Madame Bovary - Penn State University

Flaubert“In fact,” observed the clerk, “these works, not touching the Unconsciously, Leon, while talking, had placed his foot onheart, miss, it seems to me, the true end of art. It is so sweet, one of the bars of the chair on which Madame Bovary wasamid all the disenchantments of life, to be able to dwell in sitting. She wore a small blue silk necktie, that kept up like athought upon noble characters, pure affections, and pictures of ruff a gauffered cambric collar, and with the movements of herhappiness. For myself, living here far from the world, this is head the lower part of her face gently sunk into the linen ormy one distraction; but Yonville affords so few resources.” came out from it. Thus side by side, while Charles and the“Like Tostes, no doubt,” replied Emma; “and so I always chemist chatted, they entered into one of those vague conversationswhere the hazard of all that is said brings you back to thesubscribed to a lending library.”“If madame will do me the honour of making use of it”, fixed centre of a common sympathy. The Paris theatres, titlessaid the chemist, who had just caught the last words, “I have of novels, new quadrilles, and the world they did not know;at her disposal a library composed of the best authors, Voltaire, Tostes, where she had lived, and Yonville, where they were;Rousseau, Delille, Walter Scott, the ‘Echo des Feuilletons’; they examined all, talked of everything till to the end of dinner.and in addition I receive various periodicals, among them the When coffee was served Felicite went away to get ready the‘Fanal de Rouen’ daily, having the advantage to be its correspondentfor the districts of Buchy, Forges, Neufchatel, Madame Lefrancois was asleep near the cinders, while theroom in the new house, and the guests soon raised the siege.Yonville, and vicinity.”stable-boy, lantern in hand, was waiting to show MonsieurFor two hours and a half they had been at table; for the and Madame Bovary the way home. Bits of straw stuck in hisservant Artemis, carelessly dragging her old list slippers over red hair, and he limped with his left leg. When he had takenthe flags, brought one plate after the other, forgot everything, in his other hand the cure’s umbrella, they started.and constantly left the door of the billiard-room half open, The town was asleep; the pillars of the market threw greatso that it beat against the wall with its hooks.shadows; the earth was all grey as on a summer’s night. But as73