Chapter 19 Section IX

Six weeks passed.Rodolphe had not come yet.One night, he finally showed up. On the second day after the exhibition, he said to himself: "Don't go too early, otherwise it will be bad." After a week, he went hunting.Back from hunting, he thought, it's too late to go now.But he convinced himself: "However, if she falls in love with me on the first day, the more anxious she is to see me, the more she will love me. Go ahead!" He knew that his calculation was right, for as soon as he entered the hall, he saw Emma's face turn pale. Only her.It was getting late.A row of glass windows was hung with small sheer curtains, which made the hall appear even darker.The barometer was gilded and gleamed in the afterglow of the setting sun, and the golden light passed through the coral branches and reflected in the mirror like a fire.

Rodolphe stood; Emma hardly answered his greeting. "Me," he said, "I'm busy. I'm sick again." "Are you seriously ill?" she asked anxiously. Rodolphe, sitting on a stool beside her, said: "No!... Actually, I don't want to come." "why?" "Can't you guess?" He glanced at her again, with intense lust in his eyes.She blushed and lowered her head.He went on to say: "Emma..." "Sir!" she said, standing up a little. "Ah! you see," he answered in a mournful voice, "is there any reason in my not wanting to come? Because of this name, which has taken possession of my mind, which I have blurted out, you will not let me call you! You want me to call you Madame Bovary! . . . Oh! Everyone calls it that! . . . It's not your name, it's someone else's surname!"

He repeated: "Someone else's last name!" He covered his face with both hands. "Yes, I miss you day and night! . . . I feel sad when I think of you! Ah! I'm sorry! . . . I'd better leave you . . . farewell! . . . No one talks about me!... But... today... I don't know what force pushed me to your side! Because people can't fight against the sky, and people can't resist the angel's smile! When I see the beautiful, charming, Lovely, people have to resign themselves to their fate!" It was the first time Emma had heard such words spoken; she was as happy as a lazy, limp, stretched-out person in a steam bath, basking in the warmth of words.

"But even if I don't come," he went on, "even if I can't come to see you, ah! at least I have seen everything around you. Every night, every night, I get out of bed and walk here , to see your house, the roof gleaming in the moonlight, the garden trees swaying before your window, the faint light shining through the windowpane in the dark. Ah! how did you know that you were so near, yet So far away from you, what a poor person..." She turned to him, whimpering. "Ah! How kind of you!" she said. "No, it's just because I love you! You don't doubt it! Tell me: one sentence! Just one sentence!",

Rodolphe slipped off the stool without anyone noticing it, and stood on the ground.Suddenly he heard the sound of wooden shoes walking in the kitchen, and he realized that the hall door was not closed. "I hope you'll do me a favor," he went on, rising, "to get one thing off my mind!" He wanted to see her house; he wanted to get acquainted with the surroundings; Madame Bovary saw no inconvenience, and they both rose together when Charles entered. "Good day, doctor," Rodolphe said to him.The doctor was overjoyed at hearing this title, and made haste to show his courtesies, and Rodolphe took the opportunity to gather himself.

"My lord," said he, "talked to me about her health..." Charles interrupted him to say that he was indeed very worried, and that his wife had returned to her former depression.Then Rodolphe asked if there was any advantage in riding a horse. "Of course! Very well, very well! . . . That's a good idea! You should ride a horse. She objected that she had no horse, and M. Rodolphe offered to lend her one.She declined, and he didn't insist.Then, to justify his visit, he said that his coachman was the one who had been bled the last time, and was always feeling dizzy.

"I'll see him some day," said Bovary. "No, no, I'll send him; it will be more convenient for you if we come." "Ah! That's good. I'm sorry to trouble you." When only the husband and wife were left: "Why didn't you accept the horse borrowed by Mr. Brownsweet? It's kind of him!" She pretended to be angry and found all kinds of excuses before finally saying that she was "afraid of being laughed at." "Ah! I'm not afraid of being laughed at!" said Charles, turning around on one foot. "Health comes first! You are wrong!"

"Hey! How do you tell me to ride a horse? I don't even have riding clothes." "Then make a set!" he replied.A riding outfit made her mind up. When the riding clothes were ready, Charles wrote to M. Braunjue, saying that his wife was ready to go and waited for her arrival. At noon the next day Rodolphe came to Charles' gate, bringing with him two fine horses. — a little rose-colored pom-pom tied to one ear, and a lady's buckskin saddle on her back. Rodolphe put on a pair of moccasins, of course she thought she had never seen anything like them.Indeed, when he appeared at the stairs, he was wearing a velvet jacket and white wool trousers, and this attire made Emma fall in love.She was also ready, just waiting for him to come.

Justin slipped out of the pharmacy to see her, and the pharmacist dropped what he was doing.He repeatedly told Mr. Brownshui: "Beware of disasters flying from the sky! Is your horse unruly?" She heard a noise upstairs: it was Felicite playing with little Berthe, beating the glass window like a small drum, and the child blew a kiss in the distance, and the mother only shook the round end of her riding whip in reply. "Have a good trip!" exclaimed Mr. Homais. "Be careful! Be very careful!" He waved the newspaper in his hand and watched them walk away. As soon as Emma's horse was on the dirt road, it broke into a gallop.Rodolphe stayed by her side.Occasionally they also say a word or two.Her face is slightly down, her hands are raised, her right arm is straight, and she leans forward and backward on the saddle with the rhythm of the horse's gallop.

At the foot of the slope Rodolphe let go of the reins; suddenly they galloped together; at the top of the slope the horse stopped abruptly, and the great blue veil fell from her face. This is the October cut.Fog hangs over the fields.The water vapor spread to the horizon, exposing the outline of distant mountains; in some places, the water vapor dispersed, rose into the air, and then disappeared.Sometimes the clouds open to see the sky, revealing a ray of sunshine, and the roof of Rongzhen, as well as the gardens, courtyards, walls and church bell towers by the water can be seen from a distance.Emma half-closed her eyelids to find out her house, and the poor village in which she lived had never seemed so small.From the top of the slope, they saw that the basin below looked like a large white lake, and the mist on the lake melted into the sky.Either here or there, a clump of trees would emerge like a black rock, and rows of aspens, towering above the mist, would look like windswept sandy beaches.

On the side meadows, between the fir trees, brown light streamed in the warm air.The orange-yellow ground is like tobacco crumbs, burying the sound of footsteps; when the horse passed by, it kicked away the pine cones that fell in front of it with its iron hooves. In this way Rodolphe and Emma walked along the edge of the wood.Now and then she turned her head away so as not to meet his gaze, but then all she could see were rows and rows of fir trunks, which made her dizzy.The horse panted.The leather of the saddle rattled too. The sun came out as they entered the woods. "God bless us!" said Rodolphe. "Do you believe it!" she said. "Go on! Go on!" he went on. He made a rattling sound with his tongue.The two horses started to run again. There are some long ferns on the side of the road, which are always entangled in Emma's stirrups.Rodolphe leaned on his horse and pulled the grass away one by one.Sometimes, to push aside the branches, he came up to her, and Emma felt his knee against her leg.The sky turned blue.The leaves did not move.Large clearings were covered with heather in flower; some places were purple, others were overgrown with leaves of gray, brown, and yellow.From time to time, you can hear the sound of wings beating gently in the thorn bushes, or the hoarse and gentle calls of crows flying in the oak bushes.They dismounted.Rodolphe tied up the horse.She was ahead, walking on the moss between the ruts.But her gown was too long, even though the back hem was pulled up, it was still inconvenient to move.Rodolphe followed behind, wearing a black robe and white socks with black boots in the middle, as if seeing her naked skin and tender flesh.She stopped. "I'm tired," she said. "Let's go, let's go and see!" He replied. "Come on!" After walking a hundred steps, she stopped again.Her blue transparent veil, from the brim of her cavalier hat, fell obliquely to her buttocks, and from behind she seemed to be swimming in the blue waves. "Where are we going?" He doesn't answer.She was short of breath.Rodolphe looked around and bit his mustache. They came to a wider place where the young trees had been cut down.They sat on the trunk of a felled tree, and Rodolphe began to make love to her.He was afraid that the compliment would frighten her.He appeared calm, serious, and melancholy. Emma listened to him with her head down, while she used her toes to shake the sawdust on the ground. But upon hearing: "Isn't our destiny common?" "No!" she replied. "You know. It's impossible." She got up to go.He grabs her wrist.She stopped.Then, looking at him for a few minutes with passionate, moist eyes, she said passionately: "Ah! Come on, stop talking... Where is the horse? Go back." He made an angry and distressed gesture, but she repeated: "Where's the horse? Where's the horse?" So he showed a strange smiling face, stared at her, clenched his teeth, stretched out his arms, and walked towards her. She backed away tremblingly.She stammered: "Ah! You frighten me! You make me sad! Come on!" "In that case," he replied, with a sudden change in his countenance.He was at once respectful, tender, and timid again, and she took his arm.They walked back together.He said: "What's the matter with you? Why? I don't understand. I'm afraid you have misunderstood? You are in my heart like the Virgin Mary on the throne, unattainable, indestructible, sacred. But I can't live without you I need your eyes, your voice, your thoughts. Be my friend, be my sister, be my angel!" He put his arms around her waist.She struggled feebly to break free.And so he walked with his arms around her. They heard two horses eating leaves. "Stay a little longer!" said Rodolphe. "Don't go! Stay a while!" He took her forward and came to a pond, where duckweed spread a green lawn on the water.The ruined lotus stands quietly among the rushes.Hearing their footsteps on the grass, the frog jumped into the water and hid himself. "I'm damned, I'm damned," she said. "How can I be so stupid, how can I listen to you!" "What's wrong?...Emma! Emma!" "Ah! Rodolphe! . . . " said the young woman slowly, leaning her body on his shoulder. Her robes clung tightly to his velvet.She raised her white and tender neck, let out a sigh, and then her neck shrank, her limbs were weak, her face was full of tears, and her whole body was trembling.She hid her face and was at his mercy. The dusk of evening was falling; the setting sun on the horizon dazzled her through the branches, and around her there were points of light here and there in the grass, like the feathers of a hummingbird as it flies away.There was silence everywhere, and the trees seemed to radiate tenderness; she felt her heart beating again, and her blood flowed under her skin like a river of milk.At that time, she heard a vague and melodious voice from a distant place, from outside the woods, from a small hill.She listened quietly, the sound was endless, melting into her vibrating and excited heartstrings like music.Rodolphe was smoking a cigar, and was mending a broken rein with his knife. They went back to Rongzhen the same way.They saw the same groves lined up in the mud with the footprints of horseshoes, and the same stones in the grass.Nothing around them had changed, but to her, it seemed that earth-shaking changes had taken place. Now and then Rodolphe stooped down, took her hand, and kissed it. She is beautiful on a horse.She straightened her slender waist and bent her knees against the horse's mane. The fresh air and the evening light of the setting sun made her complexion even more rosy. As soon as she stepped onto the flagstones of Rongzhen, she turned the horse's head, turning left and right.Everyone was watching her from the window. Her husband thought she looked well at dinner; but when he asked her how she was doing, she pretended not to hear, and leaned her elbows beside the plate, between two lighted candles. "Emma!" he called to her. "What's up?" "Listen, I went to Monsieur Alexander's this afternoon. He has a mare, which is good-looking, though old, but has a little bruise in the knee. I think you can buy it for a hundred guineas." come down..." He added: "Just thought you'd like it, I'm coming down... I bought it... How am I doing? You say?" She nodded, indicating a good job. Then, a quarter of an hour passed. "Are you going out tonight?" she asked. "Get out. What's the matter?" "Ah, nothing, nothing, just asking." Having sent Charles away, she came upstairs and closed the door.At first she was a little dazed, saw the woods again, the path, the ditch, Rodolphe, felt his arms, heard the leaves tremble, and the rushes rustle. But when she looked in the mirror, she was surprised and delighted.Never had her eyes been so big, so dark, so deep.Something miraculous permeated her and transformed her. She kept saying to herself: "I have a lover! A lover!" She was enjoying herself, as if she had regained her youth.After all, she enjoyed the joy of love, the ecstasy of happiness, which she thought she had no chance to enjoy!She had reached a magical realm where there was nothing but enthusiasm, revelry, ecstasy; surrounded by endless blue sky, the heights of emotion radiating in her heart, and everyday life only in the distant earth, in the shadows of the mountains looming. Then she thought of the beauties in the book, these sentimental whores, in groups, with sisterly voices, sang in her memory ecstasy.And she herself became a real part of these imaginary characters, realized her youthful dream, and became her long-cherished mistress.Besides, Emma also felt that her revenge was satisfied, hadn't she suffered enough?Now she was victorious, long-suppressed love like a jubilant fountain.Suddenly burst out.She wants to enjoy love without remorse, worry, or confusion. The next day was spent again sweetly.They made eachother vows.She told him about her distress.Rodolphe interrupted her with a kiss; she looked at him with half-closed eyelids, and begged him to call her name again, and say that he loved her again. Like yesterday, they went into the forest and stayed in a wooden shoe hut.The walls are made of grass, and the roof is so low that you have to bend over to walk in.They sat close together on a bed of dried leaves. From that day on, they wrote letters every night.Emma took the letter to the end of the garden and put it in the crack of the parapet of the altar by the river.Rodolphe came to fetch the letter and put in another, but she always thought his letter was too short. One morning, when Charles was going out before dawn, it occurred to her to go and see Rodolphe at once.She could go to Chateau Huchert as soon as possible, and come back after an hour or so, before the people in Rongzhen hadn't woken up yet.The thought made her lustful and short of breath, and soon she was out on the prairie, walking even faster, without looking back. The sky began to dim.Emma saw her lover's house from a distance. There were two arrow-like weathercocks on the roof, and black swallowtails were cut out in the fish maw-colored sky. Walking through the yard of the farm, you arrive at the main body of the house, which is probably a residence.She went in as if the walls would give way to her.A grand staircase leads straight to a corridor.Emma turned the latch, and at once she saw a sleeping figure at the back of the room, and it was Rodolphe.she cried. "You are here! You are here!" he repeated. "How did you come here? . . . Ah! Your robe is wet!" "I love you!" she replied, wrapping her arms around his neck. This bold action for the first time turned out to be handy.From then on, whenever Shire went out early in the morning, Emma would quickly put on her clothes and tiptoe down the steps by the river. Sometimes the wooden bridge on which the cattle walked was demolished, so she had to walk along the fence by the river; the embankment was very slippery;Then she walked across the plowed field, sometimes getting stuck in the mud, stumbling and unable to pull out her little boots.Her silk scarf was wrapped around her head, and it was blown by the wind in the meadow; she was afraid of cattle, so she ran away when she saw it; Fragrance synthesized by fresh air.Rodolphe was still fast asleep.She descended into his room like a spring morning.Yellow curtains hung along the windows, heavy with the golden light that slid in quietly.Emma blinked and groped her way in.Her hair, which fell close to the temples, was wet with dew, and surrounded her face like a halo of topaz inlaid with it.Rodolphe, laughing, drew her towards him, and held her tightly in his arms. Then she went round the room, opened drawers, combed his hair with his comb, looked in the mirror in which he shaved.There was a bottle of water on the bedside table, with lemons and sugar cubes beside it, and a large pipe that she often picked up and held in her mouth. It always takes them a quarter of an hour before they are willing to part.Emma was always crying then; she wished she would never leave Rodolphe.She always came to him involuntarily. One day, when he saw her coming unexpectedly, he couldn't help frowning, as if something was wrong. "What's the matter with you?" she asked. "Are you uncomfortable? Tell me!" He finally said with a straight face: she would bring trouble to herself if she came to see him so casually.