 Part 2 chapter 11 of Madame Bovary this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Madame Bovary by Gustave Fluber translated by Eleanor Marx Aveling part 2 chapter 11 he had recently read a eulogy on a new method for curing clubfoot 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 strefopedy or clubfoot for said Heta Emma what risk is there see and he enumerated on his fingers the advantage 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 Ipolite of the Leon door note that he would not fail to tell about his cure to all the travelers and then I may lowered his voice and looked around him who is to prevent me from sending a short paragraph on the subject to the paper hey 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 shall urged by the drugist and by her allowed himself to be persuaded he sent to war 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 vulgus that is to say catastrophopady endostrophopady and exostrophopady or better the various turnings of the foot downwards in woods and outwards with the hypostrophopady and anastrophopady otherwise torsion downwards and upwards Mr. Omay with all sorts of arguments was exhorting the lad at the end to submit to the operation you will scarcely feel probably a slight pain it is a simple prick like a little bloodletting less than the extraction of certain corns it will eat reflecting rolled his stupid eyes however continue 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 cordication together with that waddling of the lumbar regions which whatever you say must considerably interfere with you in the exercise of your calling then Omay 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 I polite and Omay 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 beanie who never interfered with other people's business madam LeFrancois Artemis the neighbors even the mayor Mr. Tuvas everyone persuaded him lectured him shamed him but what finally decided him was that it would cost him nothing but worry even undertook to provide the machine for the operation this generosity was an idea of embers and shall 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 it pull each 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 Aquinas together with something of a virus or else a slight virus with a strong tendency to Aquinas but with this Aquinas wide in foot like a horse's hoof with rugos skin dry tendons and large toes on which the black nails looked as if made of iron the club foot ran about like a deer from morn till night he was constantly to be seen on the plus jumping round the carts thrusting his limping foot forwards he seemed even stronger on that leg than on the other by didn't have 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 Aquinas 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 virus 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 Pa applying for the first time since Calces after an interval of 15 centuries a ligature to an artery nor Dupuitron about to open an abscess in the brain nor Jean-Soul when he first took away the superior Maxilla had hearts that trembled hands that shook mine so strained as Monsieur Bovary when he approached de Paulite his tenotome between his fingers and as at hospitals nearby on a table lay a heap of lint with waxed thread many bandages a pyramid of bandages every bandage to be found at the drugists it was Monsieur Omé 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 he Paulite could not get over his surprise but bent over Bovary's hands to cover them with kisses come be calm said the drugist 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 Paulite 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 that 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 Omé 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 final de Rouen he brought it for them to read read it yourself said Bolverie 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 Bolverie 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 clubfooted 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 Bolverie go on I proceed said the chemist Monsieur Bolverie one of our most distinguished practitioners performed an operation on a clubfooted man called Ipolite Teltin stableman for the last 25 years at the hotel of the Lyon d'Or kept by widow Le François at the Place d'Arme 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 more over 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 eyewitness complained of no pain his condition up to the present time leaves nothing to be desired everything tends to show that his convalescence will be brief and who knows even if at our next village festivity we shall not see our good Ipolite figuring in the back it 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 honor then to the generous savants honor to those indefatigable spirits who consecrate their vigils to the amelioration or to the alleviation of their kind honor thrice honor is it not time to cry that the blind shall see the deaf here the lame walk but that which fanaticism formally 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 lefonsoir from coming five days after scared and crying out help he's dying i'm going crazy shul rushed to the leon door and the chemist who caught sight of him passing along the plus 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 strefopold the strefopold 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 echinosis caused by the famous machine ipollite 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 edema gone down to some extent then the two savants thought fit to put back the limb in the apparatus strapping it tighter to hasten matters at last three days after ipollite being unable to endure it any longer they once more removed the machine and were much surprised at the result they saw the livid tumifaction spread over the leg with blisters here and there whence they're oozed a black liquid matters were taking a serious turn ipollite began to worry himself and maire le françois 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 there nipollite 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 are lighted madame bulvery 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 then they told him stories of people who had all been cured by other remedies than his then by the 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 bulvery himself turned sick at it he came every hour every moment nipollite 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 le françois haven't they tortured you enough already you're gross 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 born is young 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 are rarely seen at divine worship how many years is it since you approached the holy table i understand that your work that the world 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 were set as a good example thus as a precaution what is to prevent you from saying morning and evening a hay on 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 ipoli 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 clubfoot soon manifested a desire to go on a pilgrimage to bon secours if he were cured to which monsieur bournition 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 maneuvers of the priest they were prejudicial he said to ipoli's convalescence and he kept repeating to madame le françois 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 sucker 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 paltices the muscles each day rotted more and more and at last charles replied by an affirmative nod of the head when maire le françois asked him if she could not as a forlorn hope sent for monsieur carnivé of nurse chateau who was a celebrity a doctor of medicine 50 years of age enjoying a good position and self-possessed charles 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 chemists to rail the asses who could have reduced a poor man to such a state shaking monsieur omé 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 lithotryte 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 coxcomes 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 omé suffered as he listened to this discourse and he concealed his discomfort beneath a courtier's smile for he needed to humor monsieur carnivé whose prescription sometimes came as far as yonville so he did not take out the defence of bovery 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 dr carnivé was a great event in the village on that day all the inhabitants got up earlier and the grand rue although full of people had something legubrious about it as if an execution had been expected at the grocers they discussed the police illness the shops did no business and madame to vache 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 lent 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 lyon door 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 patience he first of all looked after his mayor and his gig people even said about this ah monsieur carnivé'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 oh may 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 sure interrupted carnivé 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 i'm 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 i could philosopher taking potluck that is why i'm not squeamish like you and it is as indifferent to me to carver christian as the first foul that turns up then perhaps you'll say habit habit then without any consideration for ipolite who was sweating with agony between his sheets these gentlemen entered into a conversation in which the drugist compared the coolness of a surgeon to that of a general and this comparison was pleasing to carnivé who launched out on the exigencies of his art he looked upon it as a sacred office although the ordinary practitioners dishonored it at last coming back to the patient he examined the bandages brought by or me the same that had appeared for the clubfoot and asked for someone to hold the limb for him bestie boudoir was sent for a musher carnivé having turned up his sleeves passed into the billiard room while the drugists stayed with artemis 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 gin 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 forge as nerf châtel as ruon everywhere who could say if his colleagues would not right against him polemics would ensue he would have to answer in the papers he polite might even prosecute him he saw himself dishonored 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 20 times already she had not sufficiently perceived his mediocrity chal 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 dreams 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 one-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 reveled in all the evil ironies of triumph and adultery the memory of her lover came back to her with dazzling attractions she threw her whole soul into it born away towards this image with a fresh enthusiasm and shall seem 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. Carnivé who was wiping his brow with his handkerchief Ome behind him was carrying a large red box in his hand and both were going towards the chemists 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 armchair 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 Rodolf 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 ranker melted like snow beneath the warmth of that kiss and of chapter 11 part 2 chapter 12 of madame Bovary this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert translated by Elena Marks Aveling part 2 chapter 12 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 Ushet Rodolf would come she had sent for him to tell him that she was bored that her husband was odious a 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 Rodolf she sighed we would go and live elsewhere somewhere you're 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 Rodolf 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 fissue 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 or may didn't wear the same oh I dare say madame or may and he added with a meditative air as if she were a lady like madame but Felicite grew impatient of seeing him hanging around her she was six years older than he and teodor monsieur guillomains 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're 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 charl allowing himself the slightest observation so also he dispersed 300 francs for a wooden leg that she thought proper to make a present of to ipolite 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 ipolite 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 charl heard from afar the sharp noise of the wooden leg he at once went in another direction it was monsieur leurot 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 riding whip that was at an umbrella maker's at ruon to give to rodolphe the week after monsieur leurot placed it on her table but the next day he called on her with a bill for 270 francs not counting the son team Emma was much embarrassed all the drawers of the writing table were empty they owed over a fortnight's wages to lesdiboudois two quarters to the servant for any quantity of other things and bovary was impatiently expecting monsieur de roséres account which he was in the habit of paying every year about midsummer she ceded at first in putting off leurot 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 leurot uncertain 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 de roséres Emma pounced upon it and opened it it contained 15 napoleons it was the account she heard charles on the stairs through the gold to the back of her drawer and took out the key three days after leurot 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 14 napoleons in his hand the tradesman was dumbfounded then to conceal his disappointment he was profuse in apologies and profers of service all of which Emma declined then she remained a few moments fingering in the pocket of her apron the two five frank pieces that he had given her in change she promised herself she would economize in order to pay back later on sure she thought he won't think about it again besides the riding whip with its silver guilt handle rodolf had received a seal with the motto amor nel cor furthermore a scarf for a muffler and finally a cigar case exactly like the viscounts that charles had formally picked up in the road and that Emma had kept these presents however humiliated him he'd refused several she insisted and he ended by obeying thinking her tyrannical and over exacting 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 others do 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's 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'm 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 candor 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 so façon 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 shriveled up drowned in it like clarence in his butt of marmsey 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 michael 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 irondele 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 sons was not the least scandalized of the women folk many other things displeased her first charl 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 felicity 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 40 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 mama cried charl 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's an insolent giddy-headed thing or perhaps worse and she was believing at once if the other did not apologize so charl 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 martianess 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 rodolf 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 rodolf 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 to 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 rodolf her eyes full of tears flashed light 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 rodolf 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 rodolf she lent on his shoulder murmuring ah when we are in the male 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 chiseled 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 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 charl 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 nightlight 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 charl 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 boarding school that would cost much how was it to be done then he reflected he thought of hiring a small farm in the neighborhood that he would superintendent 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 Burt to be well educated to be accomplished to learn to play the piano ah how pretty she would be later on when she was 15 when resembling her mother she would like her wear large straw hats in the summertime 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 forever 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 they suddenly glimpsed some splendid city with domes and bridges and ships forests of citrant trees and cathedrals of white marble on whose pointed steeples were stork's nests they went to the walking-pace because of the great flagstones and on the ground there were bouquets of flowers offered you by women dressed in red bodices they heard the chiming of bells the naing of mules together with a 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 harmonized asia 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 chemists shop she had sent for monsieur leur and had said to him i want a cloak a large lined cloak with a deep collar you're going on a journey he asked no but never mind i may count on you may or not and quickly he bowed besides i shall want she went on a trunk not too heavy handy yes i understand about three feet by a foot and a half as they are being made just now and the traveling bag decidedly thought lure 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 tradesmen 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 lure 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 rodof 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 marseille where they would buy a carriage and go on thence without stopping to janua she would take care to send her luggage to lure once it would be taken direct to the irondelle so that no one would have any suspicion and in all this there never was any illusion to the child rodof 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 fourth of september a monday at length the saturday before arrived rodof 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 curb stone of the wall you're sad said emma no why and yet he looked at her strangely in a tender fashion it is because you're going away she went on because you're leaving what is dear to you your life ah i understand i have nothing in the world you're 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 colored 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 ride through the very depth 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 syringes and through across their memories shadows more immense and more somber 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 Rodolf 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 Rodolf Rodolf ah Rodolf dear little Rodolf midnight struck midnight said she come it is tomorrow 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 heir 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 tomorrow then said Emma in her 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 tomorrow she cried he was already on the other side of the river and walking fast across the meadow after a few moments Rodolf 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 leaned 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 excite myself have a child on my hands he was saying these things to give himself firmness and besides the worry the expense oh no no no no a thousand times no that would be too stupid and of chapter 12 part 2 chapter 13 of madame Bovary this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert translated by Eleanor Marks Aveling part 2 chapter 13 no sooner was Rodolf 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 ream's biscuit box in which he usually kept his letters from women and from it came an odor 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 at 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 he faced 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 Rudolph disturbed all the others and mechanically began rummaging amidst this mass of papers and things finding pale mail 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 equalized 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 Rudolph 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 he said let's begin he wrote courage Emma courage I would not bring misery into your life after all that's true thought Rudolph 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 Godolph 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 someday sooner or later this order 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 oh 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 manchineal tree without foreseeing the consequences perhaps you'll think I'm giving it up from avarice oh 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'm going to punish myself by exile for all the ill I have done you I'm going away with her I know not I'm 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 Rudolf 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 adieu 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 reread 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 Rudolf 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 Nelkor that doesn't at all fit with the circumstances sure 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 Rudolf had a basket of apricots picked he put his letter at the bottom under some vine leaves and at once ordered Girard his plowman 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 around 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 Felicity he has said the plow boy is something for you from the master she was seized with that prehension 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 Felicity 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 oh 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 story rose a kind of humming with strident modulations it was Binet turning she lent 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 sledgehammer 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 her hand on her sleeve it was felicity 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 weirdness of spirit that she could not even invent a pretext for leaving the table then she became a coward she was afraid of charl he knew all that was certain indeed he pronounced these words in a strange manner we are not likely to see monsieur or Dolph soon again it seems who told you she said shuddering who told me he replied rather astonished at her abrupt tone why jirard whom i met just now at the door of the café français 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 longrois 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 charl without noticing his wife's color had them brought to him took one and bit into it ah perfect he said 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'm choking she cried leaping up but by an effort of will the spasm passed then it's nothing she said it's nothing it is nervousness sit down and go on eating before she dreaded lest he should begin questioning her attending to her and that she should not be left alone charl 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 ferroir now as from la ouche to bouchie there is no other way than by yonville he had to go through the village and emma had recognized 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 crew it stand was strewn over the room charl was calling for help bet scared was crying and felicity 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 charl collect yourself it is your charl 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 charl standing up was at the back of the alcove and the chemist near him maintained that meditative silence that it's becoming on the serious occasions of life do not be uneasy he said touching his elbow i think the paroxysm is passed yes she's resting a little now answered charl watching watching her sleep poor girl poor girl she had gone off now then omay asked how the accident had come about charl 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 sighted who faint at the smell of burnt heartshorn of new bread take care your waker said bovary in a low voice and not only the druggist went on our human beings subject to such anomalies but animals also thus you are not ignorant of the singularly aphrodisiac effect produced by the nepeita cataria vulgally called catmint on the feline race and on the other hand to quote an example whose authenticity i can answer for brido one of my old comrades at present established in the room 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 geome wood would anyone believe that a simple stern mutation could produce such ravages on a quadrupedal organism it is extremely curious is it not yes said charl 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 pretense of attacking the symptoms attack the constitution no no useless physically diet that is all sedatives emollience dalsification then don't you think that perhaps her imagination should be worked upon in what way how said boboly 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 43 days charl did not leave her he gave up all his patience he no longer went to bed he was constantly feeling her pulse putting on synapses and cold water compresses he sent justin as far as nerf chateau for ice the ice melted on the way he sent him back again he called monsieur carnivé into consultation he sent for dr la rivière 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 charl 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 around 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 tie yourself my darling said bovary and pushing her gently to make her go into the arbor 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 charl thought he saw the first signs of cancer and besides this the poor fellow was worried about money matters end of chapter 13 part 2 chapter 14 of madame bovary this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for further information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org madame bovary by Gustav Flaubert translated by Eleanor Marks Averling part 2 chapter 14 to begin with he did not know how he could pay monsieur omé for all the physics applied 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 leur 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 charl to say he did not want them the tradesmen 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 charl subsequently ordered them to be sent back to the shop felicity forgot he had other things to attend to then thought no more about them monsieur leur 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 leur 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 leur ran off to his shop brought back the money and dictated another bill by which bovary undertook to pay to his order on the first 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 percent 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 driven at the doctors 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 a judicator for a supply of cider to the hospital at nerf chateau monsieur guillemain promised him some shares in the turf bits of gomenil and he dreamt of establishing a new diligence service between arcay and rouen which no doubt would not be long in ruining the ramshackle van of the lyon door and that traveling 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 expedience 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 bovery's convalescence slow when it was fine they wheeled her armchair 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 irondele in the evening then the landlady shouted and other voices answered while ipolites lantern as he fetched the boxes from the boot was like a star in the darkness at midday charl 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 bournissian 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 felicitée was screwing daily of 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 vapor the bed clothes were sprinkled with holy water the priest drew from the holy picks 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 the 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 a marveled at this humor 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 bouleur 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 pel mail 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 mestre and certain novels in rose colored bindings and with a honeyed style manufactured by troubadour seminarists or penitent blue stockings they were the think of it the man of the world at Mary's feet by monsieur du 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 Rodolf 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 pre-dieu she addressed to the lord the same suave words that she had murmured formally 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 grandlady's of long ago whose glory she had dreamt of over a portrait of la valiere 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 child-bed and charl one day on coming home found three good-for-nothing's 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 Beat 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 bauvery 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 bauvery 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 longlois madame caron madame du bruit madame touvache and regularly from two to five o'clock the excellent madame omé who for her part had never believed any of the tittle-tattle about her neighbor the little omé 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 bauvery 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 massive 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 splendor 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 Felicity 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 boverease remonstrances however he was glad to see her at last manifest a wish of any kind as she grew stronger she displayed more willfulness first she found occasion to expel mere role the nurse who during her convalescence had contracted the habit of coming too often to the kitchen with her two nurslings and her border better off for teeth than a cannibal then she got rid of the omae family successively dismissed all the other visitors and even frequented church less assiduously to the great approval assiduously to the great approval of the drugist who said to her in a friendly way you were going in a bit for the cassock as formerly monsieur Bournissian 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 arbor this was the time when charl came home they were hot some sweet cider was brought out and they drank together to madame's complete restoration binae was there that is to say a little lower down against the terrace wall fishing for crayfish boveree 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 around 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 scandalized at the chemist who advised charl to give madame some distraction by taking her to the theater at or to hear the illustrious tenor lagarde or may 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 defense of letters the theater he contended served for railing at prejudices and beneath a mask of pleasure taught virtue castigate redendo mores monsieur bonicia 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 I said binae once saw a piece called the gaman de paris in which there was a 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 omé 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 curate that there are good works good authors however if it were only those persons of different sexes united in a bewitching apartment decorated with rouge those lights those effeminate voices all this must in the long run engender a certain mental liberty nidge 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 theater 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 chancell 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 picant detail matters really libidinous and on a gesture of irritation for monsieur bonicia 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 at ali but it is the protestants and not we cried the other impatiently who recommend the bible no matter said oh may i'm surprised that in our days in this century of enlightenment anyone should still persist in prescribing an intellectual relaxation that is inoffensive moralizing 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 pathian arrow i've known priests who put on ordinary clothes to go and see dancers kicking about come come said the curee oh i've known some and separating the words of his sentence on my repeated i have known some well they were wrong said bonicia 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 oh may 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 theater 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 lagadi 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 tomorrow the idea of the theater 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 charl 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 300 francs which he had no longer expected the current debts were not very large and the falling in of le rose 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 irondele 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 war the diligence stopped at the quarry in the place bovazine it was the inn that is in every provincial faux borgue 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 eaton 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 sunday clothes has a cafe on the street and towards the countryside a kitchen garden charlotte once set out he muddled up the stage boxes with the gallery the pit with the boxes asked for explanations did not understand them were sent from the box office to the acting manager came back to the inn returned to the theater and thus several times traversed the whole length of the town from the theater to the boulevard madame bolverie 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 theater which were still closed and of chapter 14