Page 183 - madame-bovary

down a path, drawing with him Madame Bovary. He called
out—
‘Good evening, Monsieur Lheureux! See you again pres-
ently.’
‘How you got rid of him!’ she said, laughing.
‘Why,’ he went on, ‘allow oneself to be intruded upon by
others? And as to-day I have the happiness of being with
you—‘
Emma blushed. He did not finish his sentence. Then he
talked of the fine weather and of the pleasure of walking on
the grass. A few daisies had sprung up again.
‘Here are some pretty Easter daisies,’ he said, ‘and enough
of them to furnish oracles to all the amorous maids in the
place.’
He added, ‘Shall I pick some? What do you think?’
‘Are you in love?’ she asked, coughing a little.
‘H’m, h’m! who knows?’ answered Rodolphe.
The meadow began to fill, and the housewives hustled
you with their great umbrellas, their baskets, and their ba-
bies. One had often to get out of the way of a long file of
country folk, servant-maids with blue stockings, flat shoes,
silver rings, and who smelt of milk, when one passed close
to them. They walked along holding one another by the
hand, and thus they spread over the whole field from the
row of open trees to the banquet tent.
But this was the examination time, and the farmers one
after the other entered a kind of enclosure formed by a long
cord supported on sticks.
The beasts were there, their noses towards the cord, and

1 Madame Bovary