Page 140 - madame-bovary

he had been formerly; a pedlar said some, a banker at Rou-
tot according to others. What was certain was that he made
complex calculations in his head that would have fright-
ened Binet himself. Polite to obsequiousness, he always held
himself with his back bent in the position of one who bows
or who invites.
After leaving at the door his hat surrounded with crape,
he put down a green bandbox on the table, and began by
complaining to madame, with many civilities, that he
should have remained till that day without gaining her
confidence. A poor shop like his was not made to attract a
‘fashionable lady”; he emphasized the words; yet she had only
to command, and he would undertake to provide her with
anything she might wish, either in haberdashery or linen,
millinery or fancy goods, for he went to town regularly four
times a month. He was connected with the best houses. You
could speak of him at the ‘Trois Freres,’ at the ‘Barbe d’Or,’
or at the ‘Grand Sauvage”; all these gentlemen knew him
as well as the insides of their pockets. To-day, then he had
come to show madame, in passing, various articles he hap-
pened to have, thanks to the most rare opportunity. And he
pulled out half-a-dozen embroidered collars from the box.
Madame Bovary examined them. ‘I do not require any-
thing,’ she said.
Then Monsieur Lheureux delicately exhibited three Al-
gerian scarves, several packet of English needles, a pair of
straw slippers, and finally, four eggcups in cocoanut wood,
carved in open work by convicts. Then, with both hands
on the table, his neck stretched out, his figure bent forward,

1