Madame Bovary

uen, between the Abbeville and Beauvais roads, at the foot of a valley watered by the Rieule, a little river that runs into the Andell

e 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

red from top to bottom with red irregular lines; they are rain tracks, and these brick-tones standing out in narrow streaks

d its landscape is without character. It is there that they make the worst Neufchatel cheeses of all the arrondissement; an

ers 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 t

hird 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;

at have to be hung

ari

s, 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 begi

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

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 f

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. An

and flanked by a few shops on either side stops short at the turn of the highroad. If it is lef

fore, 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 p

remark made him reflect; it checked him for some time; but to this day he carries on th

eeple; 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

d, 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 w

eaming of the fowls whom the servant wa

el, was warming his back at the chimney. His face expressed nothing but self-satisfaction, and he appeared

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

loss," replied Monsieur Homa

rd-table!" excl

lf harm, much harm! And besides, players now want narrow pockets and heavy cues. Hazards aren

ed with vexation.

and if one were to think, for example, of getting up a patri

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, spe

or him for your ge

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 Mon

nce between an educated man and an old

struck. Bi

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

uring the whole time necessary for laying the cloth, Binet remained silent in his

'll wear out his tongue," said the chemist

were here-such clever chaps who told such jokes in the evening, that I fairly

o imagination, no sallies, noth

has parts," objec

arts! In his own line it is possible," h

cal 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 exa

ing. She started. A man dressed in black suddenly came into the kitchen. By the last

down from the chimney one of the copper candlesticks placed with their candle

currant

ther day at the Ernemont convent, and after asking Madame Lefrancois to have it sent to him

behaviour just now very unbecoming. This refusal to take any refreshment seemed to him the most od

ok up the defen

ee. Last year he helped our people to bring in the straw;

a temperament! I, if I were the Government, I'd have the priests bled once a month. Yes, M

mais. You are an infid

atten, 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

town council. But the landlady no longer heeded him; she was listening to a distant rolling. One could distinguish the noise of a ca

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

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 ha

y had whistled for him a quarter of an hour; Hivert had even gone back a mile and a

ost 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 straig