Page 118 - madame-bovary

and he continued, as heretofore, to give anodyne consul-
tations in his back-parlour. But the mayor resented it, his
colleagues were jealous, everything was to be feared; gain-
ing over Monsieur Bovary by his attentions was to earn his
gratitude, and prevent his speaking out later on, should he
notice anything. So every morning Homais brought him
‘the paper,’ and often in the afternoon left his shop for a few
moments to have a chat with the Doctor.
Charles was dull: patients did not come. He remained
seated for hours without speaking, went into his consulting
room to sleep, or watched his wife sewing. Then for diver-
sion he employed himself at home as a workman; he even
tried to do up the attic with some paint which had been left
behind by the painters. But money matters worried him. He
had spent so much for repairs at Tostes, for madame’s toi-
lette, and for the moving, that the whole dowry, over three
thousand crowns, had slipped away in two years.
Then how many things had been spoilt or lost during
their carriage from Tostes to Yonville, without counting
the plaster cure, who falling out of the coach at an over-se-
vere jolt, had been dashed into a thousand fragments on
the pavements of Quincampoix! A pleasanter trouble came
to distract him, namely, the pregnancy of his wife. As the
time of her confinement approached he cherished her the
more. It was another bond of the flesh establishing itself,
and, as it were, a continued sentiment of a more complex
union. When from afar he saw her languid walk, and her
figure without stays turning softly on her hips; when oppo-
site one another he looked at her at his ease, while she took

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