Madame Bovary - Penn State University

FlaubertChapter Fourourthe tax-gatherer; for Binet, tired of waiting for the“Hirondelle,” had definitely put forward his meal one hour,LEON SOON PUT ON an air of superiority before his comrades, and now he dined punctually at five, and yet he declared usuallythe rickety old concern “was late.”avoided their company, and completely neglected his work.He waited for her letters; he re-read them; he wrote to her. Leon, however, made up his mind, and knocked at theHe called her to mind with all the strength of his desires and doctor’s door. Madame was in her room, and did not comeof his memories. Instead of lessening with absence, this longingto see her again grew, so that at last on Saturday morning to see him, but he never stirred out that evening, nor all thedown for a quarter of an hour. The doctor seemed delightedhe escaped from his office.next day.When, from the summit of the hill, he saw in the valley He saw her alone in the evening, very late, behind the gardenbelow the church-spire with its tin flag swinging in the wind, in the lane; in the lane, as she had the other one! It was a stormyhe felt that delight mingled with triumphant vanity and egoistictenderness that millionaires must experience when they Their separation was becoming intolerable. “I would rathernight, and they talked under an umbrella by lightning flashes.come back to their native village.die!” said Emma. She was writhing in his arms, weeping.He went rambling round her house. A light was burning in “Adieu! adieu! When shall I see you again?”the kitchen. He watched for her shadow behind the curtains, They came back again to embrace once more, and it wasbut nothing appeared.then that she promised him to find soon, by no matter whatMere Lefrancois, when she saw him, uttered many exclamations.She thought he “had grown and was thinner,” while dom at least once a week. Emma never doubted she shouldmeans, a regular opportunity for seeing one another in free-Artemise, on the contrary, thought him stouter and darker. be able to do this. Besides, she was full of hope. Some moneyHe dined in the little room as of yore, but alone, without was coming to her.221