Page 171 - madame-bovary

cheeses, from which sticky straw stuck out.
Near the corn-machines clucking hens passed their
necks through the bars of flat cages. The people, crowding
in the same place and unwilling to move thence, some-
times threatened to smash the shop front of the chemist.
On Wednesdays his shop was never empty, and the people
pushed in less to buy drugs than for consultations. So great
was Homais’ reputation in the neighbouring villages. His
robust aplomb had fascinated the rustics. They considered
him a greater doctor than all the doctors.
Emma was leaning out at the window; she was often
there. The window in the provinces replaces the theatre and
the promenade, she was amusing herself with watching the
crowd of boors when she saw a gentleman in a green velvet
coat. He had on yellow gloves, although he wore heavy gai-
ters; he was coming towards the doctor’s house, followed by
a peasant walking with a bent head and quite a thoughtful
air.
‘Can I see the doctor?’ he asked Justin, who was talking
on the doorsteps with Felicite, and, taking him for a servant
of the house—‘Tell him that Monsieur Rodolphe Boulanger
of La Huchette is here.’
It was not from territorial vanity that the new arrival
added ‘of La Huchette’ to his name, but to make himself the
better known.
La Huchette, in fact, was an estate near Yonville, where
he had just bought the chateau and two farms that he culti-
vated himself, without, however, troubling very much about
them. He lived as a bachelor, and was supposed to have ‘at

1 0 Madame Bovary