Page 120 - madame-bovary

bonnet, held by a string, flutters in every wind; there is al-
ways some desire that draws her, some conventionality that
restrains.
She was confined on a Sunday at about six o’clock, as the
sun was rising.
‘It is a girl!’ said Charles.
She turned her head away and fainted.
Madame Homais, as well as Madame Lefrancois of the
Lion d’Or, almost immediately came running in to em-
brace her. The chemist, as man of discretion, only offered
a few provincial felicitations through the half-opened door.
He wished to see the child and thought it well made.
Whilst she was getting well she occupied herself much
in seeking a name for her daughter. First she went over
all those that have Italian endings, such as Clara, Louisa,
Amanda, Atala; she liked Galsuinde pretty well, and Yseult
or Leocadie still better.
Charles wanted the child to be called after her mother;
Emma opposed this. They ran over the calendar from end
to end, and then consulted outsiders.
‘Monsieur Leon,’ said the chemist, ‘with whom I was
talking about it the other day, wonders you do not chose
Madeleine. It is very much in fashion just now.’
But Madame Bovary, senior, cried out loudly against this
name of a sinner. As to Monsieur Homais, he had a prefer-
ence for all those that recalled some great man, an illustrious
fact, or a generous idea, and it was on this system that he
had baptized his four children. Thus Napoleon represented
glory and Franklin liberty; Irma was perhaps a concession

11