags -was holding him by a rope. - -Between the two lines the committee-men were walking with heavy -steps, examining each animal, then consulting one another in a -low voice. One who seemed of more importance now and then took -notes in a book as he walked along. This was the president of the -jury, Monsieur Derozerays de la Panville. As soon as he -recognised Rodolphe he came forward quickly, and smiling amiably, -said-- - -"What! Monsieur Boulanger, you are deserting us?" - -Rodolphe protested that he was just coming. But when the -president had disappeared-- - -"Ma foi!*" said he, "I shall not go. Your company is better than -his." - -*Upon my word! - -And while poking fun at the show, Rodolphe, to move about more easily, -showed the gendarme his blue card, and even stopped now and then in -front of some fine beast, which Madame Bovary did not at all admire. -He noticed this, and began jeering at the Yonville ladies and their -dresses; then he apologised for the negligence of his own. He had that -incongruity of common and elegant in which the habitually vulgar think -they see the revelation of an eccentric existence, of the -perturbations of sentiment, the tyrannies of art, and always a -certain contempt for social conventions, that seduces or -exasperates them. Thus his cambric shirt with plaited cuffs was -blown out by the wind in the opening of his waistcoat of grey -ticking, and his broad-striped trousers disclosed at the ankle -nankeen boots with patent leather gaiters. - -These were so polished that they reflected the grass. He trampled -on horses's dung with them, one hand in the pocket of his jacket -and his straw hat on one side. - -"Besides," added he, "when one lives in the country--" - -"It's waste of time," said Emma. - -"That is true," replied Rodolphe. "To think that not one of these -people is capable of understanding even the cut of a coat!" - -Then they talked about provincial mediocrity, of the lives it -crushed, the illusions lost there. - -"And I too," said Rodolphe, "am drifting into depression." - -"You!" she said in astonishment; "I thought you very -light-hearted." - -"Ah! yes. I seem so, because in the midst of the world I know how -to wear the mask of a scoffer upon my face; and yet, how many a -time at the sight of a cemetery by moonlight have I not asked -myself whether it were not better to join those sleeping there!" - -"Oh! and your friends?" she said. "You do not think of them." - -"My friends! What friends? Have I any? Who cares for me?" And he -accompanied the last words with a kind of whistling of the lips. - -But they were obliged to separate from each other because of a -great pile of chairs that a man was carrying behind them. He was -so overladen with them that one could only see the tips of his -wooden shoes and the ends of his two outstretched arms. It was -Lestiboudois, the gravedigger, who was carrying the church chairs -about amongst the people. Alive to all that concerned his -interests, he had hit upon this means of turning the show to -account; and his idea was succeeding, for he no longer knew which -way to turn. In fact, the villagers, who were hot, quarreled for -these seats, whose straw smelt of incense, and they leant against -the thick backs, stained with the wax of candles, with a certain -veneration. - -Madame Bovary again took Rodolphe's arm; he went on as if -speaking to himself-- - -"Yes, I have missed so many things. Always alone! Ah! if I had -some aim in life, if I had met some love, if I had found someone! -Oh, how I would have spent all the energy of which I am capable, -surmounted everything, overcome everything!" - -"Yet it seems to me," said Emma, "that you are not to be pitied." - -"Ah! you think so?" said Rodolphe. - -"For, after all," she went on, "you are free--" she hesitated, -"rich--" - -"Do not mock me," he replied. - -And she protested that she was not mocking him, when the report -of a cannon resounded. Immediately all began hustling one another -pell-mell towards the village. - -It was a false alarm. The prefect seemed not to be coming, and -the members of the jury felt much embarrassed, not knowing if -they ought to begin the meeting or still wait. - -At last at the end of the Place a large hired landau appeared, -drawn by two thin horses, which a coachman in a white hat was -whipping lustily. Binet had only just time to shout, "Present -arms!" and the colonel to imitate him. All ran towards the -enclosure; everyone pushed forward. A few even forgot their -collars; but the equipage of the prefect seemed to anticipate the -crowd, and the two yoked jades, trapesing in their harness, came -up at a little trot in front of the peristyle of the town hall at -the very moment when the National Guard and firemen deployed, -beating drums and marking time. - -"Present!" shouted Binet. - -"Halt!" shouted the colonel. "Left about, march." - -And after presenting arms, during which the clang of the band, -letting loose, rang out like a brass kettle rolling downstairs, -all the guns were lowered. Then was seen stepping down from the -carriage a gentleman in a short coat with silver braiding, with -bald brow, and wearing a tuft of hair at the back of his head, of -a sallow complexion and the most benign appearance. His eyes, -very large and covered by heavy lids, were half-closed to look at -the crowd, while at the same time he raised his sharp nose, and -forced a smile upon his sunken mouth. He recognised the mayor by -his scarf, and explained to him that the prefect was not able to -come. He himself was a councillor at the prefecture; then he -added a few apologies. Monsieur Tuvache answered them with -compliments; the other confessed himself nervous; and they -remained thus, face to face, their foreheads almost touching, -with the members of the jury all round, the municipal council, -the notable personages, the National Guard and the crowd. The -councillor pressing his little cocked hat to his breast repeated -his bows, while Tuvache, bent like a bow, also smiled, stammered, -tried to say something, protested his devotion to the monarchy -and the honour that was being done to Yonville. - -Hippolyte, the groom from the inn, took the head of the horses -from the coachman, and, limping along with his club-foot, led -them to the door of the "Lion d'Or", where a number of peasants -collected to look at the carriage. The drum beat, the howitzer -thundered, and the gentlemen one by one mounted the platform, -where they sat down in red utrecht velvet arm-chairs that had -been lent by Madame Tuvache. - -All these people looked alike. Their fair flabby faces, somewhat -tanned by the sun, were the colour of sweet cider, and their -puffy whiskers emerged from stiff collars, kept up by white -cravats with broad bows. All the waist-coats were of velvet, -double-breasted; all the watches had, at the end of a long -ribbon, an oval cornelian seal; everyone rested his two hands on -his thighs, carefully stretching the stride of their trousers, -whose unsponged glossy cloth shone more brilliantly than the -leather of their heavy boots. - -The ladies of the company stood at the back under the vestibule -between the pillars while the common herd was opposite, standing -up or sitting on chairs. As a matter of fact, Lestiboudois had -brought thither all those that he had moved from the field, and -he even kept running back every minute to fetch others from the -church. He caused such confusion with this piece of business that -one had great difficulty in getting to the small steps of the -platform. - -"I think," said Monsieur Lheureux to the chemist, who was passing -to his place, "that they ought to have put up two Venetian masts -with something rather severe and rich for ornaments; it would -have been a very pretty effect." - -"To be sure," replied Homais; "but what can you expect? The mayor -took everything on his own shoulders. He hasn't much taste. Poor -Tuvache! and he is even completely destitute of what is called -the genius of art." - -Rodolphe, meanwhile, with Madame Bovary, had gone up to the first -floor of the town hall, to the "council-room," and, as it was -empty, he declared that they could enjoy the sight there more -comfortably. He fetched three stools from the round table under -the bust of the monarch, and having carried them to one of the -windows, they sat down by each other. - -There was commotion on the platform, long whisperings, much -parleying. At last the councillor got up. They knew now that his -name was Lieuvain, and in the crowd the name was passed from one -to the other. After he had collated a few pages, and bent over -them to see better, he began-- - -"Gentlemen! May I be permitted first of all (before addressing -you on the object of our meeting to-day, and this sentiment will, -I am sure, be shared by you all), may I be permitted, I say, to -pay a tribute to the higher administration, to the government to -the monarch, gentle men, our sovereign, to that beloved king, to -whom no branch of public or private prosperity is a matter of -indifference, and who directs with a hand at once so firm and -wise the chariot of the state amid the incessant perils of a -stormy sea, knowing, moreover, how to make peace respected as -well as war, industry, commerce, agriculture, and the fine arts?" - -"I ought," said Rodolphe, "to get back a little further." - -"Why?" said Emma. - -But at this moment the voice of the councillor rose to an -extraordinary pitch. He declaimed-- - -"This is no longer the time, gentlemen, when civil discord -ensanguined our public places, when the landlord, the -business-man, the working-man himself, falling asleep at night, -lying down to peaceful sleep, trembled lest he should be awakened -suddenly by the noise of incendiary tocsins, when the most -subversive doctrines audaciously sapped foundations." - -"Well, someone down there might see me," Rodolphe resumed, "then -I should have to invent excuses for a fortnight; and with my bad -reputation--" - -"Oh, you are slandering yourself," said Emma. - -"No! It is dreadful, I assure you." - -"But, gentlemen," continued the councillor, "if, banishing from -my memory the remembrance of these sad pictures, I carry my eyes -back to the actual situation of our dear country, what do I see -there? Everywhere commerce and the arts are flourishing; -everywhere new means of communication, like so many new arteries -in the body of the state, establish within it new relations. Our -great industrial centres have recovered all their activity; -religion, more consolidated, smiles in all hearts; our ports are -full, confidence is born again, and France breathes once more!" - -"Besides," added Rodolphe, "perhaps from the world's point of -view they are right." - -"How so?" she asked. - -"What!" said he. "Do you not know that there are souls constantly -tormented? They need by turns to dream and to act, the purest -passions and the most turbulent joys, and thus they fling -themselves into all sorts of fantasies, of follies." - -Then she looked at him as one looks at a traveller who has -voyaged over strange lands, and went on-- - -"We have not even this distraction, we poor women!" - -"A sad distraction, for happiness isn't found in it." - -"But is it ever found?" she asked. - -"Yes; one day it comes," he answered. - -"And this is what you have understood," said the councillor. - -"You, farmers, agricultural labourers! you pacific pioneers of a -work that belongs wholly to civilization! you, men of progress -and morality, you have understood, I say, that political storms -are even more redoubtable than atmospheric disturbances!" - -"It comes one day," repeated Rodolphe, "one day suddenly, and -when one is despairing of it. Then the horizon expands; it is as -if a voice cried, 'It is here!' You feel the need of confiding -the whole of your life, of giving everything, sacrificing -everything to this being. There is no need for explanations; they -understand one another. They have seen each other in dreams!" - -(And he looked at her.) "In fine, here it is, this treasure so -sought after, here before you. It glitters, it flashes; yet one -still doubts, one does not believe it; one remains dazzled, as if -one went out iron darkness into light." - -And as he ended Rodolphe suited the action to the word. He passed -his hand over his face, like a man seized with giddiness. Then he -let it fall on Emma's. She took hers away. - -"And who would be surprised at it, gentlemen? He only who is so -blind, so plunged (I do not fear to say it), so plunged in the -prejudices of another age as still to misunderstand the spirit of -agricultural populations. Where, indeed, is to be found more -patriotism than in the country, greater devotion to the public -welfare, more intelligence, in a word? And, gentlemen, I do not -mean that superficial intelligence, vain ornament of idle minds, -but rather that profound and balanced intelligence that applies -itself above all else to useful objects, thus contributing to the -good of all, to the common amelioration and to the support of the -state, born of respect for law and the practice of duty--" - -"Ah! again!" said Rodolphe. "Always 'duty.' I am sick of the -word. They are a lot of old blockheads in flannel vests and of -old women with foot-warmers and rosaries who constantly drone -into our ears 'Duty, duty!' Ah! by Jove! one's duty is to feel -what is great, cherish the beautiful, and not accept all the -conventions of society with the ignominy that it imposes upon -us." - -"Yet--yet--" objected Madame Bovary. - -"No, no! Why cry out against the passions? Are they not the one -beautiful thing on the earth, the source of heroism, of -enthusiasm, of poetry, music, the arts, of everything, in a -word?" - -"But one must," said Emma, "to some extent bow to the opinion of -the world and accept its moral code." - -"Ah! but there are two," he replied. "The small, the -conventional, that of men, that which constantly changes, that -brays out so loudly, that makes such a commotion here below, of -the earth earthly, like the mass of imbeciles you see down there. -But the other, the eternal, that is about us and above, like the -landscape that surrounds us, and the blue heavens that give us -light." - -Monsieur Lieuvain had just wiped his mouth with a -pocket-handkerchief. He continued-- - -"And what should I do here gentlemen, pointing out to you the -uses of agriculture? Who supplies our wants? Who provides our -means of subsistence? Is it not the agriculturist? The -agriculturist, gentlemen, who, sowing with laborious hand the -fertile furrows of the country, brings forth the corn, which, -being ground, is made into a powder by means of ingenious -machinery, comes out thence under the name of flour, and from -there, transported to our cities, is soon delivered at the -baker's, who makes it into food for poor and rich alike. Again, -is it not the agriculturist who fattens, for our clothes, his -abundant flocks in the pastures? For how should we clothe -ourselves, how nourish ourselves, without the agriculturist? And, -gentlemen, is it even necessary to go so far for examples? Who -has not frequently reflected on all the momentous things that we -get out of that modest animal, the ornament of poultry-yards, -that provides us at once with a soft pillow for our bed, with -succulent flesh for our tables, and eggs? But I should never end -if I were to enumerate one after the other all the different -products which the earth, well cultivated, like a generous -mother, lavishes upon her children. Here it is the vine, -elsewhere the apple tree for cider, there colza, farther on -cheeses and flax. Gentlemen, let us not forget flax, which has -made such great strides of late years, and to which I will more -particularly call your attention." - -He had no need to call it, for all the mouths of the multitude -were wide open, as if to drink in his words. Tuvache by his side -listened to him with staring eyes. Monsieur Derozerays from time -to time softly closed his eyelids, and farther on the chemist, -with his son Napoleon between his knees, put his hand behind his -ear in order not to lose a syllable. The chins of the other -members of the jury went slowly up and down in their waistcoats -in sign of approval. The firemen at the foot of the platform -rested on their bayonets; and Binet, motionless, stood with -out-turned elbows, the point of his sabre in the air. Perhaps he -could hear, but certainly he could see nothing, because of the -visor of his helmet, that fell down on his nose. His lieutenant, -the youngest son of Monsieur Tuvache, had a bigger one, for his -was enormous, and shook on his head, and from it an end of his -cotton scarf peeped out. He smiled beneath it with a perfectly -infantine sweetness, and his pale little face, whence drops were -running, wore an expression of enjoyment and sleepiness. - -The square as far as the houses was crowded with people. One saw -folk leaning on their elbows at all the windows, others standing -at doors, and Justin, in front of the chemist's shop, seemed -quite transfixed by the sight of what he was looking at. In spite -of the silence Monsieur Lieuvain's voice was lost in the air. It -reached you in fragments of phrases, and interrupted here and -there by the creaking of chairs in the crowd; then you suddenly -heard the long bellowing of an ox, or else the bleating of the -lambs, who answered one another at street corners. In fact, the -cowherds and shepherds had driven their beasts thus far, and -these lowed from time to time, while with their tongues they tore -down some scrap of foliage that hung above their mouths. - -Rodolphe had drawn nearer to Emma, and said to her in a low -voice, speaking rapidly-- - -"Does not this conspiracy of the world revolt you? Is there a -single sentiment it does not condemn? The noblest instincts, the -purest sympathies are persecuted, slandered; and if at length two -poor souls do meet, all is so organised that they cannot blend -together. Yet they will make the attempt; they will flutter their -wings; they will call upon each other. Oh! no matter. Sooner or -later, in six months, ten years, they will come together, will -love; for fate has decreed it, and they are born one for the -other." - -His arms were folded across his knees, and thus lifting his face -towards Emma, close by her, he looked fixedly at her. She noticed -in his eyes small golden lines radiating from black pupils; she -even smelt the perfume of the pomade that made his hair glossy. - -Then a faintness came over her; she recalled the Viscount who had -waltzed with her at Vaubyessard, and his beard exhaled like this -air an odour of vanilla and citron, and mechanically she -half-closed her eyes the better to breathe it in. But in making -this movement, as she leant back in her chair, she saw in the -distance, right on the line of the horizon, the old diligence, -the "Hirondelle," that was slowly descending the hill of Leux, -dragging after it a long trail of dust. It was in this yellow -carriage that Leon had so often come back to her, and by this -route down there that he had gone for ever. She fancied she saw -him opposite at his windows; then all grew confused; clouds -gathered; it seemed to her that she was again turning in the -waltz under the light of the lustres on the arm of the Viscount, -and that Leon was not far away, that he was coming; and yet all -the time she was conscious of the scent of Rodolphe's head by her -side. This sweetness of sensation pierced through her old -desires, and these, like grains of sand under a gust of wind, -eddied to and fro in the subtle breath of the perfume which -suffused her soul. She opened wide her nostrils several times to -drink in the freshness of the ivy round the capitals. She took -off her gloves, she wiped her hands, then fanned her face with -her handkerchief, while athwart the throbbing of her temples she -heard the murmur of the crowd and the voice of the councillor -intoning his phrases. He said--"Continue, persevere; listen -neither to the suggestions of routine, nor to the over-hasty -councils of a rash empiricism. - -"Apply yourselves, above all, to the amelioration of the soil, to -good manures, to the development of the equine, bovine, ovine, -and porcine races. Let these shows be to you pacific arenas, -where the victor in leaving it will hold forth a hand to the -vanquished, and will fraternise with him in the hope of better -success. And you, aged servants, humble domestics, whose hard -labour no Government up to this day has taken into consideration, -come hither to receive the reward of your silent virtues, and be -assured that the state henceforward has its eye upon you; that it -encourages you, protects you; that it will accede to your just -demands, and alleviate as much as in it lies the burden of your -painful sacrifices." - -Monsieur Lieuvain then sat down; Monsieur Derozerays got up, -beginning another speech. His was not perhaps so florid as that -of the councillor, but it recommended itself by a more direct -style, that is to say, by more special knowledge and more -elevated considerations. Thus the praise of the Government took -up less space in it; religion and agriculture more. He showed in -it the relations of these two, and how they had always -contributed to civilisation. Rodolphe with Madame Bovary was -talking dreams, presentiments, magnetism. Going back to the -cradle of society, the orator painted those fierce times when men -lived on acorns in the heart of woods. Then they had left off the -skins of beasts, had put on cloth, tilled the soil, planted the -vine. Was this a good, and in this discovery was there not more -of injury than of gain? Monsieur Derozerays set himself this -problem. From magnetism little by little Rodolphe had come to -affinities, and while the president was citing Cincinnatus and -his plough, Diocletian, planting his cabbages, and the Emperors -of China inaugurating the year by the sowing of seed, the young -man was explaining to the young woman that these irresistible -attractions find their cause in some previous state of existence. - -"Thus we," he said, "why did we come to know one another? What -chance willed it? It was because across the infinite, like two -streams that flow but to unite; our special bents of mind had -driven us towards each other." - -And he seized her hand; she did not withdraw it. - -"For good farming generally!" cried the president. - -"Just now, for example, when I went to your house." - -"To Monsieur Bizat of Quincampoix." - -"Did I know I should accompany you?" - -"Seventy francs." - -"A hundred times I wished to go; and I followed you--I remained." - -"Manures!" - -"And I shall remain to-night, to-morrow, all other days, all my -life!" - -"To Monsieur Caron of Argueil, a gold medal!" - -"For I have never in the society of any other person found so -complete a charm." - -"To Monsieur Bain of Givry-Saint-Martin." - -"And I shall carry away with me the remembrance of you." - -"For a merino ram!" - -"But you will forget me; I shall pass away like a shadow." - -"To Monsieur Belot of Notre-Dame." - -"Oh, no! I shall be something in your thought, in your life, -shall I not?" - -"Porcine race; prizes--equal, to Messrs. Leherisse and -Cullembourg, sixty francs!" - -Rodolphe was pressing her hand, and he felt it all warm and -quivering like a captive dove that wants to fly away; but, -whether she was trying to take it away or whether she was -answering his pressure; she made a movement with her fingers. He -exclaimed-- - -"Oh, I thank you! You do not repulse me! You are good! You -understand that I am yours! Let me look at you; let me -contemplate you!" - -A gust of wind that blew in at the window ruffled the cloth on -the table, and in the square below all the great caps of the -peasant women were uplifted by it like the wings of white -butterflies fluttering. - -"Use of oil-cakes," continued the president. He was hurrying on: -"Flemish manure-flax-growing-drainage-long leases-domestic -service." - -Rodolphe was no longer speaking. They looked at one another. A -supreme desire made their dry lips tremble, and wearily, without -an effort, their fingers intertwined. - -"Catherine Nicaise Elizabeth Leroux, of Sassetot-la-Guerriere, -for fifty-four years of service at the same farm, a silver -medal--value, twenty-five francs!" - -"Where is Catherine Leroux?" repeated the councillor. - -She did not present herself, and one could hear voices -whispering-- - -"Go up!" - -"Don't be afraid!" - -"Oh, how stupid she is!" - -"Well, is she there?" cried Tuvache. - -"Yes; here she is." - -"Then let her come up!" - -Then there came forward on the platform a little old woman with -timid bearing, who seemed to shrink within her poor clothes. On -her feet she wore heavy wooden clogs, and from her hips hung a -large blue apron. Her pale face framed in a borderless cap was -more wrinkled than a withered russet apple. And from the sleeves -of her red jacket looked out two large hands with knotty joints, -the dust of barns, the potash of washing the grease of wools had -so encrusted, roughened, hardened these that they seemed dirty, -although they had been rinsed in clear water; and by dint of long -service they remained half open, as if to bear humble witness for -themselves of so much suffering endured. Something of monastic -rigidity dignified her face. Nothing of sadness or of emotion -weakened that pale look. In her constant living with animals she -had caught their dumbness and their calm. It was the first time -that she found herself in the midst of so large a company, and -inwardly scared by the flags, the drums, the gentlemen in -frock-coats, and the order of the councillor, she stood -motionless, not knowing whether to advance or run away, nor why -the crowd was pushing her and the jury were smiling at her. - -Thus stood before these radiant bourgeois this half-century of -servitude. - -"Approach, venerable Catherine Nicaise Elizabeth Leroux!" said -the councillor, who had taken the list of prize-winners from the -president; and, looking at the piece of paper and the old woman -by turns, he repeated in a fatherly tone--"Approach! approach!" - -"Are you deaf?" said Tuvache, fidgeting in his armchair; and he -began shouting in her ear, "Fifty-four years of service. A silver -medal! Twenty-five francs! For you!" - -Then, when she had her medal, she looked at it, and a smile of -beatitude spread over her face; and as she walked away they could -hear her muttering "I'll give it to our cure up home, to say some -masses for me!" - -"What fanaticism!" exclaimed the chemist, leaning across to the -notary. - -The meeting was over, the crowd dispersed, and now that the -speeches had been read, each one fell back into his place again, -and everything into the old grooves; the masters bullied the -servants, and these struck the animals, indolent victors, going -back to the stalls, a green-crown on their horns. - -The National Guards, however, had gone up to the first floor of -the town hall with buns spitted on their bayonets, and the -drummer of the battalion carried a basket with bottles. Madame -Bovary took Rodolphe's arm; he saw her home; they separated at -her door; then he walked about alone in the meadow while he -waited for the time of the banquet. - -The feast was long, noisy, ill served; the guests were so crowded -that they could hardly move their elbows; and the narrow planks -used for forms almost broke down under their weight. They ate -hugely. Each one stuffed himself on his own account. Sweat stood -on every brow, and a whitish steam, like the vapour of a stream -on an autumn morning, floated above the table between the hanging -lamps. Rodolphe, leaning against the calico of the tent was -thinking so earnestly of Emma that he heard nothing. Behind him -on the grass the servants were piling up the dirty plates, his -neighbours were talking; he did not answer them; they filled his -glass, and there was silence in his thoughts in spite of the -growing noise. He was dreaming of what she had said, of the line -of her lips; her face, as in a magic mirror, shone on the plates -of the shakos, the folds of her gown fell along the walls, and -days of love unrolled to all infinity before him in the vistas of -the future. - -He saw her again in the evening during the fireworks, but she was -with her husband, Madame Homais, and the druggist, who was -worrying about the danger of stray rockets, and every moment he -left the company to go and give some advice to Binet. - -The pyrotechnic pieces sent to Monsieur Tuvache had, through an -excess of caution, been shut up in his cellar, and so the damp -powder would not light, and the principal set piece, that was to -represent a dragon biting his tail, failed completely. Now and -then a meagre Roman-candle went off; then the gaping crowd sent -up a shout that mingled with the cry of the women, whose waists -were being squeezed in the darkness. Emma silently nestled -against Charles's shoulder; then, raising her chin, she watched -the luminous rays of the rockets against the dark sky. Rodolphe -gazed at her in the light of the burning lanterns. - -They went out one by one. The stars shone out. A few crops of -rain began to fall. She knotted her fichu round her bare head. - -At this moment the councillor's carriage came out from the inn. - -His coachman, who was drunk, suddenly dozed off, and one could -see from the distance, above the hood, between the two lanterns, -the mass of his body, that swayed from right to left with the -giving of the traces. - -"Truly," said the druggist, "one ought to proceed most rigorously -against drunkenness! I should like to see written up weekly at -the door of the town hall on a board ad hoc* the names of all -those who during the week got intoxicated on alcohol. Besides, -with regard to statistics, one would thus have, as it were, -public records that one could refer to in case of need. But -excuse me!" - -*Specifically for that. - -And he once more ran off to the captain. The latter was going -back to see his lathe again. - -"Perhaps you would not do ill," Homais said to him, "to send one -of your men, or to go yourself--" - -"Leave me alone!" answered the tax-collector. "It's all right!" - -"Do not be uneasy," said the druggist, when he returned to his -friends. "Monsieur Binet has assured me that all precautions have -been taken. No sparks have fallen; the pumps are full. Let us go -to rest." - -"Ma foi! I want it," said Madame Homais, yawning at large. "But -never mind; we've had a beautiful day for our fete." - -Rodolphe repeated in a low voice, and with a tender look, "Oh, -yes! very beautiful!" - -And having bowed to one another, they separated. - -Two days later, in the "Final de Rouen," there was a long article -on the show. Homais had composed it with verve the very next -morning. - -"Why these festoons, these flowers, these garlands? Whither -hurries this crowd like the waves of a furious sea under the -torrents of a tropical sun pouring its heat upon our heads?" - -Then he spoke of the condition of the peasants. Certainly the -Government was doing much, but not enough. "Courage!" he cried to -it; "a thousand reforms are indispensable; let us accomplish -them!" Then touching on the entry of the councillor, he did not -forget "the martial air of our militia;" nor "our most merry -village maidens;" nor the "bald-headed old men like patriarchs -who were there, and of whom some, the remnants of our phalanxes, -still felt their hearts beat at the manly sound of the drums." He -cited himself among the first of the members of the jury, and he -even called attention in a note to the fact that Monsieur Homais, -chemist, had sent a memoir on cider to the agricultural society. - -When he came to the distribution of the prizes, he painted the -joy of the prize-winners in dithyrambic strophes. "The father -embraced the son, the brother the brother, the husband his -consort. More than one showed his humble medal with pride; and no -doubt when he got home to his good housewife, he hung it up -weeping on the modest walls of his cot. - -"About six o'clock a banquet prepared in the meadow of Monsieur -Leigeard brought together the principal personages of the fete. -The greatest cordiality reigned here. Divers toasts were -proposed: Monsieur Lieuvain, the King; Monsieur Tuvache, the -Prefect; Monsieur Derozerays, Agriculture; Monsieur Homais, -Industry and the Fine Arts, those twin sisters; Monsieur -Leplichey, Progress. In the evening some brilliant fireworks on a -sudden illumined the air. One would have called it a veritable -kaleidoscope, a real operatic scene; and for a moment our little -locality might have thought itself transported into the midst of -a dream of the 'Thousand and One Nights.' Let us state that no -untoward event disturbed this family meeting." And he added "Only -the absence of the clergy was remarked. No doubt the priests -understand progress in another fashion. Just as you please, -messieurs the followers of Loyola!" - - - -Chapter Nine - -Six weeks passed. Rodolphe did not come again. At last one -evening he appeared. - -The day after the show he had said to himself--"We mustn't go -back too soon; that would be a mistake." - -And at the end of a week he had gone off hunting. After the -hunting he had thought it was too late, and then he reasoned -thus-- - -"If from the first day she loved me, she must from impatience to -see me again love me more. Let's go on with it!" - -And he knew that his calculation had been right when, on entering -the room, he saw Emma turn pale. - -She was alone. The day was drawing in. The small muslin curtain -along the windows deepened the twilight, and the gilding of the -barometer, on which the rays of the sun fell, shone in the -looking-glass between the meshes of the coral. - -Rodolphe remained standing, and Emma hardly answered his first -conventional phrases. - -"I," he said, "have been busy. I have been ill." - -"Seriously?" she cried. - -"Well," said Rodolphe, sitting down at her side on a footstool, -"no; it was because I did not want to come back." - -"Why?" - -"Can you not guess?" - -He looked at her again, but so hard that she lowered her head, -blushing. He went on-- - -"Emma!" - -"Sir," she said, drawing back a little. - -"Ah! you see," replied he in a melancholy voice, "that I was -right not to come back; for this name, this name that fills my -whole soul, and that escaped me, you forbid me to use! Madame -Bovary! why all the world calls you thus! Besides, it is not your -name; it is the name of another!" - -He repeated, "of another!" And he hid his face in his hands. - -"Yes, I think of you constantly. The memory of you drives me to -despair. Ah! forgive me! I will leave you! Farewell! I will go -far away, so far that you will never hear of me again; and yet-- -to-day--I know not what force impelled me towards you. For one -does not struggle against Heaven; one cannot resist the smile of -angels; one is carried away by that which is beautiful, charming, -adorable." - -It was the first time that Emma had heard such words spoken to -herself, and her pride, like one who reposes bathed in warmth, -expanded softly and fully at this glowing language. - -"But if I did not come," he continued, "if I could not see you, -at least I have gazed long on all that surrounds you. At -night-every night-I arose; I came hither; I watched your house, -its glimmering in the moon, the trees in the garden swaying -before your window, and the little lamp, a gleam shining through -the window-panes in the darkness. Ah! you never knew that there, -so near you, so far from you, was a poor wretch!" - -She turned towards him with a sob. - -"Oh, you are good!" she said. - -"No, I love you, that is all! You do not doubt that! Tell me--one -word--only one word!" - -And Rodolphe imperceptibly glided from the footstool to the -ground; but a sound of wooden shoes was heard in the kitchen, and -he noticed the door of the room was not closed. - -"How kind it would be of you," he went on, rising, "if you would -humour a whim of mine." It was to go over her house; he wanted to -know it; and Madame Bovary seeing no objection to this, they both -rose, when Charles came in. - -"Good morning, doctor," Rodolphe said to him. - -The doctor, flattered at this unexpected title, launched out into -obsequious phrases. Of this the other took advantage to pull -himself together a little. - -"Madame was speaking to me," he then said, "about her health." - -Charles interrupted him; he had indeed a thousand anxieties; his -wife's palpitations of the heart were beginning again. Then -Rodolphe asked if riding would not be good. - -"Certainly! excellent! just the thing! There's an idea! You ought -to follow it up." - -And as she objected that she had no horse, Monsieur Rodolphe -offered one. She refused his offer; he did not insist. Then to -explain his visit he said that his ploughman, the man of the -blood-letting, still suffered from giddiness. - -"I'll call around," said Bovary. - -"No, no! I'll send him to you; we'll come; that will be more -convenient for you." - -"Ah! very good! I thank you." - -And as soon as they were alone, "Why don't you accept Monsieur -Boulanger's kind offer?" - -She assumed a sulky air, invented a thousand excuses, and finally -declared that perhaps it would look odd. - -"Well, what the deuce do I care for that?" said Charles, making a -pirouette. "Health before everything! You are wrong." - -"And how do you think I can ride when I haven't got a habit?" - -"You must order one," he answered. - -The riding-habit decided her. - -When the habit was ready, Charles wrote to Monsieur Boulanger -that his wife was at his command, and that they counted on his -good-nature. - -The next day at noon Rodolphe appeared at Charles's door with two -saddle-horses. One had pink rosettes at his ears and a deerskin -side-saddle. - -Rodolphe had put on high soft boots, saying to himself that no -doubt she had never seen anything like them. In fact, Emma was -charmed with his appearance as he stood on the landing in his -great velvet coat and white corduroy breeches. She was ready; she -was waiting for him. - -Justin escaped from the chemist's to see her start, and the -chemist also came out. He was giving Monsieur Boulanger a little -good advice. - -"An accident happens so easily. Be careful! Your horses perhaps -are mettlesome." - -She heard a noise above her; it was Felicite drumming on the -windowpanes to amuse little Berthe. The child blew her a kiss; -her mother answered with a wave of her whip. - -"A pleasant ride!" cried Monsieur Homais. "Prudence! above all, -prudence!" And he flourished his newspaper as he saw them -disappear. - -As soon as he felt the ground, Emma's horse set off at a gallop. - -Rodolphe galloped by her side. Now and then they exchanged a -word. Her figure slightly bent, her hand well up, and her right -arm stretched out, she gave herself up to the cadence of the -movement that rocked her in her saddle. At the bottom of the hill -Rodolphe gave his horse its head; they started together at a -bound, then at the top suddenly the horses stopped, and her large -blue veil fell about her. - -It was early in October. There was fog over the land. Hazy clouds -hovered on the horizon between the outlines of the hills; others, -rent asunder, floated up and disappeared. Sometimes through a -rift in the clouds, beneath a ray of sunshine, gleamed from afar -the roots of Yonville, with the gardens at the water's edge, the -yards, the walls and the church steeple. Emma half closed her -eyes to pick out her house, and never had this poor village where -she lived appeared so small. From the height on which they were -the whole valley seemed an immense pale lake sending off its -vapour into the air. Clumps of trees here and there stood out -like black rocks, and the tall lines of the poplars that rose -above the mist were like a beach stirred by the wind. - -By the side, on the turf between the pines, a brown light -shimmered in the warm atmosphere. The earth, ruddy like the -powder of tobacco, deadened the noise of their steps, and with -the edge of their shoes the horses as they walked kicked the -fallen fir cones in front of them. - -Rodolphe and Emma thus went along the skirt of the wood. She -turned away from time to time to avoid his look, and then she saw -only the pine trunks in lines, whose monotonous succession made -her a little giddy. The horses were panting; the leather of the -saddles creaked. - -Just as they were entering the forest the sun shone out. - -"God protects us!" said Rodolphe. - -"Do you think so?" she said. - -"Forward! forward!" he continued. - -He "tchk'd" with his tongue. The two beasts set off at a trot. - -Long ferns by the roadside caught in Emma's stirrup. - -Rodolphe leant forward and removed them as they rode along. At -other times, to turn aside the branches, he passed close to her, -and Emma felt his knee brushing against her leg. The sky was now -blue, the leaves no longer stirred. There were spaces full of -heather in flower, and plots of violets alternated with the -confused patches of the trees that were grey, fawn, or golden -coloured, according to the nature of their leaves. Often in the -thicket was heard the fluttering of wings, or else the hoarse, -soft cry of the ravens flying off amidst the oaks. - -They dismounted. Rodolphe fastened up the horses. She walked on -in front on the moss between the paths. But her long habit got in -her way, although she held it up by the skirt; and Rodolphe, -walking behind her, saw between the black cloth and the black -shoe the fineness of her white stocking, that seemed to him as if -it were a part of her nakedness. - -She stopped. "I am tired," she said. - -"Come, try again," he went on. "Courage!" - -Then some hundred paces farther on she again stopped, and through -her veil, that fell sideways from her man's hat over her hips, -her face appeared in a bluish transparency as if she were -floating under azure waves. - -"But where are we going?" - -He did not answer. She was breathing irregularly. Rodolphe looked -round him biting his moustache. They came to a larger space where -the coppice had been cut. They sat down on the trunk of a fallen -tree, and Rodolphe began speaking to her of his love. He did not -begin by frightening her with compliments. He was calm, serious, -melancholy. - -Emma listened to him with bowed head, and stirred the bits of -wood on the ground with the tip of her foot. But at the words, -"Are not our destinies now one?" - -"Oh, no!" she replied. "You know that well. It is impossible!" -She rose to go. He seized her by the wrist. She stopped. Then, -having gazed at him for a few moments with an amorous and humid -look, she said hurriedly-- - -"Ah! do not speak of it again! Where are the horses? Let us go -back." - -He made a gesture of anger and annoyance. She repeated: - -"Where are the horses? Where are the horses?" - -Then smiling a strange smile, his pupil fixed, his teeth set, he -advanced with outstretched arms. She recoiled trembling. She -stammered: - -"Oh, you frighten me! You hurt me! Let me go!" - -"If it must be," he went on, his face changing; and he again -became respectful, caressing, timid. She gave him her arm. They -went back. He said-- - -"What was the matter with you? Why? I do not understand. You were -mistaken, no doubt. In my soul you are as a Madonna on a -pedestal, in a place lofty, secure, immaculate. But I need you to -live! I must have your eyes, your voice, your thought! Be my -friend, my sister, my angel!" - -And he put out his arm round her waist. She feebly tried to -disengage herself. He supported her thus as they walked along. - -But they heard the two horses browsing on the leaves. - -"Oh! one moment!" said Rodolphe. "Do not let us go! Stay!" - -He drew her farther on to a small pool where duckweeds made a -greenness on the water. Faded water lilies lay motionless between -the reeds. At the noise of their steps in the grass, frogs jumped -away to hide themselves. - -"I am wrong! I am wrong!" she said. "I am mad to listen to you!" - -"Why? Emma! Emma!" - -"Oh, Rodolphe!" said the young woman slowly, leaning on his -shoulder. - -The cloth of her habit caught against the velvet of his coat. She -threw back her white neck, swelling with a sigh, and faltering, -in tears, with a long shudder and hiding her face, she gave -herself up to him-- - -The shades of night were falling; the horizontal sun passing -between the branches dazzled the eyes. Here and there around her, -in the leaves or on the ground, trembled luminous patches, as it -hummingbirds flying about had scattered their feathers. Silence -was everywhere; something sweet seemed to come forth from the -trees; she felt her heart, whose beating had begun again, and the -blood coursing through her flesh like a stream of milk. Then far -away, beyond the wood, on the other hills, she heard a vague -prolonged cry, a voice which lingered, and in silence she heard -it mingling like music with the last pulsations of her throbbing -nerves. Rodolphe, a cigar between his lips, was mending with his -penknife one of the two broken bridles. - -They returned to Yonville by the same road. On the mud they saw -again the traces of their horses side by side, the same thickets, -the same stones to the grass; nothing around them seemed changed; -and yet for her something had happened more stupendous than if -the mountains had moved in their places. Rodolphe now and again -bent forward and took her hand to kiss it. - -She was charming on horseback--upright, with her slender waist, -her knee bent on the mane of her horse, her face somewhat flushed -by the fresh air in the red of the evening. - -On entering Yonville she made her horse prance in the road. -People looked at her from the windows. - -At dinner her husband thought she looked well, but she pretended -not to hear him when he inquired about her ride, and she remained -sitting there with her elbow at the side of her plate between the -two lighted candles. - -"Emma!" he said. - -"What?" - -"Well, I spent the afternoon at Monsieur Alexandre's. He has an -old cob, still very fine, only a little brokenkneed, and that -could be bought; I am sure, for a hundred crowns." He added, "And -thinking it might please you, I have bespoken it--bought it. Have -I done right? Do tell me?" - -She nodded her head in assent; then a quarter of an hour later-- - -"Are you going out to-night?" she asked. - -"Yes. Why?" - -"Oh, nothing, nothing, my dear!" - -And as soon as she had got rid of Charles she went and shut -herself up in her room. - -At first she felt stunned; she saw the trees, the paths, the -ditches, Rodolphe, and she again felt the pressure of his arm, -while the leaves rustled and the reeds whistled. - -But when she saw herself in the glass she wondered at her face. -Never had her eyes been so large, so black, of so profound a -depth. Something subtle about her being transfigured her. She -repeated, "I have a lover! a lover!" delighting at the idea as if -a second puberty had come to her. So at last she was to know -those joys of love, that fever of happiness of which she had -despairedl She was entering upon marvels where all would be -passion, ecstasy, delirium. An azure infinity encompassed her, -the heights of sentiment sparkled under her thought, and ordinary -existence appeared only afar off, down below in the shade, -through the interspaces of these heights. - -Then she recalled the heroines of the books that she had read, -and the lyric legion of these adulterous women began to sing in -her memory with the voice of sisters that charmed her. She became -herself, as it were, an actual part of these imaginings, and -realised the love-dream of her youth as she saw herself in this -type of amorous women whom she had so envied. Besides, Emma felt -a satisfaction of revenge. Had she not suffered enough? But now -she triumphed, and the love so long pent up burst forth in full -joyous bubblings. She tasted it without remorse, without anxiety, -without trouble. - -The day following passed with a new sweetness. They made vows to -one another She told him of her sorrows. Rodolphe interrupted her -with kisses; and she looking at him through half-closed eyes, -asked him to call her again by her name--to say that he loved her -They were in the forest, as yesterday, in the shed of some -woodenshoe maker. The walls were of straw, and the roof so low -they had to stoop. They were seated side by side on a bed of dry -leaves. - -From that day forth they wrote to one another regularly every -evening. Emma placed her letter at the end of the garden, by the -river, in a fissure of the wall. Rodolphe came to fetch it, and -put another there, that she always found fault with as too -short. - -One morning, when Charles had gone out before day break, she was -seized with the fancy to see Rodolphe at once. She would go -quickly to La Huchette, stay there an hour, and be back again at -Yonville while everyone was still asleep. This idea made her pant -with desire, and she soon found herself in the middle of the -field, walking with rapid steps, without looking behind her. - -Day was just breaking. Emma from afar recognised her lover's -house. Its two dove-tailed weathercocks stood out black against -the pale dawn. - -Beyond the farmyard there was a detached building that she -thought must be the chateau She entered--it was if the doors at -her approach had opened wide of their own accord. A large -straight staircase led up to the corridor. Emma raised the latch -of a door, and suddenly at the end of the room she saw a man -sleeping. It was Rodolphe. She uttered a cry. - -"You here? You here?" he repeated. "How did you manage to come? -Ah! your dress is damp." - -"I love you," she answered, throwing her arms about his neck. - -This first piece of daring successful, now every time Charles -went out early Emma dressed quickly and slipped on tiptoe down -the steps that led to the waterside. - -But when the plank for the cows was taken up, she had to go by -the walls alongside of the river; the bank was slippery; in order -not to fall she caught hold of the tufts of faded wallflowers. -Then she went across ploughed fields, in which she sank, -stumbling; and clogging her thin shoes. Her scarf, knotted round -her head, fluttered to the wind in the meadows. She was afraid of -the oxen; she began to run; she arrived out of breath, with rosy -cheeks, and breathing out from her whole person a fresh perfume -of sap, of verdure, of the open air. At this hour Rodolphe still -slept. It was like a spring morning coming into his room. - -The yellow curtains along the windows let a heavy, whitish light -enter softly. Emma felt about, opening and closing her eyes, -while the drops of dew hanging from her hair formed, as it were, -a topaz aureole around her face. Rodolphe, laughing, drew her to -him, and pressed her to his breast. - -Then she examined the apartment, opened the drawers of the -tables, combed her hair with his comb, and looked at herself in -his shaving-glass. Often she even put between her teeth the big -pipe that lay on the table by the bed, amongst lemons and pieces -of sugar near a bottle of water. - -It took them a good quarter of an hour to say goodbye. Then Emma -cried. She would have wished never to leave Rodolphe. Something -stronger than herself forced her to him; so much so, that one -day, seeing her come unexpectedly, he frowned as one put out. - -"What is the matter with you?" she said. "Are you ill? Tell me!" - -At last he declared with a serious air that her visits were -becoming imprudent--that she was compromising herself. - - - -Chapter Ten - -Gradually Rodolphe's fears took possession of her. At first, love -had intoxicated her; and she had thought of nothing beyond. But -now that he was indispensable to her life, she feared to lose -anything of this, or even that it should be disturbed. When she -came back from his house she looked all about her, anxiously -watching every form that passed in the horizon, and every village -window from which she could be seen. She listened for steps, -cries, the noise of the ploughs, and she stopped short, white, -and trembling more than the aspen leaves swaying overhead. - -One morning as she was thus returning, she suddenly thought she -saw the long barrel of a carbine that seemed to be aimed at her. -It stuck out sideways from the end of a small tub half-buried in -the grass on the edge of a ditch. Emma, half-fainting with -terror, nevertheless walked on, and a man stepped out of the tub -like a Jack-in-the-box. He had gaiters buckled up to the knees, -his cap pulled down over his eyes, trembling lips, and a red -nose. It was Captain Binet lying in ambush for wild ducks. - -"You ought to have called out long ago!" he exclaimed; "When one -sees a gun, one should always give warning." - -The tax-collector was thus trying to hide the fright he had had, -for a prefectorial order having prohibited duckhunting except in -boats, Monsieur Binet, despite his respect for the laws, was -infringing them, and so he every moment expected to see the rural -guard turn up. But this anxiety whetted his pleasure, and, all -alone in his tub, he congratulated himself on his luck and on his -cuteness. At sight of Emma he seemed relieved from a great -weight, and at once entered upon a conversation. - -"It isn't warm; it's nipping." - -Emma answered nothing. He went on-- - -"And you're out so early?" - -"Yes," she said stammering; "I am just coming from the nurse -where my child is." - -"Ah! very good! very good! For myself, I am here, just as you -see me, since break of day; but the weather is so muggy, that -unless one had the bird at the mouth of the gun--" - -"Good evening, Monsieur Binet," she interrupted him, turning on -her heel. - -"Your servant, madame," he replied drily; and he went back into -his tub. - -Emma regretted having left the tax-collector so abruptly. No -doubt he would form unfavourable conjectures. The story about the -nurse was the worst possible excuse, everyone at Yonville knowing -that the little Bovary had been at home with her parents for a -year. Besides, no one was living in this direction; this path led -only to La Huchette. Binet, then, would guess whence she came, -and he would not keep silence; he would talk, that was certain. -She remained until evening racking her brain with every -conceivable lying project, and had constantly before her eyes -that imbecile with the game-bag. - -Charles after dinner, seeing her gloomy, proposed, by way of -distraction, to take her to the chemist's, and the first person -she caught sight of in the shop was the taxcollector again. He -was standing in front of the counter, lit up by the gleams of the -red bottle, and was saying-- - -"Please give me half an ounce of vitriol." - -"Justin," cried the druggist, "bring us the sulphuric acid." Then -to Emma, who was going up to Madame Homais' room, "No, stay here; -it isn't worth while going up; she is just coming down. Warm -yourself at the stove in the meantime. Excuse me. Good-day, -doctor," (for the chemist much enjoyed pronouncing the word -"doctor," as if addressing another by it reflected on himself -some of the grandeur that he found in it). "Now, take care not to -upset the mortars! You'd better fetch some chairs from the little -room; you know very well that the arm-chairs are not to be taken -out of the drawing-room." - -And to put his arm-chair back in its place he was darting away -from the counter, when Binet asked him for half an ounce of sugar -acid. - -"Sugar acid!" said the chemist contemptuously, "don't know it; -I'm ignorant of it! But perhaps you want oxalic acid. It is -oxalic acid, isn't it?" - -Binet explained that he wanted a corrosive to make himself some -copperwater with which to remove rust from his hunting things. - -Emma shuddered. The chemist began saying-- - -"Indeed the weather is not propitious on account of the damp." - -"Nevertheless," replied the tax-collector, with a sly look, -"there are people who like it." - -She was stifling. - -"And give me--" - -"Will he never go?" thought she. - -"Half an ounce of resin and turpentine, four ounces of yellow -wax, and three half ounces of animal charcoal, if you please, to -clean the varnished leather of my togs." - -The druggist was beginning to cut the wax when Madame Homais -appeared, Irma in her arms, Napoleon by her side, and Athalie -following. She sat down on the velvet seat by the window, and the -lad squatted down on a footstool, while his eldest sister hovered -round the jujube box near her papa. The latter was filling -funnels and corking phials, sticking on labels, making up -parcels. Around him all were silent; only from time to time, were -heard the weights jingling in the balance, and a few low words -from the chemist giving directions to his pupil. - -"And how's the little woman?" suddenly asked Madame Homais. - -"Silence!" exclaimed her husband, who was writing down some -figures in his waste-book. - -"Why didn't you bring her?" she went on in a low voice. - -"Hush! hush!" said Emma, pointing with her finger to the -druggist. - -But Binet, quite absorbed in looking over his bill, had probably -heard nothing. At last he went out. Then Emma, relieved, uttered -a deep sigh. - -"How hard you are breathing!" said Madame Homais. - -"Well, you see, it's rather warm," she replied. - -So the next day they talked over how to arrange their rendezvous. -Emma wanted to bribe her servant with a present, but it would be -better to find some safe house at Yonville. Rodolphe promised to -look for one. - -All through the winter, three or four times a week, in the dead -of night he came to the garden. Emma had on purpose taken away -the key of the gate, which Charles thought lost. - -To call her, Rodolphe threw a sprinkle of sand at the shutters. -She jumped up with a start; but sometimes he had to wait, for -Charles had a mania for chatting by the fireside, and he would -not stop. She was wild with impatience; if her eyes could have -done it, she would have hurled him out at the window. At last she -would begin to undress, then take up a book, and go on reading -very quietly as if the book amused her. But Charles, who was in -bed, called to her to come too. - -"Come, now, Emma," he said, "it is time." - -"Yes, I am coming," she answered. - -Then, as the candles dazzled him; he turned to the wall and fell -asleep. She escaped, smiling, palpitating, undressed. Rodolphe -had a large cloak; he wrapped her in it, and putting his arm -round her waist, he drew her without a word to the end of the -garden. - -It was in the arbour, on the same seat of old sticks where -formerly Leon had looked at her so amorously on the summer -evenings. She never thought of him now. - -The stars shone through the leafless jasmine branches. Behind -them they heard the river flowing, and now and again on the bank -the rustling of the dry reeds. Masses of shadow here and there -loomed out in the darkness, and sometimes, vibrating with one -movement, they rose up and swayed like immense black waves -pressing forward to engulf them. The cold of the nights made them -clasp closer; the sighs of their lips seemed to them deeper; -their eyes that they could hardly see, larger; and in the midst -of the silence low words were spoken that fell on their souls -sonorous, crystalline, and that reverberated in multiplied -vibrations. - -When the night was rainy, they took refuge in the consulting-room -between the cart-shed and the stable. She lighted one of the -kitchen candles that she had hidden behind the books. Rodolphe -settled down there as if at home. The sight of the library, of -the bureau, of the whole apartment, in fine, excited his -merriment, and he could not refrain from making jokes about -Charles, which rather embarrassed Emma. She would have liked to -see him more serious, and even on occasions more dramatic; as, -for example, when she thought she heard a noise of approaching -steps in the alley. - -"Someone is coming!" she said. - -He blew out the light. - -"Have you your pistols?" - -"Why?" - -"Why, to defend yourself," replied Emma. - -"From your husband? Oh, poor devil!" And Rodolphe finished his -sentence with a gesture that said, "I could crush him with a -flip of my finger." - -She was wonder-stricken at his bravery, although she felt in it a -sort of indecency and a naive coarseness that scandalised her. - -Rodolphe reflected a good deal on the affair of the pistols. If -she had spoken seriously, it was very ridiculous, he thought, -even odious; for he had no reason to hate the good Charles, not -being what is called devoured by jealousy; and on this subject -Emma had taken a great vow that he did not think in the best of -taste. - -Besides, she was growing very sentimental. She had insisted on -exchanging miniatures; they had cut off handfuls of hair, and now -she was asking for a ring--a real wedding-ring, in sign of an -eternal union. She often spoke to him of the evening chimes, of -the voices of nature. Then she talked to him of her mother--hers! -and of his mother--his! Rodolphe had lost his twenty years ago. -Emma none the less consoled him with caressing words as one would -have done a lost child, and she sometimes even said to him, -gazing at the moon-- - -"I am sure that above there together they approve of our love." - -But she was so pretty. He had possessed so few women of such -ingenuousness. This love without debauchery was a new experience -for him, and, drawing him out of his lazy habits, caressed at -once his pride and his sensuality. Emma's enthusiasm, which his -bourgeois good sense disdained, seemed to him in his heart of -hearts charming, since it was lavished on him. Then, sure of -being loved, he no longer kept up appearances, and insensibly his -ways changed. - -He had no longer, as formerly, words so gentle that they made her -cry, nor passionate caresses that made her mad, so that their -great love, which engrossed her life, seemed to lessen beneath -her like the water of a stream absorbed into its channel, and she -could see the bed of it. She would not believe it; she redoubled -in tenderness, and Rodolphe concealed his indifference less and -less. - -She did not know if she regretted having yielded to him, or -whether she did not wish, on the contrary, to enjoy him the more. -The humiliation of feeling herself weak was turning to rancour, -tempered by their voluptuous pleasures. It was not affection; it -was like a continual seduction. He subjugated her; she almost -feared him. - -Appearances, nevertheless, were calmer than ever, Rodolphe having -succeeded in carrying out the adultery after his own fancy; and -at the end of six months, when the spring-time came, they were to -one another like a married couple, tranquilly keeping up a -domestic flame. - -It was the time of year when old Rouault sent his turkey in -remembrance of the setting of his leg. The present always arrived -with a letter. Emma cut the string that tied it to the basket, -and read the following lines:-- - -"My Dear Children--I hope this will find you well, and that this -one will be as good as the others. For it seems to me a little -more tender, if I may venture to say so, and heavier. But next -time, for a change, I'll give you a turkeycock, unless you have a -preference for some dabs; and send me back the hamper, if you -please, with the two old ones. I have had an accident with my -cart-sheds, whose covering flew off one windy night among the -trees. The harvest has not been overgood either. Finally, I don't -know when I shall come to see you. It is so difficult now to -leave the house since I am alone, my poor Emma." - -Here there was a break in the lines, as if the old fellow had -dropped his pen to dream a little while. - -"For myself, I am very well, except for a cold I caught the other -day at the fair at Yvetot, where I had gone to hire a shepherd, -having turned away mine because he was too dainty. How we are to -be pitied with such a lot of thieves! Besides, he was also rude. -I heard from a pedlar, who, travelling through your part of the -country this winter, had a tooth drawn, that Bovary was as usual -working hard. That doesn't surprise me; and he showed me his -tooth; we had some coffee together. I asked him if he had seen -you, and he said not, but that he had seen two horses in the -stables, from which I conclude that business is looking up. So -much the better, my dear children, and may God send you every -imaginable happiness! It grieves me not yet to have seen my dear -little grand-daughter, Berthe Bovary. I have planted an Orleans -plum-tree for her in the garden under your room, and I won't have -it touched unless it is to have jam made for her by and bye, that -I will keep in the cupboard for her when she comes. - -"Good-bye, my dear children. I kiss you, my girl, you too, my -son-in-law, and the little one on both cheeks. I am, with best -compliments, your loving father. - -"Theodore Rouault." - -She held the coarse paper in her fingers for some minutes. The -spelling mistakes were interwoven one with the other, and Emma -followed the kindly thought that cackled right through it like a -hen half hidden in the hedge of thorns. The writing had been -dried with ashes from the hearth, for a little grey powder -slipped from the letter on to her dress, and she almost thought -she saw her father bending over the hearth to take up the tongs. -How long since she had been with him, sitting on the footstool in -the chimney-corner, where she used to burn the end of a bit of -wood in the great flame of the sea-sedges! She remembered the -summer evenings all full of sunshine. The colts neighed when -anyone passed by, and galloped, galloped. Under her window there -was a beehive, and sometimes the bees wheeling round in the light -struck against her window like rebounding balls of gold. What -happiness there had been at that time, what freedom, what hope! -What an abundance of illusions! Nothing was left of them now. She -had got rid of them all in her soul's life, in all her successive -conditions of lifemaidenhood, her marriage, and her love--thus -constantly losing them all her life through, like a traveller who -leaves something of his wealth at every inn along his road. - -But what then, made her so unhappy? What was the extraordinary -catastrophe that had transformed her? And she raised her head, -looking round as if to seek the cause of that which made her -suffer. - -An April ray was dancing on the china of the whatnot; the fire -burned; beneath her slippers she felt the softness of the carpet; -the day was bright, the air warm, and she heard her child -shouting with laughter. - -In fact, the little girl was just then rolling on the lawn in the -midst of the grass that was being turned. She was lying flat on -her stomach at the top of a rick. The servant was holding her by -her skirt. Lestiboudois was raking by her side, and every time he -came near she lent forward, beating the air with both her arms. - -"Bring her to me," said her mother, rushing to embrace her. "How -I love you, my poor child! How I love you!" - -Then noticing that the tips of her ears were rather dirty, she -rang at once for warm water, and washed her, changed her linen, -her stockings, her shoes, asked a thousand questions about her -health, as if on the return from a long journey, and finally, -kissing her again and crying a little, she gave her back to the -servant, who stood quite thunderstricken at this excess of -tenderness. - -That evening Rodolphe found her more serious than usual. - -"That will pass over," he concluded; "it's a whim:" - -And he missed three rendezvous running. When he did come, she -showed herself cold and almost contemptuous. - -"Ah! you're losing your time, my lady!" - -And he pretended not to notice her melancholy sighs, nor the -handkerchief she took out. - -Then Emma repented. She even asked herself why she detested -Charles; if it had not been better to have been able to love him? -But he gave her no opportunities for such a revival of sentiment, -so that she was much embarrassed by her desire for sacrifice, -when the druggist came just in time to provide her with an -opportunity. - - - -Chapter Eleven - -He had recently read a eulogy on a new method for curing -club-foot, and as he was a partisan of progress, he conceived the -patriotic idea that Yonville, in order to keep to the fore, ought -to have some operations for strephopody or club-foot. - -"For," said he to Emma, "what risk is there? See--" (and he -enumerated on his fingers the advantages of the attempt), -"success, almost certain relief and beautifying of the patient, -celebrity acquired by the operator. Why, for example, should not -your husband relieve poor Hippolyte of the 'Lion d'Or'? Note that -he would not fail to tell about his cure to all the travellers, -and then" (Homais lowered his voice and looked round him) "who is -to prevent me from sending a short paragraph on the subject to -the paper? Eh! goodness me! an article gets about; it is talked -of; it ends by making a snowball! And who knows? who knows?" - -In fact, Bovary might succeed. Nothing proved to Emma that he was -not clever; and what a satisfaction for her to have urged him to -a step by which his reputation and fortune would be increased! -She only wished to lean on something more solid than love. - -Charles, urged by the druggist and by her, allowed himself to be -persuaded. He sent to Rouen for Dr. Duval's volume, and every -evening, holding his head between both hands, plunged into the -reading of it. - -While he was studying equinus, varus, and valgus, that is to say, -katastrephopody, endostrephopody, and exostrephopody (or better, -the various turnings of the foot downwards, inwards, and -outwards, with the hypostrephopody and anastrephopody), otherwise -torsion downwards and upwards, Monsier Homais, with all sorts of -arguments, was exhorting the lad at the inn to submit to the -operation. - -"You will scarcely feel, probably, a slight pain; it is a simple -prick, like a little blood-letting, less than the extraction of -certain corns." - -Hippolyte, reflecting, rolled his stupid eyes. - -"However," continued the chemist, "it doesn't concern me. It's -for your sake, for pure humanity! I should like to see you, my -friend, rid of your hideous caudication, together with that -waddling of the lumbar regions which, whatever you say, must -considerably interfere with you in the exercise of your calling." - -Then Homais represented to him how much jollier and brisker he -would feel afterwards, and even gave him to understand that he -would be more likely to please the women; and the stable-boy -began to smile heavily. Then he attacked him through his vanity: - -"Aren't you a man? Hang it! what would you have done if you had -had to go into the army, to go and fight beneath the standard? -Ah! Hippolyte!" - -And Homais retired, declaring that he could not understand this -obstinacy, this blindness in refusing the benefactions of -science. - -The poor fellow gave way, for it was like a conspiracy. Binet, -who never interfered with other people's business, Madame -Lefrancois, Artemise, the neighbours, even the mayor, Monsieur -Tuvache--everyone persuaded him, lectured him, shamed him; but -what finally decided him was that it would cost him nothing. -Bovary even undertook to provide the machine for the operation. -This generosity was an idea of Emma's, and Charles consented to -it, thinking in his heart of hearts that his wife was an angel. - -So by the advice of the chemist, and after three fresh starts, he -had a kind of box made by the carpenter, with the aid of the -locksmith, that weighed about eight pounds, and in which iron, -wood, sheer-iron, leather, screws, and nuts had not been spared. - -But to know which of Hippolyte's tendons to cut, it was necessary -first of all to find out what kind of club-foot he had. - -He had a foot forming almost a straight line with the leg, which, -however, did not prevent it from being turned in, so that it was -an equinus together with something of a varus, or else a slight -varus with a strong tendency to equinus. But with this equinus, -wide in foot like a horse's hoof, with rugose skin, dry tendons, -and large toes, on which the black nails looked as if made of -iron, the clubfoot ran about like a deer from morn till night. He -was constantly to be seen on the Place, jumping round the carts, -thrusting his limping foot forwards. He seemed even stronger on -that leg than the other. By dint of hard service it had acquired, -as it were, moral qualities of patience and energy; and when he -was given some heavy work, he stood on it in preference to its -fellow. - -Now, as it was an equinus, it was necessary to cut the tendon of -Achilles, and, if need were, the anterior tibial muscle could be -seen to afterwards for getting rid of the varus; for the doctor -did not dare to risk both operations at once; he was even -trembling already for fear of injuring some important region that -he did not know. - -Neither Ambrose Pare, applying for the first time since Celsus, -after an interval of fifteen centuries, a ligature to an artery, -nor Dupuytren, about to open an abscess in the brain, nor Gensoul -when he first took away the superior maxilla, had hearts that -trembled, hands that shook, minds so strained as Monsieur Bovary -when he approached Hippolyte, his tenotome between his fingers. -And as at hospitals, near by on a table lay a heap of lint, with -waxed thread, many bandages--a pyramid of bandages--every bandage -to be found at the druggist's. It was Monsieur Homais who since -morning had been organising all these preparations, as much to -dazzle the multitude as to keep up his illusions. Charles pierced -the skin; a dry crackling was heard. The tendon was cut, the -operation over. Hippolyte could not get over his surprise, but -bent over Bovary's hands to cover them with kisses. - -"Come, be calm," said the druggist; "later on you will show your -gratitude to your benefactor." - -And he went down to tell the result to five or six inquirers who -were waiting in the yard, and who fancied that Hippolyte would -reappear walking properly. Then Charles, having buckled his -patient into the machine, went home, where Emma, all anxiety, -awaited him at the door. She threw herself on his neck; they sat -down to table; he ate much, and at dessert he even wanted to take -a cup of coffee, a luxury he only permitted himself on Sundays -when there was company. - -The evening was charming, full of prattle, of dreams together. -They talked about their future fortune, of the improvements to be -made in their house; he saw people's estimation of him growing, -his comforts increasing, his wife always loving him; and she was -happy to refresh herself with a new sentiment, healthier, better, -to feel at last some tenderness for this poor fellow who adored -her. The thought of Rodolphe for one moment passed through her -mind, but her eyes turned again to Charles; she even noticed with -surprise that he had not bad teeth. - -They were in bed when Monsieur Homais, in spite of the servant, -suddenly entered the room, holding in his hand a sheet of paper -just written. It was the paragraph he intended for the "Fanal de -Rouen." He brought it for them to read. - -"Read it yourself," said Bovary. - -He read-- - -"'Despite the prejudices that still invest a part of the face of -Europe like a net, the light nevertheless begins to penetrate our -country places. Thus on Tuesday our little town of Yonville found -itself the scene of a surgical operation which is at the same -time an, act of loftiest philanthropy. Monsieur Bovary, one of -our, most distinguished practitioners--'" - -"Oh, that is too much! too much!" said Charles, choking with -emotion. - -"No, no! not at all! What next!" - -"'--Performed an operation on a club-footed man.' I have not -used the scientific term, because you know in a newspaper -everyone would not perhaps understand. The masses must--'" - -"No doubt," said Bovary; "go on!" - -"I proceed," said the chemist. "'Monsieur Bovary, one of our most -distinguished practitioners, performed an operation on a -club-footed man called Hippolyte Tautain, stableman for the last -twenty-five years at the hotel of the "Lion d'Or," kept by Widow -Lefrancois, at the Place d'Armes. The novelty of the attempt, and -the interest incident to the subject, had attracted such a -concourse of persons that there was a veritable obstruction on -the threshold of the establishment. The operation, moreover, was -performed as if by magic, and barely a few drops of blood -appeared on the skin, as though to say that the rebellious tendon -had at last given way beneath the efforts of art. The patient, -strangely enough--we affirm it as an eye-witness--complained of -no pain. His condition up to the present time leaves nothing to -be desired. Everything tends to show that his convelescence will -be brief; and who knows even if at our next village festivity we -shall not see our good Hippolyte figuring in the bacchic dance in -the midst of a chorus of joyous boon-companions, and thus proving -to all eyes by his verve and his capers his complete cure? -Honour, then, to the generous savants! Honour to those -indefatigable spirits who consecrate their vigils to the -amelioration or to the alleviation of their kind! Honour, thrice -honour! Is it not time to cry that the blind shall see, the deaf -hear, the lame walk? But that which fanaticism formerly promised -to its elect, science now accomplishes for all men. We shall keep -our readers informed as to the successive phases of this -remarkable cure.'" - -This did not prevent Mere Lefrancois, from coming five days -after, scared, and crying out-- - -"Help! he is dying! I am going crazy!" - -Charles rushed to the "Lion d'Or," and the chemist, who caught -sight of him passing along the Place hatless, abandoned his shop. -He appeared himself breathless, red, anxious, and asking everyone -who was going up the stairs-- - -"Why, what's the matter with our interesting strephopode?" - -The strephopode was writhing in hideous convulsions, so that the -machine in which his leg was enclosed was knocked against the -wall enough to break it. - -With many precautions, in order not to disturb the position of -the limb, the box was removed, and an awful sight presented -itself. The outlines of the foot disappeared in such a swelling -that the entire skin seemed about to burst, and it was covered -with ecchymosis, caused by the famous machine. Hippolyte had -already complained of suffering from it. No attention had been -paid to him; they had to acknowledge that he had not been -altogether wrong, and he was freed for a few hours. But, hardly -had the oedema gone down to some extent, than the two savants -thought fit to put back the limb in the apparatus, strapping it -tighter to hasten matters. At last, three days after, Hippolyte -being unable to endure it any longer, they once more removed -the machine, and were much surprised at the result they saw. The -livid tumefaction spread over the leg, with blisters here and -there, whence there oozed a black liquid. Matters were taking a -serious turn. Hippolyte began to worry himself, and Mere -Lefrancois, had him installed in the little room near the -kitchen, so that he might at least have some distraction. - -But the tax-collector, who dined there every day, complained -bitterly of such companionship. Then Hippolyte was removed to the -billiard-room. He lay there moaning under his heavy coverings, -pale with long beard, sunken eyes, and from time to time turning -his perspiring head on the dirty pillow, where the flies -alighted. Madame Bovary went to see him. She brought him linen -for his poultices; she comforted, and encouraged him. Besides, he -did not want for company, especially on market-days, when the -peasants were knocking about the billiard-balls round him, fenced -with the cues, smoked, drank, sang, and brawled. - -"How are you?" they said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Ah! -you're not up to much, it seems, but it's your own fault. You -should do this! do that!" And then they told him stories of -people who had all been cured by other remedies than his. Then by -way of consolation they added-- - -"You give way too much! Get up! You coddle yourself like a king! -All the same, old chap, you don't smell nice!" - -Gangrene, in fact, was spreading more and more. Bovary himself -turned sick at it. He came every hour, every moment. Hippolyte -looked at him with eyes full of terror, sobbing-- - -"When shall I get well? Oh, save me! How unfortunate I am! How -unfortunate I am!" - -And the doctor left, always recommending him to diet himself. - -"Don't listen to him, my lad," said Mere Lefrancois, "Haven't -they tortured you enough already? You'll grow still weaker. Here! -swallow this." - -And she gave him some good beef-tea, a slice of mutton, a piece -of bacon, and sometimes small glasses of brandy, that he had not -the strength to put to his lips. - -Abbe Bournisien, hearing that he was growing worse, asked to see -him. He began by pitying his sufferings, declaring at the same -time that he ought to rejoice at them since it was the will of -the Lord, and take advantage of the occasion to reconcile himself -to Heaven. - -"For," said the ecclesiastic in a paternal tone, "you rather -neglected your duties; you were rarely seen at divine worship. -How many years is it since you approached the holy table? I -understand that your work, that the whirl of the world may have -kept you from care for your salvation. But now is the time to -reflect. Yet don't despair. I have known great sinners, who, -about to appear before God (you are not yet at this point I -know), had implored His mercy, and who certainly died in the best -frame of mind. Let us hope that, like them, you will set us a -good example. Thus, as a precaution, what is to prevent you from -saying morning and evening a 'Hail Mary, full of grace,' and 'Our -Father which art in heaven'? Yes, do that, for my sake, to oblige -me. That won't cost you anything. Will you promise me?" - -The poor devil promised. The cure came back day after day. He -chatted with the landlady; and even told anecdotes interspersed -with jokes and puns that Hippolyte did not understand. Then, as -soon as he could, he fell back upon matters of religion, putting -on an appropriate expression of face. - -His zeal seemed successful, for the club-foot soon manifested a -desire to go on a pilgrimage to Bon-Secours if he were cured; to -which Monsieur Bournisien replied that he saw no objection; two -precautions were better than one; it was no risk anyhow. - -The druggist was indignant at what he called the manoeuvres of -the priest; they were prejudicial, he said, to Hippolyte's -convalescence, and he kept repeating to Madame Lefrancois, "Leave -him alone! leave him alone! You perturb his morals with your -mysticism." But the good woman would no longer listen to him; he -was the cause of it all. From a spirit of contradiction she hung -up near the bedside of the patient a basin filled with holy-water -and a branch of box. - -Religion, however, seemed no more able to succour him than -surgery, and the invincible gangrene still spread from the -extremities towards the stomach. It was all very well to vary the -potions and change the poultices; the muscles each day rotted -more and more; and at last Charles replied by an affirmative nod -of the head when Mere Lefrancois, asked him if she could not, as -a forlorn hope, send for Monsieur Canivet of Neufchatel, who was -a celebrity. - -A doctor of medicine, fifty years of age, enjoying a good -position and self-possessed, Charles's colleague did not refrain -from laughing disdainfully when he had uncovered the leg, -mortified to the knee. Then having flatly declared that it must -be amputated, he went off to the chemist's to rail at the asses -who could have reduced a poor man to such a state. Shaking -Monsieur Homais by the button of his coat, he shouted out in the -shop-- - -"These are the inventions of Paris! These are the ideas of those -gentry of the capital! It is like strabismus, chloroform, -lithotrity, a heap of monstrosities that the Government ought to -prohibit. But they want to do the clever, and they cram you with -remedies without, troubling about the consequences. We are not so -clever, not we! We are not savants, coxcombs, fops! We are -practitioners; we cure people, and we should not dream of -operating on anyone who is in perfect health. Straighten -club-feet! As if one could straighten club-feet! It is as if -one wished, for example, to make a hunchback straight!" - -Homais suffered as he listened to this discourse, and he -concealed his discomfort beneath a courtier's smile; for he -needed to humour Monsier Canivet, whose prescriptions sometimes -came as far as Yonville. So he did not take up the defence of -Bovary; he did not even make a single remark, and, renouncing his -principles, he sacrificed his dignity to the more serious -interests of his business. - -This amputation of the thigh by Doctor Canivet was a great event -in the village. On that day all the inhabitants got up earlier, -and the Grande Rue, although full of people, had something -lugubrious about it, as if an execution had been expected. At the -grocer's they discussed Hippolyte's illness; the shops did no -business, and Madame Tuvache, the mayor's wife, did not stir from -her window, such was her impatience to see the operator arrive. - -He came in his gig, which he drove himself. But the springs of -the right side having at length given way beneath the weight of -his corpulence, it happened that the carriage as it rolled along -leaned over a little, and on the other cushion near him could be -seen a large box covered in red sheep-leather, whose three brass -clasps shone grandly. - -After he had entered like a whirlwind the porch of the "Lion -d'Or," the doctor, shouting very loud, ordered them to unharness -his horse. Then he went into the stable to see that he was eating -his oats all right; for on arriving at a patient's he first of -all looked after his mare and his gig. People even said about -this-- - -"Ah! Monsieur Canivet's a character!" - -And he was the more esteemed for this imperturbable coolness. The -universe to the last man might have died, and he would not have -missed the smallest of his habits. - -Homais presented himself. - -"I count on you," said the doctor. "Are we ready? Come along!" - -But the druggist, turning red, confessed that he was too -sensitive to assist at such an operation. - -"When one is a simple spectator," he said, "the imagination, you -know, is impressed. And then I have such a nervous system!" - -"Pshaw!" interrupted Canivet; "on the contrary, you seem to me -inclined to apoplexy. Besides, that doesn't astonish me, for you -chemist fellows are always poking about your kitchens, which must -end by spoiling your constitutions. Now just look at me. I get up -every day at four o'clock; I shave with cold water (and am never -cold). I don't wear flannels, and I never catch cold; my carcass -is good enough! I live now in one way, now in another, like a -philosopher, taking pot-luck; that is why I am not squeamish like -you, and it is as indifferent to me to carve a Christian as the -first fowl that turns up. Then, perhaps, you will say, habit! -habit!" - -Then, without any consideration for Hippolyte, who was sweating -with agony between his sheets, these gentlemen entered into a -conversation, in which the druggist compared the coolness of a -surgeon to that of a general; and this comparison was pleasing to -Canivet, who launched out on the exigencies of his art. He looked -upon, it as a sacred office, although the ordinary practitioners -dishonoured it. At last, coming back to the patient, he examined -the bandages brought by Homais, the same that had appeared for -the club-foot, and asked for someone to hold the limb for him. -Lestiboudois was sent for, and Monsieur Canivet having turned up -his sleeves, passed into the billiard-room, while the druggist -stayed with Artemise and the landlady, both whiter than their -aprons, and with ears strained towards the door. - -Bovary during this time did not dare to stir from his house. - -He kept downstairs in the sitting-room by the side of the -fireless chimney, his chin on his breast, his hands clasped, his -eyes staring. "What a mishap!" he thought, "what a mishap!" -Perhaps, after all, he had made some slip. He thought it over, -but could hit upon nothing. But the most famous surgeons also -made mistakes; and that is what no one would ever believe! -People, on the contrary, would laugh, jeer! It would spread as -far as Forges, as Neufchatel, as Rouen, everywhere! Who could say -if his colleagues would not write against him. Polemics would -ensue; he would have to answer in the papers. Hippolyte might -even prosecute him. He saw himself dishonoured, ruined, lost; and -his imagination, assailed by a world of hypotheses, tossed -amongst them like an empty cask borne by the sea and floating -upon the waves. - -Emma, opposite, watched him; she did not share his humiliation; -she felt another--that of having supposed such a man was worth -anything. As if twenty times already she had not sufficiently -perceived his mediocrity. - -Charles was walking up and down the room; his boots creaked on -the floor. - -"Sit down," she said; "you fidget me." - -He sat down again. - -How was it that she--she, who was so intelligent--could have -allowed herself to be deceived again? and through what deplorable -madness had she thus ruined her life by continual sacrifices? She -recalled all her instincts of luxury, all the privations of her -soul, the sordidness of marriage, of the household, her dream -sinking into the mire like wounded swallows; all that she had -longed for, all that she had denied herself, all that she might -have had! And for what? for what? - -In the midst of the silence that hung over the village a -heart-rending cry rose on the air. Bovary turned white to -fainting. She knit her brows with a nervous gesture, then went -on. And it was for him, for this creature, for this man, who -understood nothing, who felt nothing! For he was there quite -quiet, not even suspecting that the ridicule of his name would -henceforth sully hers as well as his. She had made efforts to -love him, and she had repented with tears for having yielded to -another! - -"But it was perhaps a valgus!" suddenly exclaimed Bovary, who was -meditating. - -At the unexpected shock of this phrase falling on her thought -like a leaden bullet on a silver plate, Emma, shuddering, raised -her head in order to find out what he meant to say; and they -looked at the other in silence, almost amazed to see each other, -so far sundered were they by their inner thoughts. Charles gazed -at her with the dull look of a drunken man, while he listened -motionless to the last cries of the sufferer, that followed each -other in long-drawn modulations, broken by sharp spasms like the -far-off howling of some beast being slaughtered. Emma bit her wan -lips, and rolling between her fingers a piece of coral that she -had broken, fixed on Charles the burning glance of her eyes like -two arrows of fire about to dart forth. Everything in him -irritated her now; his face, his dress, what he did not say, his -whole person, his existence, in fine. She repented of her past -virtue as of a crime, and what still remained of it rumbled away -beneath the furious blows of her pride. She revelled in all the -evil ironies of triumphant adultery. The memory of her lover came -back to her with dazzling attractions; she threw her whole soul -into it, borne away towards this image with a fresh enthusiasm; -and Charles seemed to her as much removed from her life, as -absent forever, as impossible and annihilated, as if he had been -about to die and were passing under her eyes. - -There was a sound of steps on the pavement. Charles looked up, -and through the lowered blinds he saw at the corner of the market -in the broad sunshine Dr. Canivet, who was wiping his brow with -his handkerchief. Homais, behind him, was carrying a large red -box in his hand, and both were going towards the chemist's. - -Then with a feeling of sudden tenderness and discouragement -Charles turned to his wife saying to her-- - -"Oh, kiss me, my own!" - -"Leave me!" she said, red with anger. - -"What is the matter?" he asked, stupefied. "Be calm; compose -yourself. You know well enough that I love you. Come!" - -"Enough!" she cried with a terrible look. - -And escaping from the room, Emma closed the door so violently -that the barometer fell from the wall and smashed on the floor. - -Charles sank back into his arm-chair overwhelmed, trying to -discover what could be wrong with her, fancying some nervous -illness, weeping, and vaguely feeling something fatal and -incomprehensible whirling round him. - -When Rodolphe came to the garden that evening, he found his -mistress waiting for him at the foot of the steps on the lowest -stair. They threw their arms round one another, and all their -rancour melted like snow beneath the warmth of that kiss. - - - -Chapter Twelve - -They began to love one another again. Often, even in the middle -of the day, Emma suddenly wrote to him, then from the window made -a sign to Justin, who, taking his apron off, quickly ran to La -Huchette. Rodolphe would come; she had sent for him to tell him -that she was bored, that her husband was odious, her life -frightful. - -"But what can I do?" he cried one day impatiently. - -"Ah! if you would--" - -She was sitting on the floor between his knees, her hair loose, -her look lost. - -"Why, what?" said Rodolphe. - -She sighed. - -"We would go and live elsewhere--somewhere!" - -"You are really mad!" he said laughing. "How could that be -possible?" - -She returned to the subject; he pretended not to understand, and -turned the conversation. - -What he did not understand was all this worry about so simple an -affair as love. She had a motive, a reason, and, as it were, a -pendant to her affection. - -Her tenderness, in fact, grew each day with her repulsion to her -husband. The more she gave up herself to the one, the more she -loathed the other. Never had Charles seemed to her so -disagreeable, to have such stodgy fingers, such vulgar ways, to -be so dull as when they found themselves together after her -meeting with Rodolphe. Then, while playing the spouse and virtue, -she was burning at the thought of that head whose black hair fell -in a curl over the sunburnt brow, of that form at once so strong -and elegant, of that man, in a word, who had such experience in -his reasoning, such passion in his desires. It was for him that -she filed her nails with the care of a chaser, and that there was -never enough cold-cream for her skin, nor of patchouli for her -handkerchiefs. She loaded herself with bracelets, rings, and -necklaces. When he was coming she filled the two large blue glass -vases with roses, and prepared her room and her person like a -courtesan expecting a prince. The servant had to be constantly -washing linen, and all day Felicite did not stir from the -kitchen, where little Justin, who often kept her company, watched -her at work. - -With his elbows on the long board on which she was ironing, he -greedily watched all these women's clothes spread about him, the -dimity petticoats, the fichus, the collars, and the drawers with -running strings, wide at the hips and growing narrower below. - -"What is that for?" asked the young fellow, passing his hand over -the crinoline or the hooks and eyes. - -"Why, haven't you ever seen anything?" Felicite answered -laughing. "As if your mistress, Madame Homais, didn't wear the -same." - -"Oh, I daresay! Madame Homais!" And he added with a meditative -air, "As if she were a lady like madame!" - -But Felicite grew impatient of seeing him hanging round her. She -was six years older than he, and Theodore, Monsieur Guillaumin's -servant, was beginning to pay court to her. - -"Let me alone," she said, moving her pot of starch. "You'd better -be off and pound almonds; you are always dangling about women. -Before you meddle with such things, bad boy, wait till you've got -a beard to your chin." - -"Oh, don't be cross! I'll go and clean her boots." - -And he at once took down from the shelf Emma's boots, all coated -with mud, the mud of the rendezvous, that crumbled into powder -beneath his fingers, and that he watched as it gently rose in a -ray of sunlight. - -"How afraid you are of spoiling them!" said the servant, who -wasn't so particular when she cleaned them herself, because as -soon as the stuff of the boots was no longer fresh madame handed -them over to her. - -Emma had a number in her cupboard that she squandered one after -the other, without Charles allowing himself the slightest -observation. So also he disbursed three hundred francs for a -wooden leg that she thought proper to make a present of to -Hippolyte. Its top was covered with cork, and it had spring -joints, a complicated mechanism, covered over by black trousers -ending in a patent-leather boot. But Hippolyte, not daring to use -such a handsome leg every day, begged Madame Bovary to get him -another more convenient one. The doctor, of course, had again to -defray the expense of this purchase. - -So little by little the stable-man took up his work again. One -saw him running about the village as before, and when Charles -heard from afar the sharp noise of the wooden leg, he at once -went in another direction. - -It was Monsieur Lheureux, the shopkeeper, who had undertaken the -order; this provided him with an excuse for visiting Emma. He -chatted with her about the new goods from Paris, about a thousand -feminine trifles, made himself very obliging, and never asked for -his money. Emma yielded to this lazy mode of satisfying all her -caprices. Thus she wanted to have a very handsome ridding-whip -that was at an umbrella-maker's at Rouen to give to Rodolphe. The -week after Monsieur Lheureux placed it on her table. - -But the next day he called on her with a bill for two hundred and -seventy francs, not counting the centimes. Emma was much -embarrassed; all the drawers of the writing-table were empty; -they owed over a fortnight's wages to Lestiboudois, two quarters -to the servant, for any quantity of other things, and Bovary was -impatiently expecting Monsieur Derozeray's account, which he was -in the habit of paying every year about Midsummer. - -She succeeded at first in putting off Lheureux. At last he lost -patience; he was being sued; his capital was out, and unless he -got some in he should be forced to take back all the goods she -had received. - -"Oh, very well, take them!" said Emma. - -"I was only joking," he replied; "the only thing I regret is the -whip. My word! I'll ask monsieur to return it to me." - -"No, no!" she said. - -"Ah! I've got you!" thought Lheureux. - -And, certain of his discovery, he went out repeating to himself -in an undertone, and with his usual low whistle-- - -"Good! we shall see! we shall see!" - -She was thinking how to get out of this when the servant coming -in put on the mantelpiece a small roll of blue paper "from -Monsieur Derozeray's." Emma pounced upon and opened it. It -contained fifteen napoleons; it was the account. She heard -Charles on the stairs; threw the gold to the back of her drawer, -and took out the key. - -Three days after Lheureux reappeared. - -"I have an arrangement to suggest to you," he said. "If, instead -of the sum agreed on, you would take--" - -"Here it is," she said placing fourteen napoleons in his hand. - -The tradesman was dumfounded. Then, to conceal his -disappointment, he was profuse in apologies and proffers of -service, all of which Emma declined; then she remained a few -moments fingering in the pocket of her apron the two five-franc -pieces that he had given her in change. She promised herself she -would economise in order to pay back later on. "Pshaw!" she -thought, "he won't think about it again." - -Besides the riding-whip with its silver-gilt handle, Rodolphe had -received a seal with the motto Amor nel cor* furthermore, a scarf -for a muffler, and, finally, a cigar-case exactly like the -Viscount's, that Charles had formerly picked up in the road, and -that Emma had kept. These presents, however, humiliated him; he -refused several; she insisted, and he ended by obeying, thinking -her tyrannical and overexacting. - -*A loving heart. - -Then she had strange ideas. - -"When midnight strikes," she said, "you must think of me." - -And if he confessed that he had not thought of her, there were -floods of reproaches that always ended with the eternal question-- - -"Do you love me?" - -"Why, of course I love you," he answered. - -"A great deal?" - -"Certainly!" - -"You haven't loved any others?" - -"Did you think you'd got a virgin?" he exclaimed laughing. - -Emma cried, and he tried to console her, adorning his -protestations with puns. - -"Oh," she went on, "I love you! I love you so that I could not -live without you, do you see? There are times when I long to see -you again, when I am torn by all the anger of love. I ask myself, -Where is he? Perhaps he is talking to other women. They smile -upon him; he approaches. Oh no; no one else pleases you. There -are some more beautiful, but I love you best. I know how to love -best. I am your servant, your concubine! You are my king, my -idol! You are good, you are beautiful, you are clever, you are -strong!" - -He had so often heard these things said that they did not strike -him as original. Emma was like all his mistresses; and the charm -of novelty, gradually falling away like a garment, laid bare the -eternal monotony of passion, that has always the same forms and -the same language. He did not distinguish, this man of so much -experience, the difference of sentiment beneath the sameness of -expression. Because lips libertine and venal had murmured such -words to him, he believed but little in the candour of hers; -exaggerated speeches hiding mediocre affections must be -discounted; as if the fullness of the soul did not sometimes -overflow in the emptiest metaphors, since no one can ever give -the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of -his sorrows; and since human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, -on which we hammer out tunes to make bears dance when we long to -move the stars. - -But with that superior critical judgment that belongs to him who, -in no matter what circumstance, holds back, Rodolphe saw other -delights to be got out of this love. He thought all modesty in -the way. He treated her quite sans facon.* He made of her -something supple and corrupt. Hers was an idiotic sort of -attachment, full of admiration for him, of voluptuousness for -her, a beatitude that benumbed her; her soul sank into this -drunkenness, shrivelled up, drowned in it, like Clarence in his -butt of Malmsey. - -*Off-handedly. - - -By the mere effect of her love Madame Bovary's manners changed. -Her looks grew bolder, her speech more free; she even committed -the impropriety of walking out with Monsieur Rodolphe, a -cigarette in her mouth, "as if to defy the people." At last, -those who still doubted doubted no longer when one day they saw -her getting out of the "Hirondelle," her waist squeezed into a -waistcoat like a man; and Madame Bovary senior, who, after a -fearful scene with her husband, had taken refuge at her son's, -was not the least scandalised of the women-folk. Many other -things displeased her. First, Charles had not attended to her -advice about the forbidding of novels; then the "ways of the -house" annoyed her; she allowed herself to make some remarks, and -there were quarrels, especially one on account of Felicite. - -Madame Bovary senior, the evening before, passing along the -passage, had surprised her in company of a man--a man with a -brown collar, about forty years old, who, at the sound of her -step, had quickly escaped through the kitchen. Then Emma began to -laugh, but the good lady grew angry, declaring that unless morals -were to be laughed at one ought to look after those of one's -servants. - -"Where were you brought up?" asked the daughter-in-law, with so -impertinent a look that Madame Bovary asked her if she were not -perhaps defending her own case. - -"Leave the room!" said the young woman, springing up with a -bound. - -"Emma! Mamma!" cried Charles, trying to reconcile them. - -But both had fled in their exasperation. Emma was stamping her -feet as she repeated-- - -"Oh! what manners! What a peasant!" - -He ran to his mother; she was beside herself. She stammered - -"She is an insolent, giddy-headed thing, or perhaps worse!" - -And she was for leaving at once if the other did not apologise. -So Charles went back again to his wife and implored her to give -way; he knelt to her; she ended by saying-- - -"Very well! I'll go to her." - -And in fact she held out her hand to her mother-in-law with the -dignity of a marchioness as she said-- - -"Excuse me, madame." - -Then, having gone up again to her room, she threw herself flat on -her bed and cried there like a child, her face buried in the -pillow. - -She and Rodolphe had agreed that in the event of anything -extraordinary occurring, she should fasten a small piece of white -paper to the blind, so that if by chance he happened to be in -Yonville, he could hurry to the lane behind the house. Emma made -the signal; she had been waiting three-quarters of an hour when -she suddenly caught sight of Rodolphe at the corner of the -market. She felt tempted to open the window and call him, but he -had already disappeared. She fell back in despair. - -Soon, however, it seemed to her that someone was walking on the -pavement. It was he, no doubt. She went downstairs, crossed the -yard. He was there outside. She threw herself into his arms. - -"Do take care!" he said. - -"Ah! if you knew!" she replied. - -And she began telling him everything, hurriedly, disjointedly, -exaggerating the facts, inventing many, and so prodigal of -parentheses that he understood nothing of it. - -"Come, my poor angel, courage! Be comforted! be patient!" - -"But I have been patient; I have suffered for four years. A love -like ours ought to show itself in the face of heaven. They -torture me! I can bear it no longer! Save me!" - -She clung to Rodolphe. Her eyes, full of tears, flashed like -flames beneath a wave; her breast heaved; he had never loved her -so much, so that he lost his head and said "What is, it? What do -you wish?" - -"Take me away," she cried, "carry me off! Oh, I pray you!" - -And she threw herself upon his mouth, as if to seize there the -unexpected consent if breathed forth in a kiss. - -"But--" Rodolphe resumed. - -"What?" - -"Your little girl!" - -She reflected a few moments, then replied-- - -"We will take her! It can't be helped!" - -"What a woman!" he said to himself, watching her as she went. For -she had run into the garden. Someone was calling her. - -On the following days Madame Bovary senior was much surprised at -the change in her daughter-in-law. Emma, in fact, was showing -herself more docile, and even carried her deference so far as to -ask for a recipe for pickling gherkins. - -Was it the better to deceive them both? Or did she wish by a sort -of voluptuous stoicism to feel the more profoundly the bitterness -of the things she was about to leave? - -But she paid no heed to them; on the contrary, she lived as lost -in the anticipated delight of her coming happiness. - -It was an eternal subject for conversation with Rodolphe. She -leant on his shoulder murmuring-- - -"Ah! when we are in the mail-coach! Do you think about it? Can it -be? It seems to me that the moment I feel the carriage start, it -will be as if we were rising in a balloon, as if we were setting -out for the clouds. Do you know that I count the hours? And you?" - -Never had Madame Bovary been so beautiful as at this period; she -had that indefinable beauty that results from joy, from -enthusiasm, from success, and that is only the harmony of -temperament with circumstances. Her desires, her sorrows, the -experience of pleasure, and her ever-young illusions, that had, -as soil and rain and winds and the sun make flowers grow, -gradually developed her, and she at length blossomed forth in all -the plenitude of her nature. Her eyelids seemed chiselled -expressly for her long amorous looks in which the pupil -disappeared, while a strong inspiration expanded her delicate -nostrils and raised the fleshy corner of her lips, shaded in the -light by a little black down. One would have thought that an -artist apt in conception had arranged the curls of hair upon her -neck; they fell in a thick mass, negligently, and with the -changing chances of their adultery, that unbound them every day. -Her voice now took more mellow infections, her figure also; -something subtle and penetrating escaped even from the folds of -her gown and from the line of her foot. Charles, as when they -were first married, thought her delicious and quite irresistible. - -When he came home in the middle of the night, he did not dare to -wake her. The porcelain night-light threw a round trembling gleam -upon the ceiling, and the drawn curtains of the little cot formed -as it were a white hut standing out in the shade, and by the -bedside Charles looked at them. He seemed to hear the light -breathing of his child. She would grow big now; every season -would bring rapid progress. He already saw her coming from school -as the day drew in, laughing, with ink-stains on her jacket, and -carrying her basket on her arm. Then she would have to be sent to -the boarding-school; that would cost much; how was it to be done? -Then he reflected. He thought of hiring a small farm in the -neighbourhood, that he would superintend every morning on his way -to his patients. He would save up what he brought in; he would -put it in the savings-bank. Then he would buy shares somewhere, -no matter where; besides, his practice would increase; he counted -upon that, for he wanted Berthe to be well-educated, to be -accomplished, to learn to play the piano. Ah! how pretty she -would be later on when she was fifteen, when, resembling her -mother, she would, like her, wear large straw hats in the -summer-time; from a distance they would be taken for two sisters. -He pictured her to himself working in the evening by their side -beneath the light of the lamp; she would embroider him slippers; -she would look after the house; she would fill all the home with -her charm and her gaiety. At last, they would think of her -marriage; they would find her some good young fellow with a -steady business; he would make her happy; this would last for -ever. - -Emma was not asleep; she pretended to be; and while he dozed off -by her side she awakened to other dreams. - -To the gallop of four horses she was carried away for a week -towards a new land, whence they would return no more. They went -on and on, their arms entwined, without a word. Often from the -top of a mountain there suddenly glimpsed some splendid city with -domes, and bridges, and ships, forests of citron trees, and -cathedrals of white marble, on whose pointed steeples were -storks' nests. They went at a walking-pace because of the great -flag-stones, and on the ground there were bouquets of flowers, -offered you by women dressed in red bodices. They heard the -chiming of bells, the neighing of mules, together with the murmur -of guitars and the noise of fountains, whose rising spray -refreshed heaps of fruit arranged like a pyramid at the foot of -pale statues that smiled beneath playing waters. And then, one -night they came to a fishing village, where brown nets were -drying in the wind along the cliffs and in front of the huts. It -was there that they would stay; they would live in a low, -flat-roofed house, shaded by a palm-tree, in the heart of a gulf, -by the sea. They would row in gondolas, swing in hammocks, and -their existence would be easy and large as their silk gowns, warm -and star-spangled as the nights they would contemplate. However, -in the immensity of this future that she conjured up, nothing -special stood forth; the days, all magnificent, resembled -each other like waves; and it swayed in the horizon, infinite, -harmonised, azure, and bathed in sunshine. But the child began to -cough in her cot or Bovary snored more loudly, and Emma did not -fall asleep till morning, when the dawn whitened the windows, and -when little Justin was already in the square taking down the -shutters of the chemist's shop. - -She had sent for Monsieur Lheureux, and had said to him-- - -"I want a cloak--a large lined cloak with a deep collar." - -"You are going on a journey?" he asked. - -"No; but--never mind. I may count on you, may I not, and -quickly?" - -He bowed. - -"Besides, I shall want," she went on, "a trunk--not too heavy-- -handy." - -"Yes, yes, I understand. About three feet by a foot and a half, -as they are being made just now." - -"And a travelling bag." - -"Decidedly," thought Lheureux. "there's a row on here." - -"And," said Madame Bovary, taking her watch from her belt, "take -this; you can pay yourself out of it." - -But the tradesman cried out that she was wrong; they knew one -another; did he doubt her? What childishness! - -She insisted, however, on his taking at least the chain, and -Lheureux had already put it in his pocket and was going, when she -called him back. - -"You will leave everything at your place. As to the cloak"--she -seemed to be reflecting--"do not bring it either; you can give me -the maker's address, and tell him to have it ready for me." - -It was the next month that they were to run away. She was to -leave Yonville as if she was going on some business to Rouen. -Rodolphe would have booked the seats, procured the passports, and -even have written to Paris in order to have the whole mail-coach -reserved for them as far as Marseilles, where they would buy a -carriage, and go on thence without stopping to Genoa. She would -take care to send her luggage to Lheureux whence it would be -taken direct to the "Hirondelle," so that no one would have any -suspicion. And in all this there never was any allusion to the -child. Rodolphe avoided speaking of her; perhaps he no longer -thought about it. - -He wished to have two more weeks before him to arrange some -affairs; then at the end of a week he wanted two more; then he -said he was ill; next he went on a journey. The month of August -passed, and, after all these delays, they decided that it was to -be irrevocably fixed for the 4th September--a Monday. - -At length the Saturday before arrived. - -Rodolphe came in the evening earlier than usual. - -"Everything is ready?" she asked him. - -"Yes." - -Then they walked round a garden-bed, and went to sit down near -the terrace on the kerb-stone of the wall. - -"You are sad," said Emma. - -"No; why?" - -And yet he looked at her strangely in a tender fashion. - -"It is because you are going away?" she went on; "because you are -leaving what is dear to you--your life? Ah! I understand. I have -nothing in the world! you are all to me; so shall I be to you. I -will be your people, your country; I will tend, I will love you!" - -"How sweet you are!" he said, seizing her in his arms. - -"Really!" she said with a voluptuous laugh. "Do you love me? -Swear it then!" - -"Do I love you--love you? I adore you, my love." - -The moon, full and purple-coloured, was rising right out of the -earth at the end of the meadow. She rose quickly between the -branches of the poplars, that hid her here and there like a black -curtain pierced with holes. Then she appeared dazzling with -whiteness in the empty heavens that she lit up, and now sailing -more slowly along, let fall upon the river a great stain that -broke up into an infinity of stars; and the silver sheen seemed -to writhe through the very depths like a heedless serpent covered -with luminous scales; it also resembled some monster candelabra -all along which sparkled drops of diamonds running together. The -soft night was about them; masses of shadow filled the branches. -Emma, her eyes half closed, breathed in with deep sighs the fresh -wind that was blowing. They did not speak, lost as they were in -the rush of their reverie. The tenderness of the old days came -back to their hearts, full and silent as the flowing river, with -the softness of the perfume of the syringas, and threw across -their memories shadows more immense and more sombre than those of -the still willows that lengthened out over the grass. Often some -night-animal, hedgehog or weasel, setting out on the hunt, -disturbed the lovers, or sometimes they heard a ripe peach -falling all alone from the espalier. - -"Ah! what a lovely night!" said Rodolphe. - -"We shall have others," replied Emma; and, as if speaking to -herself: "Yet, it will be good to travel. And yet, why should my -heart be so heavy? Is it dread of the unknown? The effect of -habits left? Or rather--? No; it is the excess of happiness. How -weak I am, am I not? Forgive me!" - -"There is still time!" he cried. "Reflect! perhaps you may -repent!" - -"Never!" she cried impetuously. And coming closer to him: "What -ill could come to me? There is no desert, no precipice, no ocean -I would not traverse with you. The longer we live together the -more it will be like an embrace, every day closer, more heart to -heart. There will be nothing to trouble us, no cares, no -obstacle. We shall be alone, all to ourselves eternally. Oh, -speak! Answer me!" - -At regular intervals he answered, "Yes--Yes--" She had passed her -hands through his hair, and she repeated in a childlike voice, -despite the big tears which were falling, "Rodolphe! Rodolphe! -Ah! Rodolphe! dear little Rodolphe!" - -Midnight struck. - -"Midnight!" said she. "Come, it is to-morrow. One day more!" - -He rose to go; and as if the movement he made had been the signal -for their flight, Emma said, suddenly assuming a gay air-- - -"You have the passports?" - -"Yes." - -"You are forgetting nothing?" - -"No." - -"Are you sure?" - -"Certainly." - -"It is at the Hotel de Provence, is it not, that you will wait -for me at midday?" - -He nodded. - -"Till to-morrow then!" said Emma in a last caress; and she -watched him go. - -He did not turn round. She ran after him, and, leaning over the -water's edge between the bulrushes-- - -"To-morrow!" she cried. - -He was already on the other side of the river and walking fast -across the meadow. - -After a few moments Rodolphe stopped; and when he saw her with -her white gown gradually fade away in the shade like a ghost, he -was seized with such a beating of the heart that he leant against -a tree lest he should fall. - -"What an imbecile I am!" he said with a fearful oath. "No matter! -She was a pretty mistress!" - -And immediately Emma's beauty, with all the pleasures of their -love, came back to him. For a moment he softened; then he -rebelled against her. - -"For, after all," he exclaimed, gesticulating, "I can't exile -myself--have a child on my hands." - -He was saying these things to give himself firmness. - -"And besides, the worry, the expense! Ah! no, no, no, no! a -thousand times no! That would be too stupid." - - - -Chapter Thirteen - -No sooner was Rodolphe at home than he sat down quickly at his -bureau under the stag's head that hung as a trophy on the wall. -But when he had the pen between his fingers, he could think of -nothing, so that, resting on his elbows, he began to reflect. -Emma seemed to him to have receded into a far-off past, as if the -resolution he had taken had suddenly placed a distance between -them. - -To get back something of her, he fetched from the cupboard at the -bedside an old Rheims biscuit-box, in which he usually kept his -letters from women, and from it came an odour of dry dust and -withered roses. First he saw a handkerchief with pale little -spots. It was a handkerchief of hers. Once when they were walking -her nose had bled; he had forgotten it. Near it, chipped at all -the corners, was a miniature given him by Emma: her toilette -seemed to him pretentious, and her languishing look in the worst -possible taste. Then, from looking at this image and recalling -the memory of its original, Emma's features little by little grew -confused in his remembrance, as if the living and the painted -face, rubbing one against the other, had effaced each other. -Finally, he read some of her letters; they were full of -explanations relating to their journey, short, technical, and -urgent, like business notes. He wanted to see the long ones -again, those of old times. In order to find them at the bottom of -the box, Rodolphe disturbed all the others, and mechanically -began rummaging amidst this mass of papers and things, finding -pell-mell bouquets, garters, a black mask, pins, and hair--hair! -dark and fair, some even, catching in the hinges of the box, -broke when it was opened. - -Thus dallying with his souvenirs, he examined the writing and the -style of the letters, as varied as their orthography. They were -tender or jovial, facetious, melancholy; there were some that -asked for love, others that asked for money. A word recalled -faces to him, certain gestures, the sound of a voice; sometimes, -however, he remembered nothing at all. - -In fact, these women, rushing at once into his thoughts, cramped -each other and lessened, as reduced to a uniform level of love -that equalised them all. So taking handfuls of the mixed-up -letters, he amused himself for some moments with letting them -fall in cascades from his right into his left hand. At last, -bored and weary, Rodolphe took back the box to the cupboard, -saying to himself, "What a lot of rubbish!" Which summed up his -opinion; for pleasures, like schoolboys in a school courtyard, -had so trampled upon his heart that no green thing grew there, -and that which passed through it, more heedless than children, -did not even, like them, leave a name carved upon the wall. - -"Come," said he, "let's begin." - -He wrote-- - -"Courage, Emma! courage! I would not bring misery into your -life." - -"After all, that's true," thought Rodolphe. "I am acting in her -interest; I am honest." - -"Have you carefully weighed your resolution? Do you know to what -an abyss I was dragging you, poor angel? No, you do not, do you? -You were coming confident and fearless, believing in happiness in -the future. Ah! unhappy that we are--insensate!" - -Rodolphe stopped here to think of some good excuse. - -"If I told her all my fortune is lost? No! Besides, that would -stop nothing. It would all have to be begun over again later on. -As if one could make women like that listen to reason!" He -reflected, then went on-- - -"I shall not forget you, oh believe it; and I shall ever have a -profound devotion for you; but some day, sooner or later, this -ardour (such is the fate of human things) would have grown less, -no doubt. Lassitude would have come to us, and who knows if I -should not even have had the atrocious pain of witnessing your -remorse, of sharing it myself, since I should have been its -cause? The mere idea of the grief that would come to you tortures -me, Emma. Forget me! Why did I ever know you? Why were you so -beautiful? Is it my fault? O my God! No, no! Accuse only fate." - -"That's a word that always tells," he said to himself. - -"Ah, if you had been one of those frivolous women that one sees, -certainly I might, through egotism, have tried an experiment, in -that case without danger for you. But that delicious exaltation, -at once your charm and your torment, has prevented you from -understanding, adorable woman that you are, the falseness of our -future position. Nor had I reflected upon this at first, and I -rested in the shade of that ideal happiness as beneath that of -the manchineel tree, without foreseeing the consequences." - -"Perhaps she'll think I'm giving it up from avarice. Ah, well! so -much the worse; it must be stopped!" - -"The world is cruel, Emma. Wherever we might have gone, it would -have persecuted us. You would have had to put up with indiscreet -questions, calumny, contempt, insult perhaps. Insult to you! Oh! -And I, who would place you on a throne! I who bear with me your -memory as a talisman! For I am going to punish myself by exile -for all the ill I have done you. I am going away. Whither I know -not. I am mad. Adieu! Be good always. Preserve the memory of the -unfortunate who has lost you. Teach my name to your child; let -her repeat it in her prayers." - -The wicks of the candles flickered. Rodolphe got up to, shut the -window, and when he had sat down again-- - -"I think it's all right. Ah! and this for fear she should come -and hunt me up." - -"I shall be far away when you read these sad lines, for I have -wished to flee as quickly as possible to shun the temptation of -seeing you again. No weakness! I shall return, and perhaps later -on we shall talk together very coldly of our old love. Adieu!" - -And there was a last "adieu" divided into two words! "A Dieu!" -which he thought in very excellent taste. - -"Now how am I to sign?" he said to himself. "'Yours devotedly?' -No! 'Your friend?' Yes, that's it." - -"Your friend." - -He re-read his letter. He considered it very good. - -"Poor little woman!" he thought with emotion. "She'll think me -harder than a rock. There ought to have been some tears on this; -but I can't cry; it isn't my fault." Then, having emptied some -water into a glass, Rodolphe dipped his finger into it, and let a -big drop fall on the paper, that made a pale stain on the ink. -Then looking for a seal, he came upon the one "Amor nel cor." - -"That doesn't at all fit in with the circumstances. Pshaw! never -mind!" - -After which he smoked three pipes and went to bed. - -The next day when he was up (at about two o'clock--he had slept -late), Rodolphe had a basket of apricots picked. He put his -letter at the bottom under some vine leaves, and at once ordered -Girard, his ploughman, to take it with care to Madame Bovary. He -made use of this means for corresponding with her, sending -according to the season fruits or game. - -"If she asks after me," he said, "you will tell her that I have -gone on a journey. You must give the basket to her herself, into -her own hands. Get along and take care!" - -Girard put on his new blouse, knotted his handkerchief round the -apricots, and walking with great heavy steps in his thick -iron-bound galoshes, made his way to Yonville. - -Madame Bovary, when he got to her house, was arranging a bundle -of linen on the kitchen-table with Felicite. - -"Here," said the ploughboy, "is something for you--from the -master." - -She was seized with apprehension, and as she sought in her pocket -for some coppers, she looked at the peasant with haggard eyes, -while he himself looked at her with amazement, not understanding -how such a present could so move anyone. At last he went out. -Felicite remained. She could bear it no longer; she ran into the -sitting room as if to take the apricots there, overturned the -basket, tore away the leaves, found the letter, opened it, and, -as if some fearful fire were behind her, Emma flew to her room -terrified. - -Charles was there; she saw him; he spoke to her; she heard -nothing, and she went on quickly up the stairs, breathless, -distraught, dumb, and ever holding this horrible piece of paper, -that crackled between her fingers like a plate of sheet-iron. On -the second floor she stopped before the attic door, which was -closed. - -Then she tried to calm herself; she recalled the letter; she must -finish it; she did not dare to. And where? How? She would be -seen! "Ah, no! here," she thought, "I shall be all right." - -Emma pushed open the door and went in. - -The slates threw straight down a heavy heat that gripped her -temples, stifled her; she dragged herself to the closed -garret-window. She drew back the bolt, and the dazzling light -burst in with a leap. - -Opposite, beyond the roofs, stretched the open country till it -was lost to sight. Down below, underneath her, the village square -was empty; the stones of the pavement glittered, the weathercocks -on the houses were motionless. At the corner of the street, from -a lower storey, rose a kind of humming with strident modulations. -It was Binet turning. - -She leant against the embrasure of the window, and reread the -letter with angry sneers. But the more she fixed her attention -upon it, the more confused were her ideas. She saw him again, -heard him, encircled him with her arms, and throbs of her heart, -that beat against her breast like blows of a sledge-hammer, grew -faster and faster, with uneven intervals. She looked about her -with the wish that the earth might crumble into pieces. Why not -end it all? What restrained her? She was free. She advanced, -looking at the paving-stones, saying to herself, "Come! come!" - -The luminous ray that came straight up from below drew the weight -of her body towards the abyss. It seemed to her that the ground -of the oscillating square went up the walls and that the floor -dipped on end like a tossing boat. She was right at the edge, -almost hanging, surrounded by vast space. The blue of the heavens -suffused her, the air was whirling in her hollow head; she had -but to yield, to let herself be taken; and the humming of the -lathe never ceased, like an angry voice calling her. - -"Emma! Emma!" cried Charles. - -She stopped. - -"Wherever are you? Come!" - -The thought that she had just escaped from death almost made her -faint with terror. She closed her eyes; then she shivered at the -touch of a hand on her sleeve; it was Felicite. - -"Master is waiting for you, madame; the soup is on the table." - -And she had to go down to sit at table. - -She tried to eat. The food choked her. Then she unfolded her -napkin as if to examine the darns, and she really thought of -applying herself to this work, counting the threads in the linen. -Suddenly the remembrance of the letter returned to her. How had -she lost it? Where could she find it? But she felt such weariness -of spirit that she could not even invent a pretext for leaving -the table. Then she became a coward; she was afraid of Charles; -he knew all, that was certain! Indeed he pronounced these words -in a strange manner: - -"We are not likely to see Monsieur Rodolphe soon again, it -seems." - -"Who told you?" she said, shuddering. - -"Who told me!" he replied, rather astonished at her abrupt tone. -"Why, Girard, whom I met just now at the door of the Cafe -Francais. He has gone on a journey, or is to go." - -She gave a sob. - -"What surprises you in that? He absents himself like that from -time to time for a change, and, ma foi, I think he's right, when -one has a fortune and is a bachelor. Besides, he has jolly times, -has our friend. He's a bit of a rake. Monsieur Langlois told me--" - -He stopped for propriety's sake because the servant came in. She -put back into the basket the apricots scattered on the sideboard. -Charles, without noticing his wife's colour, had them brought to -him, took one, and bit into it. - -"Ah! perfect!" said he; "just taste!" - -And he handed her the basket, which she put away from her gently. - -"Do just smell! What an odour!" he remarked, passing it under her -nose several times. - -"I am choking," she cried, leaping up. But by an effort of will -the spasm passed; then-- - -"It is nothing," she said, "it is nothing! It is nervousness. Sit -down and go on eating." For she dreaded lest he should begin -questioning her, attending to her, that she should not be left -alone. - -Charles, to obey her, sat down again, and he spat the stones of -the apricots into his hands, afterwards putting them on his -plate. - -Suddenly a blue tilbury passed across the square at a rapid trot. -Emma uttered a cry and fell back rigid to the ground. - -In fact, Rodolphe, after many reflections, had decided to set out -for Rouen. Now, as from La Huchette to Buchy there is no other -way than by Yonville, he had to go through the village, and Emma -had recognised him by the rays of the lanterns, which like -lightning flashed through the twilight. - -The chemist, at the tumult which broke out in the house ran -thither. The table with all the plates was upset; sauce, meat, -knives, the salt, and cruet-stand were strewn over the room; -Charles was calling for help; Berthe, scared, was crying; and -Felicite, whose hands trembled, was unlacing her mistress, whose -whole body shivered convulsively. - -"I'll run to my laboratory for some aromatic vinegar," said the -druggist. - -Then as she opened her eyes on smelling the bottle-- - -"I was sure of it," he remarked; "that would wake any dead person -for you!" - -"Speak to us," said Charles; "collect yourself; it is your -Charles, who loves you. Do you know me? See! here is your little -girl! Oh, kiss her!" - -The child stretched out her arms to her mother to cling to her -neck. But turning away her head, Emma said in a broken voice -"No, no! no one!" - -She fainted again. They carried her to her bed. She lay there -stretched at full length, her lips apart, her eyelids closed, her -hands open, motionless, and white as a waxen image. Two streams -of tears flowed from her eyes and fell slowly upon the pillow. - -Charles, standing up, was at the back of the alcove, and the -chemist, near him, maintained that meditative silence that is -becoming on the serious occasions of life. - -"Do not be uneasy," he said, touching his elbow; "I think the -paroxysm is past." - -"Yes, she is resting a little now," answered Charles, watching -her sleep. "Poor girl! poor girl! She had gone off now!" - -Then Homais asked how the accident had come about. Charles -answered that she had been taken ill suddenly while she was -eating some apricots. - -"Extraordinary!" continued the chemist. "But it might be that the -apricots had brought on the syncope. Some natures are so -sensitive to certain smells; and it would even be a very fine -question to study both in its pathological and physiological -relation. The priests know the importance of it, they who have -introduced aromatics into all their ceremonies. It is to stupefy -the senses and to bring on ecstasies--a thing, moreover, very -easy in persons of the weaker sex, who are more delicate than the -other. Some are cited who faint at the smell of burnt hartshorn, -of new bread--" - -"Take care; you'll wake her!" said Bovary in a low voice. - -"And not only," the druggist went on, "are human beings subject -to such anomalies, but animals also. Thus you are not ignorant of -the singularly aphrodisiac effect produced by the Nepeta cataria, -vulgarly called catmint, on the feline race; and, on the other -hand, to quote an example whose authenticity I can answer for. -Bridaux (one of my old comrades, at present established in the -Rue Malpalu) possesses a dog that falls into convulsions as soon -as you hold out a snuff-box to him. He often even makes the -experiment before his friends at his summer-house at Guillaume -Wood. Would anyone believe that a simple sternutation could -produce such ravages on a quadrupedal organism? It is extremely -curious, is it not?" - -"Yes," said Charles, who was not listening to him. - -"This shows us," went on the other, smiling with benign -self-sufficiency, "the innumerable irregularities of the nervous -system. With regard to madame, she has always seemed to me, I -confess, very susceptible. And so I should by no means recommend -to you, my dear friend, any of those so-called remedies that, -under the pretence of attacking the symptoms, attack the -constitution. No; no useless physicking! Diet, that is all; -sedatives, emollients, dulcification. Then, don't you think that -perhaps her imagination should be worked upon?" - -"In what way? How?" said Bovary. - -"Ah! that is it. Such is indeed the question. 'That is the -question,' as I lately read in a newspaper." - -But Emma, awaking, cried out-- - -"The letter! the letter!" - -They thought she was delirious; and she was by midnight. -Brain-fever had set in. - -For forty-three days Charles did not leave her. He gave up all -his patients; he no longer went to bed; he was constantly feeling -her pulse, putting on sinapisms and cold-water compresses. He -sent Justin as far as Neufchatel for ice; the ice melted on the -way; he sent him back again. He called Monsieur Canivet into -consultation; he sent for Dr. Lariviere, his old master, from -Rouen; he was in despair. What alarmed him most was Emma's -prostration, for she did not speak, did not listen, did not even -seem to suffer, as if her body and soul were both resting -together after all their troubles. - -About the middle of October she could sit up in bed supported by -pillows. Charles wept when he saw her eat her first -bread-and-jelly. Her strength returned to her; she got up for a -few hours of an afternoon, and one day, when she felt better, he -tried to take her, leaning on his arm, for a walk round the -garden. The sand of the paths was disappearing beneath the dead -leaves; she walked slowly, dragging along her slippers, and -leaning against Charles's shoulder. She smiled all the time. - -They went thus to the bottom of the garden near the terrace. She -drew herself up slowly, shading her eyes with her hand to look. -She looked far off, as far as she could, but on the horizon were -only great bonfires of grass smoking on the hills. - -"You will tire yourself, my darling!" said Bovary. And, pushing -her gently to make her go into the arbour, "Sit down on this -seat; you'll be comfortable." - -"Oh! no; not there!" she said in a faltering voice. - -She was seized with giddiness, and from that evening her illness -recommenced, with a more uncertain character, it is true, and -more complex symptoms. Now she suffered in her heart, then in the -chest, the head, the limbs; she had vomitings, in which Charles -thought he saw the first signs of cancer. - -And besides this, the poor fellow was worried about money -matters. - - - -Chapter Fourteen - -To begin with, he did not know how he could pay Monsieur Homais -for all the physic supplied by him, and though, as a medical man, -he was not obliged to pay for it, he nevertheless blushed a -little at such an obligation. Then the expenses of the household, -now that the servant was mistress, became terrible. Bills rained -in upon the house; the tradesmen grumbled; Monsieur Lheureux -especially harassed him. In fact, at the height of Emma's -illness, the latter, taking advantage of the circumstances to -make his bill larger, had hurriedly brought the cloak, the -travelling-bag, two trunks instead of one, and a number of other -things. It was very well for Charles to say he did not want them. -The tradesman answered arrogantly that these articles had been -ordered, and that he would not take them back; besides, it would -vex madame in her convalescence; the doctor had better think it -over; in short, he was resolved to sue him rather than give up -his rights and take back his goods. Charles subsequently ordered -them to be sent back to the shop. Felicite forgot; he had other -things to attend to; then thought no more about them. Monsieur -Lheureux returned to the charge, and, by turns threatening and -whining, so managed that Bovary ended by signing a bill at six -months. But hardly had he signed this bill than a bold idea -occurred to him: it was to borrow a thousand francs from -Lheureux. So, with an embarrassed air, he asked if it were -possible to get them, adding that it would be for a year, at any -interest he wished. Lheureux ran off to his shop, brought back -the money, and dictated another bill, by which Bovary undertook -to pay to his order on the 1st of September next the sum of one -thousand and seventy francs, which, with the hundred and eighty -already agreed to, made just twelve hundred and fifty, thus -lending at six per cent in addition to one-fourth for commission: -and the things bringing him in a good third at the least, this -ought in twelve months to give him a profit of a hundred and -thirty francs. He hoped that the business would not stop there; -that the bills would not be paid; that they would be renewed; and -that his poor little money, having thriven at the doctor's as at -a hospital, would come back to him one day considerably more -plump, and fat enough to burst his bag. - -Everything, moreover, succeeded with him. He was adjudicator for -a supply of cider to the hospital at Neufchatel; Monsieur -Guillaumin promised him some shares in the turf-pits of -Gaumesnil, and he dreamt of establishing a new diligence service -between Arcueil and Rouen, which no doubt would not be long in -ruining the ramshackle van of the "Lion d'Or," and that, -travelling faster, at a cheaper rate, and carrying more luggage, -would thus put into his hands the whole commerce of Yonville. - -Charles several times asked himself by what means he should next -year be able to pay back so much money. He reflected, imagined -expedients, such as applying to his father or selling something. -But his father would be deaf, and he--he had nothing to sell. -Then he foresaw such worries that he quickly dismissed so -disagreeable a subject of meditation from his mind. He reproached -himself with forgetting Emma, as if, all his thoughts belonging -to this woman, it was robbing her of something not to be -constantly thinking of her. - -The winter was severe, Madame Bovary's convalescence slow. When -it was fine they wheeled her arm-chair to the window that -overlooked the square, for she now had an antipathy to the -garden, and the blinds on that side were always down. She wished -the horse to be sold; what she formerly liked now displeased her. -All her ideas seemed to be limited to the care of herself. She -stayed in bed taking little meals, rang for the servant to -inquire about her gruel or to chat with her. The snow on the -market-roof threw a white, still light into the room; then the -rain began to fall; and Emma waited daily with a mind full of -eagerness for the inevitable return of some trifling events which -nevertheless had no relation to her. The most important was the -arrival of the "Hirondelle" in the evening. Then the landlady -shouted out, and other voices answered, while Hippolyte's -lantern, as he fetched the boxes from the boot, was like a star -in the darkness. At mid-day Charles came in; then he went out -again; next she took some beef-tea, and towards five o'clock, as -the day drew in, the children coming back from school, dragging -their wooden shoes along the pavement, knocked the clapper of the -shutters with their rulers one after the other. - -It was at this hour that Monsieur Bournisien came to see her. He -inquired after her health, gave her news, exhorted her to -religion, in a coaxing little prattle that was not without its -charm. The mere thought of his cassock comforted her. - -One day, when at the height of her illness, she had thought -herself dying, and had asked for the communion; and, while they -were making the preparations in her room for the sacrament, while -they were turning the night table covered with syrups into an -altar, and while Felicite was strewing dahlia flowers on the -floor, Emma felt some power passing over her that freed her from -her pains, from all perception, from all feeling. Her body, -relieved, no longer thought; another life was beginning; it -seemed to her that her being, mounting toward God, would be -annihilated in that love like a burning incense that melts into -vapour. The bed-clothes were sprinkled with holy water, the -priest drew from the holy pyx the white wafer; and it was -fainting with a celestial joy that she put out her lips to accept -the body of the Saviour presented to her. The curtains of the -alcove floated gently round her like clouds, and the rays of the -two tapers burning on the night-table seemed to shine like -dazzling halos. Then she let her head fall back, fancying she -heard in space the music of seraphic harps, and perceived in an -azure sky, on a golden throne in the midst of saints holding -green palms, God the Father, resplendent with majesty, who with a -sign sent to earth angels with wings of fire to carry her away in -their arms. - -This splendid vision dwelt in her memory as the most beautiful -thing that it was possible to dream, so that now she strove to -recall her sensation. That still lasted, however, but in a less -exclusive fashion and with a deeper sweetness. Her soul, tortured -by pride, at length found rest in Christian humility, and, -tasting the joy of weakness, she saw within herself the -destruction of her will, that must have left a wide entrance for -the inroads of heavenly grace. There existed, then, in the place -of happiness, still greater joys--another love beyond all loves, -without pause and without end, one that would grow eternally! She -saw amid the illusions of her hope a state of purity floating -above the earth mingling with heaven, to which she aspired. She -wanted to become a saint. She bought chaplets and wore amulets; -she wished to have in her room, by the side of her bed, a -reliquary set in emeralds that she might kiss it every evening. - -The cure marvelled at this humour, although Emma's religion, he -thought, might, from its fervour, end by touching on heresy, -extravagance. But not being much versed in these matters, as soon -as they went beyond a certain limit he wrote to Monsieur Boulard, -bookseller to Monsignor, to send him "something good for a lady -who was very clever." The bookseller, with as much indifference -as if he had been sending off hardware to niggers, packed up, -pellmell, everything that was then the fashion in the pious book -trade. There were little manuals in questions and answers, -pamphlets of aggressive tone after the manner of Monsieur de -Maistre, and certain novels in rose-coloured bindings and with a -honied style, manufactured by troubadour seminarists or penitent -blue-stockings. There were the "Think of it; the Man of the World -at Mary's Feet, by Monsieur de ***, decorated with many Orders"; -"The Errors of Voltaire, for the Use of the Young," etc. - -Madame Bovary's mind was not yet sufficiently clear to apply -herself seriously to anything; moreover, she began this reading -in too much hurry. She grew provoked at the doctrines of -religion; the arrogance of the polemic writings displeased her by -their inveteracy in attacking people she did not know; and the -secular stories, relieved with religion, seemed to her written in -such ignorance of the world, that they insensibly estranged her -from the truths for whose proof she was looking. Nevertheless, -she persevered; and when the volume slipped from her hands, she -fancied herself seized with the finest Catholic melancholy that -an ethereal soul could conceive. - -As for the memory of Rodolphe, she had thrust it back to the -bottom of her heart, and it remained there more solemn and more -motionless than a king's mummy in a catacomb. An exhalation -escaped from this embalmed love, that, penetrating through -everything, perfumed with tenderness the immaculate atmosphere in -which she longed to live. When she knelt on her Gothic prie-Dieu, -she addressed to the Lord the same suave words that she had -murmured formerly to her lover in the outpourings of adultery. It -was to make faith come; but no delights descended from the -heavens, and she arose with tired limbs and with a vague feeling -of a gigantic dupery. - -This searching after faith, she thought, was only one merit the -more, and in the pride of her devoutness Emma compared herself to -those grand ladies of long ago whose glory she, had dreamed of -over a portrait of La Valliere, and who, trailing with so much -majesty the lace-trimmed trains of their long gowns, retired into -solitudes to shed at the feet of Christ all the tears of hearts -that life had wounded. - -Then she gave herself up to excessive charity. She sewed clothes -for the poor, she sent wood to women in childbed; and Charles one -day, on coming home, found three good-for-nothings in the kitchen -seated at the table eating soup. She had her little girl, whom -during her illness her husband had sent back to the nurse, -brought home. She wanted to teach her to read; even when Berthe -cried, she was not vexed. She had made up her mind to -resignation, to universal indulgence. Her language about -everything was full of ideal expressions. She said to her child, -"Is your stomach-ache better, my angel?" - -Madame Bovary senior found nothing to censure except perhaps this -mania of knitting jackets for orphans instead of mending her own -house-linen; but, harassed with domestic quarrels, the good woman -took pleasure in this quiet house, and she even stayed there till -after Easter, to escape the sarcasms of old Bovary, who never -failed on Good Friday to order chitterlings. - -Besides the companionship of her mother-in-law, who strengthened -her a little by the rectitude of her judgment and her grave ways, -Emma almost every day had other visitors. These were Madame -Langlois, Madame Caron, Madame Dubreuil, Madame Tuvache, and -regularly from two to five o'clock the excellent Madame Homais, -who, for her part, had never believed any of the tittle-tattle -about her neighbour. The little Homais also came to see her; -Justin accompanied them. He went up with them to her bedroom, and -remained standing near the door, motionless and mute. Often even -Madame Bovary; taking no heed of him, began her toilette. She -began by taking out her comb, shaking her head with a quick -movement, and when he for the first time saw all this mass of -hair that fell to her knees unrolling in black ringlets, it was -to him, poor child! like a sudden entrance into something new and -strange, whose splendour terrified him. - -Emma, no doubt, did not notice his silent attentions or his -timidity. She had no suspicion that the love vanished from her -life was there, palpitating by her side, beneath that coarse -holland shirt, in that youthful heart open to the emanations of -her beauty. Besides, she now enveloped all things with such -indifference, she had words so affectionate with looks so -haughty, such contradictory ways, that one could no longer -distinguish egotism from charity, or corruption from virtue. One -evening, for example, she was angry with the servant, who had -asked to go out, and stammered as she tried to find some pretext. -Then suddenly-- - -"So you love him?" she said. - -And without waiting for any answer from Felicite, who was -blushing, she added, "There! run along; enjoy yourself!" - -In the beginning of spring she had the garden turned up from end -to end, despite Bovary's remonstrances. However, he was glad to -see her at last manifest a wish of any kind. As she grew stronger -she displayed more wilfulness. First, she found occasion to expel -Mere Rollet, the nurse, who during her convalescence had -contracted the habit of coming too often to the kitchen with her -two nurslings and her boarder, better off for teeth than a -cannibal. Then she got rid of the Homais family, successively -dismissed all the other visitors, and even frequented church less -assiduously, to the great approval of the druggist, who said to -her in a friendly way-- - -"You were going in a bit for the cassock!" - -As formerly, Monsieur Bournisien dropped in every day when he -came out after catechism class. He preferred staying out of doors -to taking the air "in the grove," as he called the arbour. This -was the time when Charles came home. They were hot; some sweet -cider was brought out, and they drank together to madame's -complete restoration. - -Binet was there; that is to say, a little lower down against the -terrace wall, fishing for crayfish. Bovary invited him to have a -drink, and he thoroughly understood the uncorking of the stone -bottles. - -"You must," he said, throwing a satisfied glance all round him, -even to the very extremity of the landscape, "hold the bottle -perpendicularly on the table, and after the strings are cut, -press up the cork with little thrusts, gently, gently, as indeed -they do seltzer-water at restaurants." - -But during his demonstration the cider often spurted right into -their faces, and then the ecclesiastic, with a thick laugh, never -missed this joke-- - -"Its goodness strikes the eye!" - -He was, in fact, a good fellow and one day he was not even -scandalised at the chemist, who advised Charles to give madame -some distraction by taking her to the theatre at Rouen to hear -the illustrious tenor, Lagardy. Homais, surprised at this -silence, wanted to know his opinion, and the priest declared that -he considered music less dangerous for morals than literature. - -But the chemist took up the defence of letters. The theatre, he -contended, served for railing at prejudices, and, beneath a mask -of pleasure, taught virtue. - -"'Castigat ridendo mores,'* Monsieur Bournisien! Thus consider -the greater part of Voltaire's tragedies; they are cleverly -strewn with philosophical reflections, that made them a vast -school of morals and diplomacy for the people." - -*It corrects customs through laughter. - - -"I," said Binet, "once saw a piece called the 'Gamin de Paris,' -in which there was the character of an old general that is really -hit off to a T. He sets down a young swell who had seduced a -working girl, who at the ending--" - -"Certainly," continued Homais, "there is bad literature as there -is bad pharmacy, but to condemn in a lump the most important of -the fine arts seems to me a stupidity, a Gothic idea, worthy of -the abominable times that imprisoned Galileo." - -"I know very well," objected the cure, "that there are good -works, good authors. However, if it were only those persons of -different sexes united in a bewitching apartment, decorated -rouge, those lights, those effeminate voices, all this must, in -the long-run, engender a certain mental libertinage, give rise to -immodest thoughts and impure temptations. Such, at any rate, is -the opinion of all the Fathers. Finally," he added, suddenly -assuming a mystic tone of voice while he rolled a pinch of snuff -between his fingers, "if the Church has condemned the theatre, -she must be right; we must submit to her decrees." - -"Why," asked the druggist, "should she excommunicate actors? For -formerly they openly took part in religious ceremonies. Yes, in -the middle of the chancel they acted; they performed a kind of -farce called 'Mysteries,' which often offended against the laws -of decency." - -The ecclesiastic contented himself with uttering a groan, and the -chemist went on-- - -"It's like it is in the Bible; there there are, you know, more -than one piquant detail, matters really libidinous!" - -And on a gesture of irritation from Monsieur Bournisien-- - -"Ah! you'll admit that it is not a book to place in the hands of -a young girl, and I should be sorry if Athalie--" - -"But it is the Protestants, and not we," cried the other -impatiently, "who recommend the Bible." - -"No matter," said Homais. "I am surprised that in our days, in -this century of enlightenment, anyone should still persist in -proscribing an intellectual relaxation that is inoffensive, -moralising, and sometimes even hygienic; is it not, doctor?" - -"No doubt," replied the doctor carelessly, either because, -sharing the same ideas, he wished to offend no one, or else -because he had not any ideas. - -The conversation seemed at an end when the chemist thought fit to -shoot a Parthian arrow. - -"I've known priests who put on ordinary clothes to go and see -dancers kicking about." - -"Come, come!" said the cure. - -"Ah! I've known some!" And separating the words of his sentence, -Homais repeated, "I--have--known--some!" - -"Well, they were wrong," said Bournisien, resigned to anything. - -"By Jove! they go in for more than that," exclaimed the druggist. - -"Sir!" replied the ecclesiastic, with such angry eyes that the -druggist was intimidated by them. - -"I only mean to say," he replied in less brutal a tone, "that -toleration is the surest way to draw people to religion." - -"That is true! that is true!" agreed the good fellow, sitting -down again on his chair. But he stayed only a few moments. - -Then, as soon as he had gone, Monsieur Homais said to the doctor-- - -"That's what I call a cock-fight. I beat him, did you see, in a -way!--Now take my advice. Take madame to the theatre, if it were -only for once in your life, to enrage one of these ravens, hang -it! If anyone could take my place, I would accompany you myself. -Be quick about it. Lagardy is only going to give one performance; -he's engaged to go to England at a high salary. From what I hear, -he's a regular dog; he's rolling in money; he's taking three -mistresses and a cook along with him. All these great artists -burn the candle at both ends; they require a dissolute life, that -suits the imagination to some extent. But they die at the -hospital, because they haven't the sense when young to lay by. -Well, a pleasant dinner! Goodbye till to-morrow." - -The idea of the theatre quickly germinated in Bovary's head, for -he at once communicated it to his wife, who at first refused, -alleging the fatigue, the worry, the expense; but, for a wonder, -Charles did not give in, so sure was he that this recreation -would be good for her. He saw nothing to prevent it: his mother -had sent them three hundred francs which he had no longer -expected; the current debts were not very large, and the falling -in of Lheureux's bills was still so far off that there was no -need to think about them. Besides, imagining that she was -refusing from delicacy, he insisted the more; so that by dint of -worrying her she at last made up her mind, and the next day at -eight o'clock they set out in the "Hirondelle." - -The druggist, whom nothing whatever kept at Yonville, but who -thought himself bound not to budge from it, sighed as he saw them -go. - -"Well, a pleasant journey!" he said to them; "happy mortals that -you are!" - -Then addressing himself to Emma, who was wearing a blue silk gown -with four flounces-- - -"You are as lovely as a Venus. You'll cut a figure at Rouen." - -The diligence stopped at the "Croix-Rouge" in the Place -Beauvoisine. It was the inn that is in every provincial faubourg, -with large stables and small bedrooms, where one sees in the -middle of the court chickens pilfering the oats under the muddy -gigs of the commercial travellers--a good old house, with -worm-eaten balconies that creak in the wind on winter nights, -always full of people, noise, and feeding, whose black tables are -sticky with coffee and brandy, the thick windows made yellow by -the flies, the damp napkins stained with cheap wine, and that -always smells of the village, like ploughboys dressed in -Sundayclothes, has a cafe on the street, and towards the -countryside a kitchen-garden. Charles at once set out. He muddled -up the stage-boxes with the gallery, the pit with the boxes; -asked for explanations, did not understand them; was sent from -the box-office to the acting-manager; came back to the inn, -returned to the theatre, and thus several times traversed the -whole length of the town from the theatre to the boulevard. - -Madame Bovary bought a bonnet, gloves, and a bouquet. The doctor -was much afraid of missing the beginning, and, without having had -time to swallow a plate of soup, they presented themselves at the -doors of the theatre, which were still closed. - - - - -Chapter Fifteen - -The crowd was waiting against the wall, symmetrically enclosed -between the balustrades. At the corner of the neighbouring -streets huge bills repeated in quaint letters "Lucie de -Lammermoor-Lagardy-Opera-etc." The weather was fine, the people -were hot, perspiration trickled amid the curls, and handkerchiefs -taken from pockets were mopping red foreheads; and now and then a -warm wind that blew from the river gently stirred the border of -the tick awnings hanging from the doors of the public-houses. A -little lower down, however, one was refreshed by a current of icy -air that smelt of tallow, leather, and oil. This was an -exhalation from the Rue des Charrettes, full of large black -warehouses where they made casks. - -For fear of seeming ridiculous, Emma before going in wished to -have a little stroll in the harbour, and Bovary prudently kept -his tickets in his hand, in the pocket of his trousers, which he -pressed against his stomach. - -Her heart began to beat as soon as she reached the vestibule. She -involuntarily smiled with vanity on seeing the crowd rushing to -the right by the other corridor while she went up the staircase -to the reserved seats. She was as pleased as a child to push with -her finger the large tapestried door. She breathed in with all -her might the dusty smell of the lobbies, and when she was seated -in her box she bent forward with the air of a duchess. - -The theatre was beginning to fill; opera-glasses were taken from -their cases, and the subscribers, catching sight of one another, -were bowing. They came to seek relaxation in the fine arts after -the anxieties of business; but "business" was not forgotten; they -still talked cottons, spirits of wine, or indigo. The heads of -old men were to be seen, inexpressive and peaceful, with their -hair and complexions looking like silver medals tarnished by -steam of lead. The young beaux were strutting about in the pit, -showing in the opening of their waistcoats their pink or -applegreen cravats, and Madame Bovary from above admired them -leaning on their canes with golden knobs in the open palm of -their yellow gloves. - -Now the lights of the orchestra were lit, the lustre, let down -from the ceiling, throwing by the glimmering of its facets a -sudden gaiety over the theatre; then the musicians came in one -after the other; and first there was the protracted hubbub of the -basses grumbling, violins squeaking, cornets trumpeting, flutes -and flageolets fifing. But three knocks were heard on the stage, -a rolling of drums began, the brass instruments played some -chords, and the curtain rising, discovered a country-scene. - -It was the cross-roads of a wood, with a fountain shaded by an -oak to the left. Peasants and lords with plaids on their -shoulders were singing a hunting-song together; then a captain -suddenly came on, who evoked the spirit of evil by lifting both -his arms to heaven. Another appeared; they went away, and the -hunters started afresh. She felt herself transported to the -reading of her youth, into the midst of Walter Scott. She seemed -to hear through the mist the sound of the Scotch bagpipes -re-echoing over the heather. Then her remembrance of the novel -helping her to understand the libretto, she followed the story -phrase by phrase, while vague thoughts that came back to her -dispersed at once again with the bursts of music. She gave -herself up to the lullaby of the melodies, and felt all her being -vibrate as if the violin bows were drawn over her nerves. She had -not eyes enough to look at the costumes, the scenery, the actors, -the painted trees that shook when anyone walked, and the velvet -caps, cloaks, swords--all those imaginary things that floated -amid the harmony as in the atmosphere of another world. But a -young woman stepped forward, throwing a purse to a squire in -green. She was left alone, and the flute was heard like the -murmur of a fountain or the warbling of birds. Lucie attacked her -cavatina in G major bravely. She plained of love; she longed for -wings. Emma, too, fleeing from life, would have liked to fly away -in an embrace. Suddenly Edgar-Lagardy appeared. - -He had that splendid pallor that gives something of the majesty -of marble to the ardent races of the South. His vigorous form was -tightly clad in a brown-coloured doublet; a small chiselled -poniard hung against his left thigh, and he cast round laughing -looks showing his white teeth. They said that a Polish princess -having heard him sing one night on the beach at Biarritz, where -he mended boats, had fallen in love with him. She had ruined -herself for him. He had deserted her for other women, and this -sentimental celebrity did not fail to enhance his artistic -reputation. The diplomatic mummer took care always to slip into -his advertisements some poetic phrase on the fascination of his -person and the susceptibility of his soul. A fine organ, -imperturbable coolness, more temperament than intelligence, more -power of emphasis than of real singing, made up the charm of this -admirable charlatan nature, in which there was something of the -hairdresser and the toreador. - -From the first scene he evoked enthusiasm. He pressed Lucy in his -arms, he left her, he came back, he seemed desperate; he had -outbursts of rage, then elegiac gurglings of infinite sweetness, -and the notes escaped from his bare neck full of sobs and kisses. -Emma leant forward to see him, clutching the velvet of the box -with her nails. She was filling her heart with these melodious -lamentations that were drawn out to the accompaniment of the -double-basses, like the cries of the drowning in the tumult of a -tempest. She recognised all the intoxication and the anguish that -had almost killed her. The voice of a prima donna seemed to her -to be but echoes of her conscience, and this illusion that -charmed her as some very thing of her own life. But no one on -earth had loved her with such love. He had not wept like Edgar -that last moonlit night when they said, "To-morrow! to-morrow!" -The theatre rang with cheers; they recommenced the entire -movement; the lovers spoke of the flowers on their tomb, of vows, -exile, fate, hopes; and when they uttered the final adieu, Emma -gave a sharp cry that mingled with the vibrations of the last -chords. - -"But why," asked Bovary, "does that gentleman persecute her?" - -"No, no!" she answered; "he is her lover!" - -"Yet he vows vengeance on her family, while the other one who -came on before said, 'I love Lucie and she loves me!' Besides, he -went off with her father arm in arm. For he certainly is her -father, isn't he--the ugly little man with a cock's feather in -his hat?" - -Despite Emma's explanations, as soon as the recitative duet began -in which Gilbert lays bare his abominable machinations to his -master Ashton, Charles, seeing the false troth-ring that is to -deceive Lucie, thought it was a love-gift sent by Edgar. He -confessed, moreover, that he did not understand the story because -of the music, which interfered very much with the words. - -"What does it matter?" said Emma. "Do be quiet!" - -"Yes, but you know," he went on, leaning against her shoulder, "I -like to understand things." - -"Be quiet! be quiet!" she cried impatiently. - -Lucie advanced, half supported by her women, a wreath of orange -blossoms in her hair, and paler than the white satin of her gown. -Emma dreamed of her marriage day; she saw herself at home again -amid the corn in the little path as they walked to the church. -Oh, why had not she, like this woman, resisted, implored? She, on -the contrary, had been joyous, without seeing the abyss into -which she was throwing herself. Ah! if in the freshness of her -beauty, before the soiling of marriage and the disillusions of -adultery, she could have anchored her life upon some great, -strong heart, then virtue, tenderness, voluptuousness, and duty -blending, she would never have fallen from so high a happiness. -But that happiness, no doubt, was a lie invented for the despair -of all desire. She now knew the smallness of the passions that -art exaggerated. So, striving to divert her thoughts, Emma -determined now to see in this reproduction of her sorrows only a -plastic fantasy, well enough to please the eye, and she even -smiled internally with disdainful pity when at the back of the -stage under the velvet hangings a man appeared in a black cloak. - -His large Spanish hat fell at a gesture he made, and immediately -the instruments and the singers began the sextet. Edgar, flashing -with fury, dominated all the others with his clearer voice; -Ashton hurled homicidal provocations at him in deep notes; Lucie -uttered her shrill plaint, Arthur at one side, his modulated -tones in the middle register, and the bass of the minister pealed -forth like an organ, while the voices of the women repeating his -words took them up in chorus delightfully. They were all in a row -gesticulating, and anger, vengeance, jealousy, terror, and -stupefaction breathed forth at once from their half-opened -mouths. The outraged lover brandished his naked sword; his -guipure ruffle rose with jerks to the movements of his chest, and -he walked from right to left with long strides, clanking against -the boards the silver-gilt spurs of his soft boots, widening out -at the ankles. He, she thought must have an inexhaustible love -to lavish it upon the crowd with such effusion. All her small -fault-findings faded before the poetry of the part that absorbed -her; and, drawn towards this man by the illusion of the -character, she tried to imagine to herself his life--that life -resonant, extraordinary, splendid, and that might have been hers -if fate had willed it. They would have known one another, loved -one another. With him, through all the kingdoms of Europe she -would have travelled from capital to capital, sharing his -fatigues and his pride, picking up the flowers thrown to him, -herself embroidering his costumes. Then each evening, at the back -of a box, behind the golden trellis-work she would have drunk in -eagerly the expansions of this soul that would have sung for her -alone; from the stage, even as he acted, he would have looked at -her. But the mad idea seized her that he was looking at her; it -was certain. She longed to run to his arms, to take refuge in his -strength, as in the incarnation of love itself, and to say to -him, to cry out, "Take me away! carry me with you! let us go! -Thine, thine! all my ardour and all my dreams!" - -The curtain fell. - -The smell of the gas mingled with that of the breaths, the waving -of the fans, made the air more suffocating. Emma wanted to go -out; the crowd filled the corridors, and she fell back in her -arm-chair with palpitations that choked her. Charles, fearing -that she would faint, ran to the refreshment-room to get a glass -of barley-water. - -He had great difficulty in getting back to his seat, for his -elbows were jerked at every step because of the glass he held in -his hands, and he even spilt three-fourths on the shoulders of a -Rouen lady in short sleeves, who feeling the cold liquid running -down to her loins, uttered cries like a peacock, as if she were -being assassinated. Her husband, who was a millowner, railed at -the clumsy fellow, and while she was with her handkerchief wiping -up the stains from her handsome cherry-coloured taffeta gown, he -angrily muttered about indemnity, costs, reimbursement. At last -Charles reached his wife, saying to her, quite out of breath-- - -"Ma foi! I thought I should have had to stay there. There is such -a crowd--SUCH a crowd!" - -He added-- - -"Just guess whom I met up there! Monsieur Leon!" - -"Leon?" - -"Himself! He's coming along to pay his respects." And as he -finished these words the ex-clerk of Yonville entered the box. - -He held out his hand with the ease of a gentleman; and Madame -Bovary extended hers, without doubt obeying the attraction of a -stronger will. She had not felt it since that spring evening when -the rain fell upon the green leaves, and they had said good-bye -standing at the window. But soon recalling herself to the -necessities of the situation, with an effort she shook off the -torpor of her memories, and began stammering a few hurried words. - -"Ah, good-day! What! you here?" - -"Silence!" cried a voice from the pit, for the third act was -beginning. - -"So you are at Rouen?" - -"Yes." - -"And since when?" - -"Turn them out! turn them out!" People were looking at them. They -were silent. - -But from that moment she listened no more; and the chorus of the -guests, the scene between Ashton and his servant, the grand duet -in D major, all were for her as far off as if the instruments had -grown less sonorous and the characters more remote. She -remembered the games at cards at the druggist's, and the walk to -the nurse's, the reading in the arbour, the tete-a-tete by the -fireside--all that poor love, so calm and so protracted, so -discreet, so tender, and that she had nevertheless forgotten. And -why had he come back? What combination of circumstances had -brought him back into her life? He was standing behind her, -leaning with his shoulder against the wall of the box; now and -again she felt herself shuddering beneath the hot breath from his -nostrils falling upon her hair. - -"Does this amuse you?" said he, bending over her so closely that -the end of his moustache brushed her cheek. She replied -carelessly-- - -"Oh, dear me, no, not much." - -Then he proposed that they should leave the theatre and go and -take an ice somewhere. - -"Oh, not yet; let us stay," said Bovary. "Her hair's undone; this -is going to be tragic." - -But the mad scene did not at all interest Emma, and the acting of -the singer seemed to her exaggerated. - -"She screams too loud," said she, turning to Charles, who was -listening. - -"Yes--a little," he replied, undecided between the frankness of -his pleasure and his respect for his wife's opinion. - -Then with a sigh Leon said-- - -"The heat is--" - -"Unbearable! Yes!" - -"Do you feel unwell?" asked Bovary. - -"Yes, I am stifling; let us go." - -Monsieur Leon put her long lace shawl carefully about her -shoulders, and all three went off to sit down in the harbour, in -the open air, outside the windows of a cafe. - -First they spoke of her illness, although Emma interrupted -Charles from time to time, for fear, she said, of boring Monsieur -Leon; and the latter told them that he had come to spend two -years at Rouen in a large office, in order to get practice in his -profession, which was different in Normandy and Paris. Then he -inquired after Berthe, the Homais, Mere Lefrancois, and as they -had, in the husband's presence, nothing more to say to one -another, the conversation soon came to an end. - -People coming out of the theatre passed along the pavement, -humming or shouting at the top of their voices, "O bel ange, ma -Lucie!*" Then Leon, playing the dilettante, began to talk music. -He had seen Tambourini, Rubini, Persiani, Grisi, and, compared -with them, Lagardy, despite his grand outbursts, was nowhere. - -*Oh beautiful angel, my Lucie. - - -"Yet," interrupted Charles, who was slowly sipping his -rum-sherbet, "they say that he is quite admirable in the last -act. I regret leaving before the end, because it was beginning to -amuse me." - -"Why," said the clerk, "he will soon give another performance." - -But Charles replied that they were going back next day. "Unless," -he added, turning to his wife, "you would like to stay alone, -kitten?" - -And changing his tactics at this unexpected opportunity that -presented itself to his hopes, the young man sang the praises of -Lagardy in the last number. It was really superb, sublime. Then -Charles insisted-- - -"You would get back on Sunday. Come, make up your mind. You are -wrong if you feel that this is doing you the least good." - -The tables round them, however, were emptying; a waiter came and -stood discreetly near them. Charles, who understood, took out his -purse; the clerk held back his arm, and did not forget to leave -two more pieces of silver that he made chink on the marble. - -"I am really sorry," said Bovary, "about the money which you -are--" - - The other made a careless gesture full of cordiality, and taking -his hat said-- - -"It is settled, isn't it? To-morrow at six o'clock?" - -Charles explained once more that he could not absent himself -longer, but that nothing prevented Emma-- - -"But," she stammered, with a strange smile, "I am not sure--" - -"Well, you must think it over. We'll see. Night brings counsel." -Then to Leon, who was walking along with them, "Now that you are -in our part of the world, I hope you'll come and ask us for some -dinner now and then." - -The clerk declared he would not fail to do so, being obliged, -moreover, to go to Yonville on some business for his office. And -they parted before the Saint-Herbland Passage just as the clock -in the cathedral struck half-past eleven. - - - -Part III - -Chapter One - -Monsieur Leon, while studying law, had gone pretty often to the -dancing-rooms, where he was even a great success amongst the -grisettes, who thought he had a distinguished air. He was the -best-mannered of the students; he wore his hair neither too long -nor too short, didn't spend all his quarter's money on the first -day of the month, and kept on good terms with his professors. As -for excesses, he had always abstained from them, as much from -cowardice as from refinement. - -Often when he stayed in his room to read, or else when sitting of -an evening under the lime-trees of the Luxembourg, he let his -Code fall to the ground, and the memory of Emma came back to him. -But gradually this feeling grew weaker, and other desires -gathered over it, although it still persisted through them all. -For Leon did not lose all hope; there was for him, as it were, a -vague promise floating in the future, like a golden fruit -suspended from some fantastic tree. - -Then, seeing her again after three years of absence his passion -reawakened. He must, he thought, at last make up his mind to -possess her. Moreover, his timidity had worn off by contact with -his gay companions, and he returned to the provinces despising -everyone who had not with varnished shoes trodden the asphalt of -the boulevards. By the side of a Parisienne in her laces, in the -drawing-room of some illustrious physician, a person driving his -carriage and wearing many orders, the poor clerk would no doubt -have trembled like a child; but here, at Rouen, on the harbour, -with the wife of this small doctor he felt at his ease, sure -beforehand he would shine. Self-possession depends on its -environment. We don't speak on the first floor as on the fourth; -and the wealthy woman seems to have, about her, to guard her -virtue, all her banknotes, like a cuirass in the lining of her -corset. - -On leaving the Bovarys the night before, Leon had followed them -through the streets at a distance; then having seen them stop at -the "Croix-Rouge," he turned on his heel, and spent the night -meditating a plan. - -So the next day about five o'clock he walked into the kitchen of -the inn, with a choking sensation in his throat, pale cheeks, and -that resolution of cowards that stops at nothing. - -"The gentleman isn't in," answered a servant. - -This seemed to him a good omen. He went upstairs. - -She was not disturbed at his approach; on the contrary, she -apologised for having neglected to tell him where they were -staying. - -"Oh, I divined it!" said Leon. - -He pretended he had been guided towards her by chance, by, -instinct. She began to smile; and at once, to repair his folly, -Leon told her that he had spent his morning in looking for her in -all the hotels in the town one after the other. - -"So you have made up your mind to stay?" he added. - -"Yes," she said, "and I am wrong. One ought not to accustom -oneself to impossible pleasures when there are a thousand demands -upon one." - -"Oh, I can imagine!" - -"Ah! no; for you, you are a man!" - -But men too had had their trials, and the conversation went off -into certain philosophical reflections. Emma expatiated much on -the misery of earthly affections, and the eternal isolation in -which the heart remains entombed. - -To show off, or from a naive imitation of this melancholy which -called forth his, the young man declared that he had been awfully -bored during the whole course of his studies. The law irritated -him, other vocations attracted him, and his mother never ceased -worrying him in every one of her letters. As they talked they -explained more and more fully the motives of their sadness, -working themselves up in their progressive confidence. But they -sometimes stopped short of the complete exposition of their -thought, and then sought to invent a phrase that might express it -all the same. She did not confess her passion for another; he did -not say that he had forgotten her. - -Perhaps he no longer remembered his suppers with girls after -masked balls; and no doubt she did not recollect the rendezvous -of old when she ran across the fields in the morning to her -lover's house. The noises of the town hardly reached them, and -the room seemed small, as if on purpose to hem in their solitude -more closely. Emma, in a dimity dressing-gown, leant her head -against the back of the old arm-chair; the yellow wall-paper -formed, as it were, a golden background behind her, and her bare -head was mirrored in the glass with the white parting in the -middle, and the tip of her ears peeping out from the folds of her -hair. - -"But pardon me!" she said. "It is wrong of me. I weary you with -my eternal complaints." - -"No, never, never!" - -"If you knew," she went on, raising to the ceiling her beautiful -eyes, in which a tear was trembling, "all that I had dreamed!" - -"And I! Oh, I too have suffered! Often I went out; I went away. I -dragged myself along the quays, seeking distraction amid the din -of the crowd without being able to banish the heaviness that -weighed upon me. In an engraver's shop on the boulevard there is -an Italian print of one of the Muses. She is draped in a tunic, -and she is looking at the moon, with forget-me-nots in her -flowing hair. Something drove me there continually; I stayed -there hours together." Then in a trembling voice, "She resembled -you a little." - -Madame Bovary turned away her head that he might not see the -irrepressible smile she felt rising to her lips. - -"Often," he went on, "I wrote you letters that I tore up." - -She did not answer. He continued-- - -"I sometimes fancied that some chance would bring you. I thought -I recognised you at street-corners, and I ran after all the -carriages through whose windows I saw a shawl fluttering, a veil -like yours." - -She seemed resolved to let him go on speaking without -interruption. Crossing her arms and bending down her face, she -looked at the rosettes on her slippers, and at intervals made -little movements inside the satin of them with her toes. - -At last she sighed. - -"But the most wretched thing, is it not--is to drag out, as I do, -a useless existence. If our pains were only of some use to -someone, we should find consolation in the thought of the -sacrifice." - -He started off in praise of virtue, duty, and silent immolation, -having himself an incredible longing for self-sacrifice that he -could not satisfy. - -"I should much like," she said, "to be a nurse at a hospital." - -"Alas! men have none of these holy missions, and I see nowhere -any calling--unless perhaps that of a doctor." - -With a slight shrug of her shoulders, Emma interrupted him to -speak of her illness, which had almost killed her. What a pity! -She should not be suffering now! Leon at once envied the calm of -the tomb, and one evening he had even made his will, asking to be -buried in that beautiful rug with velvet stripes he had received -from her. For this was how they would have wished to be, each -setting up an ideal to which they were now adapting their past -life. Besides, speech is a rolling-mill that always thins out the -sentiment. - -But at this invention of the rug she asked, "But why?" - -"Why?" He hesitated. "Because I loved you so!" And congratulating -himself at having surmounted the difficulty, Leon watched her -face out of the corner of his eyes. - -It was like the sky when a gust of wind drives the clouds across. -The mass of sad thoughts that darkened them seemed to be lifted -from her blue eyes; her whole face shone. He waited. At last she -replied-- - -"I always suspected it." - -Then they went over all the trifling events of that far-off -existence, whose joys and sorrows they had just summed up in one -word. They recalled the arbour with clematis, the dresses she had -worn, the furniture of her room, the whole of her house. - -"And our poor cactuses, where are they?" - -"The cold killed them this winter." - -"Ah! how I have thought of them, do you know? I often saw them -again as of yore, when on the summer mornings the sun beat down -upon your blinds, and I saw your two bare arms passing out -amongst the flowers." - -"Poor friend!" she said, holding out her hand to him. - -Leon swiftly pressed his lips to it. Then, when he had taken a -deep breath-- - -"At that time you were to me I know not what incomprehensible -force that took captive my life. Once, for instance, I went to -see you; but you, no doubt, do not remember it." - -"I do," she said; "go on." - -"You were downstairs in the ante-room, ready to go out, standing -on the last stair; you were wearing a bonnet with small blue -flowers; and without any invitation from you, in spite of myself, -I went with you. Every moment, however, I grew more and more -conscious of my folly, and I went on walking by you, not daring -to follow you completely, and unwilling to leave you. When you -went into a shop, I waited in the street, and I watched you -through the window taking off your gloves and counting the change -on the counter. Then you rang at Madame Tuvache's; you were let -in, and I stood like an idiot in front of the great heavy door -that had closed after you." - -Madame Bovary, as she listened to him, wondered that she was so -old. All these things reappearing before her seemed to widen out -her life; it was like some sentimental immensity to which she -returned; and from time to time she said in a low voice, her eyes -half closed-- - -"Yes, it is true--true--true!" - -They heard eight strike on the different clocks of the -Beauvoisine quarter, which is full of schools, churches, and -large empty hotels. They no longer spoke, but they felt as they -looked upon each other a buzzing in their heads, as if something -sonorous had escaped from the fixed eyes of each of them. They -were hand in hand now, and the past, the future, reminiscences -and dreams, all were confounded in the sweetness of this ecstasy. -Night was darkening over the walls, on which still shone, half -hidden in the shade, the coarse colours of four bills -representing four scenes from the "Tour de Nesle," with a motto -in Spanish and French at the bottom. Through the sash-window a -patch of dark sky was seen between the pointed roofs. - -She rose to light two wax-candles on the drawers, then she sat -down again. - -"Well!" said Leon. - -"Well!" she replied. - -He was thinking how to resume the interrupted conversation, when -she said to him-- - -"How is it that no one until now has ever expressed such -sentiments to me?" - -The clerk said that ideal natures were difficult to understand. -He from the first moment had loved her, and he despaired when he -thought of the happiness that would have been theirs, if thanks -to fortune, meeting her earlier, they had been indissolubly bound -to one another. - -"I have sometimes thought of it," she went on. - -"What a dream!" murmured Leon. And fingering gently the blue -binding of her long white sash, he added, "And who prevents us -from beginning now?" - -"No, my friend," she replied; "I am too old; you are too young. -Forget me! Others will love you; you will love them." - -"Not as you!" he cried. - -"What a child you are! Come, let us be sensible. I wish it." - -She showed him the impossibility of their love, and that they -must remain, as formerly, on the simple terms of a fraternal -friendship. - -Was she speaking thus seriously? No doubt Emma did not herself -know, quite absorbed as she was by the charm of the seduction, -and the necessity of defending herself from it; and contemplating -the young man with a moved look, she gently repulsed the timid -caresses that his trembling hands attempted. - -"Ah! forgive me!" he cried, drawing back. - -Emma was seized with a vague fear at this shyness, more dangerous -to her than the boldness of Rodolphe when he advanced to her -open-armed. No man had ever seemed to her so beautiful. An -exquisite candour emanated from his being. He lowered his long -fine eyelashes, that curled upwards. His cheek, with the soft -skin reddened, she thought, with desire of her person, and Emma -felt an invincible longing to press her lips to it. Then, leaning -towards the clock as if to see the time-- - -"Ah! how late it is!" she said; "how we do chatter!" - -He understood the hint and took up his hat. - -"It has even made me forget the theatre. And poor Bovary has left -me here especially for that. Monsieur Lormeaux, of the Rue -Grand-Pont, was to take me and his wife." - -And the opportunity was lost, as she was to leave the next day. - -"Really!" said Leon. - -"Yes." - -"But I must see you again," he went on. "I wanted to tell you--" - -"What?" - -"Something--important--serious. Oh, no! Besides, you will not go; -it is impossible. If you should--listen to me. Then you have not -understood me; you have not guessed--" - -"Yet you speak plainly," said Emma. - -"Ah! you can jest. Enough! enough! Oh, for pity's sake, let me -see you once--only once!" - -"Well--" She stopped; then, as if thinking better of it, "Oh, not -here!" - -"Where you will." - -"Will you--" She seemed to reflect; then abruptly, "To-morrow at -eleven o'clock in the cathedral." - -"I shall be there," he cried, seizing her hands, which she -disengaged. - -And as they were both standing up, he behind her, and Emma with -her head bent, he stooped over her and pressed long kisses on her -neck. - -"You are mad! Ah! you are mad!" she said, with sounding little -laughs, while the kisses multiplied. - -Then bending his head over her shoulder, he seemed to beg the -consent of her eyes. They fell upon him full of an icy dignity. - -Leon stepped back to go out. He stopped on the threshold; then he -whispered with a trembling voice, "Tomorrow!" - -She answered with a nod, and disappeared like a bird into the -next room. - -In the evening Emma wrote the clerk an interminable letter, in -which she cancelled the rendezvous; all was over; they must not, -for the sake of their happiness, meet again. But when the letter -was finished, as she did not know Leon's address, she was -puzzled. - -"I'll give it to him myself," she said; "he will come." - -The next morning, at the open window, and humming on his balcony, -Leon himself varnished his pumps with several coatings. He put on -white trousers, fine socks, a green coat, emptied all the scent -he had into his handkerchief, then having had his hair curled, he -uncurled it again, in order to give it a more natural elegance. - -"It is still too early," he thought, looking at the hairdresser's -cuckoo-clock, that pointed to the hour of nine. He read an old -fashion journal, went out, smoked a cigar, walked up three -streets, thought it was time, and went slowly towards the porch -of Notre Dame. - -It was a beautiful summer morning. Silver plate sparkled in the -jeweller's windows, and the light falling obliquely on the -cathedral made mirrors of the corners of the grey stones; a flock -of birds fluttered in the grey sky round the trefoil -bell-turrets; the square, resounding with cries, was fragrant -with the flowers that bordered its pavement, roses, jasmines, -pinks, narcissi, and tube-roses, unevenly spaced out between -moist grasses, catmint, and chickweed for the birds; the -fountains gurgled in the centre, and under large umbrellas, -amidst melons, piled up in heaps, flower-women, bare-headed, were -twisting paper round bunches of violets. - -The young man took one. It was the first time that he had bought -flowers for a woman, and his breast, as he smelt them, swelled -with pride, as if this homage that he meant for another had -recoiled upon himself. - -But he was afraid of being seen; he resolutely entered the -church. The beadle, who was just then standing on the threshold -in the middle of the left doorway, under the "Dancing Marianne," -with feather cap, and rapier dangling against his calves, came -in, more majestic than a cardinal, and as shining as a saint on a -holy pyx. - -He came towards Leon, and, with that smile of wheedling benignity -assumed by ecclesiastics when they question children-- - -"The gentleman, no doubt, does not belong to these parts? The -gentleman would like to see the curiosities of the church?" - -"No!" said the other. - -And he first went round the lower aisles. Then he went out to -look at the Place. Emma was not coming yet. He went up again to -the choir. - -The nave was reflected in the full fonts with the beginning of -the arches and some portions of the glass windows. But the -reflections of the paintings, broken by the marble rim, were -continued farther on upon the flag-stones, like a many-coloured -carpet. The broad daylight from without streamed into the church -in three enormous rays from the three opened portals. From time -to time at the upper end a sacristan passed, making the oblique -genuflexion of devout persons in a hurry. The crystal lustres -hung motionless. In the choir a silver lamp was burning, and from -the side chapels and dark places of the church sometimes rose -sounds like sighs, with the clang of a closing grating, its echo -reverberating under the lofty vault. - -Leon with solemn steps walked along by the walls. Life had never -seemed so good to him. She would come directly, charming, -agitated, looking back at the glances that followed her, and with -her flounced dress, her gold eyeglass, her thin shoes, with all -sorts of elegant trifles that he had never enjoyed, and with the -ineffable seduction of yielding virtue. The church like a huge -boudoir spread around her; the arches bent down to gather in the -shade the confession of her love; the windows shone resplendent -to illumine her face, and the censers would burn that she might -appear like an angel amid the fumes of the sweet-smelling odours. - -But she did not come. He sat down on a chair, and his eyes fell -upon a blue stained window representing boatmen carrying baskets. -He looked at it long, attentively, and he counted the scales of -the fishes and the button-holes of the doublets, while his -thoughts wandered off towards Emma. - -The beadle, standing aloof, was inwardly angry at this individual -who took the liberty of admiring the cathedral by himself. He -seemed to him to be conducting himself in a monstrous fashion, to -be robbing him in a sort, and almost committing sacrilege. - -But a rustle of silk on the flags, the tip of a bonnet, a lined -cloak--it was she! Leon rose and ran to meet her. - -Emma was pale. She walked fast. - -"Read!" she said, holding out a paper to him. "Oh, no!" - -And she abruptly withdrew her hand to enter the chapel of the -Virgin, where, kneeling on a chair, she began to pray. - -The young man was irritated at this bigot fancy; then he -nevertheless experienced a certain charm in seeing her, in the -middle of a rendezvous, thus lost in her devotions, like an -Andalusian marchioness; then he grew bored, for she seemed never -coming to an end. - -Emma prayed, or rather strove to pray, hoping that some sudden -resolution might descend to her from heaven; and to draw down -divine aid she filled full her eyes with the splendours of the -tabernacle. She breathed in the perfumes of the full-blown -flowers in the large vases, and listened to the stillness of the -church, that only heightened the tumult of her heart. - -She rose, and they were about to leave, when the beadle came -forward, hurriedly saying-- - -"Madame, no doubt, does not belong to these parts? Madame would -like to see the curiosities of the church?" - -"Oh, no!" cried the clerk. - -"Why not?" said she. For she clung with her expiring virtue to -the Virgin, the sculptures, the tombs--anything. - -Then, in order to proceed "by rule," the beadle conducted them -right to the entrance near the square, where, pointing out with -his cane a large circle of block-stones without inscription or -carving-- - -"This," he said majestically, "is the circumference of the -beautiful bell of Ambroise. It weighed forty thousand pounds. -There was not its equal in all Europe. The workman who cast it -died of the joy--" - -"Let us go on," said Leon. - -The old fellow started off again; then, having got back to the -chapel of the Virgin, he stretched forth his arm with an -all-embracing gesture of demonstration, and, prouder than a -country squire showing you his espaliers, went on-- - -"This simple stone covers Pierre de Breze, lord of Varenne and of -Brissac, grand marshal of Poitou, and governor of Normandy, who -died at the battle of Montlhery on the 16th of July, 1465." - -Leon bit his lips, fuming. - -"And on the right, this gentleman all encased in iron, on the -prancing horse, is his grandson, Louis de Breze, lord of Breval -and of Montchauvet, Count de Maulevrier, Baron de Mauny, -chamberlain to the king, Knight of the Order, and also governor -of Normandy; died on the 23rd of July, 1531--a Sunday, as the -inscription specifies; and below, this figure, about to descend -into the tomb, portrays the same person. It is not possible, is -it, to see a more perfect representation of annihilation?" - -Madame Bovary put up her eyeglasses. Leon, motionless, looked at -her, no longer even attempting to speak a single word, to make a -gesture, so discouraged was he at this two-fold obstinacy of -gossip and indifference. - -The everlasting guide went on-- - -"Near him, this kneeling woman who weeps is his spouse, Diane de -Poitiers, Countess de Breze, Duchess de Valentinois, born in -1499, died in 1566, and to the left, the one with the child is -the Holy Virgin. Now turn to this side; here are the tombs of the -Ambroise. They were both cardinals and archbishops of Rouen. That -one was minister under Louis XII. He did a great deal for the -cathedral. In his will he left thirty thousand gold crowns for -the poor." - -And without stopping, still talking, he pushed them into a chapel -full of balustrades, some put away, and disclosed a kind of block -that certainly might once have been an ill-made statue. - -"Truly," he said with a groan, "it adorned the tomb of Richard -Coeur de Lion, King of England and Duke of Normandy. It was the -Calvinists, sir, who reduced it to this condition. They had -buried it for spite in the earth, under the episcopal seat of -Monsignor. See! this is the door by which Monsignor passes to his -house. Let us pass on quickly to see the gargoyle windows." - -But Leon hastily took some silver from his pocket and seized -Emma's arm. The beadle stood dumfounded, not able to understand -this untimely munificence when there were still so many things -for the stranger to see. So calling him back, he cried-- - -"Sir! sir! The steeple! the steeple!" - -"No, thank you!" said Leon. - -"You are wrong, sir! It is four hundred and forty feet high, nine -less than the great pyramid of Egypt. It is all cast; it--" - -Leon was fleeing, for it seemed to him that his love, that for -nearly two hours now had become petrified in the church like the -stones, would vanish like a vapour through that sort of truncated -funnel, of oblong cage, of open chimney that rises so grotesquely -from the cathedral like the extravagant attempt of some fantastic -brazier. - -"But where are we going?" she said. - -Making no answer, he walked on with a rapid step; and Madame -Bovary was already, dipping her finger in the holy water when -behind them they heard a panting breath interrupted by the -regular sound of a cane. Leon turned back. - -"Sir!" - -"What is it?" - -And he recognised the beadle, holding under his arms and -balancing against his stomach some twenty large sewn volumes. -They were works "which treated of the cathedral." - -"Idiot!" growled Leon, rushing out of the church. - -A lad was playing about the close. - -"Go and get me a cab!" - -The child bounded off like a ball by the Rue Quatre-Vents; then -they were alone a few minutes, face to face, and a little -embarrassed. - -"Ah! Leon! Really--I don't know--if I ought," she whispered. Then -with a more serious air, "Do you know, it is very improper--" - -"How so?" replied the clerk. "It is done at Paris." - -And that, as an irresistible argument, decided her. - -Still the cab did not come. Leon was afraid she might go back -into the church. At last the cab appeared. - -"At all events, go out by the north porch," cried the beadle, who -was left alone on the threshold, "so as to see the Resurrection, -the Last Judgment, Paradise, King David, and the Condemned in -Hell-flames." - -"Where to, sir?" asked the coachman. - -"Where you like," said Leon, forcing Emma into the cab. - -And the lumbering machine set out. It went down the Rue -Grand-Pont, crossed the Place des Arts, the Quai Napoleon, the -Pont Neuf, and stopped short before the statue of Pierre -Corneille. - -"Go on," cried a voice that came from within. - -The cab went on again, and as soon as it reached the Carrefour -Lafayette, set off down-hill, and entered the station at a -gallop. - -"No, straight on!" cried the same voice. - -The cab came out by the gate, and soon having reached the Cours, -trotted quietly beneath the elm-trees. The coachman wiped his -brow, put his leather hat between his knees, and drove his -carriage beyond the side alley by the meadow to the margin of the -waters. - -It went along by the river, along the towing-path paved with -sharp pebbles, and for a long while in the direction of Oyssel, -beyond the isles. - -But suddenly it turned with a dash across Quatremares, -Sotteville, La Grande-Chaussee, the Rue d'Elbeuf, and made its -third halt in front of the Jardin des Plantes. - -"Get on, will you?" cried the voice more furiously. - -And at once resuming its course, it passed by Saint-Sever, by the -Quai'des Curandiers, the Quai aux Meules, once more over the -bridge, by the Place du Champ de Mars, and behind the hospital -gardens, where old men in black coats were walking in the sun -along the terrace all green with ivy. It went up the Boulevard -Bouvreuil, along the Boulevard Cauchoise, then the whole of -Mont-Riboudet to the Deville hills. - -It came back; and then, without any fixed plan or direction, -wandered about at hazard. The cab was seen at Saint-Pol, at -Lescure, at Mont Gargan, at La Rougue-Marc and Place du -Gaillardbois; in the Rue Maladrerie, Rue Dinanderie, before -Saint-Romain, Saint-Vivien, Saint-Maclou, Saint-Nicaise--in front -of the Customs, at the "Vieille Tour," the "Trois Pipes," and the -Monumental Cemetery. From time to time the coachman, on his box -cast despairing eyes at the public-houses. He could not -understand what furious desire for locomotion urged these -individuals never to wish to stop. He tried to now and then, and -at once exclamations of anger burst forth behind him. Then he -lashed his perspiring jades afresh, but indifferent to their -jolting, running up against things here and there, not caring if -he did, demoralised, and almost weeping with thirst, fatigue, and -depression. - -And on the harbour, in the midst of the drays and casks, and in -the streets, at the corners, the good folk opened large -wonder-stricken eyes at this sight, so extraordinary in the -provinces, a cab with blinds drawn, and which appeared thus -constantly shut more closely than a tomb, and tossing about like -a vessel. - -Once in the middle of the day, in the open country, just as the -sun beat most fiercely against the old plated lanterns, a bared -hand passed beneath the small blinds of yellow canvas, and threw -out some scraps of paper that scattered in the wind, and farther -off lighted like white butterflies on a field of red clover all -in bloom. - -At about six o'clock the carriage stopped in a back street of the -Beauvoisine Quarter, and a woman got out, who walked with her -veil down, and without turning her head. - - - -Chapter Two - -On reaching the inn, Madame Bovary was surprised not to see the -diligence. Hivert, who had waited for her fifty-three minutes, -had at last started. - -Yet nothing forced her to go; but she had given her word that she -would return that same evening. Moreover, Charles expected her, -and in her heart she felt already that cowardly docility that is -for some women at once the chastisement and atonement of -adultery. - -She packed her box quickly, paid her bill, took a cab in the -yard, hurrying on the driver, urging him on, every moment -inquiring about the time and the miles traversed. He succeeded in -catching up the "Hirondelle" as it neared the first houses of -Quincampoix. - -Hardly was she seated in her corner than she closed her eyes, and -opened them at the foot of the hill, when from afar she -recognised Felicite, who was on the lookout in front of the -farrier's shop. Hivert pulled in his horses and, the servant, -climbing up to the window, said mysteriously-- - -"Madame, you must go at once to Monsieur Homais. It's for -something important." - -The village was silent as usual. At the corner of the streets -were small pink heaps that smoked in the air, for this was the -time for jam-making, and everyone at Yonville prepared his supply -on the same day. But in front of the chemist's shop one might -admire a far larger heap, and that surpassed the others with the -superiority that a laboratory must have over ordinary stores, a -general need over individual fancy. - -She went in. The large arm-chair was upset, and even the "Fanal -de Rouen" lay on the ground, outspread between two pestles. She -pushed open the lobby door, and in the middle of the kitchen, -amid brown jars full of picked currants, of powdered sugar and -lump sugar, of the scales on the table, and of the pans on the -fire, she saw all the Homais, small and large, with aprons -reaching to their chins, and with forks in their hands. Justin -was standing up with bowed head, and the chemist was screaming-- - -"Who told you to go and fetch it in the Capharnaum." - -"What is it? What is the matter?" - -"What is it?" replied the druggist. "We are making preserves; -they are simmering; but they were about to boil over, because -there is too much juice, and I ordered another pan. Then he, from -indolence, from laziness, went and took, hanging on its nail in -my laboratory, the key of the Capharnaum." - -It was thus the druggist called a small room under the leads, -full of the utensils and the goods of his trade. He often spent -long hours there alone, labelling, decanting, and doing up again; -and he looked upon it not as a simple store, but as a veritable -sanctuary, whence there afterwards issued, elaborated by his -hands, all sorts of pills, boluses, infusions, lotions, and -potions, that would bear far and wide his celebrity. No one in -the world set foot there, and he respected it so, that he swept -it himself. Finally, if the pharmacy, open to all comers, was the -spot where he displayed his pride, the Capharnaum was the refuge -where, egoistically concentrating himself, Homais delighted in -the exercise of his predilections, so that Justin's -thoughtlessness seemed to him a monstrous piece of irreverence, -and, redder than the currants, he repeated-- - -"Yes, from the Capharnaum! The key that locks up the acids and -caustic alkalies! To go and get a spare pan! a pan with a lid! -and that I shall perhaps never use! Everything is of importance -in the delicate operations of our art! But, devil take it! one -must make distinctions, and not employ for almost domestic -purposes that which is meant for pharmaceutical! It is as if one -were to carve a fowl with a scalpel; as if a magistrate--" - -"Now be calm," said Madame Homais. - -And Athalie, pulling at his coat, cried "Papa! papa!" - -"No, let me alone," went on the druggist "let me alone, hang it! -My word! One might as well set up for a grocer. That's it! go it! -respect nothing! break, smash, let loose the leeches, burn the -mallow-paste, pickle the gherkins in the window jars, tear up the -bandages!" - -"I thought you had--" said Emma. - -"Presently! Do you know to what you exposed yourself? Didn't you -see anything in the corner, on the left, on the third shelf? -Speak, answer, articulate something." - -"I--don't--know," stammered the young fellow. - -"Ah! you don't know! Well, then, I do know! You saw a bottle of -blue glass, sealed with yellow wax, that contains a white powder, -on which I have even written 'Dangerous!' And do you know what is -in it? Arsenic! And you go and touch it! You take a pan that was -next to it!" - -"Next to it!" cried Madame Homais, clasping her hands. "Arsenic! -You might have poisoned us all." - -And the children began howling as if they already had frightful -pains in their entrails. - -"Or poison a patient!" continued the druggist. "Do you want to -see me in the prisoner's dock with criminals, in a court of -justice? To see me dragged to the scaffold? Don't you know what -care I take in managing things, although I am so thoroughly used -to it? Often I am horrified myself when I think of my -responsibility; for the Government persecutes us, and the absurd -legislation that rules us is a veritable Damocles' sword over our -heads." - -Emma no longer dreamed of asking what they wanted her for, and -the druggist went on in breathless phrases-- - -"That is your return for all the kindness we have shown you! That -is how you recompense me for the really paternal care that I -lavish on you! For without me where would you be? What would you -be doing? Who provides you with food, education, clothes, and all -the means of figuring one day with honour in the ranks of -society? But you must pull hard at the oar if you're to do that, -and get, as, people say, callosities upon your hands. Fabricando -fit faber, age quod agis.*" - -* The worker lives by working, do what he will. - - -He was so exasperated he quoted Latin. He would have quoted -Chinese or Greenlandish had he known those two languages, for he -was in one of those crises in which the whole soul shows -indistinctly what it contains, like the ocean, which, in the -storm, opens itself from the seaweeds on its shores down to the -sands of its abysses. - -And he went on-- - -"I am beginning to repent terribly of having taken you up! I -should certainly have done better to have left you to rot in your -poverty and the dirt in which you were born. Oh, you'll never be -fit for anything but to herd animals with horns! You have no -aptitude for science! You hardly know how to stick on a label! -And there you are, dwelling with me snug as a parson, living in -clover, taking your ease!" - -But Emma, turning to Madame Homais, "I was told to come here--" - -"Oh, dear me!" interrupted the good woman, with a sad air, "how -am I to tell you? It is a misfortune!" - -She could not finish, the druggist was thundering--"Empty it! -Clean it! Take it back! Be quick!" - -And seizing Justin by the collar of his blouse, he shook a book -out of his pocket. The lad stooped, but Homais was the quicker, -and, having picked up the volume, contemplated it with staring -eyes and open mouth. - -"CONJUGAL--LOVE!" he said, slowly separating the two words. "Ah! -very good! very good! very pretty! And illustrations! Oh, this is -too much!" - -Madame Homais came forward. - -"No, do not touch it!" - -The children wanted to look at the pictures. - -"Leave the room," he said imperiously; and they went out. - -First he walked up and down with the open volume in his hand, -rolling his eyes, choking, tumid, apoplectic. Then he came -straight to his pupil, and, planting himself in front of him with -crossed arms-- - -"Have you every vice, then, little wretch? Take care! you are on -a downward path. Did not you reflect that this infamous book -might fall in the hands of my children, kindle a spark in their -minds, tarnish the purity of Athalie, corrupt Napoleon. He is -already formed like a man. Are you quite sure, anyhow, that they -have not read it? Can you certify to me--" - -"But really, sir," said Emma, "you wished to tell me--" - -"Ah, yes! madame. Your father-in-law is dead." - -In fact, Monsieur Bovary senior had expired the evening before -suddenly from an attack of apoplexy as he got up from table, and -by way of greater precaution, on account of Emma's sensibility, -Charles had begged Homais to break the horrible news to her -gradually. Homais had thought over his speech; he had rounded, -polished it, made it rhythmical; it was a masterpiece of prudence -and transitions, of subtle turns and delicacy; but anger had got -the better of rhetoric. - -Emma, giving up all chance of hearing any details, left the -pharmacy; for Monsieur Homais had taken up the thread of his -vituperations. However, he was growing calmer, and was now -grumbling in a paternal tone whilst he fanned himself with his -skull-cap. - -"It is not that I entirely disapprove of the work. Its author was -a doctor! There are certain scientific points in it that it is -not ill a man should know, and I would even venture to say that a -man must know. But later--later! At any rate, not till you are -man yourself and your temperament is formed." - -When Emma knocked at the door. Charles, who was waiting for her, -came forward with open arms and said to her with tears in his -voice-- - -"Ah! my dear!" - -And he bent over her gently to kiss her. But at the contact of -his lips the memory of the other seized her, and she passed her -hand over her face shuddering. - -But she made answer, "Yes, I know, I know!" - -He showed her the letter in which his mother told the event -without any sentimental hypocrisy. She only regretted her husband -had not received the consolations of religion, as he had died at -Daudeville, in the street, at the door of a cafe after a -patriotic dinner with some ex-officers. - -Emma gave him back the letter; then at dinner, for appearance's -sake, she affected a certain repugnance. But as he urged her to -try, she resolutely began eating, while Charles opposite her sat -motionless in a dejected attitude. - -Now and then he raised his head and gave her a long look full of -distress. Once he sighed, "I should have liked to see him again!" - -She was silent. At last, understanding that she must say -something, "How old was your father?" she asked. - -"Fifty-eight." - -"Ah!" - -And that was all. - -A quarter of an hour after he added, "My poor mother! what will -become of her now?" - -She made a gesture that signified she did not know. Seeing her so -taciturn, Charles imagined her much affected, and forced himself -to say nothing, not to reawaken this sorrow which moved him. And, -shaking off his own-- - -"Did you enjoy yourself yesterday?" he asked. - -"Yes." - -When the cloth was removed, Bovary did not rise, nor did Emma; -and as she looked at him, the monotony of the spectacle drove -little by little all pity from her heart. He seemed to her -paltry, weak, a cipher--in a word, a poor thing in every way. How -to get rid of him? What an interminable evening! Something -stupefying like the fumes of opium seized her. - -They heard in the passage the sharp noise of a wooden leg on the -boards. It was Hippolyte bringing back Emma's luggage. In order -to put it down he described painfully a quarter of a circle with -his stump. - -"He doesn't even remember any more about it," she thought, -looking at the poor devil, whose coarse red hair was wet with -perspiration. - -Bovary was searching at the bottom of his purse for a centime, -and without appearing to understand all there was of humiliation -for him in the mere presence of this man, who stood there like a -personified reproach to his incurable incapacity. - -"Hallo! you've a pretty bouquet," he said, noticing Leon's -violets on the chimney. - -"Yes," she replied indifferently; "it's a bouquet I bought just -now from a beggar." - -Charles picked up the flowers, and freshening his eyes, red with -tears, against them, smelt them delicately. - -She took them quickly from his hand and put them in a glass of -water. - -The next day Madame Bovary senior arrived. She and her son wept -much. Emma, on the pretext of giving orders, disappeared. The -following day they had a talk over the mourning. They went and -sat down with their workboxes by the waterside under the arbour. - -Charles was thinking of his father, and was surprised to feel so -much affection for this man, whom till then he had thought he -cared little about. Madame Bovary senior was thinking of her -husband. The worst days of the past seemed enviable to her. All -was forgotten beneath the instinctive regret of such a long -habit, and from time to time whilst she sewed, a big tear rolled -along her nose and hung suspended there a moment. Emma was -thinking that it was scarcely forty-eight hours since they had -been together, far from the world, all in a frenzy of joy, and -not having eyes enough to gaze upon each other. She tried to -recall the slightest details of that past day. But the presence -of her husband and mother-in-law worried her. She would have -liked to hear nothing, to see nothing, so as not to disturb the -meditation on her love, that, do what she would, became lost in -external sensations. - -She was unpicking the lining of a dress, and the strips were -scattered around her. Madame Bovary senior was plying her scissor -without looking up, and Charles, in his list slippers and his old -brown surtout that he used as a dressing-gown, sat with both -hands in his pockets, and did not speak either; near them Berthe, -in a little white pinafore, was raking sand in the walks with her -spade. Suddenly she saw Monsieur Lheureux, the linendraper, come -in through the gate. - -He came to offer his services "under the sad circumstances." Emma -answered that she thought she could do without. The shopkeeper -was not to be beaten. - -"I beg your pardon," he said, "but I should like to have a -private talk with you." Then in a low voice, "It's about that -affair--you know." - -Charles crimsoned to his ears. "Oh, yes! certainly." And in his -confusion, turning to his wife, "Couldn't you, my darling?" - -She seemed to understand him, for she rose; and Charles said to -his mother, "It is nothing particular. No doubt, some household -trifle." He did not want her to know the story of the bill, -fearing her reproaches. - -As soon as they were alone, Monsieur Lheureux in sufficiently -clear terms began to congratulate Emma on the inheritance, then -to talk of indifferent matters, of the espaliers, of the harvest, -and of his own health, which was always so-so, always having ups -and downs. In fact, he had to work devilish hard, although he -didn't make enough, in spite of all people said, to find butter -for his bread. - -Emma let him talk on. She had bored herself so prodigiously the -last two days. - -"And so you're quite well again?" he went on. "Ma foi! I saw your -husband in a sad state. He's a good fellow, though we did have a -little misunderstanding." - -She asked what misunderstanding, for Charles had said nothing of -the dispute about the goods supplied to her. - -"Why, you know well enough," cried Lheureux. "It was about your -little fancies--the travelling trunks." - -He had drawn his hat over his eyes, and, with his hands behind -his back, smiling and whistling, he looked straight at her in an -unbearable manner. Did he suspect anything? - -She was lost in all kinds of apprehensions. At last, however, he -went on-- - -"We made it up, all the same, and I've come again to propose -another arrangement." - -This was to renew the bill Bovary had signed. The doctor, of -course, would do as he pleased; he was not to trouble himself, -especially just now, when he would have a lot of worry. "And he -would do better to give it over to someone else--to you, for -example. With a power of attorney it could be easily managed, and -then we (you and I) would have our little business transactions -together." - -She did not understand. He was silent. Then, passing to his -trade, Lheureux declared that madame must require something. He -would send her a black barege, twelve yards, just enough to make -a gown. - -"The one you've on is good enough for the house, but you want -another for calls. I saw that the very moment that I came in. -I've the eye of an American!" - -He did not send the stuff; he brought it. Then he came again to -measure it; he came again on other pretexts, always trying to -make himself agreeable, useful, "enfeoffing himself," as Homais -would have said, and always dropping some hint to Emma about the -power of attorney. He never mentioned the bill; she did not think -of it. Charles, at the beginning of her convalescence, had -certainly said something about it to her, but so many emotions -had passed through her head that she no longer remembered it. -Besides, she took care not to talk of any money questions. Madame -Bovary seemed surprised at this, and attributed the change in her -ways to the religious sentiments she had contracted during her -illness. - -But as soon as she was gone, Emma greatly astounded Bovary by her -practical good sense. It would be necessary to make inquiries, to -look into mortgages, and see if there were any occasion for a -sale by auction or a liquidation. She quoted technical terms -casually, pronounced the grand words of order, the future, -foresight, and constantly exaggerated the difficulties of -settling his father's affairs so much, that at last one day she -showed him the rough draft of a power of attorney to manage and -administer his business, arrange all loans, sign and endorse all -bills, pay all sums, etc. She had profited by Lheureux's lessons. -Charles naively asked her where this paper came from. - -"Monsieur Guillaumin"; and with the utmost coolness she added, "I -don't trust him overmuch. Notaries have such a bad reputation. -Perhaps we ought to consult--we only know--no one." - -"Unless Leon--" replied Charles, who was reflecting. But it was -difficult to explain matters by letter. Then she offered to make -the journey, but he thanked her. She insisted. It was quite a -contest of mutual consideration. At last she cried with affected -waywardness-- - -"No, I will go!" - -"How good you are!" he said, kissing her forehead. - -The next morning she set out in the "Hirondelle" to go to Rouen -to consult Monsieur Leon, and she stayed there three days. - - - -Chapter Three - -They were three full, exquisite days--a true honeymoon. They were -at the Hotel-de-Boulogne, on the harbour; and they lived there, -with drawn blinds and closed doors, with flowers on the floor, -and iced syrups were brought them early in the morning. - -Towards evening they took a covered boat and went to dine on one -of the islands. It was the time when one hears by the side of the -dockyard the caulking-mallets sounding against the hull of -vessels. The smoke of the tar rose up between the trees; there -were large fatty drops on the water, undulating in the purple -colour of the sun, like floating plaques of Florentine bronze. - -They rowed down in the midst of moored boats, whose long oblique -cables grazed lightly against the bottom of the boat. The din of -the town gradually grew distant; the rolling of carriages, the -tumult of voices, the yelping of dogs on the decks of vessels. -She took off her bonnet, and they landed on their island. - -They sat down in the low-ceilinged room of a tavern, at whose -door hung black nets. They ate fried smelts, cream and cherries. -They lay down upon the grass; they kissed behind the poplars; and -they would fain, like two Robinsons, have lived for ever in this -little place, which seemed to them in their beatitude the most -magnificent on earth. It was not the first time that they had -seen trees, a blue sky, meadows; that they had heard the water -flowing and the wind blowing in the leaves; but, no doubt, they -had never admired all this, as if Nature had not existed before, -or had only begun to be beautiful since the gratification of -their desires. - -At night they returned. The boat glided along the shores of the -islands. They sat at the bottom, both hidden by the shade, in -silence. The square oars rang in the iron thwarts, and, in the -stillness, seemed to mark time, like the beating of a metronome, -while at the stern the rudder that trailed behind never ceased -its gentle splash against the water. - -Once the moon rose; they did not fail to make fine phrases, -finding the orb melancholy and full of poetry. She even began to -sing-- - -"One night, do you remember, we were sailing," etc. - -Her musical but weak voice died away along the waves, and the -winds carried off the trills that Leon heard pass like the -flapping of wings about him. - -She was opposite him, leaning against the partition of the -shallop, through one of whose raised blinds the moon streamed in. -Her black dress, whose drapery spread out like a fan, made her -seem more slender, taller. Her head was raised, her hands -clasped, her eyes turned towards heaven. At times the shadow of -the willows hid her completely; then she reappeared suddenly, -like a vision in the moonlight. - -Leon, on the floor by her side, found under his hand a ribbon of -scarlet silk. The boatman looked at it, and at last said-- - -"Perhaps it belongs to the party I took out the other day. A lot -of jolly folk, gentlemen and ladies, with cakes, champagne, -cornets--everything in style! There was one especially, a tall -handsome man with small moustaches, who was that funny! And they -all kept saying, 'Now tell us something, Adolphe--Dolpe,' I -think." - -She shivered. - -"You are in pain?" asked Leon, coming closer to her. - -"Oh, it's nothing! No doubt, it is only the night air." - -"And who doesn't want for women, either," softly added the -sailor, thinking he was paying the stranger a compliment. - -Then, spitting on his hands, he took the oars again. - -Yet they had to part. The adieux were sad. He was to send his -letters to Mere Rollet, and she gave him such precise -instructions about a double envelope that he admired greatly her -amorous astuteness. - -"So you can assure me it is all right?" she said with her last -kiss. - -"Yes, certainly." - -"But why," he thought afterwards as he came back through the -streets alone, "is she so very anxious to get this power of -attorney?" - - - -Chapter Four - -Leon soon put on an air of superiority before his comrades, -avoided their company, and completely neglected his work. - -He waited for her letters; he re-read them; he wrote to her. He -called her to mind with all the strength of his desires and of -his memories. Instead of lessening with absence, this longing to -see her again grew, so that at last on Saturday morning he -escaped from his office. - -When, from the summit of the hill, he saw in the valley below the -church-spire with its tin flag swinging in the wind, he felt that -delight mingled with triumphant vanity and egoistic tenderness -that millionaires must experience when they come back to their -native village. - -He went rambling round her house. A light was burning in the -kitchen. He watched for her shadow behind the curtains, but -nothing appeared. - -Mere Lefrancois, when she saw him, uttered many exclamations. She -thought he "had grown and was thinner," while Artemise, on the -contrary, thought him stouter and darker. - -He dined in the little room as of yore, but alone, without the -tax-gatherer; for Binet, tired of waiting for the "Hirondelle," -had definitely put forward his meal one hour, and now he dined -punctually at five, and yet he declared usually the rickety old -concern "was late." - -Leon, however, made up his mind, and knocked at the doctor's -door. Madame was in her room, and did not come down for a quarter -of an hour. The doctor seemed delighted to see him, but he never -stirred out that evening, nor all the next day. - -He saw her alone in the evening, very late, behind the garden in -the lane; in the lane, as she had the other one! It was a stormy -night, and they talked under an umbrella by lightning flashes. - -Their separation was becoming intolerable. "I would rather die!" -said Emma. She was writhing in his arms, weeping. "Adieu! adieu! -When shall I see you again?" - -They came back again to embrace once more, and it was then that -she promised him to find soon, by no matter what means, a regular -opportunity for seeing one another in freedom at least once a -week. Emma never doubted she should be able to do this. Besides, -she was full of hope. Some money was coming to her. - -On the strength of it she bought a pair of yellow curtains with -large stripes for her room, whose cheapness Monsieur Lheureux had -commended; she dreamed of getting a carpet, and Lheureux, -declaring that it wasn't "drinking the sea," politely undertook -to supply her with one. She could no longer do without his -services. Twenty times a day she sent for him, and he at once put -by his business without a murmur. People could not understand -either why Mere Rollet breakfasted with her every day, and even -paid her private visits. - -It was about this time, that is to say, the beginning of winter, -that she seemed seized with great musical fervour. - -One evening when Charles was listening to her, she began the same -piece four times over, each time with much vexation, while he, -not noticing any difference, cried-- - -"Bravo! very goodl You are wrong to stop. Go on!" - -"Oh, no; it is execrable! My fingers are quite rusty." - -The next day he begged her to play him something again. - -"Very well; to please you!" - -And Charles confessed she had gone off a little. She played wrong -notes and blundered; then, stopping short-- - -"Ah! it is no use. I ought to take some lessons; but--" She bit -her lips and added, "Twenty francs a lesson, that's too dear!" - -"Yes, so it is--rather," said Charles, giggling stupidly. "But it -seems to me that one might be able to do it for less; for there -are artists of no reputation, and who are often better than the -celebrities." - -"Find them!" said Emma. - -The next day when he came home he looked at her shyly, and at -last could no longer keep back the words. - -"How obstinate you are sometimes! I went to Barfucheres to-day. -Well, Madame Liegard assured me that her three young ladies who -are at La Misericorde have lessons at fifty sous apiece, and that -from an excellent mistress!" - -She shrugged her shoulders and did not open her piano again. But -when she passed by it (if Bovary were there), she sighed-- - -"Ah! my poor piano!" - -And when anyone came to see her, she did not fail to inform them -she had given up music, and could not begin again now for -important reasons. Then people commiserated her-- - -"What a pity! she had so much talent!" - -They even spoke to Bovary about it. They put him to shame, and -especially the chemist. - -"You are wrong. One should never let any of the faculties of -nature lie fallow. Besides, just think, my good friend, that by -inducing madame to study; you are economising on the subsequent -musical education of your child. For my own part, I think that -mothers ought themselves to instruct their children. That is an -idea of Rousseau's, still rather new perhaps, but that will end -by triumphing, I am certain of it, like mothers nursing their own -children and vaccination." - -So Charles returned once more to this question of the piano. Emma -replied bitterly that it would be better to sell it. This poor -piano, that had given her vanity so much satisfaction--to see it -go was to Bovary like the indefinable suicide of a part of -herself. - -"If you liked," he said, "a lesson from time to time, that -wouldn't after all be very ruinous." - -"But lessons," she replied, "are only of use when followed up." - -And thus it was she set about obtaining her husband's permission -to go to town once a week to see her lover. At the end of a month -she was even considered to have made considerable progress. - - - -Chapter Five - -She went on Thursdays. She got up and dressed silently, in order -not to awaken Charles, who would have made remarks about her -getting ready too early. Next she walked up and down, went to the -windows, and looked out at the Place. The early dawn was -broadening between the pillars of the market, and the chemist's -shop, with the shutters still up, showed in the pale light of the -dawn the large letters of his signboard. - -When the clock pointed to a quarter past seven, she went off to -the "Lion d'Or," whose door Artemise opened yawning. The girl -then made up the coals covered by the cinders, and Emma remained -alone in the kitchen. Now and again she went out. Hivert was -leisurely harnessing his horses, listening, moreover, to Mere -Lefrancois, who, passing her head and nightcap through a grating, -was charging him with commissions and giving him explanations -that would have confused anyone else. Emma kept beating the soles -of her boots against the pavement of the yard. - -At last, when he had eaten his soup, put on his cloak, lighted -his pipe, and grasped his whip, he calmly installed himself on -his seat. - -The "Hirondelle" started at a slow trot, and for about a mile -stopped here and there to pick up passengers who waited for it, -standing at the border of the road, in front of their yard gates. - -Those who had secured seats the evening before kept it waiting; -some even were still in bed in their houses. Hivert called, -shouted, swore; then he got down from his seat and went and -knocked loudly at the doors. The wind blew through the cracked -windows. - -The four seats, however, filled up. The carriage rolled off; rows -of apple-trees followed one upon another, and the road between -its two long ditches, full of yellow water, rose, constantly -narrowing towards the horizon. - -Emma knew it from end to end; she knew that after a meadow there -was a sign-post, next an elm, a barn, or the hut of a lime-kiln -tender. Sometimes even, in the hope of getting some surprise, she -shut her eyes, but she never lost the clear perception of the -distance to be traversed. - -At last the brick houses began to follow one another more -closely, the earth resounded beneath the wheels, the "Hirondelle" -glided between the gardens, where through an opening one saw -statues, a periwinkle plant, clipped yews, and a swing. Then on a -sudden the town appeared. Sloping down like an amphitheatre, and -drowned in the fog, it widened out beyond the bridges confusedly. -Then the open country spread away with a monotonous movement till -it touched in the distance the vague line of the pale sky. Seen -thus from above, the whole landscape looked immovable as a -picture; the anchored ships were massed in one corner, the river -curved round the foot of the green hills, and the isles, oblique -in shape, lay on the water, like large, motionless, black fishes. -The factory chimneys belched forth immense brown fumes that were -blown away at the top. One heard the rumbling of the foundries, -together with the clear chimes of the churches that stood out in -the mist. The leafless trees on the boulevards made violet -thickets in the midst of the houses, and the roofs, all shining -with the rain, threw back unequal reflections, according to the -height of the quarters in which they were. Sometimes a gust of -wind drove the clouds towards the Saint Catherine hills, like -aerial waves that broke silently against a cliff. - -A giddiness seemed to her to detach itself from this mass of -existence, and her heart swelled as if the hundred and twenty -thousand souls that palpitated there had all at once sent into it -the vapour of the passions she fancied theirs. Her love grew in -the presence of this vastness, and expanded with tumult to the -vague murmurings that rose towards her. She poured it out upon -the square, on the walks, on the streets, and the old Norman city -outspread before her eyes as an enormous capital, as a Babylon -into which she was entering. She leant with both hands against -the window, drinking in the breeze; the three horses galloped, -the stones grated in the mud, the diligence rocked, and Hivert, -from afar, hailed the carts on the road, while the bourgeois who -had spent the night at the Guillaume woods came quietly down the -hill in their little family carriages. - -They stopped at the barrier; Emma undid her overshoes, put on -other gloves, rearranged her shawl, and some twenty paces farther -she got down from the "Hirondelle." - -The town was then awakening. Shop-boys in caps were cleaning up -the shop-fronts, and women with baskets against their hips, at -intervals uttered sonorous cries at the corners of streets. She -walked with downcast eyes, close to the walls, and smiling with -pleasure under her lowered black veil. - -For fear of being seen, she did not usually take the most direct -road. She plunged into dark alleys, and, all perspiring, reached -the bottom of the Rue Nationale, near the fountain that stands -there. It, is the quarter for theatres, public-houses, and -whores. Often a cart would pass near her, bearing some shaking -scenery. Waiters in aprons were sprinkling sand on the flagstones -between green shrubs. It all smelt of absinthe, cigars, and -oysters. - -She turned down a street; she recognised him by his curling hair -that escaped from beneath his hat. - -Leon walked along the pavement. She followed him to the hotel. He -went up, opened the door, entered--What an embrace! - -Then, after the kisses, the words gushed forth. They told each -other the sorrows of the week, the presentiments, the anxiety for -the letters; but now everything was forgotten; they gazed into -each other's faces with voluptuous laughs, and tender names. - -The bed was large, of mahogany, in the shape of a boat. The -curtains were in red levantine, that hung from the ceiling and -bulged out too much towards the bell-shaped bedside; and nothing -in the world was so lovely as her brown head and white skin -standing out against this purple colour, when, with a movement of -shame, she crossed her bare arms, hiding her face in her hands. - -The warm room, with its discreet carpet, its gay ornaments, and -its calm light, seemed made for the intimacies of passion. The -curtain-rods, ending in arrows, their brass pegs, and the great -balls of the fire-dogs shone suddenly when the sun came in. On -the chimney between the candelabra there were two of those pink -shells in which one hears the murmur of the sea if one holds them -to the ear. - -How they loved that dear room, so full of gaiety, despite its -rather faded splendour! They always found the furniture in the -same place, and sometimes hairpins, that she had forgotten the -Thursday before, under the pedestal of the clock. They lunched by -the fireside on a little round table, inlaid with rosewood. Emma -carved, put bits on his plate with all sorts of coquettish ways, -and she laughed with a sonorous and libertine laugh when the -froth of the champagne ran over from the glass to the rings on -her fingers. They were so completely lost in the possession of -each other that they thought themselves in their own house, and -that they would live there till death, like two spouses eternally -young. They said "our room," "our carpet," she even said "my -slippers," a gift of Leon's, a whim she had had. They were pink -satin, bordered with swansdown. When she sat on his knees, her -leg, then too short, hung in the air, and the dainty shoe, that -had no back to it, was held only by the toes to her bare foot. - -He for the first time enjoyed the inexpressible delicacy of -feminine refinements. He had never met this grace of language, -this reserve of clothing, these poses of the weary dove. He -admired the exaltation of her soul and the lace on her petticoat. -Besides, was she not "a lady" and a married woman--a real -mistress, in fine? - -By the diversity of her humour, in turn mystical or mirthful, -talkative, taciturn, passionate, careless, she awakened in him a -thousand desires, called up instincts or memories. She was the -mistress of all the novels, the heroine of all the dramas, the -vague "she" of all the volumes of verse. He found again on her -shoulder the amber colouring of the "Odalisque Bathing"; she had -the long waist of feudal chatelaines, and she resembled the "Pale -Woman of Barcelona." But above all she was the Angel! - -Often looking at her, it seemed to him that his soul, escaping -towards her, spread like a wave about the outline of her head, -and descended drawn down into the whiteness of her breast. He -knelt on the ground before her, and with both elbows on her knees -looked at her with a smile, his face upturned. - -She bent over him, and murmured, as if choking with intoxication-- - -"Oh, do not move! do not speak! look at me! Something so sweet -comes from your eyes that helps me so much!" - -She called him "child." "Child, do you love me?" - -And she did not listen for his answer in the haste of her lips -that fastened to his mouth. - -On the clock there was a bronze cupid, who smirked as he bent his -arm beneath a golden garland. They had laughed at it many a time, -but when they had to part everything seemed serious to them. - -Motionless in front of each other, they kept repeating, "Till -Thursday, till Thursday." - -Suddenly she seized his head between her hands, kissed him -hurriedly on the forehead, crying, "Adieu!" and rushed down the -stairs. - -She went to a hairdresser's in the Rue de la Comedie to have her -hair arranged. Night fell; the gas was lighted in the shop. She -heard the bell at the theatre calling the mummers to the -performance, and she saw, passing opposite, men with white faces -and women in faded gowns going in at the stage-door. - -It was hot in the room, small, and too low where the stove was -hissing in the midst of wigs and pomades. The smell of the tongs, -together with the greasy hands that handled her head, soon -stunned her, and she dozed a little in her wrapper. Often, as he -did her hair, the man offered her tickets for a masked ball. - -Then she went away. She went up the streets; reached the -Croix-Rouge, put on her overshoes, that she had hidden in the -morning under the seat, and sank into her place among the -impatient passengers. Some got out at the foot of the hill. She -remained alone in the carriage. At every turning all the lights -of the town were seen more and more completely, making a great -luminous vapour about the dim houses. Emma knelt on the cushions -and her eyes wandered over the dazzling light. She sobbed; called -on Leon, sent him tender words and kisses lost in the wind. - -On the hillside a poor devil wandered about with his stick in the -midst of the diligences. A mass of rags covered his shoulders, -and an old staved-in beaver, turned out like a basin, hid his -face; but when he took it off he discovered in the place of -eyelids empty and bloody orbits. The flesh hung in red shreds, -and there flowed from it liquids that congealed into green scale -down to the nose, whose black nostrils sniffed convulsively. To -speak to you he threw back his head with an idiotic laugh; then -his bluish eyeballs, rolling constantly, at the temples beat -against the edge of the open wound. He sang a little song as he -followed the carriages-- - -"Maids an the warmth of a summer day -Dream of love, and of love always" - -And all the rest was about birds and sunshine and green leaves. - -Sometimes he appeared suddenly behind Emma, bareheaded, and she -drew back with a cry. Hivert made fun of him. He would advise him -to get a booth at the Saint Romain fair, or else ask him, -laughing, how his young woman was. - -Often they had started when, with a sudden movement, his hat -entered the diligence through the small window, while he clung -with his other arm to the footboard, between the wheels splashing -mud. His voice, feeble at first and quavering, grew sharp; it -resounded in the night like the indistinct moan of a vague -distress; and through the ringing of the bells, the murmur of the -trees, and the rumbling of the empty vehicle, it had a far-off -sound that disturbed Emma. It went to the bottom of her soul, -like a whirlwind in an abyss, and carried her away into the -distances of a boundless melancholy. But Hivert, noticing a -weight behind, gave the blind man sharp cuts with his whip. The -thong lashed his wounds, and he fell back into the mud with a -yell. Then the passengers in the "Hirondelle" ended by falling -asleep, some with open mouths, others with lowered chins, leaning -against their neighbour's shoulder, or with their arm passed -through the strap, oscillating regularly with the jolting of the -carriage; and the reflection of the lantern swinging without, on -the crupper of the wheeler; penetrating into the interior through -the chocolate calico curtains, threw sanguineous shadows over all -these motionless people. Emma, drunk with grief, shivered in her -clothes, feeling her feet grow colder and colder, and death in -her soul. - -Charles at home was waiting for her; the "Hirondelle" was always -late on Thursdays. Madame arrived at last, and scarcely kissed -the child. The dinner was not ready. No matter! She excused the -servant. This girl now seemed allowed to do just as she liked. - -Often her husband, noting her pallor, asked if she were unwell. - -"No," said Emma. - -"But," he replied, "you seem so strange this evening." - -"Oh, it's nothing! nothing!" - -There were even days when she had no sooner come in than she went -up to her room; and Justin, happening to be there, moved about -noiselessly, quicker at helping her than the best of maids. He -put the matches ready, the candlestick, a book, arranged her -nightgown, turned back the bedclothes. - -"Come!" said she, "that will do. Now you can go." - -For he stood there, his hands hanging down and his eyes wide -open, as if enmeshed in the innumerable threads of a sudden -reverie. - -The following day was frightful, and those that came after still -more unbearable, because of her impatience to once again seize -her happiness; an ardent lust, inflamed by the images of past -experience, and that burst forth freely on the seventh day -beneath Leon's caresses. His ardours were hidden beneath -outbursts of wonder and gratitude. Emma tasted this love in a -discreet, absorbed fashion, maintained it by all the artifices of -her tenderness, and trembled a little lest it should be lost -later on. - -She often said to him, with her sweet, melancholy voice-- - -"Ah! you too, you will leave me! You will marry! You will be like -all the others." - -He asked, "What others?" - -"Why, like all men," she replied. Then added, repulsing him with -a languid movement-- - -"You are all evil!" - -One day, as they were talking philosophically of earthly -disillusions, to experiment on his jealousy, or yielding, -perhaps, to an over-strong need to pour out her heart, she told -him that formerly, before him, she had loved someone. - -"Not like you," she went on quickly, protesting by the head of -her child that "nothing had passed between them." - -The young man believed her, but none the less questioned her to -find out what he was. - -"He was a ship's captain, my dear." - -Was this not preventing any inquiry, and, at the same time, -assuming a higher ground through this pretended fascination -exercised over a man who must have been of warlike nature and -accustomed to receive homage? - -The clerk then felt the lowliness of his position; he longed for -epaulettes, crosses, titles. All that would please her--he -gathered that from her spendthrift habits. - -Emma nevertheless concealed many of these extravagant fancies, -such as her wish to have a blue tilbury to drive into Rouen, -drawn by an English horse and driven by a groom in top-boots. It -was Justin who had inspired her with this whim, by begging her to -take him into her service as valet-de-chambre*, and if the -privation of it did not lessen the pleasure of her arrival at -each rendezvous, it certainly augmented the bitterness of the -return. - -* Manservant. - - -Often, when they talked together of Paris, she ended by -murmuring, "Ah! how happy we should be there!" - -"Are we not happy?" gently answered the young man passing his -hands over her hair. - -"Yes, that is true," she said. "I am mad. Kiss me!" - -To her husband she was more charming than ever. She made him -pistachio-creams, and played him waltzes after dinner. So he -thought himself the most fortunate of men and Emma was without -uneasiness, when, one evening suddenly he said-- - -"It is Mademoiselle Lempereur, isn't it, who gives you lessons?" - -"Yes." - -"Well, I saw her just now," Charles went on, "at Madame -Liegeard's. I spoke to her about you, and she doesn't know you." - -This was like a thunderclap. However, she replied quite -naturally-- - -"Ah! no doubt she forgot my name." - -"But perhaps," said the doctor, "there are several Demoiselles -Lempereur at Rouen who are music-mistresses." - -"Possibly!" Then quickly--"But I have my receipts here. See!" - -And she went to the writing-table, ransacked all the drawers, -rummaged the papers, and at last lost her head so completely that -Charles earnestly begged her not to take so much trouble about -those wretched receipts. - -"Oh, I will find them," she said. - -And, in fact, on the following Friday, as Charles was putting on -one of his boots in the dark cabinet where his clothes were kept, -he felt a piece of paper between the leather and his sock. He -took it out and read-- - -"Received, for three months' lessons and several pieces of music, -the sum of sixty-three francs.--Felicie Lempereur, professor of -music." - -"How the devil did it get into my boots?" - -"It must," she replied, "have fallen from the old box of bills -that is on the edge of the shelf." - -From that moment her existence was but one long tissue of lies, -in which she enveloped her love as in veils to hide it. It was a -want, a mania, a pleasure carried to such an extent that if she -said she had the day before walked on the right side of a road, -one might know she had taken the left. - -One morning, when she had gone, as usual, rather lightly clothed, -it suddenly began to snow, and as Charles was watching the -weather from the window, he caught sight of Monsieur Bournisien -in the chaise of Monsieur Tuvache, who was driving him to Rouen. -Then he went down to give the priest a thick shawl that he was to -hand over to Emma as soon as he reached the "Croix-Rouge." When -he got to the inn, Monsieur Bournisien asked for the wife of the -Yonville doctor. The landlady replied that she very rarely came -to her establishment. So that evening, when he recognised Madame -Bovary in the "Hirondelle," the cure told her his dilemma, -without, however, appearing to attach much importance to it, for -he began praising a preacher who was doing wonders at the -Cathedral, and whom all the ladies were rushing to hear. - -Still, if he did not ask for any explanation, others, later on, -might prove less discreet. So she thought well to get down each -time at the "Croix-Rouge," so that the good folk of her village -who saw her on the stairs should suspect nothing. - -One day, however, Monsieur Lheureux met her coming out of the -Hotel de Boulogne on Leon's arm; and she was frightened, thinking -he would gossip. He was not such a fool. But three days after he -came to her room, shut the door, and said, "I must have some -money." - -She declared she could not give him any. Lheureux burst into -lamentations and reminded her of all the kindnesses he had shown -her. - -In fact, of the two bills signed by Charles, Emma up to the -present had paid only one. As to the second, the shopkeeper, at -her request, had consented to replace it by another, which again -had been renewed for a long date. Then he drew from his pocket a -list of goods not paid for; to wit, the curtains, the carpet, the -material for the armchairs, several dresses, and divers articles -of dress, the bills for which amounted to about two thousand -francs. - -She bowed her head. He went on-- - -"But if you haven't any ready money, you have an estate." And he -reminded her of a miserable little hovel situated at Barneville, -near Aumale, that brought in almost nothing. It had formerly been -part of a small farm sold by Monsieur Bovary senior; for Lheureux -knew everything, even to the number of acres and the names of the -neighbours. - -"If I were in your place," he said, "I should clear myself of my -debts, and have money left over." - -She pointed out the difficulty of getting a purchaser. He held -out the hope of finding one; but she asked him how she should -manage to sell it. - -"Haven't you your power of attorney?" he replied. - -The phrase came to her like a breath of fresh air. "Leave me the -bill," said Emma. - -"Oh, it isn't worth while," answered Lheureux. - -He came back the following week and boasted of having, after much -trouble, at last discovered a certain Langlois, who, for a long -time, had had an eye on the property, but without mentioning his -price. - -"Never mind the price!" she cried. - -But they would, on the contrary, have to wait, to sound the -fellow. The thing was worth a journey, and, as she could not -undertake it, he offered to go to the place to have an interview -with Langlois. On his return he announced that the purchaser -proposed four thousand francs. - -Emma was radiant at this news. - -"Frankly," he added, "that's a good price." - -She drew half the sum at once, and when she was about to pay her -account the shopkeeper said-- - -"It really grieves me, on my word! to see you depriving yourself -all at once of such a big sum as that." - -Then she looked at the bank-notes, and dreaming of the unlimited -number of rendezvous represented by those two thousand francs, -she stammered-- - -"What! what!" - -"Oh!" he went on, laughing good-naturedly, "one puts anything one -likes on receipts. Don't you think I know what household affairs -are?" And he looked at her fixedly, while in his hand he held two -long papers that he slid between his nails. At last, opening his -pocket-book, he spread out on the table four bills to order, each -for a thousand francs. - -"Sign these," he said, "and keep it all!" - -She cried out, scandalised. - -"But if I give you the surplus," replied Monsieur Lheureux -impudently, "is that not helping you?" - -And taking a pen he wrote at the bottom of the account, "Received -of Madame Bovary four thousand francs." - -"Now who can trouble you, since in six months you'll draw the -arrears for your cottage, and I don't make the last bill due till -after you've been paid?" - -Emma grew rather confused in her calculations, and her ears -tingled as if gold pieces, bursting from their bags, rang all -round her on the floor. At last Lheureux explained that he had a -very good friend, Vincart, a broker at Rouen, who would discount -these four bills. Then he himself would hand over to madame the -remainder after the actual debt was paid. - -But instead of two thousand francs he brought only eighteen -hundred, for the friend Vincart (which was only fair) had -deducted two hundred francs for commission and discount. Then he -carelessly asked for a receipt. - -"You understand--in business--sometimes. And with the date, if -you please, with the date." - -A horizon of realisable whims opened out before Emma. She was -prudent enough to lay by a thousand crowns, with which the first -three bills were paid when they fell due; but the fourth, by -chance, came to the house on a Thursday, and Charles, quite -upset, patiently awaited his wife's return for an explanation. - -If she had not told him about this bill, it was only to spare him -such domestic worries; she sat on his knees, caressed him, cooed -to him, gave him a long enumeration of all the indispensable -things that had been got on credit. - -"Really, you must confess, considering the quantity, it isn't too -dear." - -Charles, at his wit's end, soon had recourse to the eternal -Lheureux, who swore he would arrange matters if the doctor would -sign him two bills, one of which was for seven hundred francs, -payable in three months. In order to arrange for this he wrote -his mother a pathetic letter. Instead of sending a reply she came -herself; and when Emma wanted to know whether he had got anything -out of her, "Yes," he replied; "but she wants to see the -account." The next morning at daybreak Emma ran to Lheureux to -beg him to make out another account for not more than a thousand -francs, for to show the one for four thousand it would be -necessary to say that she had paid two-thirds, and confess, -consequently, the sale of the estate--a negotiation admirably -carried out by the shopkeeper, and which, in fact, was only -actually known later on. - -Despite the low price of each article, Madame Bovary senior, of -course, thought the expenditure extravagant. - -"Couldn't you do without a carpet? Why have recovered the -arm-chairs? In my time there was a single arm-chair in a house, -for elderly persons--at any rate it was so at my mother's, who -was a good woman, I can tell you. Everybody can't be rich! No -fortune can hold out against waste! I should be ashamed to coddle -myself as you do! And yet I am old. I need looking after. And -there! there! fitting up gowns! fallals! What! silk for lining at -two francs, when you can get jaconet for ten sous, or even for -eight, that would do well enough!" - -Emma, lying on a lounge, replied as quietly as possible--"Ah! -Madame, enough! enough!" - -The other went on lecturing her, predicting they would end in the -workhouse. But it was Bovary's fault. Luckily he had promised to -destroy that power of attorney. - -"What?" - -"Ah! he swore he would," went on the good woman. - -Emma opened the window, called Charles, and the poor fellow was -obliged to confess the promise torn from him by his mother. - -Emma disappeared, then came back quickly, and majestically handed -her a thick piece of paper. - -"Thank you," said the old woman. And she threw the power of -attorney into the fire. - -Emma began to laugh, a strident, piercing, continuous laugh; she -had an attack of hysterics. - -"Oh, my God!" cried Charles. "Ah! you really are wrong! You come -here and make scenes with her!" - -His mother, shrugging her shoulders, declared it was "all put -on." - -But Charles, rebelling for the first time, took his wife's part, -so that Madame Bovary, senior, said she would leave. She went the -very next day, and on the threshold, as he was trying to detain -her, she replied-- - -"No, no! You love her better than me, and you are right. It is -natural. For the rest, so much the worse! You will see. Good -day--for I am not likely to come soon again, as you say, to make -scenes." - -Charles nevertheless was very crestfallen before Emma, who did -not hide the resentment she still felt at his want of confidence, -and it needed many prayers before she would consent to have -another power of attorney. He even accompanied her to Monsieur -Guillaumin to have a second one, just like the other, drawn up. - -"I understand," said the notary; "a man of science can't be -worried with the practical details of life." - -And Charles felt relieved by this comfortable reflection, which -gave his weakness the flattering appearance of higher -pre-occupation. - -And what an outburst the next Thursday at the hotel in their room -with Leon! She laughed, cried, sang, sent for sherbets, wanted to -smoke cigarettes, seemed to him wild and extravagant, but -adorable, superb. - -He did not know what recreation of her whole being drove her more -and more to plunge into the pleasures of life. She was becoming -irritable, greedy, voluptuous; and she walked about the streets -with him carrying her head high, without fear, so she said, of -compromising herself. At times, however, Emma shuddered at the -sudden thought of meeting Rodolphe, for it seemed to her that, -although they were separated forever, she was not completely free -from her subjugation to him. - -One night she did not return to Yonville at all. Charles lost his -head with anxiety, and little Berthe would not go to bed without -her mamma, and sobbed enough to break her heart. Justin had gone -out searching the road at random. Monsieur Homais even had left -his pharmacy. - -At last, at eleven o'clock, able to bear it no longer, Charles -harnessed his chaise, jumped in, whipped up his horse, and -reached the "Croix-Rouge" about two o'clock in the morning. No -one there! He thought that the clerk had perhaps seen her; but -where did he live? Happily, Charles remembered his employer's -address, and rushed off there. - -Day was breaking, and he could distinguish the escutcheons over -the door, and knocked. Someone, without opening the door, shouted -out the required information, adding a few insults to those who -disturb people in the middle of the night. - -The house inhabited by the clerk had neither bell, knocker, nor -porter. Charles knocked loudly at the shutters with his hands. A -policeman happened to pass by. Then he was frightened, and went -away. - -"I am mad," he said; "no doubt they kept her to dinner at -Monsieur Lormeaux'." But the Lormeaux no longer lived at Rouen. - -"She probably stayed to look after Madame Dubreuil. Why, Madame -Dubreuil has been dead these ten months! Where can she be?" - -An idea occurred to him. At a cafe he asked for a Directory, and -hurriedly looked for the name of Mademoiselle Lempereur, who -lived at No. 74 Rue de la Renelle-des-Maroquiniers. - -As he was turning into the street, Emma herself appeared at the -other end of it. He threw himself upon her rather than embraced -her, crying-- - -"What kept you yesterday?" - -"I was not well." - -"What was it? Where? How?" - -She passed her hand over her forehead and answered, "At -Mademoiselle Lempereur's." - -"I was sure of it! I was going there." - -"Oh, it isn't worth while," said Emma. "She went out just now; -but for the future don't worry. I do not feel free, you see, if I -know that the least delay upsets you like this." - -This was a sort of permission that she gave herself, so as to get -perfect freedom in her escapades. And she profited by it freely, -fully. When she was seized with the desire to see Leon, she set -out upon any pretext; and as he was not expecting her on that -day, she went to fetch him at his office. - -It was a great delight at first, but soon he no longer concealed -the truth, which was, that his master complained very much about -these interruptions. - -"Pshaw! come along," she said. - -And he slipped out. - -She wanted him to dress all in black, and grow a pointed beard, -to look like the portraits of Louis XIII. She wanted to see his -lodgings; thought them poor. He blushed at them, but she did not -notice this, then advised him to buy some curtains like hers, and -as he objected to the expense-- - -"Ah! ah! you care for your money," she said laughing. - -Each time Leon had to tell her everything that he had done since -their last meeting. She asked him for some verses--some verses -"for herself," a "love poem" in honour of her. But he never -succeeded in getting a rhyme for the second verse; and at last -ended by copying a sonnet in a "Keepsake." This was less from -vanity than from the one desire of pleasing her. He did not -question her ideas; he accepted all her tastes; he was rather -becoming her mistress than she his. She had tender words and -kisses that thrilled his soul. Where could she have learnt this -corruption almost incorporeal in the strength of its profanity -and dissimulation? - - - -Chapter Six - -During the journeys he made to see her, Leon had often dined at -the chemist's, and he felt obliged from politeness to invite him -in turn. - -"With pleasure!" Monsieur Homais replied; "besides, I must -invigorate my mind, for I am getting rusty here. We'll go to the -theatre, to the restaurant; we'll make a night of it." - -"Oh, my dear!" tenderly murmured Madame Homais, alarmed at the -vague perils he was preparing to brave. - -"Well, what? Do you think I'm not sufficiently ruining my health -living here amid the continual emanations of the pharmacy? But -there! that is the way with women! They are jealous of science, -and then are opposed to our taking the most legitimate -distractions. No matter! Count upon me. One of these days I shall -turn up at Rouen, and we'll go the pace together." - -The druggist would formerly have taken good care not to use such -an expression, but he was cultivating a gay Parisian style, which -he thought in the best taste; and, like his neighbour, Madame -Bovary, he questioned the clerk curiously about the customs of -the capital; he even talked slang to dazzle the bourgeois, saying -bender, crummy, dandy, macaroni, the cheese, cut my stick and -"I'll hook it," for "I am going." - -So one Thursday Emma was surprised to meet Monsieur Homais in the -kitchen of the "Lion d'Or," wearing a traveller's costume, that -is to say, wrapped in an old cloak which no one knew he had, -while he carried a valise in one hand and the foot-warmer of his -establishment in the other. He had confided his intentions to no -one, for fear of causing the public anxiety by his absence. - -The idea of seeing again the place where his youth had been spent -no doubt excited him, for during the whole journey he never -ceased talking, and as soon as he had arrived, he jumped quickly -out of the diligence to go in search of Leon. In vain the clerk -tried to get rid of him. Monsieur Homais dragged him off to the -large Cafe de la Normandie, which he entered majestically, not -raising his hat, thinking it very provincial to uncover in any -public place. - -Emma waited for Leon three quarters of an hour. At last she ran -to his office; and, lost in all sorts of conjectures, accusing -him of indifference, and reproaching herself for her weakness, -she spent the afternoon, her face pressed against the -window-panes. - -At two o'clock they were still at a table opposite each other. -The large room was emptying; the stove-pipe, in the shape of a -palm-tree, spread its gilt leaves over the white ceiling, and -near them, outside the window, in the bright sunshine, a little -fountain gurgled in a white basin, where; in the midst of -watercress and asparagus, three torpid lobsters stretched across -to some quails that lay heaped up in a pile on their sides. - -Homais was enjoying himself. Although he was even more -intoxicated with the luxury than the rich fare, the Pommard wine -all the same rather excited his faculties; and when the omelette -au rhum* appeared, he began propounding immoral theories about -women. What seduced him above all else was chic. He admired an -elegant toilette in a well-furnished apartment, and as to bodily -qualities, he didn't dislike a young girl. - -* In rum. - - -Leon watched the clock in despair. The druggist went on drinking, -eating, and talking. - -"You must be very lonely," he said suddenly, "here at Rouen. To -be sure your lady-love doesn't live far away." - -And the other blushed-- - -"Come now, be frank. Can you deny that at Yonville--" - -The young man stammered something. - -"At Madame Bovary's, you're not making love to--" - -"To whom?" - -"The servant!" - -He was not joking; but vanity getting the better of all prudence, -Leon, in spite of himself protested. Besides, he only liked dark -women. - -"I approve of that," said the chemist; "they have more passion." - -And whispering into his friend's ear, he pointed out the symptoms -by which one could find out if a woman had passion. He even -launched into an ethnographic digression: the German was -vapourish, the French woman licentious, the Italian passionate. - -"And negresses?" asked the clerk. - -"They are an artistic taste!" said Homais. "Waiter! two cups of -coffee!" - -"Are we going?" at last asked Leon impatiently. - -"Ja!" - -But before leaving he wanted to see the proprietor of the -establishment and made him a few compliments. Then the young man, -to be alone, alleged he had some business engagement. - -"Ah! I will escort you," said Homais. - -And all the while he was walking through the streets with him he -talked of his wife, his children; of their future, and of his -business; told him in what a decayed condition it had formerly -been, and to what a degree of perfection he had raised it. - -Arrived in front of the Hotel de Boulogne, Leon left him -abruptly, ran up the stairs, and found his mistress in great -excitement. At mention of the chemist she flew into a passion. -He, however, piled up good reasons; it wasn't his fault; didn't -she know Homais--did she believe that he would prefer his -company? But she turned away; he drew her back, and, sinking on -his knees, clasped her waist with his arms in a languorous pose, -full of concupiscence and supplication. - -She was standing up, her large flashing eyes looked at him -seriously, almost terribly. Then tears obscured them, her red -eyelids were lowered, she gave him her hands, and Leon was -pressing them to his lips when a servant appeared to tell the -gentleman that he was wanted. - -"You will come back?" she said. - -"Yes." - -"But when?" - -"Immediately." - -"It's a trick," said the chemist, when he saw Leon. "I wanted to -interrupt this visit, that seemed to me to annoy you. Let's go -and have a glass of garus at Bridoux'." - -Leon vowed that he must get back to his office. Then the druggist -joked him about quill-drivers and the law. - -"Leave Cujas and Barthole alone a bit. Who the devil prevents -you? Be a man! Let's go to Bridoux'. You'll see his dog. It's -very interesting." - -And as the clerk still insisted-- - -"I'll go with you. I'll read a paper while I wait for you, or -turn over the leaves of a 'Code.'" - -Leon, bewildered by Emma's anger, Monsieur Homais' chatter, and, -perhaps, by the heaviness of the luncheon, was undecided, and, as -it were, fascinated by the chemist, who kept repeating-- - -"Let's go to Bridoux'. It's just by here, in the Rue Malpalu." - -Then, through cowardice, through stupidity, through that -indefinable feeling that drags us into the most distasteful acts, -he allowed himself to be led off to Bridoux', whom they found in -his small yard, superintending three workmen, who panted as they -turned the large wheel of a machine for making seltzer-water. -Homais gave them some good advice. He embraced Bridoux; they took -some garus. Twenty times Leon tried to escape, but the other -seized him by the arm saying-- - -"Presently! I'm coming! We'll go to the 'Fanal de Rouen' to see -the fellows there. I'll introduce you to Thornassin." - -At last he managed to get rid of him, and rushed straight to the -hotel. Emma was no longer there. She had just gone in a fit of -anger. She detested him now. This failing to keep their -rendezvous seemed to her an insult, and she tried to rake up -other reasons to separate herself from him. He was incapable of -heroism, weak, banal, more spiritless than a woman, avaricious -too, and cowardly. - -Then, growing calmer, she at length discovered that she had, no -doubt, calumniated him. But the disparaging of those we love -always alienates us from them to some extent. We must not touch -our idols; the gilt sticks to our fingers. - -They gradually came to talking more frequently of matters outside -their love, and in the letters that Emma wrote him she spoke of -flowers, verses, the moon and the stars, naive resources of a -waning passion striving to keep itself alive by all external -aids. She was constantly promising herself a profound felicity on -her next journey. Then she confessed to herself that she felt -nothing extraordinary. This disappointment quickly gave way to a -new hope, and Emma returned to him more inflamed, more eager than -ever. She undressed brutally, tearing off the thin laces of her -corset that nestled around her hips like a gliding snake. She -went on tiptoe, barefooted, to see once more that the door was -closed, then, pale, serious, and, without speaking, with one -movement, she threw herself upon his breast with a long shudder. - -Yet there was upon that brow covered with cold drops, on those -quivering lips, in those wild eyes, in the strain of those arms, -something vague and dreary that seemed to Leon to glide between -them subtly as if to separate them. - -He did not dare to question her; but, seeing her so skilled, she -must have passed, he thought, through every experience of -suffering and of pleasure. What had once charmed now frightened -him a little. Besides, he rebelled against his absorption, daily -more marked, by her personality. He begrudged Emma this constant -victory. He even strove not to love her; then, when he heard the -creaking of her boots, he turned coward, like drunkards at the -sight of strong drinks. - -She did not fail, in truth, to lavish all sorts of attentions -upon him, from the delicacies of food to the coquettries of dress -and languishing looks. She brought roses to her breast from -Yonville, which she threw into his face; was anxious about his -health, gave him advice as to his conduct; and, in order the more -surely to keep her hold on him, hoping perhaps that heaven would -take her part, she tied a medal of the Virgin round his neck. She -inquired like a virtuous mother about his companions. She said to -him-- - -"Don't see them; don't go out; think only of ourselves; love me!" - -She would have liked to be able to watch over his life; and the -idea occurred to her of having him followed in the streets. Near -the hotel there was always a kind of loafer who accosted -travellers, and who would not refuse. But her pride revolted at -this. - -"Bah! so much the worse. Let him deceive me! What does it matter -to me? As If I cared for him!" - -One day, when they had parted early and she was returning alone -along the boulevard, she saw the walls of her convent; then she -sat down on a form in the shade of the elm-trees. How calm that -time had been! How she longed for the ineffable sentiments of -love that she had tried to figure to herself out of books! The -first month of her marriage, her rides in the wood, the viscount -that waltzed, and Lagardy singing, all repassed before her eyes. -And Leon suddenly appeared to her as far off as the others. - -"Yet I love him," she said to herself. - -No matter! She was not happy--she never had been. Whence came -this insufficiency in life--this instantaneous turning to decay -of everything on which she leant? But if there were somewhere a -being strong and beautiful, a valiant nature, full at once of -exaltation and refinement, a poet's heart in an angel's form, a -lyre with sounding chords ringing out elegiac epithalamia to -heaven, why, perchance, should she not find him? Ah! how -impossible! Besides, nothing was worth the trouble of seeking it; -everything was a lie. Every smile hid a yawn of boredom, every -joy a curse, all pleasure satiety, and the sweetest kisses left -upon your lips only the unattainable desire for a greater -delight. - -A metallic clang droned through the air, and four strokes were -heard from the convent-clock. Four o'clock! And it seemed to her -that she had been there on that form an eternity. But an infinity -of passions may be contained in a minute, like a crowd in a small -space. - -Emma lived all absorbed in hers, and troubled no more about money -matters than an archduchess. - -Once, however, a wretched-looking man, rubicund and bald, came to -her house, saying he had been sent by Monsieur Vincart of Rouen. -He took out the pins that held together the side-pockets of his -long green overcoat, stuck them into his sleeve, and politely -handed her a paper. - -It was a bill for seven hundred francs, signed by her, and which -Lheureux, in spite of all his professions, had paid away to -Vincart. She sent her servant for him. He could not come. Then -the stranger, who had remained standing, casting right and left -curious glances, that his thick, fair eyebrows hid, asked with a -naive air-- - -"What answer am I to take Monsieur Vincart?" - -"Oh," said Emma, "tell him that I haven't it. I will send next -week; he must wait; yes, till next week." - -And the fellow went without another word. - -But the next day at twelve o'clock she received a summons, and -the sight of the stamped paper, on which appeared several times -in large letters, "Maitre Hareng, bailiff at Buchy," so -frightened her that she rushed in hot haste to the linendraper's. -She found him in his shop, doing up a parcel. - -"Your obedient!" he said; "I am at your service." - -But Lheureux, all the same, went on with his work, helped by a -young girl of about thirteen, somewhat hunch-backed, who was at -once his clerk and his servant. - -Then, his clogs clattering on the shop-boards, he went up in -front of Madame Bovary to the first door, and introduced her into -a narrow closet, where, in a large bureau in sapon-wood, lay some -ledgers, protected by a horizontal padlocked iron bar. Against -the wall, under some remnants of calico, one glimpsed a safe, but -of such dimensions that it must contain something besides bills -and money. Monsieur Lheureux, in fact, went in for pawnbroking, -and it was there that he had put Madame Bovary's gold chain, -together with the earrings of poor old Tellier, who, at last -forced to sell out, had bought a meagre store of grocery at -Quincampoix, where he was dying of catarrh amongst his candles, -that were less yellow than his face. - -Lheureux sat down in a large cane arm-chair, saying: "What news?" - -"See!" - -And she showed him the paper. - -"Well how can I help it?" - -Then she grew angry, reminding him of the promise he had given -not to pay away her bills. He acknowledged it. - -"But I was pressed myself; the knife was at my own throat." - -"And what will happen now?" she went on. - -"Oh, it's very simple; a judgment and then a distraint--that's -about it!" - -Emma kept down a desire to strike him, and asked gently if there -was no way of quieting Monsieur Vincart. - -"I dare say! Quiet Vincart! You don't know him; he's more -ferocious than an Arab!" - -Still Monsieur Lheureux must interfere. - -"Well, listen. It seems to me so far I've been very good to you." -And opening one of his ledgers, "See," he said. Then running up -the page with his finger, "Let's see! let's see! August 3d, two -hundred francs; June 17th, a hundred and fifty; March 23d, -forty-six. In April--" - -He stopped, as if afraid of making some mistake. - -"Not to speak of the bills signed by Monsieur Bovary, one for -seven hundred francs, and another for three hundred. As to your -little installments, with the interest, why, there's no end to -'em; one gets quite muddled over 'em. I'll have nothing more to -do with it." - -She wept; she even called him "her good Monsieur Lheureux." But -he always fell back upon "that rascal Vincart." Besides, he -hadn't a brass farthing; no one was paying him now-a-days; they -were eating his coat off his back; a poor shopkeeper like him -couldn't advance money. - -Emma was silent, and Monsieur Lheureux, who was biting the -feathers of a quill, no doubt became uneasy at her silence, for -he went on-- - -"Unless one of these days I have something coming in, I might--" - -"Besides," said she, "as soon as the balance of Barneville--" - -"What!" - -And on hearing that Langlois had not yet paid he seemed much -surprised. Then in a honied voice-- - -"And we agree, you say?" - -"Oh! to anything you like." - -On this he closed his eyes to reflect, wrote down a few figures, -and declaring it would be very difficult for him, that the affair -was shady, and that he was being bled, he wrote out four bills -for two hundred and fifty francs each, to fall due month by -month. - -"Provided that Vincart will listen to me! However, it's settled. -I don't play the fool; I'm straight enough." - -Next he carelessly showed her several new goods, not one of -which, however, was in his opinion worthy of madame. - -"When I think that there's a dress at threepence-halfpenny a -yard, and warranted fast colours! And yet they actually swallow -it! Of course you understand one doesn't tell them what it really -is!" He hoped by this confession of dishonesty to others to quite -convince her of his probity to her. - -Then he called her back to show her three yards of guipure that -he had lately picked up "at a sale." - -"Isn't it lovely?" said Lheureux. "It is very much used now for -the backs of arm-chairs. It's quite the rage." - -And, more ready than a juggler, he wrapped up the guipure in some -blue paper and put it in Emma's hands. - -"But at least let me know--" - -"Yes, another time," he replied, turning on his heel. - -That same evening she urged Bovary to write to his mother, to ask -her to send as quickly as possible the whole of the balance due -from the father's estate. The mother-in-law replied that she had -nothing more, the winding up was over, and there was due to them -besides Barneville an income of six hundred francs, that she -would pay them punctually. - -Then Madame Bovary sent in accounts to two or three patients, and -she made large use of this method, which was very successful. She -was always careful to add a postscript: "Do not mention this to -my husband; you know how proud he is. Excuse me. Yours -obediently." There were some complaints; she intercepted them. - -To get money she began selling her old gloves, her old hats, the -old odds and ends, and she bargained rapaciously, her peasant -blood standing her in good stead. Then on her journey to town she -picked up nick-nacks secondhand, that, in default of anyone else, -Monsieur Lheureux would certainly take off her hands. She bought -ostrich feathers, Chinese porcelain, and trunks; she borrowed -from Felicite, from Madame Lefrancois, from the landlady at the -Croix-Rouge, from everybody, no matter where. - -With the money she at last received from Barneville she paid two -bills; the other fifteen hundred francs fell due. She renewed the -bills, and thus it was continually. - -Sometimes, it is true, she tried to make a calculation, but she -discovered things so exorbitant that she could not believe them -possible. Then she recommenced, soon got confused, gave it all -up, and thought no more about it. - -The house was very dreary now. Tradesmen were seen leaving it -with angry faces. Handkerchiefs were lying about on the stoves, -and little Berthe, to the great scandal of Madame Homais, wore -stockings with holes in them. If Charles timidly ventured a -remark, she answered roughly that it wasn't her fault. - -What was the meaning of all these fits of temper? He explained -everything through her old nervous illness, and reproaching -himself with having taken her infirmities for faults, accused -himself of egotism, and longed to go and take her in his arms. - -"Ah, no!" he said to himself; "I should worry her." - -And he did not stir. - -After dinner he walked about alone in the garden; he took little -Berthe on his knees, and unfolding his medical journal, tried to -teach her to read. But the child, who never had any lessons, soon -looked up with large, sad eyes and began to cry. Then he -comforted her; went to fetch water in her can to make rivers on -the sand path, or broke off branches from the privet hedges to -plant trees in the beds. This did not spoil the garden much, all -choked now with long weeds. They owed Lestiboudois for so many -days. Then the child grew cold and asked for her mother. - -"Call the servant," said Charles. "You know, dearie, that mamma -does not like to be disturbed." - -Autumn was setting in, and the leaves were already falling, as -they did two years ago when she was ill. Where would it all end? -And he walked up and down, his hands behind his back. - -Madame was in her room, which no one entered. She stayed there -all day long, torpid, half dressed, and from time to time burning -Turkish pastilles which she had bought at Rouen in an Algerian's -shop. In order not to have at night this sleeping man stretched -at her side, by dint of manoeuvring, she at last succeeded in -banishing him to the second floor, while she read till morning -extravagant books, full of pictures of orgies and thrilling -situations. Often, seized with fear, she cried out, and Charles -hurried to her. - -"Oh, go away!" she would say. - -Or at other times, consumed more ardently than ever by that inner -flame to which adultery added fuel, panting, tremulous, all -desire, she threw open her window, breathed in the cold air, -shook loose in the wind her masses of hair, too heavy, and, -gazing upon the stars, longed for some princely love. She thought -of him, of Leon. She would then have given anything for a single -one of those meetings that surfeited her. - -These were her gala days. She wanted them to be sumptuous, and -when he alone could not pay the expenses, she made up the deficit -liberally, which happened pretty well every time. He tried to -make her understand that they would be quite as comfortable -somewhere else, in a smaller hotel, but she always found some -objection. - -One day she drew six small silver-gilt spoons from her bag (they -were old Roualt's wedding present), begging him to pawn them at -once for her, and Leon obeyed, though the proceeding annoyed him. -He was afraid of compromising himself. - -Then, on, reflection, he began to think his mistress's ways were -growing odd, and that they were perhaps not wrong in wishing to -separate him from her. - -In fact someone had sent his mother a long anonymous letter to -warn her that he was "ruining himself with a married woman," and -the good lady at once conjuring up the eternal bugbear of -families, the vague pernicious creature, the siren, the monster, -who dwells fantastically in depths of love, wrote to Lawyer -Dubocage, his employer, who behaved perfectly in the affair. He -kept him for three quarters of an hour trying to open his eyes, -to warn him of the abyss into which he was falling. Such an -intrigue would damage him later on, when he set up for himself. -He implored him to break with her, and, if he would not make this -sacrifice in his own interest, to do it at least for his, -Dubocage's sake. - -At last Leon swore he would not see Emma again, and he reproached -himself with not having kept his word, considering all the worry -and lectures this woman might still draw down upon him, without -reckoning the jokes made by his companions as they sat round the -stove in the morning. Besides, he was soon to be head clerk; it -was time to settle down. So he gave up his flute, exalted -sentiments, and poetry; for every bourgeois in the flush of his -youth, were it but for a day, a moment, has believed himself -capable of immense passions, of lofty enterprises. The most -mediocre libertine has dreamed of sultanas; every notary bears -within him the debris of a poet. - -He was bored now when Emma suddenly began to sob on his breast, -and his heart, like the people who can only stand a certain -amount of music, dozed to the sound of a love whose delicacies he -no longer noted. - -They knew one another too well for any of those surprises of -possession that increase its joys a hundred-fold. She was as sick -of him as he was weary of her. Emma found again in adultery all -the platitudes of marriage. - -But how to get rid of him? Then, though she might feel humiliated -at the baseness of such enjoyment, she clung to it from habit or -from corruption, and each day she hungered after them the more, -exhausting all felicity in wishing for too much of it. She -accused Leon of her baffled hopes, as if he had betrayed her; and -she even longed for some catastrophe that would bring about their -separation, since she had not the courage to make up her mind to -it herself. - -She none the less went on writing him love letters, in virtue of -the notion that a woman must write to her lover. - -But whilst she wrote it was another man she saw, a phantom -fashioned out of her most ardent memories, of her finest reading, -her strongest lusts, and at last he became so real, so tangible, -that she palpitated wondering, without, however, the power to -imagine him clearly, so lost was he, like a god, beneath the -abundance of his attributes. He dwelt in that azure land where -silk ladders hang from balconies under the breath of flowers, in -the light of the moon. She felt him near her; he was coming, and -would carry her right away in a kiss. - -Then she fell back exhausted, for these transports of vague love -wearied her more than great debauchery. - -She now felt constant ache all over her. Often she even received -summonses, stamped paper that she barely looked at. She would -have liked not to be alive, or to be always asleep. - -On Mid-Lent she did not return to Yonville, but in the evening -went to a masked ball. She wore velvet breeches, red stockings, a -club wig, and three-cornered hat cocked on one side. She danced -all night to the wild tones of the trombones; people gathered -round her, and in the morning she found herself on the steps of -the theatre together with five or six masks, debardeuses* and -sailors, Leon's comrades, who were talking about having supper. - -* People dressed as longshoremen. - - -The neighbouring cafes were full. They caught sight of one on the -harbour, a very indifferent restaurant, whose proprietor showed -them to a little room on the fourth floor. - -The men were whispering in a corner, no doubt consorting about -expenses. There were a clerk, two medical students, and a -shopman--what company for her! As to the women, Emma soon -perceived from the tone of their voices that they must almost -belong to the lowest class. Then she was frightened, pushed back -her chair, and cast down her eyes. - -The others began to eat; she ate nothing. Her head was on fire, -her eyes smarted, and her skin was ice-cold. In her head she -seemed to feel the floor of the ball-room rebounding again -beneath the rhythmical pulsation of the thousands of dancing -feet. And now the smell of the punch, the smoke of the cigars, -made her giddy. She fainted, and they carried her to the window. - -Day was breaking, and a great stain of purple colour broadened -out in the pale horizon over the St. Catherine hills. The livid -river was shivering in the wind; there was no one on the bridges; -the street lamps were going out. - -She revived, and began thinking of Berthe asleep yonder in the -servant's room. Then a cart filled with long strips of iron -passed by, and made a deafening metallic vibration against the -walls of the houses. - -She slipped away suddenly, threw off her costume, told Leon she -must get back, and at last was alone at the Hotel de Boulogne. -Everything, even herself, was now unbearable to her. She wished -that, taking wing like a bird, she could fly somewhere, far away -to regions of purity, and there grow young again. - -She went out, crossed the Boulevard, the Place Cauchoise, and the -Faubourg, as far as an open street that overlooked some gardens. -She walked rapidly; the fresh air calming her; and, little by -little, the faces of the crowd, the masks, the quadrilles, the -lights, the supper, those women, all disappeared like mists -fading away. Then, reaching the "Croix-Rouge," she threw herself -on the bed in her little room on the second floor, where there -were pictures of the "Tour de Nesle." At four o'clock Hivert -awoke her. - -When she got home, Felicite showed her behind the clock a grey -paper. She read-- - -"In virtue of the seizure in execution of a judgment." - -What judgment? As a matter of fact, the evening before another -paper had been brought that she had not yet seen, and she was -stunned by these words-- - -"By order of the king, law, and justice, to Madame Bovary." Then, -skipping several lines, she read, "Within twenty-four hours, -without fail--" But what? "To pay the sum of eight thousand -francs." And there was even at the bottom, "She will be -constrained thereto by every form of law, and notably by a writ -of distraint on her furniture and effects." - -What was to be done? In twenty-four hours--tomorrow. Lheureux, -she thought, wanted to frighten her again; for she saw through -all his devices, the object of his kindnesses. What reassured her -was the very magnitude of the sum. - -However, by dint of buying and not paying, of borrowing, signing -bills, and renewing these bills that grew at each new falling-in, -she had ended by preparing a capital for Monsieur Lheureux which -he was impatiently awaiting for his speculations. - -She presented herself at his place with an offhand air. - -"You know what has happened to me? No doubt it's a joke!" - -"How so?" - -He turned away slowly, and, folding his arms, said to her-- - -"My good lady, did you think I should go on to all eternity being -your purveyor and banker, for the love of God? Now be just. I -must get back what I've laid out. Now be just." - -She cried out against the debt. - -"Ah! so much the worse. The court has admitted it. There's a -judgment. It's been notified to you. Besides, it isn't my fault. -It's Vincart's." - -"Could you not--?" - -"Oh, nothing whatever." - -"But still, now talk it over." - -And she began beating about the bush; she had known nothing about -it; it was a surprise. - -"Whose fault is that?" said Lheureux, bowing ironically. "While -I'm slaving like a nigger, you go gallivanting about." - -"Ah! no lecturing." - -"It never does any harm," he replied. - -She turned coward; she implored him; she even pressed her pretty -white and slender hand against the shopkeeper's knee. - -"There, that'll do! Anyone'd think you wanted to seduce me!" - -"You are a wretch!" she cried. - -"Oh, oh! go it! go it!" - -"I will show you up. I shall tell my husband." - -"All right! I too. I'll show your husband something." - -And Lheureux drew from his strong box the receipt for eighteen -hundred francs that she had given him when Vincart had discounted -the bills. - -"Do you think," he added, "that he'll not understand your little -theft, the poor dear man?" - -She collapsed, more overcome than if felled by the blow of a -pole-axe. He was walking up and down from the window to the -bureau, repeating all the while-- - -"Ah! I'll show him! I'll show him!" Then he approached her, and -in a soft voice said-- - -"It isn't pleasant, I know; but, after all, no bones are broken, -and, since that is the only way that is left for you paying back -my money--" - -"But where am I to get any?" said Emma, wringing her hands. - -"Bah! when one has friends like you!" - -And he looked at her in so keen, so terrible a fashion, that she -shuddered to her very heart. - -"I promise you," she said, "to sign--" - -"I've enough of your signatures." - -"I will sell something." - -"Get along!" he said, shrugging his shoulders; "you've not got -anything." - -And he called through the peep-hole that looked down into the -shop-- - -"Annette, don't forget the three coupons of No. 14." - -The servant appeared. Emma understood, and asked how much money -would be wanted to put a stop to the proceedings. - -"It is too late." - -"But if I brought you several thousand francs--a quarter of the -sum--a third--perhaps the whole?" - -"No; it's no use!" - -And he pushed her gently towards the staircase. - -"I implore you, Monsieur Lheureux, just a few days more!" She was -sobbing. - -"There! tears now!" - -"You are driving me to despair!" - -"What do I care?" said he, shutting the door. - - - -Chapter Seven - -She was stoical the next day when Maitre Hareng, the bailiff, -with two assistants, presented himself at her house to draw up -the inventory for the distraint. - -They began with Bovary's consulting-room, and did not write down -the phrenological head, which was considered an "instrument of -his profession"; but in the kitchen they counted the plates; the -saucepans, the chairs, the candlesticks, and in the bedroom all -the nick-nacks on the whatnot. They examined her dresses, the -linen, the dressing-room; and her whole existence to its most -intimate details, was, like a corpse on whom a post-mortem is -made, outspread before the eyes of these three men. - -Maitre Hareng, buttoned up in his thin black coat, wearing a -white choker and very tight foot-straps, repeated from time to -time--"Allow me, madame. You allow me?" Often he uttered -exclamations. "Charming! very pretty." Then he began writing -again, dipping his pen into the horn inkstand in his left hand. - -When they had done with the rooms they went up to the attic. She -kept a desk there in which Rodolphe's letters were locked. It had -to be opened. - -"Ah! a correspondence," said Maitre Hareng, with a discreet -smile. "But allow me, for I must make sure the box contains -nothing else." And he tipped up the papers lightly, as if to -shake out napoleons. Then she grew angered to see this coarse -hand, with fingers red and pulpy like slugs, touching these pages -against which her heart had beaten. - -They went at last. Felicite came back. Emma had sent her out to -watch for Bovary in order to keep him off, and they hurriedly -installed the man in possession under the roof, where he swore he -would remain. - -During the evening Charles seemed to her careworn. Emma watched -him with a look of anguish, fancying she saw an accusation in -every line of his face. Then, when her eyes wandered over the -chimney-piece ornamented with Chinese screens, over the large -curtains, the armchairs, all those things, in a word, that had, -softened the bitterness of her life, remorse seized her or rather -an immense regret, that, far from crushing, irritated her -passion. Charles placidly poked the fire, both his feet on the -fire-dogs. - -Once the man, no doubt bored in his hiding-place, made a slight -noise. - -"Is anyone walking upstairs?" said Charles. - -"No," she replied; "it is a window that has been left open, and -is rattling in the wind." - -The next day, Sunday, she went to Rouen to call on all the -brokers whose names she knew. They were at their country-places -or on journeys. She was not discouraged; and those whom she did -manage to see she asked for money, declaring she must have some, -and that she would pay it back. Some laughed in her face; all -refused. - -At two o'clock she hurried to Leon, and knocked at the door. No -one answered. At length he appeared. - -"What brings you here?" - -"Do I disturb you?" - -"No; but--" And he admitted that his landlord didn't like his -having "women" there. - -"I must speak to you," she went on. - -Then he took down the key, but she stopped him. - -"No, no! Down there, in our home!" - -And they went to their room at the Hotel de Boulogne. - -On arriving she drank off a large glass of water. She was very -pale. She said to him-- - -"Leon, you will do me a service?" - -And, shaking him by both hands that she grasped tightly, she -added-- - -"Listen, I want eight thousand francs." - -"But you are mad!" - -"Not yet." - -And thereupon, telling him the story of the distraint, she -explained her distress to him; for Charles knew nothing of it; -her mother-in-law detested her; old Rouault could do nothing; but -he, Leon, he would set about finding this indispensable sum. - -"How on earth can I?" - -"What a coward you are!" she cried. - -Then he said stupidly, "You are exaggerating the difficulty. -Perhaps, with a thousand crowns or so the fellow could be -stopped." - -All the greater reason to try and do something; it was impossible -that they could not find three thousand francs. Besides, Leon, -could be security instead of her. - -"Go, try, try! I will love you so!" - -He went out, and came back at the end of an hour, saying, with -solemn face-- - -"I have been to three people with no success." - -Then they remained sitting face to face at the two chimney -corners, motionless, in silence. Emma shrugged her shoulders as -she stamped her feet. He heard her murmuring-- - -"If I were in your place _I_ should soon get some." - -"But where?" - -"At your office." And she looked at him. - -An infernal boldness looked out from her burning eyes, and their -lids drew close together with a lascivious and encouraging look, -so that the young man felt himself growing weak beneath the mute -will of this woman who was urging him to a crime. Then he was -afraid, and to avoid any explanation he smote his forehead, -crying-- - -"Morel is to come back to-night; he will not refuse me, I hope" -(this was one of his friends, the son of a very rich merchant); -"and I will bring it you to-morrow," he added. - -Emma did not seem to welcome this hope with all the joy he had -expected. Did she suspect the lie? He went on, blushing-- - -"However, if you don't see me by three o'clock do not wait for -me, my darling. I must be off now; forgive me! Goodbye!" - -He pressed her hand, but it felt quite lifeless. Emma had no -strength left for any sentiment. - -Four o'clock struck, and she rose to return to Yonville, -mechanically obeying the force of old habits. - -The weather was fine. It was one of those March days, clear and -sharp, when the sun shines in a perfectly white sky. The Rouen -folk, in Sunday-clothes, were walking about with happy looks. She -reached the Place du Parvis. People were coming out after -vespers; the crowd flowed out through the three doors like a -stream through the three arches of a bridge, and in the middle -one, more motionless than a rock, stood the beadle. - -Then she remembered the day when, all anxious and full of hope, -she had entered beneath this large nave, that had opened out -before her, less profound than her love; and she walked on -weeping beneath her veil, giddy, staggering, almost fainting. - -"Take care!" cried a voice issuing from the gate of a courtyard -that was thrown open. - -She stopped to let pass a black horse, pawing the ground between -the shafts of a tilbury, driven by a gentleman in sable furs. Who -was it? She knew him. The carriage darted by and disappeared. - -Why, it was he--the Viscount. She turned away; the street was -empty. She was so overwhelmed, so sad, that she had to lean -against a wall to keep herself from falling. - -Then she thought she had been mistaken. Anyhow, she did not know. -All within her and around her was abandoning her. She felt lost, -sinking at random into indefinable abysses, and it was almost -with joy that, on reaching the "Croix-Rouge," she saw the good -Homais, who was watching a large box full of pharmaceutical -stores being hoisted on to the "Hirondelle." In his hand he held -tied in a silk handkerchief six cheminots for his wife. - -Madame Homais was very fond of these small, heavy turban-shaped -loaves, that are eaten in Lent with salt butter; a last vestige -of Gothic food that goes back, perhaps, to the time of the -Crusades, and with which the robust Normans gorged themselves of -yore, fancying they saw on the table, in the light of the yellow -torches, between tankards of hippocras and huge boars' heads, the -heads of Saracens to be devoured. The druggist's wife crunched -them up as they had done--heroically, despite her wretched teeth. -And so whenever Homais journeyed to town, he never failed to -bring her home some that he bought at the great baker's in the -Rue Massacre. - -"Charmed to see you," he said, offering Emma a hand to help her -into the "Hirondelle." Then he hung up his cheminots to the cords -of the netting, and remained bare-headed in an attitude pensive -and Napoleonic. - -But when the blind man appeared as usual at the foot of the hill -he exclaimed-- - -"I can't understand why the authorities tolerate such culpable -industries. Such unfortunates should be locked up and forced to -work. Progress, my word! creeps at a snail's pace. We are -floundering about in mere barbarism." - -The blind man held out his hat, that flapped about at the door, -as if it were a bag in the lining that had come unnailed. - -"This," said the chemist, "is a scrofulous affection." - -And though he knew the poor devil, he pretended to see him for -the first time, murmured something about "cornea," "opaque -cornea," "sclerotic," "facies," then asked him in a paternal -tone-- - -"My friend, have you long had this terrible infirmity? Instead of -getting drunk at the public, you'd do better to die yourself." - -He advised him to take good wine, good beer, and good joints. The -blind man went on with his song; he seemed, moreover, almost -idiotic. At last Monsieur Homais opened his purse-- - -"Now there's a sou; give me back two lairds, and don't forget my -advice: you'll be the better for it." - -Hivert openly cast some doubt on the efficacy of it. But the -druggist said that he would cure himself with an antiphlogistic -pomade of his own composition, and he gave his address--"Monsieur -Homais, near the market, pretty well known." - -"Now," said Hivert, "for all this trouble you'll give us your -performance." - -The blind man sank down on his haunches, with his head thrown -back, whilst he rolled his greenish eyes, lolled out his tongue, -and rubbed his stomach with both hands as he uttered a kind of -hollow yell like a famished dog. Emma, filled with disgust, threw -him over her shoulder a five-franc piece. It was all her fortune. -It seemed to her very fine thus to throw it away. - -The coach had gone on again when suddenly Monsieur Homais leant -out through the window, crying-- - -"No farinaceous or milk food, wear wool next the skin, and expose -the diseased parts to the smoke of juniper berries." - -The sight of the well-known objects that defiled before her eyes -gradually diverted Emma from her present trouble. An intolerable -fatigue overwhelmed her, and she reached her home stupefied, -discouraged, almost asleep. - -"Come what may come!" she said to herself. "And then, who knows? -Why, at any moment could not some extraordinary event occur? -Lheureux even might die!" - -At nine o'clock in the morning she was awakened by the sound of -voices in the Place. There was a crowd round the market reading a -large bill fixed to one of the posts, and she saw Justin, who was -climbing on to a stone and tearing down the bill. But at this -moment the rural guard seized him by the collar. Monsieur Homais -came out of his shop, and Mere Lefrangois, in the midst of the -crowd, seemed to be perorating. - -"Madame! madame!" cried Felicite, running in, "it's abominable!" - -And the poor girl, deeply moved, handed her a yellow paper that -she had just torn off the door. Emma read with a glance that all -her furniture was for sale. - -Then they looked at one another silently. The servant and -mistress had no secret one from the other. At last Felicite -sighed-- - -"If I were you, madame, I should go to Monsieur Guillaumin." - -"Do you think--" - -And this question meant to say-- - -"You who know the house through the servant, has the master -spoken sometimes of me?" - -"Yes, you'd do well to go there." - -She dressed, put on her black gown, and her hood with jet beads, -and that she might not be seen (there was still a crowd on the -Place), she took the path by the river, outside the village. - -She reached the notary's gate quite breathless. The sky was -sombre, and a little snow was falling. At the sound of the bell, -Theodore in a red waistcoat appeared on the steps; he came to -open the door almost familiarly, as to an acquaintance, and -showed her into the dining-room. - -A large porcelain stove crackled beneath a cactus that filled up -the niche in the wall, and in black wood frames against the -oak-stained paper hung Steuben's "Esmeralda" and Schopin's -"Potiphar." The ready-laid table, the two silver chafing-dishes, -the crystal door-knobs, the parquet and the furniture, all shone -with a scrupulous, English cleanliness; the windows were -ornamented at each corner with stained glass. - -"Now this," thought Emma, "is the dining-room I ought to have." - -The notary came in pressing his palm-leaf dressing-gown to his -breast with his left arm, while with the other hand he raised and -quickly put on again his brown velvet cap, pretentiously cocked -on the right side, whence looked out the ends of three fair curls -drawn from the back of the head, following the line of his bald -skull. - -After he had offered her a seat he sat down to breakfast, -apologising profusely for his rudeness. - -"I have come," she said, "to beg you, sir--" - -"What, madame? I am listening." - -And she began explaining her position to him. Monsieur Guillaumin -knew it, being secretly associated with the linendraper, from -whom he always got capital for the loans on mortgages that he was -asked to make. - -So he knew (and better than she herself) the long story of the -bills, small at first, bearing different names as endorsers, made -out at long dates, and constantly renewed up to the day, when, -gathering together all the protested bills, the shopkeeper had -bidden his friend Vincart take in his own name all the necessary -proceedings, not wishing to pass for a tiger with his -fellow-citizens. - -She mingled her story with recriminations against Lheureux, to -which the notary replied from time to time with some -insignificant word. Eating his cutlet and drinking his tea, he -buried his chin in his sky-blue cravat, into which were thrust -two diamond pins, held together by a small gold chain; and he -smiled a singular smile, in a sugary, ambiguous fashion. But -noticing that her feet were damp, he said-- - -"Do get closer to the stove; put your feet up against the -porcelain." - -She was afraid of dirtying it. The notary replied in a gallant -tone-- - -"Beautiful things spoil nothing." - -Then she tried to move him, and, growing moved herself, she began -telling him about the poorness of her home, her worries, her -wants. He could understand that; an elegant woman! and, without -leaving off eating, he had turned completely round towards her, -so that his knee brushed against her boot, whose sole curled -round as it smoked against the stove. - -But when she asked for a thousand sous, he closed his lips, and -declared he was very sorry he had not had the management of her -fortune before, for there were hundreds of ways very convenient, -even for a lady, of turning her money to account. They might, -either in the turf-peats of Grumesnil or building-ground at -Havre, almost without risk, have ventured on some excellent -speculations; and he let her consume herself with rage at the -thought of the fabulous sums that she would certainly have made. - -"How was it," he went on, "that you didn't come to me?" - -"I hardly know," she said. - -"Why, hey? Did I frighten you so much? It is I, on the contrary, -who ought to complain. We hardly know one another; yet I am very -devoted to you. You do not doubt that, I hope?" - -He held out his hand, took hers, covered it with a greedy kiss, -then held it on his knee; and he played delicately with her -fingers whilst he murmured a thousand blandishments. His insipid -voice murmured like a running brook; a light shone in his eyes -through the glimmering of his spectacles, and his hand was -advancing up Emma's sleeve to press her arm. She felt against her -cheek his panting breath. This man oppressed her horribly. - -She sprang up and said to him-- - -"Sir, I am waiting." - -"For what?" said the notary, who suddenly became very pale. - -"This money." - -"But--" Then, yielding to the outburst of too powerful a desire, -"Well, yes!" - -He dragged himself towards her on his knees, regardless of his -dressing-gown. - -"For pity's sake, stay. I love you!" - -He seized her by her waist. Madame Bovary's face flushed purple. -She recoiled with a terrible look, crying-- - -"You are taking a shameless advantage of my distress, sir! I am -to be pitied--not to be sold." - -And she went out. - -The notary remained quite stupefied, his eyes fixed on his fine -embroidered slippers. They were a love gift, and the sight of -them at last consoled him. Besides, he reflected that such an -adventure might have carried him too far. - -"What a wretch! what a scoundrel! what an infamy!" she said to -herself, as she fled with nervous steps beneath the aspens of the -path. The disappointment of her failure increased the indignation -of her outraged modesty; it seemed to her that Providence pursued -her implacably, and, strengthening herself in her pride, she had -never felt so much esteem for herself nor so much contempt for -others. A spirit of warfare transformed her. She would have liked -to strike all men, to spit in their faces, to crush them, and she -walked rapidly straight on, pale, quivering, maddened, searching -the empty horizon with tear-dimmed eyes, and as it were rejoicing -in the hate that was choking her. - -When she saw her house a numbness came over her. She could not go -on; and yet she must. Besides, whither could she flee? - -Felicite was waiting for her at the door. "Well?" - -"No!" said Emma. - -And for a quarter of an hour the two of them went over the -various persons in Yonville who might perhaps be inclined to help -her. But each time that Felicite named someone Emma replied-- - -"Impossible! they will not!" - -"And the master'll soon be in." - -"I know that well enough. Leave me alone." - -She had tried everything; there was nothing more to be done now; -and when Charles came in she would have to say to him-- - -"Go away! This carpet on which you are walking is no longer ours. -In your own house you do not possess a chair, a pin, a straw, and -it is I, poor man, who have ruined you." - -Then there would be a great sob; next he would weep abundantly, -and at last, the surprise past, he would forgive her. - -"Yes," she murmured, grinding her teeth, "he will forgive me, he -who would give a million if I would forgive him for having known -me! Never! never!" - -This thought of Bovary's superiority to her exasperated her. -Then, whether she confessed or did not confess, presently, -immediately, to-morrow, he would know the catastrophe all the -same; so she must wait for this horrible scene, and bear the -weight of his magnanimity. The desire to return to Lheureux's -seized her--what would be the use? To write to her father--it was -too late; and perhaps, she began to repent now that she had not -yielded to that other, when she heard the trot of a horse in the -alley. It was he; he was opening the gate; he was whiter than the -plaster wall. Rushing to the stairs, she ran out quickly to the -square; and the wife of the mayor, who was talking to -Lestiboudois in front of the church, saw her go in to the -tax-collector's. - -She hurried off to tell Madame Caron, and the two ladies went up -to the attic, and, hidden by some linen spread across props, -stationed themselves comfortably for overlooking the whole of -Binet's room. - -He was alone in his garret, busy imitating in wood one of those -indescribable bits of ivory, composed of crescents, of spheres -hollowed out one within the other, the whole as straight as an -obelisk, and of no use whatever; and he was beginning on the last -piece--he was nearing his goal. In the twilight of the workshop -the white dust was flying from his tools like a shower of sparks -under the hoofs of a galloping horse; the two wheels were -turning, droning; Binet smiled, his chin lowered, his nostrils -distended, and, in a word, seemed lost in one of those complete -happinesses that, no doubt, belong only to commonplace -occupations, which amuse the mind with facile difficulties, and -satisfy by a realisation of that beyond which such minds have not -a dream. - -"Ah! there she is!" exclaimed Madame Tuvache. - -But it was impossible because of the lathe to hear what she was -saying. - -At last these ladies thought they made out the word "francs," and -Madame Tuvache whispered in a low voice-- - -"She is begging him to give her time for paying her taxes." - -"Apparently!" replied the other. - -They saw her walking up and down, examining the napkin-rings, the -candlesticks, the banister rails against the walls, while Binet -stroked his beard with satisfaction. - -"Do you think she wants to order something of him?" said Madame -Tuvache. - -"Why, he doesn't sell anything," objected her neighbour. - -The tax-collector seemed to be listening with wide-open eyes, as -if he did not understand. She went on in a tender, suppliant -manner. She came nearer to him, her breast heaving; they no -longer spoke. - -"Is she making him advances?" said Madame Tuvache. Binet was -scarlet to his very ears. She took hold of his hands. - -"Oh, it's too much!" - -And no doubt she was suggesting something abominable to him; for -the tax-collector--yet he was brave, had fought at Bautzen and at -Lutzen, had been through the French campaign, and had even been -recommended for the cross--suddenly, as at the sight of a -serpent, recoiled as far as he could from her, crying-- - -"Madame! what do you mean?" - -"Women like that ought to be whipped," said Madame Tuvache. - -"But where is she?" continued Madame Caron, for she had -disappeared whilst they spoke; then catching sight of her going -up the Grande Rue, and turning to the right as if making for the -cemetery, they were lost in conjectures. - -"Nurse Rollet," she said on reaching the nurse's, "I am choking; -unlace me!" She fell on the bed sobbing. Nurse Rollet covered her -with a petticoat and remained standing by her side. Then, as she -did not answer, the good woman withdrew, took her wheel and began -spinning flax. - -"Oh, leave off!" she murmured, fancying she heard Binet's lathe. - -"What's bothering her?" said the nurse to herself. "Why has she -come here?" - -She had rushed thither; impelled by a kind of horror that drove -her from her home. - -Lying on her back, motionless, and with staring eyes, she saw -things but vaguely, although she tried to with idiotic -persistence. She looked at the scales on the walls, two brands -smoking end to end, and a long spider crawling over her head in a -rent in the beam. At last she began to collect her thoughts. She -remembered--one day--Leon--Oh! how long ago that was--the sun was -shining on the river, and the clematis were perfuming the air. -Then, carried away as by a rushing torrent, she soon began to -recall the day before. - -"What time is it?" she asked. - -Mere Rollet went out, raised the fingers of her right hand to -that side of the sky that was brightest, and came back slowly, -saying-- - -"Nearly three." - -"Ahl thanks, thanks!" - -For he would come; he would have found some money. But he would, -perhaps, go down yonder, not guessing she was here, and she told -the nurse to run to her house to fetch him. - -"Be quick!" - -"But, my dear lady, I'm going, I'm going!" - -She wondered now that she had not thought of him from the first. -Yesterday he had given his word; he would not break it. And she -already saw herself at Lheureux's spreading out her three -bank-notes on his bureau. Then she would have to invent some -story to explain matters to Bovary. What should it be? - -The nurse, however, was a long while gone. But, as there was no -clock in the cot, Emma feared she was perhaps exaggerating the -length of time. She began walking round the garden, step by step; -she went into the path by the hedge, and returned quickly, hoping -that the woman would have come back by another road. At last, -weary of waiting, assailed by fears that she thrust from her, no -longer conscious whether she had been here a century or a moment, -she sat down in a corner, closed her eyes, and stopped her ears. -The gate grated; she sprang up. Before she had spoken Mere Rollet -said to her-- - -"There is no one at your house!" - -"What?" - -"Oh, no one! And the doctor is crying. He is calling for you; -they're looking for you." - -Emma answered nothing. She gasped as she turned her eyes about -her, while the peasant woman, frightened at her face, drew back -instinctively, thinking her mad. Suddenly she struck her brow and -uttered a cry; for the thought of Rodolphe, like a flash of -lightning in a dark night, had passed into her soul. He was so -good, so delicate, so generous! And besides, should he hesitate -to do her this service, she would know well enough how to -constrain him to it by re-waking, in a single moment, their lost -love. So she set out towards La Huchette, not seeing that she was -hastening to offer herself to that which but a while ago had so -angered her, not in the least conscious of her prostitution. - - - -Chapter Eight - -She asked herself as she walked along, "What am I going to say? -How shall I begin?" And as she went on she recognised the -thickets, the trees, the sea-rushes on the hill, the chateau -yonder. All the sensations of her first tenderness came back to -her, and her poor aching heart opened out amorously. A warm wind -blew in her face; the melting snow fell drop by drop from the -buds to the grass. - -She entered, as she used to, through the small park-gate. She -reached the avenue bordered by a double row of dense lime-trees. -They were swaying their long whispering branches to and fro. The -dogs in their kennels all barked, and the noise of their voices -resounded, but brought out no one. - -She went up the large straight staircase with wooden balusters -that led to the corridor paved with dusty flags, into which -several doors in a row opened, as in a monastery or an inn. His -was at the top, right at the end, on the left. When she placed -her fingers on the lock her strength suddenly deserted her. She -was afraid, almost wished he would not be there, though this was -her only hope, her last chance of salvation. She collected her -thoughts for one moment, and, strengthening herself by the -feeling of present necessity, went in. - -He was in front of the fire, both his feet on the mantelpiece, -smoking a pipe. - -"What! it is you!" he said, getting up hurriedly. - -"Yes, it is I, Rodolphe. I should like to ask your advice." - -And, despite all her efforts, it was impossible for her to -open her lips. - -"You have not changed; you are charming as ever!" - -"Oh," she replied bitterly, "they are poor charms since you -disdained them." - -Then he began a long explanation of his conduct, excusing himself -in vague terms, in default of being able to invent better. - -She yielded to his words, still more to his voice and the sight -of him, so that, she pretended to believe, or perhaps believed; -in the pretext he gave for their rupture; this was a secret on -which depended the honour, the very life of a third person. - -"No matter!" she said, looking at him sadly. "I have suffered -much." - -He replied philosophically-- - -"Such is life!" - -"Has life," Emma went on, "been good to you at least, since our -separation?" - -"Oh, neither good nor bad." - -"Perhaps it would have been better never to have parted." - -"Yes, perhaps." - -"You think so?" she said, drawing nearer, and she sighed. "Oh, -Rodolphe! if you but knew! I loved you so!" - -It was then that she took his hand, and they remained some time, -their fingers intertwined, like that first day at the Show. With -a gesture of pride he struggled against this emotion. But sinking -upon his breast she said to him-- - -"How did you think I could live without you? One cannot lose the -habit of happiness. I was desolate. I thought I should die. I -will tell you about all that and you will see. And you--you fled -from me!" - -For, all the three years, he had carefully avoided her in -consequence of that natural cowardice that characterises the -stronger sex. Emma went on, with dainty little nods, more coaxing -than an amorous kitten-- - -"You love others, confess it! Oh, I understand them, dear! I -excuse them. You probably seduced them as you seduced me. You are -indeed a man; you have everything to make one love you. But we'll -begin again, won't we? We will love one another. See! I am -laughing; I am happy! Oh, speak!" - -And she was charming to see, with her eyes, in which trembled a -tear, like the rain of a storm in a blue corolla. - -He had drawn her upon his knees, and with the back of his hand -was caressing her smooth hair, where in the twilight was mirrored -like a golden arrow one last ray of the sun. She bent down her -brow; at last he kissed her on the eyelids quite gently with the -tips of his lips. - -"Why, you have been crying! What for?" - -She burst into tears. Rodolphe thought this was an outburst of -her love. As she did not speak, he took this silence for a last -remnant of resistance, and then he cried out-- - -"Oh, forgive me! You are the only one who pleases me. I was -imbecile and cruel. I love you. I will love you always. What is -it. Tell me!" He was kneeling by her. - -"Well, I am ruined, Rodolphe! You must lend me three thousand -francs." - -"But--but--" said he, getting up slowly, while his face assumed a -grave expression. - -"You know," she went on quickly, "that my husband had placed his -whole fortune at a notary's. He ran away. So we borrowed; the -patients don't pay us. Moreover, the settling of the estate is -not yet done; we shall have the money later on. But to-day, for -want of three thousand francs, we are to be sold up. It is to be -at once, this very moment, and, counting upon your friendship, I -have come to you." - -"Ah!" thought Rodolphe, turning very pale, "that was what she -came for." At last he said with a calm air-- - -"Dear madame, I have not got them." - -He did not lie. If he had had them, he would, no doubt, have -given them, although it is generally disagreeable to do such fine -things: a demand for money being, of all the winds that blow upon -love, the coldest and most destructive. - -First she looked at him for some moments. - -"You have not got them!" she repeated several times. "You have -not got them! I ought to have spared myself this last shame. You -never loved me. You are no better than the others." - -She was betraying, ruining herself. - -Rodolphe interrupted her, declaring he was "hard up" himself. - -"Ah! I pity you," said Emma. "Yes--very much." - -And fixing her eyes upon an embossed carabine, that shone against -its panoply, "But when one is so poor one doesn't have silver on -the butt of one's gun. One doesn't buy a clock inlaid with -tortoise shell," she went on, pointing to a buhl timepiece, "nor -silver-gilt whistles for one's whips," and she touched them, "nor -charms for one's watch. Oh, he wants for nothing! even to a -liqueur-stand in his room! For you love yourself; you live well. -You have a chateau, farms, woods; you go hunting; you travel to -Paris. Why, if it were but that," she cried, taking up two studs -from the mantelpiece, "but the least of these trifles, one can -get money for them. Oh, I do not want them, keep them!" - -And she threw the two links away from her, their gold chain -breaking as it struck against the wall. - -"But I! I would have given you everything. I would have sold all, -worked for you with my hands, I would have begged on the -highroads for a smile, for a look, to hear you say 'Thanks!' And -you sit there quietly in your arm-chair, as if you had not made -me suffer enough already! But for you, and you know it, I might -have lived happily. What made you do it? Was it a bet? Yet you -loved me--you said so. And but a moment since--Ah! it would have -been better to have driven me away. My hands are hot with your -kisses, and there is the spot on the carpet where at my knees you -swore an eternity of love! You made me believe you; for two years -you held me in the most magnificent, the sweetest dream! Eh! Our -plans for the journey, do you remember? Oh, your letter! your -letter! it tore my heart! And then when I come back to him--to -him, rich, happy, free--to implore the help the first stranger -would give, a suppliant, and bringing back to him all my -tenderness, he repulses me because it would cost him three -thousand francs!" - -"I haven't got them," replied Rodolphe, with that perfect calm -with which resigned rage covers itself as with a shield. - -She went out. The walls trembled, the ceiling was crushing her, -and she passed back through the long alley, stumbling against the -heaps of dead leaves scattered by the wind. At last she reached -the ha-ha hedge in front of the gate; she broke her nails against -the lock in her haste to open it. Then a hundred steps farther -on, breathless, almost falling, she stopped. And now turning -round, she once more saw the impassive chateau, with the park, -the gardens, the three courts, and all the windows of the facade. - -She remained lost in stupor, and having no more consciousness of -herself than through the beating of her arteries, that she seemed -to hear bursting forth like a deafening music filling all the -fields. The earth beneath her feet was more yielding than the -sea, and the furrows seemed to her immense brown waves breaking -into foam. Everything in her head, of memories, ideas, went off -at once like a thousand pieces of fireworks. She saw her father, -Lheureux's closet, their room at home, another landscape. Madness -was coming upon her; she grew afraid, and managed to recover -herself, in a confused way, it is true, for she did not in the -least remember the cause of the terrible condition she was in, -that is to say, the question of money. She suffered only in her -love, and felt her soul passing from her in this memory; as -wounded men, dying, feel their life ebb from their bleeding -wounds. - -Night was falling, crows were flying about. - -Suddenly it seemed to her that fiery spheres were exploding in -the air like fulminating balls when they strike, and were -whirling, whirling, to melt at last upon the snow between the -branches of the trees. In the midst of each of them appeared the -face of Rodolphe. They multiplied and drew near her, penetrating, -her. It all disappeared; she recognised the lights of the houses -that shone through the fog. - -Now her situation, like an abyss, rose up before her. She was -panting as if her heart would burst. Then in an ecstasy of -heroism, that made her almost joyous, she ran down the hill, -crossed the cow-plank, the foot-path, the alley, the market, and -reached the chemist's shop. She was about to enter, but at the -sound of the bell someone might come, and slipping in by the -gate, holding her breath, feeling her way along the walls, she -went as far as the door of the kitchen, where a candle stuck on -the stove was burning. Justin in his shirt-sleeves was carrying -out a dish. - -"Ah! they are dining; I will wait." - -He returned; she tapped at the window. He went out. - -"The key! the one for upstairs where he keeps the--" - -"What?" - -And he looked at her, astonished at the pallor of her face, that -stood out white against the black background of the night. She -seemed to him extraordinarily beautiful and majestic as a -phantom. Without understanding what she wanted, he had the -presentiment of something terrible. - -But she went on quickly in a love voice; in a sweet, melting -voice, "I want it; give it to me." - -As the partition wall was thin, they could hear the clatter of -the forks on the plates in the dining-room. - -She pretended that she wanted to kill the rats that kept her from -sleeping. - -"I must tell master." - -"No, stay!" Then with an indifferent air, "Oh, it's not worth -while; I'll tell him presently. Come, light me upstairs." - -She entered the corridor into which the laboratory door opened. -Against the wall was a key labelled Capharnaum. - -"Justin!" called the druggist impatiently. - -"Let us go up." - -And he followed her. The key turned in the lock, and she went -straight to the third shelf, so well did her memory guide her, -seized the blue jar, tore out the cork, plunged in her hand, and -withdrawing it full of a white powder, she began eating it. - -"Stop!" he cried, rushing at her. - -"Hush! someone will come." - -He was in despair, was calling out. - -"Say nothing, or all the blame will fall on your master." - -Then she went home, suddenly calmed, and with something of the -serenity of one that had performed a duty. - -When Charles, distracted by the news of the distraint, returned -home, Emma had just gone out. He cried aloud, wept, fainted, but -she did not return. Where could she be? He sent Felicite to -Homais, to Monsieur Tuvache, to Lheureux, to the "Lion d'Or," -everywhere, and in the intervals of his agony he saw his -reputation destroyed, their fortune lost, Berthe's future ruined. -By what?--Not a word! He waited till six in the evening. At last, -unable to bear it any longer, and fancying she had gone to Rouen, -he set out along the highroad, walked a mile, met no one, again -waited, and returned home. She had come back. - -"What was the matter? Why? Explain to me." - -She sat down at her writing-table and wrote a letter, which she -sealed slowly, adding the date and the hour. Then she said in a -solemn tone: - -"You are to read it to-morrow; till then, I pray you, do not ask -me a single question. No, not one!" - -"But--" - -"Oh, leave me!" - -She lay down full length on her bed. A bitter taste that she felt -in her mouth awakened her. She saw Charles, and again closed her -eyes. - -She was studying herself curiously, to see if she were not -suffering. But no! nothing as yet. She heard the ticking of the -clock, the crackling of the fire, and Charles breathing as he -stood upright by her bed. - -"Ah! it is but a little thing, death!" she thought. "I shall fall -asleep and all will be over." - -She drank a mouthful of water and turned to the wall. The -frightful taste of ink continued. - -"I am thirsty; oh! so thirsty," she sighed. - -"What is it?" said Charles, who was handing her a glass. - -"It is nothing! Open the window; I am choking." - -She was seized with a sickness so sudden that she had hardly time -to draw out her handkerchief from under the pillow. - -"Take it away," she said quickly; "throw it away." - -He spoke to her; she did not answer. She lay motionless, afraid -that the slightest movement might make her vomit. But she felt an -icy cold creeping from her feet to her heart. - -"Ah! it is beginning," she murmured. - -"What did you say?" - -She turned her head from side to side with a gentle movement full -of agony, while constantly opening her mouth as if something very -heavy were weighing upon her tongue. At eight o'clock the -vomiting began again. - -Charles noticed that at the bottom of the basin there was a sort -of white sediment sticking to the sides of the porcelain. - -"This is extraordinary--very singular," he repeated. - -But she said in a firm voice, "No, you are mistaken." - -Then gently, and almost as caressing her, he passed his hand over -her stomach. She uttered a sharp cry. He fell back -terror-stricken. - -Then she began to groan, faintly at first. Her shoulders were -shaken by a strong shuddering, and she was growing paler than the -sheets in which her clenched fingers buried themselves. Her -unequal pulse was now almost imperceptible. - -Drops of sweat oozed from her bluish face, that seemed as if -rigid in the exhalations of a metallic vapour. Her teeth -chattered, her dilated eyes looked vaguely about her, and to all -questions she replied only with a shake of the head; she even -smiled once or twice. Gradually, her moaning grew louder; a -hollow shriek burst from her; she pretended she was better and -that she would get up presently. But she was seized with -convulsions and cried out-- - -"Ah! my God! It is horrible!" - -He threw himself on his knees by her bed. - -"Tell me! what have you eaten? Answer, for heaven's sake!" - -And he looked at her with a tenderness in his eyes such as she -had never seen. - -"Well, there--there!" she said in a faint voice. He flew to the -writing-table, tore open the seal, and read aloud: "Accuse no -one." He stopped, passed his hands across his eyes, and read it -over again. - -"What! help--help!" - -He could only keep repeating the word: "Poisoned! poisoned!" -Felicite ran to Homais, who proclaimed it in the market-place; -Madame Lefrancois heard it at the "Lion d'Or"; some got up to go -and tell their neighbours, and all night the village was on the -alert. - -Distraught, faltering, reeling, Charles wandered about the room. -He knocked against the furniture, tore his hair, and the chemist -had never believed that there could be so terrible a sight. - -He went home to write to Monsieur Canivet and to Doctor -Lariviere. He lost his head, and made more than fifteen rough -copies. Hippolyte went to Neufchatel, and Justin so spurred -Bovary's horse that he left it foundered and three parts dead by -the hill at Bois-Guillaume. - -Charles tried to look up his medical dictionary, but could not -read it; the lines were dancing. - -"Be calm," said the druggist; "we have only to administer a -powerful antidote. What is the poison?" - -Charles showed him the letter. It was arsenic. - -"Very well," said Homais, "we must make an analysis." - -For he knew that in cases of poisoning an analysis must be made; -and the other, who did not understand, answered-- - -"Oh, do anything! save her!" - -Then going back to her, he sank upon the carpet, and lay there -with his head leaning against the edge of her bed, sobbing. - -"Don't cry," she said to him. "Soon I shall not trouble you any -more." - -"Why was it? Who drove you to it?" - -She replied. "It had to be, my dear!" - -"Weren't you happy? Is it my fault? I did all I could!" - -"Yes, that is true--you are good--you." - -And she passed her hand slowly over his hair. The sweetness of -this sensation deepened his sadness; he felt his whole being -dissolving in despair at the thought that he must lose her, just -when she was confessing more love for him than ever. And he could -think of nothing; he did not know, he did not dare; the urgent -need for some immediate resolution gave the finishing stroke to -the turmoil of his mind. - -So she had done, she thought, with all the treachery; and -meanness, and numberless desires that had tortured her. She hated -no one now; a twilight dimness was settling upon her thoughts, -and, of all earthly noises, Emma heard none but the intermittent -lamentations of this poor heart, sweet and indistinct like the -echo of a symphony dying away. - -"Bring me the child," she said, raising herself on her elbow. - -"You are not worse, are you?" asked Charles. - -"No, no!" - -The child, serious, and still half-asleep, was carried in on the -servant's arm in her long white nightgown, from which her bare -feet peeped out. She looked wonderingly at the disordered room, -and half-closed her eyes, dazzled by the candles burning on the -table. They reminded her, no doubt, of the morning of New Year's -day and Mid-Lent, when thus awakened early by candle-light she -came to her mother's bed to fetch her presents, for she began -saying-- - -"But where is it, mamma?" And as everybody was silent, "But I -can't see my little stocking." - -Felicite held her over the bed while she still kept looking -towards the mantelpiece. - -"Has nurse taken it?" she asked. - -And at this name, that carried her back to the memory of her -adulteries and her calamities, Madame Bovary turned away her -head, as at the loathing of another bitterer poison that rose to -her mouth. But Berthe remained perched on the bed. - -"Oh, how big your eyes are, mamma! How pale you are! how hot you -are!" - -Her mother looked at her. "I am frightened!" cried the child, -recoiling. - -Emma took her hand to kiss it; the child struggled. - -"That will do. Take her away," cried Charles, who was sobbing in -the alcove. - -Then the symptoms ceased for a moment; she seemed less agitated; -and at every insignificant word, at every respiration a little -more easy, he regained hope. At last, when Canivet came in, he -threw himself into his arms. - -"Ah! it is you. Thanks! You are good! But she is better. See! -look at her." - -His colleague was by no means of this opinion, and, as he said of -himself, "never beating about the bush," he prescribed, an emetic -in order to empty the stomach completely. - -She soon began vomiting blood. Her lips became drawn. Her limbs -were convulsed, her whole body covered with brown spots, and her -pulse slipped beneath the fingers like a stretched thread, like a -harp-string nearly breaking. - -After this she began to scream horribly. She cursed the poison, -railed at it, and implored it to be quick, and thrust away with -her stiffened arms everything that Charles, in more agony than -herself, tried to make her drink. He stood up, his handkerchief -to his lips, with a rattling sound in his throat, weeping, and -choked by sobs that shook his whole body. Felicite was running -hither and thither in the room. Homais, motionless, uttered great -sighs; and Monsieur Canivet, always retaining his self-command, -nevertheless began to feel uneasy. - -"The devil! yet she has been purged, and from the moment that the -cause ceases--" - -"The effect must cease," said Homais, "that is evident." - -"Oh, save her!" cried Bovary. - -And, without listening to the chemist, who was still venturing -the hypothesis, "It is perhaps a salutary paroxysm," Canivet was -about to administer some theriac, when they heard the cracking of -a whip; all the windows rattled, and a post-chaise drawn by three -horses abreast, up to their ears in mud, drove at a gallop round -the corner of the market. It was Doctor Lariviere. - -The apparition of a god would not have caused more commotion. -Bovary raised his hands; Canivet stopped short; and Homais pulled -off his skull-cap long before the doctor had come in. - -He belonged to that great school of surgery begotten of Bichat, -to that generation, now extinct, of philosophical practitioners, -who, loving their art with a fanatical love, exercised it with -enthusiasm and wisdom. Everyone in his hospital trembled when he -was angry; and his students so revered him that they tried, as -soon as they were themselves in practice, to imitate him as much -as possible. So that in all the towns about they were found -wearing his long wadded merino overcoat and black frock-coat, -whose buttoned cuffs slightly covered his brawny hands--very -beautiful hands, and that never knew gloves, as though to be more -ready to plunge into suffering. Disdainful of honours, of titles, -and of academies, like one of the old Knight-Hospitallers, -generous, fatherly to the poor, and practising virtue without -believing in it, he would almost have passed for a saint if the -keenness of his intellect had not caused him to be feared as a -demon. His glance, more penetrating than his bistouries, looked -straight into your soul, and dissected every lie athwart all -assertions and all reticences. And thus he went along, full of -that debonair majesty that is given by the consciousness of great -talent, of fortune, and of forty years of a labourious and -irreproachable life. - -He frowned as soon as he had passed the door when he saw the -cadaverous face of Emma stretched out on her back with her mouth -open. Then, while apparently listening to Canivet, he rubbed his -fingers up and down beneath his nostrils, and repeated-- - -"Good! good!" - -But he made a slow gesture with his shoulders. Bovary watched -him; they looked at one another; and this man, accustomed as he -was to the sight of pain, could not keep back a tear that fell on -his shirt-frill. - -He tried to take Canivet into the next room. Charles followed -him. - -"She is very ill, isn't she? If we put on sinapisms? Anything! -Oh, think of something, you who have saved so many!" - -Charles caught him in both his arms, and gazed at him wildly, -imploringly, half-fainting against his breast. - -"Come, my poor fellow, courage! There is nothing more to be -done." - -And Doctor Lariviere turned away. - -"You are going?" - -"I will come back." - -He went out only to give an order to the coachman, with Monsieur -Canivet, who did not care either to have Emma die under his -hands. - -The chemist rejoined them on the Place. He could not by -temperament keep away from celebrities, so he begged Monsieur -Lariviere to do him the signal honour of accepting some -breakfast. - -He sent quickly to the "Lion d'Or" for some pigeons; to the -butcher's for all the cutlets that were to be had; to Tuvache for -cream; and to Lestiboudois for eggs; and the druggist himself -aided in the preparations, while Madame Homais was saying as she -pulled together the strings of her jacket-- - -"You must excuse us, sir, for in this poor place, when one hasn't -been told the night before--" - -"Wine glasses!" whispered Homais. - -"If only we were in town, we could fall back upon stuffed -trotters." - -"Be quiet! Sit down, doctor!" - -He thought fit, after the first few mouthfuls, to give some -details as to the catastrophe. - -"We first had a feeling of siccity in the pharynx, then -intolerable pains at the epigastrium, super purgation, coma." - -"But how did she poison herself?" - -"I don't know, doctor, and I don't even know where she can have -procured the arsenious acid." - -Justin, who was just bringing in a pile of plates, began to -tremble. - -"What's the matter?" said the chemist. - -At this question the young man dropped the whole lot on the -ground with a crash. - -"Imbecile!" cried Homais. "awkward lout! block-head! confounded -ass!" - -But suddenly controlling himself-- - -"I wished, doctor, to make an analysis, and primo I delicately -introduced a tube--" - -"You would have done better," said the physician, "to introduce -your fingers into her throat." - -His colleague was silent, having just before privately received a -severe lecture about his emetic, so that this good Canivet, so -arrogant and so verbose at the time of the clubfoot, was to-day -very modest. He smiled without ceasing in an approving manner. - -Homais dilated in Amphytrionic pride, and the affecting thought -of Bovary vaguely contributed to his pleasure by a kind of -egotistic reflex upon himself. Then the presence of the doctor -transported him. He displayed his erudition, cited pell-mell -cantharides, upas, the manchineel, vipers. - -"I have even read that various persons have found themselves -under toxicological symptoms, and, as it were, thunderstricken by -black-pudding that had been subjected to a too vehement -fumigation. At least, this was stated in a very fine report drawn -up by one of our pharmaceutical chiefs, one of our masters, the -illustrious Cadet de Gassicourt!" - -Madame Homais reappeared, carrying one of those shaky machines -that are heated with spirits of wine; for Homais liked to make -his coffee at table, having, moreover, torrefied it, pulverised -it, and mixed it himself. - -"Saccharum, doctor?" said he, offering the sugar. - -Then he had all his children brought down, anxious to have the -physician's opinion on their constitutions. - -At last Monsieur Lariviere was about to leave, when Madame Homais -asked for a consultation about her husband. He was making his -blood too thick by going to sleep every evening after dinner. - -"Oh, it isn't his blood that's too thick," said the physician. - -And, smiling a little at his unnoticed joke, the doctor opened -the door. But the chemist's shop was full of people; he had the -greatest difficulty in getting rid of Monsieur Tuvache, who -feared his spouse would get inflammation of the lungs, because -she was in the habit of spitting on the ashes; then of Monsieur -Binet, who sometimes experienced sudden attacks of great hunger; -and of Madame Caron, who suffered from tinglings; of Lheureux, -who had vertigo; of Lestiboudois, who had rheumatism; and of -Madame Lefrancois, who had heartburn. At last the three horses -started; and it was the general opinion that he had not shown -himself at all obliging. - -Public attention was distracted by the appearance of Monsieur -Bournisien, who was going across the market with the holy oil. - -Homais, as was due to his principles, compared priests to ravens -attracted by the odour of death. The sight of an ecclesiastic was -personally disagreeable to him, for the cassock made him think of -the shroud, and he detested the one from some fear of the other. - -Nevertheless, not shrinking from what he called his mission, he -returned to Bovary's in company with Canivet whom Monsieur -Lariviere, before leaving, had strongly urged to make this visit; -and he would, but for his wife's objections, have taken his two -sons with him, in order to accustom them to great occasions; that -this might be a lesson, an example, a solemn picture, that should -remain in their heads later on. - -The room when they went in was full of mournful solemnity. On the -work-table, covered over with a white cloth, there were five or -six small balls of cotton in a silver dish, near a large crucifix -between two lighted candles. - -Emma, her chin sunken upon her breast, had her eyes inordinately -wide open, and her poor hands wandered over the sheets with that -hideous and soft movement of the dying, that seems as if they -wanted already to cover themselves with the shroud. Pale as a -statue and with eyes red as fire, Charles, not weeping, stood -opposite her at the foot of the bed, while the priest, bending -one knee, was muttering words in a low voice. - -She turned her face slowly, and seemed filled with joy on seeing -suddenly the violet stole, no doubt finding again, in the midst -of a temporary lull in her pain, the lost voluptuousness of her -first mystical transports, with the visions of eternal beatitude -that were beginning. - -The priest rose to take the crucifix; then she stretched forward -her neck as one who is athirst, and glueing her lips to the body -of the Man-God, she pressed upon it with all her expiring -strength the fullest kiss of love that she had ever given. Then -he recited the Misereatur and the Indulgentiam, dipped his right -thumb in the oil, and began to give extreme unction. First upon -the eyes, that had so coveted all worldly pomp; then upon the -nostrils, that had been greedy of the warm breeze and amorous -odours; then upon the mouth, that had uttered lies, that had -curled with pride and cried out in lewdness; then upon the hands -that had delighted in sensual touches; and finally upon the soles -of the feet, so swift of yore, when she was running to satisfy -her desires, and that would now walk no more. - -The cure wiped his fingers, threw the bit of cotton dipped in oil -into the fire, and came and sat down by the dying woman, to tell -her that she must now blend her sufferings with those of Jesus -Christ and abandon herself to the divine mercy. - -Finishing his exhortations, he tried to place in her hand a -blessed candle, symbol of the celestial glory with which she was -soon to be surrounded. Emma, too weak, could not close her -fingers, and the taper, but for Monsieur Bournisien would have -fallen to the ground. - -However, she was not quite so pale, and her face had an -expression of serenity as if the sacrament had cured her. - -The priest did not fail to point this out; he even explained to -Bovary that the Lord sometimes prolonged the life of persons when -he thought it meet for their salvation; and Charles remembered -the day when, so near death, she had received the communion. -Perhaps there was no need to despair, he thought. - -In fact, she looked around her slowly, as one awakening from a -dream; then in a distinct voice she asked for her looking-glass, -and remained some time bending over it, until the big tears fell -from her eyes. Then she turned away her head with a sigh and fell -back upon the pillows. - -Her chest soon began panting rapidly; the whole of her tongue -protruded from her mouth; her eyes, as they rolled, grew paler, -like the two globes of a lamp that is going out, so that one -might have thought her already dead but for the fearful labouring -of her ribs, shaken by violent breathing, as if the soul were -struggling to free itself. Felicite knelt down before the -crucifix, and the druggist himself slightly bent his knees, while -Monsieur Canivet looked out vaguely at the Place. Bournisien had -again begun to pray, his face bowed against the edge of the bed, -his long black cassock trailing behind him in the room. Charles -was on the other side, on his knees, his arms outstretched -towards Emma. He had taken her hands and pressed them, shuddering -at every beat of her heart, as at the shaking of a falling ruin. -As the death-rattle became stronger the priest prayed faster; his -prayers mingled with the stifled sobs of Bovary, and sometimes -all seemed lost in the muffled murmur of the Latin syllables that -tolled like a passing bell. - -Suddenly on the pavement was heard a loud noise of clogs and the -clattering of a stick; and a voice rose--a raucous voice--that -sang-- - -"Maids in the warmth of a summer day -Dream of love and of love always" - -Emma raised herself like a galvanised corpse, her hair undone, -her eyes fixed, staring. - -"Where the sickle blades have been, -Nannette, gathering ears of corn, -Passes bending down, my queen, -To the earth where they were born." - -"The blind man!" she cried. And Emma began to laugh, an -atrocious, frantic, despairing laugh, thinking she saw the -hideous face of the poor wretch that stood out against the -eternal night like a menace. - -"The wind is strong this summer day, -Her petticoat has flown away." - -She fell back upon the mattress in a convulsion. They all drew -near. She was dead. - - - -Chapter Nine - -There is always after the death of anyone a kind of stupefaction; -so difficult is it to grasp this advent of nothingness and to -resign ourselves to believe in it. But still, when he saw that -she did not move, Charles threw himself upon her, crying-- - -"Farewell! farewell!" - -Homais and Canivet dragged him from the room. - -"Restrain yourself!" - -"Yes." said he, struggling, "I'll be quiet. I'll not do anything. -But leave me alone. I want to see her. She is my wife!" - -And he wept. - -"Cry," said the chemist; "let nature take her course; that will -solace you." - -Weaker than a child, Charles let himself be led downstairs into -the sitting-room, and Monsieur Homais soon went home. On the -Place he was accosted by the blind man, who, having dragged -himself as far as Yonville, in the hope of getting the -antiphlogistic pomade, was asking every passer-by where the -druggist lived. - -"There now! as if I hadn't got other fish to fry. Well, so much -the worse; you must come later on." - -And he entered the shop hurriedly. - -He had to write two letters, to prepare a soothing potion for -Bovary, to invent some lie that would conceal the poisoning, and -work it up into an article for the "Fanal," without counting the -people who were waiting to get the news from him; and when the -Yonvillers had all heard his story of the arsenic that she had -mistaken for sugar in making a vanilla cream. Homais once more -returned to Bovary's. - -He found him alone (Monsieur Canivet had left), sitting in an -arm-chair near the window, staring with an idiotic look at the -flags of the floor. - -"Now," said the chemist, "you ought yourself to fix the hour for -the ceremony." - -"Why? What ceremony?" Then, in a stammering, frightened voice, -"Oh, no! not that. No! I want to see her here." - -Homais, to keep himself in countenance, took up a water-bottle on -the whatnot to water the geraniums. - -"Ah! thanks," said Charles; "you are good." - -But he did not finish, choking beneath the crowd of memories that -this action of the druggist recalled to him. - -Then to distract him, Homais thought fit to talk a little -horticulture: plants wanted humidity. Charles bowed his head in -sign of approbation. - -"Besides, the fine days will soon be here again." - -"Ah!" said Bovary. - -The druggist, at his wit's end, began softly to draw aside the -small window-curtain. - -"Hallo! there's Monsieur Tuvache passing." - -Charles repeated like a machine--- - -"Monsieur Tuvache passing!" - -Homais did not dare to speak to him again about the funeral -arrangements; it was the priest who succeeded in reconciling him -to them. - -He shut himself up in his consulting-room, took a pen, and after -sobbing for some time, wrote-- - -"I wish her to be buried in her wedding-dress, with white shoes, -and a wreath. Her hair is to be spread out over her shoulders. -Three coffins, one of oak, one of mahogany, one of lead. Let no -one say anything to me. I shall have strength. Over all there is -to be placed a large piece of green velvet. This is my wish; see -that it is done." - -The two men were much surprised at Bovary's romantic ideas. The -chemist at once went to him and said-- - -"This velvet seems to me a superfetation. Besides, the expense--" - -"What's that to you?" cried Charles. "Leave me! You did not love -her. Go!" - -The priest took him by the arm for a turn in the garden. He -discoursed on the vanity of earthly things. God was very great, -was very good: one must submit to his decrees without a murmur; -nay, must even thank him. - -Charles burst out into blasphemies: "I hate your God!" - -"The spirit of rebellion is still upon you," sighed the -ecclesiastic. - -Bovary was far away. He was walking with great strides along by -the wall, near the espalier, and he ground his teeth; he raised -to heaven looks of malediction, but not so much as a leaf -stirred. - -A fine rain was falling: Charles, whose chest was bare, at last -began to shiver; he went in and sat down in the kitchen. - -At six o'clock a noise like a clatter of old iron was heard on -the Place; it was the "Hirondelle" coming in, and he remained -with his forehead against the windowpane, watching all the -passengers get out, one after the other. Felicite put down a -mattress for him in the drawing-room. He threw himself upon it -and fell asleep. - -Although a philosopher, Monsieur Homais respected the dead. So -bearing no grudge to poor Charles, he came back again in the -evening to sit up with the body; bringing with him three volumes -and a pocket-book for taking notes. - -Monsieur Bournisien was there, and two large candles were burning -at the head of the bed, that had been taken out of the alcove. -The druggist, on whom the silence weighed, was not long before he -began formulating some regrets about this "unfortunate young -woman." and the priest replied that there was nothing to do now -but pray for her. - -"Yet," Homais went on, "one of two things; either she died in a -state of grace (as the Church has it), and then she has no need -of our prayers; or else she departed impertinent (that is, I -believe, the ecclesiastical expression), and then--" - -Bournisien interrupted him, replying testily that it was none the -less necessary to pray. - -"But," objected the chemist, "since God knows all our needs, what -can be the good of prayer?" - -"What!" cried the ecclesiastic, "prayer! Why, aren't you a -Christian?" - -"Excuse me," said Homais; "I admire Christianity. To begin with, -it enfranchised the slaves, introduced into the world a -morality--" - -"That isn't the question. All the texts-" - -"Oh! oh! As to texts, look at history; it, is known that all the -texts have been falsified by the Jesuits." - -Charles came in, and advancing towards the bed, slowly drew the -curtains. - -Emma's head was turned towards her right shoulder, the corner of -her mouth, which was open, seemed like a black hole at the lower -part of her face; her two thumbs were bent into the palms of her -hands; a kind of white dust besprinkled her lashes, and her eyes -were beginning to disappear in that viscous pallor that looks -like a thin web, as if spiders had spun it over. The sheet sunk -in from her breast to her knees, and then rose at the tips of her -toes, and it seemed to Charles that infinite masses, an enormous -load, were weighing upon her. - -The church clock struck two. They could hear the loud murmur of -the river flowing in the darkness at the foot of the terrace. -Monsieur Bournisien from time to time blew his nose noisily, and -Homais' pen was scratching over the paper. - -"Come, my good friend," he said, "withdraw; this spectacle is -tearing you to pieces." - -Charles once gone, the chemist and the cure recommenced their -discussions. - -"Read Voltaire," said the one, "read D'Holbach, read the -'Encyclopaedia'!" - -"Read the 'Letters of some Portuguese Jews,'" said the other; -"read 'The Meaning of Christianity,' by Nicolas, formerly a -magistrate." - -They grew warm, they grew red, they both talked at once without -listening to each other. Bournisien was scandalized at such -audacity; Homais marvelled at such stupidity; and they were on -the point of insulting one another when Charles suddenly -reappeared. A fascination drew him. He was continually coming -upstairs. - -He stood opposite her, the better to see her, and he lost himself -in a contemplation so deep that it was no longer painful. - -He recalled stories of catalepsy, the marvels of magnetism, and -he said to himself that by willing it with all his force he might -perhaps succeed in reviving her. Once he even bent towards he, -and cried in a low voice, "Emma! Emma!" His strong breathing made -the flames of the candles tremble against the wall. - -At daybreak Madame Bovary senior arrived. Charles as he embraced -her burst into another flood of tears. She tried, as the chemist -had done, to make some remarks to him on the expenses of the -funeral. He became so angry that she was silent, and he even -commissioned her to go to town at once and buy what was -necessary. - -Charles remained alone the whole afternoon; they had taken Berthe -to Madame Homais'; Felicite was in the room upstairs with Madame -Lefrancois. - -In the evening he had some visitors. He rose, pressed their -hands, unable to speak. Then they sat down near one another, and -formed a large semicircle in front of the fire. With lowered -faces, and swinging one leg crossed over the other knee, they -uttered deep sighs at intervals; each one was inordinately bored, -and yet none would be the first to go. - -Homais, when he returned at nine o'clock (for the last two days -only Homais seemed to have been on the Place), was laden with a -stock of camphor, of benzine, and aromatic herbs. He also carried -a large jar full of chlorine water, to keep off all miasmata. -Just then the servant, Madame Lefrancois, and Madame Bovary -senior were busy about Emma, finishing dressing her, and they -were drawing down the long stiff veil that covered her to her -satin shoes. - -Felicite was sobbing--"Ah! my poor mistress! my poor mistress!" - -"Look at her," said the landlady, sighing; "how pretty she still -is! Now, couldn't you swear she was going to get up in a minute?" - -Then they bent over her to put on her wreath. They had to raise -the head a little, and a rush of black liquid issued, as if she -were vomiting, from her mouth. - -"Oh, goodness! The dress; take care!" cried Madame Lefrancois. -"Now, just come and help," she said to the chemist. "Perhaps -you're afraid?" - -"I afraid?" replied he, shrugging his shoulders. "I dare say! -I've seen all sorts of things at the hospital when I was studying -pharmacy. We used to make punch in the dissecting room! -Nothingness does not terrify a philosopher; and, as I often say, -I even intend to leave my body to the hospitals, in order, later -on, to serve science." - -The cure on his arrival inquired how Monsieur Bovary was, and, on -the reply of the druggist, went on--"The blow, you see, is still -too recent." - -Then Homais congratulated him on not being exposed, like other -people, to the loss of a beloved companion; whence there followed -a discussion on the celibacy of priests. - -"For," said the chemist, "it is unnatural that a man should do -without women! There have been crimes--" - -"But, good heaven!" cried the ecclesiastic, "how do you expect an -individual who is married to keep the secrets of the -confessional, for example?" - -Homais fell foul of the confessional. Bournisien defended it; he -enlarged on the acts of restitution that it brought about. He -cited various anecdotes about thieves who had suddenly become -honest. Military men on approaching the tribunal of penitence had -felt the scales fall from their eyes. At Fribourg there was a -minister-- - -His companion was asleep. Then he felt somewhat stifled by the -over-heavy atmosphere of the room; he opened the window; this -awoke the chemist. - -"Come, take a pinch of snuff," he said to him. "Take it; it'll -relieve you." - -A continual barking was heard in the distance. "Do you hear that -dog howling?" said the chemist. - -"They smell the dead," replied the priest. "It's like bees; they -leave their hives on the decease of any person." - -Homais made no remark upon these prejudices, for he had again -dropped asleep. Monsieur Bournisien, stronger than he, went on -moving his lips gently for some time, then insensibly his chin -sank down, he let fall his big black boot, and began to snore. - -They sat opposite one another, with protruding stomachs, -puffed-up faces, and frowning looks, after so much disagreement -uniting at last in the same human weakness, and they moved no -more than the corpse by their side, that seemed to be sleeping. - -Charles coming in did not wake them. It was the last time; he -came to bid her farewell. - -The aromatic herbs were still smoking, and spirals of bluish -vapour blended at the window-sash with the fog that was coming -in. There were few stars, and the night was warm. The wax of the -candles fell in great drops upon the sheets of the bed. Charles -watched them burn, tiring his eyes against the glare of their -yellow flame. - -The watering on the satin gown shimmered white as moonlight. Emma -was lost beneath it; and it seemed to him that, spreading beyond -her own self, she blended confusedly with everything around her-- -the silence, the night, the passing wind, the damp odours rising -from the ground. - -Then suddenly he saw her in the garden at Tostes, on a bench -against the thorn hedge, or else at Rouen in the streets, on the -threshold of their house, in the yard at Bertaux. He again heard -the laughter of the happy boys beneath the apple-trees: the room -was filled with the perfume of her hair; and her dress rustled in -his arms with a noise like electricity. The dress was still the -same. - -For a long while he thus recalled all his lost joys, her -attitudes, her movements, the sound of her voice. Upon one fit of -despair followed another, and even others, inexhaustible as the -waves of an overflowing sea. - -A terrible curiosity seized him. Slowly, with the tips of his -fingers, palpitating, he lifted her veil. But he uttered a cry of -horror that awoke the other two. - -They dragged him down into the sitting-room. Then Felicite came -up to say that he wanted some of her hair. - -"Cut some off," replied the druggist. - -And as she did not dare to, he himself stepped forward, scissors -in hand. He trembled so that he pierced the skin of the temple in -several places. At last, stiffening himself against emotion, -Homais gave two or three great cuts at random that left white -patches amongst that beautiful black hair. - -The chemist and the cure plunged anew into their occupations, not -without sleeping from time to time, of which they accused each -other reciprocally at each fresh awakening. Then Monsieur -Bournisien sprinkled the room with holy water and Homais threw a -little chlorine water on the floor. - -Felicite had taken care to put on the chest of drawers, for each -of them, a bottle of brandy, some cheese, and a large roll. And -the druggist, who could not hold out any longer, about four in -the morning sighed-- - -"My word! I should like to take some sustenance." - -The priest did not need any persuading; he went out to go and say -mass, came back, and then they ate and hobnobbed, giggling a -little without knowing why, stimulated by that vague gaiety that -comes upon us after times of sadness, and at the last glass the -priest said to the druggist, as he clapped him on the shoulder-- - -"We shall end by understanding one another." - -In the passage downstairs they met the undertaker's men, who were -coming in. Then Charles for two hours had to suffer the torture -of hearing the hammer resound against the wood. Next day they -lowered her into her oak coffin, that was fitted into the other -two; but as the bier was too large, they had to fill up the gaps -with the wool of a mattress. At last, when the three lids had -been planed down, nailed, soldered, it was placed outside in -front of the door; the house was thrown open, and the people of -Yonville began to flock round. - -Old Rouault arrived, and fainted on the Place when he saw the -black cloth! - - - -Chapter Ten - -He had only received the chemist's letter thirty-six hours after -the event; and, from consideration for his feelings, Homais had -so worded it that it was impossible to make out what it was all -about. - -First, the old fellow had fallen as if struck by apoplexy. Next, -he understood that she was not dead, but she might be. At last, -he had put on his blouse, taken his hat, fastened his spurs to -his boots, and set out at full speed; and the whole of the way -old Rouault, panting, was torn by anguish. Once even he was -obliged to dismount. He was dizzy; he heard voices round about -him; he felt himself going mad. - -Day broke. He saw three black hens asleep in a tree. He -shuddered, horrified at this omen. Then he promised the Holy -Virgin three chasubles for the church, and that he would go -barefooted from the cemetery at Bertaux to the chapel of -Vassonville. - -He entered Maromme shouting for the people of the inn, burst open -the door with a thrust of his shoulder, made for a sack of oats, -emptied a bottle of sweet cider into the manger, and again -mounted his nag, whose feet struck fire as it dashed along. - -He said to himself that no doubt they would save her; the doctors -would discover some remedy surely. He remembered all the -miraculous cures he had been told about. Then she appeared to him -dead. She was there; before his eyes, lying on her back in the -middle of the road. He reined up, and the hallucination -disappeared. - -At Quincampoix, to give himself heart, he drank three cups of -coffee one after the other. He fancied they had made a mistake in -the name in writing. He looked for the letter in his pocket, felt -it there, but did not dare to open it. - -At last he began to think it was all a joke; someone's spite, the -jest of some wag; and besides, if she were dead, one would have -known it. But no! There was nothing extraordinary about the -country; the sky was blue, the trees swayed; a flock of sheep -passed. He saw the village; he was seen coming bending forward -upon his horse, belabouring it with great blows, the girths -dripping with blood. - -When he had recovered consciousness, he fell, weeping, into -Bovary's arms: "My girl! Emma! my child! tell me--" - -The other replied, sobbing, "I don't know! I don't know! It's a -curse!" - -The druggist separated them. "These horrible details are useless. -I will tell this gentleman all about it. Here are the people -coming. Dignity! Come now! Philosophy!" - -The poor fellow tried to show himself brave, and repeated several -times. "Yes! courage!" - -"Oh," cried the old man, "so I will have, by God! I'll go along -o' her to the end!" - -The bell began tolling. All was ready; they had to start. And -seated in a stall of the choir, side by side, they saw pass and -repass in front of them continually the three chanting -choristers. - -The serpent-player was blowing with all his might. Monsieur -Bournisien, in full vestments, was singing in a shrill voice. He -bowed before the tabernacle, raising his hands, stretched out his -arms. Lestiboudois went about the church with his whalebone -stick. The bier stood near the lectern, between four rows of -candles. Charles felt inclined to get up and put them out. - -Yet he tried to stir himself to a feeling of devotion, to throw -himself into the hope of a future life in which he should see her -again. He imagined to himself she had gone on a long journey, far -away, for a long time. But when he thought of her lying there, and -that all was over, that they would lay her in the earth, he was -seized with a fierce, gloomy, despairful rage. At times he -thought he felt nothing more, and he enjoyed this lull in his -pain, whilst at the same time he reproached himself for being a -wretch. - -The sharp noise of an iron-ferruled stick was heard on the -stones, striking them at irregular intervals. It came from the -end of the church, and stopped short at the lower aisles. A man -in a coarse brown jacket knelt down painfully. It was Hippolyte, -the stable-boy at the "Lion d'Or." He had put on his new leg. - -One of the choristers went round the nave making a collection, -and the coppers chinked one after the other on the silver plate. - -"Oh, make haste! I am in pain!" cried Bovary, angrily throwing -him a five-franc piece. The churchman thanked him with a deep bow. - -They sang, they knelt, they stood up; it was endless! He -remembered that once, in the early times, they had been to mass -together, and they had sat down on the other side, on the right, -by the wall. The bell began again. There was a great moving of -chairs; the bearers slipped their three staves under the coffin, -and everyone left the church. - -Then Justin appeared at the door of the shop. He suddenly went in -again, pale, staggering. - -People were at the windows to see the procession pass. Charles at -the head walked erect. He affected a brave air, and saluted with -a nod those who, coming out from the lanes or from their doors, -stood amidst the crowd. - -The six men, three on either side, walked slowly, panting a -little. The priests, the choristers, and the two choirboys -recited the De profundis*, and their voices echoed over the -fields, rising and falling with their undulations. Sometimes they -disappeared in the windings of the path; but the great silver -cross rose always before the trees. - -*Psalm CXXX. - - -The women followed in black cloaks with turned-down hoods; each -of them carried in her hands a large lighted candle, and Charles -felt himself growing weaker at this continual repetition of -prayers and torches, beneath this oppressive odour of wax and of -cassocks. A fresh breeze was blowing; the rye and colza were -sprouting, little dewdrops trembled at the roadsides and on the -hawthorn hedges. All sorts of joyous sounds filled the air; the -jolting of a cart rolling afar off in the ruts, the crowing of a -cock, repeated again and again, or the gambling of a foal running -away under the apple-trees: The pure sky was fretted with rosy -clouds; a bluish haze rested upon the cots covered with iris. -Charles as he passed recognised each courtyard. He remembered -mornings like this, when, after visiting some patient, he came -out from one and returned to her. - -The black cloth bestrewn with white beads blew up from time to -time, laying bare the coffin. The tired bearers walked more -slowly, and it advanced with constant jerks, like a boat that -pitches with every wave. - -They reached the cemetery. The men went right down to a place in -the grass where a grave was dug. They ranged themselves all -round; and while the priest spoke, the red soil thrown up at the -sides kept noiselessly slipping down at the corners. - -Then when the four ropes were arranged the coffin was placed upon -them. He watched it descend; it seemed descending for ever. At -last a thud was heard; the ropes creaked as they were drawn up. -Then Bournisien took the spade handed to him by Lestiboudois; -with his left hand all the time sprinkling water, with the right -he vigorously threw in a large spadeful; and the wood of the -coffin, struck by the pebbles, gave forth that dread sound that -seems to us the reverberation of eternity. - -The ecclesiastic passed the holy water sprinkler to his -neighbour. This was Homais. He swung it gravely, then handed it -to Charles, who sank to his knees in the earth and threw in -handfuls of it, crying, "Adieu!" He sent her kisses; he dragged -himself towards the grave, to engulf himself with her. They led -him away, and he soon grew calmer, feeling perhaps, like the -others, a vague satisfaction that it was all over. - -Old Rouault on his way back began quietly smoking a pipe, which -Homais in his innermost conscience thought not quite the thing. -He also noticed that Monsieur Binet had not been present, and -that Tuvache had "made off" after mass, and that Theodore, the -notary's servant wore a blue coat, "as if one could not have got -a black coat, since that is the custom, by Jove!" And to share -his observations with others he went from group to group. They -were deploring Emma's death, especially Lheureux, who had not -failed to come to the funeral. - -"Poor little woman! What a trouble for her husband!" - -The druggist continued, "Do you know that but for me he would -have committed some fatal attempt upon himself?" - -"Such a good woman! To think that I saw her only last Saturday in -my shop." - -"I haven't had leisure," said Homais, "to prepare a few words -that I would have cast upon her tomb." - -Charles on getting home undressed, and old Rouault put on his -blue blouse. It was a new one, and as he had often during the -journey wiped his eyes on the sleeves, the dye had stained his -face, and the traces of tears made lines in the layer of dust -that covered it. - -Madame Bovary senior was with them. All three were silent. At -last the old fellow sighed-- - -"Do you remember, my friend, that I went to Tostes once when you -had just lost your first deceased? I consoled you at that time. I -thought of something to say then, but now--" Then, with a loud -groan that shook his whole chest, "Ah! this is the end for me, do -you see! I saw my wife go, then my son, and now to-day it's my -daughter." - -He wanted to go back at once to Bertaux, saying that he could not -sleep in this house. He even refused to see his granddaughter. - -"No, no! It would grieve me too much. Only you'll kiss her many -times for me. Good-bye! you're a good fellow! And then I shall -never forget that," he said, slapping his thigh. "Never fear, you -shall always have your turkey." - -But when he reached the top of the hill he turned back, as he had -turned once before on the road of Saint-Victor when he had parted -from her. The windows of the village were all on fire beneath the -slanting rays of the sun sinking behind the field. He put his -hand over his eyes, and saw in the horizon an enclosure of walls, -where trees here and there formed black clusters between white -stones; then he went on his way at a gentle trot, for his nag had -gone lame. - -Despite their fatigue, Charles and his mother stayed very long -that evening talking together. They spoke of the days of the past -and of the future. She would come to live at Yonville; she would -keep house for him; they would never part again. She was -ingenious and caressing, rejoicing in her heart at gaining once -more an affection that had wandered from her for so many years. -Midnight struck. The village as usual was silent, and Charles, -awake, thought always of her. - -Rodolphe, who, to distract himself, had been rambling about the -wood all day, was sleeping quietly in his chateau, and Leon, down -yonder, always slept. - -There was another who at that hour was not asleep. - -On the grave between the pine-trees a child was on his knees -weeping, and his heart, rent by sobs, was beating in the shadow -beneath the load of an immense regret, sweeter than the moon and -fathomless as the night. The gate suddenly grated. It was -Lestiboudois; he came to fetch his spade, that he had forgotten. -He recognised Justin climbing over the wall, and at last knew who -was the culprit who stole his potatoes. - - - -Chapter Eleven - -The next day Charles had the child brought back. She asked for -her mamma. They told her she was away; that she would bring her -back some playthings. Berthe spoke of her again several times, -then at last thought no more of her. The child's gaiety broke -Bovary's heart, and he had to bear besides the intolerable -consolations of the chemist. - -Money troubles soon began again, Monsieur Lheureux urging on anew -his friend Vincart, and Charles pledged himself for exorbitant -sums; for he would never consent to let the smallest of the -things that had belonged to HER be sold. His mother was -exasperated with him; he grew even more angry than she did. He -had altogether changed. She left the house. - -Then everyone began "taking advantage" of him. Mademoiselle -Lempereur presented a bill for six months' teaching, although -Emma had never taken a lesson (despite the receipted bill she had -shown Bovary); it was an arrangement between the two women. The -man at the circulating library demanded three years' -subscriptions; Mere Rollet claimed the postage due for some -twenty letters, and when Charles asked for an explanation, she -had the delicacy to reply-- - -"Oh, I don't know. It was for her business affairs." - -With every debt he paid Charles thought he had come to the end of -them. But others followed ceaselessly. He sent in accounts for -professional attendance. He was shown the letters his wife had -written. Then he had to apologise. - -Felicite now wore Madame Bovary's gowns; not all, for he had kept -some of them, and he went to look at them in her dressing-room, -locking himself up there; she was about her height, and often -Charles, seeing her from behind, was seized with an illusion, and -cried out-- - -"Oh, stay, stay!" - -But at Whitsuntide she ran away from Yonville, carried off by -Theodore, stealing all that was left of the wardrobe. - -It was about this time that the widow Dupuis had the honour to -inform him of the "marriage of Monsieur Leon Dupuis her son, -notary at Yvetot, to Mademoiselle Leocadie Leboeuf of -Bondeville." Charles, among the other congratulations he sent -him, wrote this sentence-- - -"How glad my poor wife would have been!" - -One day when, wandering aimlessly about the house, he had gone up -to the attic, he felt a pellet of fine paper under his slipper. -He opened it and read: "Courage, Emma, courage. I would not bring -misery into your life." It was Rodolphe's letter, fallen to the -ground between the boxes, where it had remained, and that the -wind from the dormer window had just blown towards the door. And -Charles stood, motionless and staring, in the very same place -where, long ago, Emma, in despair, and paler even than he, had -thought of dying. At last he discovered a small R at the bottom -of the second page. What did this mean? He remembered Rodolphe's -attentions, his sudden, disappearance, his constrained air when -they had met two or three times since. But the respectful tone of -the letter deceived him. - -"Perhaps they loved one another platonically," he said to -himself. - -Besides, Charles was not of those who go to the bottom of things; -he shrank from the proofs, and his vague jealousy was lost in the -immensity of his woe. - -Everyone, he thought, must have adored her; all men assuredly -must have coveted her. She seemed but the more beautiful to him -for this; he was seized with a lasting, furious desire for her, -that inflamed his despair, and that was boundless, because it was -now unrealisable. - -To please her, as if she were still living, he adopted her -predilections, her ideas; he bought patent leather boots and took -to wearing white cravats. He put cosmetics on his moustache, and, -like her, signed notes of hand. She corrupted him from beyond the -grave. - -He was obliged to sell his silver piece by piece; next he sold -the drawing-room furniture. All the rooms were stripped; but the -bedroom, her own room, remained as before. After his dinner -Charles went up there. He pushed the round table in front of the -fire, and drew up her armchair. He sat down opposite it. A candle -burnt in one of the gilt candlesticks. Berthe by his side was -painting prints. - -He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with -laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to -the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her. But she was so -sweet, so pretty, and her little head bent forward so gracefully, -letting the dear fair hair fall over her rosy cheeks, that an -infinite joy came upon him, a happiness mingled with bitterness, -like those ill-made wines that taste of resin. He mended her -toys, made her puppets from cardboard, or sewed up half-torn -dolls. Then, if his eyes fell upon the workbox, a ribbon lying -about, or even a pin left in a crack of the table, he began to -dream, and looked so sad that she became as sad as he. - -No one now came to see them, for Justin had run away to Rouen, -where he was a grocer's assistant, and the druggist's children -saw less and less of the child, Monsieur Homais not caring, -seeing the difference of their social position, to continue the -intimacy. - -The blind man, whom he had not been able to cure with the pomade, -had gone back to the hill of Bois-Guillaume, where he told the -travellers of the vain attempt of the druggist, to such an -extent, that Homais when he went to town hid himself behind the -curtains of the "Hirondelle" to avoid meeting him. He detested -him, and wishing, in the interests of his own reputation, to get -rid of him at all costs, he directed against him a secret -battery, that betrayed the depth of his intellect and the -baseness of his vanity. Thus, for six consecutive months, one -could read in the "Fanal de Rouen" editorials such as these-- - -"All who bend their steps towards the fertile plains of Picardy -have, no doubt, remarked, by the Bois-Guillaume hill, a wretch -suffering from a horrible facial wound. He importunes, persecutes -one, and levies a regular tax on all travellers. Are we still -living in the monstrous times of the Middle Ages, when vagabonds -were permitted to display in our public places leprosy and -scrofulas they had brought back from the Crusades?" - -Or-- - -"In spite of the laws against vagabondage, the approaches to our -great towns continue to be infected by bands of beggars. Some are -seen going about alone, and these are not, perhaps, the least -dangerous. What are our ediles about?" - -Then Homais invented anecdotes-- - -"Yesterday, by the Bois-Guillaume hill, a skittish horse--" And -then followed the story of an accident caused by the presence of -the blind man. - -He managed so well that the fellow was locked up. But he was -released. He began again, and Homais began again. It was a -struggle. Homais won it, for his foe was condemned to life-long -confinement in an asylum. - -This success emboldened him, and henceforth there was no longer a -dog run over, a barn burnt down, a woman beaten in the parish, of -which he did not immediately inform the public, guided always by -the love of progress and the hate of priests. He instituted -comparisons between the elementary and clerical schools to the -detriment of the latter; called to mind the massacre of St. -Bartholomew a propos of a grant of one hundred francs to the -church, and denounced abuses, aired new views. That was his -phrase. Homais was digging and delving; he was becoming -dangerous. - -However, he was stifling in the narrow limits of journalism, and -soon a book, a work was necessary to him. Then he composed -"General Statistics of the Canton of Yonville, followed by -Climatological Remarks." The statistics drove him to philosophy. -He busied himself with great questions: the social problem, -moralisation of the poorer classes, pisciculture, caoutchouc, -railways, etc. He even began to blush at being a bourgeois. He -affected the artistic style, he smoked. He bought two chic -Pompadour statuettes to adorn his drawing-room. - -He by no means gave up his shop. On the contrary, he kept well -abreast of new discoveries. He followed the great movement of -chocolates; he was the first to introduce "cocoa" and "revalenta" -into the Seine-Inferieure. He was enthusiastic about the -hydro-electric Pulvermacher chains; he wore one himself, and when -at night he took off his flannel vest, Madame Homais stood quite -dazzled before the golden spiral beneath which he was hidden, -and felt her ardour redouble for this man more bandaged than a -Scythian, and splendid as one of the Magi. - -He had fine ideas about Emma's tomb. First he proposed a broken -column with some drapery, next a pyramid, then a Temple of Vesta, -a sort of rotunda, or else a "mass of ruins." And in all his -plans Homais always stuck to the weeping willow, which he looked -upon as the indispensable symbol of sorrow. - -Charles and he made a journey to Rouen together to look at some -tombs at a funeral furnisher's, accompanied by an artist, one -Vaufrylard, a friend of Bridoux's, who made puns all the time. At -last, after having examined some hundred designs, having ordered -an estimate and made another journey to Rouen, Charles decided in -favour of a mausoleum, which on the two principal sides was to -have a "spirit bearing an extinguished torch." - -As to the inscription, Homais could think of nothing so fine as -Sta viator*, and he got no further; he racked his brain, he -constantly repeated Sta viator. At last he hit upon Amabilen -conjugem calcas**, which was adopted. - -* Rest traveler. -** Tread upon a loving wife. - - -A strange thing was that Bovary, while continually thinking of -Emma, was forgetting her. He grew desperate as he felt this image -fading from his memory in spite of all efforts to retain it. Yet -every night he dreamt of her; it was always the same dream. He -drew near her, but when he was about to clasp her she fell into -decay in his arms. - -For a week he was seen going to church in the evening. Monsieur -Bournisien even paid him two or three visits, then gave him up. -Moreover, the old fellow was growing intolerant, fanatic, said -Homais. He thundered against the spirit of the age, and never -failed, every other week, in his sermon, to recount the death -agony of Voltaire, who died devouring his excrements, as everyone -knows. - -In spite of the economy with which Bovary lived, he was far from -being able to pay off his old debts. Lheureux refused to renew -any more bills. A distraint became imminent. Then he appealed to -his mother, who consented to let him take a mortgage on her -property, but with a great many recriminations against Emma; and -in return for her sacrifice she asked for a shawl that had -escaped the depredations of Felicite. Charles refused to give it -her; they quarrelled. - -She made the first overtures of reconciliation by offering to -have the little girl, who could help her in the house, to live -with her. Charles consented to this, but when the time for -parting came, all his courage failed him. Then there was a final, -complete rupture. - -As his affections vanished, he clung more closely to the love of -his child. She made him anxious, however, for she coughed -sometimes, and had red spots on her cheeks. - -Opposite his house, flourishing and merry, was the family of the -chemist, with whom everything was prospering. Napoleon helped him -in the laboratory, Athalie embroidered him a skullcap, Irma cut -out rounds of paper to cover the preserves, and Franklin recited -Pythagoras' table in a breath. He was the happiest of fathers, -the most fortunate of men. - -Not so! A secret ambition devoured him. Homais hankered after the -cross of the Legion of Honour. He had plenty of claims to it. - -"First, having at the time of the cholera distinguished myself by -a boundless devotion; second, by having published, at my expense, -various works of public utility, such as" (and he recalled his -pamphlet entitled, "Cider, its manufacture and effects," besides -observation on the lanigerous plant-louse, sent to the Academy; -his volume of statistics, and down to his pharmaceutical thesis); -"without counting that I am a member of several learned -societies" (he was member of a single one). - -"In short!" he cried, making a pirouette, "if it were only for -distinguishing myself at fires!" - -Then Homais inclined towards the Government. He secretly did the -prefect great service during the elections. He sold himself--in a -word, prostituted himself. He even addressed a petition to the -sovereign in which he implored him to "do him justice"; he called -him "our good king," and compared him to Henri IV. - -And every morning the druggist rushed for the paper to see if his -nomination were in it. It was never there. At last, unable to -bear it any longer, he had a grass plot in his garden designed to -represent the Star of the Cross of Honour with two little strips -of grass running from the top to imitate the ribband. He walked -round it with folded arms, meditating on the folly of the -Government and the ingratitude of men. - -From respect, or from a sort of sensuality that made him carry on -his investigations slowly, Charles had not yet opened the secret -drawer of a rosewood desk which Emma had generally used. One day, -however, he sat down before it, turned the key, and pressed the -spring. All Leon's letters were there. There could be no doubt -this time. He devoured them to the very last, ransacked every -corner, all the furniture, all the drawers, behind the walls, -sobbing, crying aloud, distraught, mad. He found a box and broke -it open with a kick. Rodolphe's portrait flew full in his face in -the midst of the overturned love-letters. - -People wondered at his despondency. He never went out, saw no -one, refused even to visit his patients. Then they said "he shut -himself up to drink." - -Sometimes, however, some curious person climbed on to the garden -hedge, and saw with amazement this long-bearded, shabbily -clothed, wild man, who wept aloud as he walked up and down. - -In the evening in summer he took his little girl with him and led -her to the cemetery. They came back at nightfall, when the only -light left in the Place was that in Binet's window. - -The voluptuousness of his grief was, however, incomplete, for he -had no one near him to share it, and he paid visits to Madame -Lefrancois to be able to speak of her. - -But the landlady only listened with half an ear, having troubles -like himself. For Lheureux had at last established the "Favorites -du Commerce," and Hivert, who enjoyed a great reputation for -doing errands, insisted on a rise of wages, and was threatening -to go over "to the opposition shop." - -One day when he had gone to the market at Argueil to sell his -horse--his last resource--he met Rodolphe. - -They both turned pale when they caught sight of one another. -Rodolphe, who had only sent his card, first stammered some -apologies, then grew bolder, and even pushed his assurance (it -was in the month of August and very hot) to the length of -inviting him to have a bottle of beer at the public-house. - -Leaning on the table opposite him, he chewed his cigar as he -talked, and Charles was lost in reverie at this face that she had -loved. He seemed to see again something of her in it. It was a -marvel to him. He would have liked to have been this man. - -The other went on talking agriculture, cattle, pasturage, filling -out with banal phrases all the gaps where an allusion might slip -in. Charles was not listening to him; Rodolphe noticed it, and he -followed the succession of memories that crossed his face. This -gradually grew redder; the nostrils throbbed fast, the lips -quivered. There was at last a moment when Charles, full of a -sombre fury, fixed his eyes on Rodolphe, who, in something of -fear, stopped talking. But soon the same look of weary lassitude -came back to his face. - -"I don't blame you," he said. - -Rodolphe was dumb. And Charles, his head in his hands, went on in -a broken voice, and with the resigned accent of infinite sorrow-- - -"No, I don't blame you now." - -He even added a fine phrase, the only one he ever made-- - -"It is the fault of fatality!" - -Rodolphe, who had managed the fatality, thought the remark very -offhand from a man in his position, comic even, and a little -mean. - -The next day Charles went to sit down on the seat in the arbour. -Rays of light were straying through the trellis, the vine leaves -threw their shadows on the sand, the jasmines perfumed the air, -the heavens were blue, Spanish flies buzzed round the lilies in -bloom, and Charles was suffocating like a youth beneath the vague -love influences that filled his aching heart. - -At seven o'clock little Berthe, who had not seen him all the -afternoon, went to fetch him to dinner. - -His head was thrown back against the wall, his eyes closed, his -mouth open, and in his hand was a long tress of black hair. - -"Come along, papa," she said. - -And thinking he wanted to play; she pushed him gently. He fell to -the ground. He was dead. - -Thirty-six hours after, at the druggist's request, Monsieur -Canivet came thither. He made a post-mortem and found nothing. - -When everything had been sold, twelve francs seventy-five -centimes remained, that served to pay for Mademoiselle Bovary's -going to her grandmother. The good woman died the same year; old -Rouault was paralysed, and it was an aunt who took charge of her. -She is poor, and sends her to a cotton-factory to earn a living. - -Since Bovary's death three doctors have followed one another at -Yonville without any success, so severely did Homais attack them. -He has an enormous practice; the authorities treat him with -consideration, and public opinion protects him. - -He has just received the cross of the Legion of Honour. - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg etext of Madame Bovary. - |