Page 195 - madame-bovary

The chins of the other members of the jury went slowly up
and down in their waistcoats in sign of approval. The fire-
men at the foot of the platform rested on their bayonets; and
Binet, motionless, stood with out-turned elbows, the point
of his sabre in the air. Perhaps he could hear, but certainly
he could see nothing, because of the visor of his helmet, that
fell down on his nose. His lieutenant, the youngest son of
Monsieur Tuvache, had a bigger one, for his was enormous,
and shook on his head, and from it an end of his cotton scarf
peeped out. He smiled beneath it with a perfectly infantine
sweetness, and his pale little face, whence drops were run-
ning, wore an expression of enjoyment and sleepiness.
The square as far as the houses was crowded with people.
One saw folk leaning on their elbows at all the windows,
others standing at doors, and Justin, in front of the chemist’s
shop, seemed quite transfixed by the sight of what he was
looking at. In spite of the silence Monsieur Lieuvain’s voice
was lost in the air. It reached you in fragments of phrases,
and interrupted here and there by the creaking of chairs in
the crowd; then you suddenly heard the long bellowing of
an ox, or else the bleating of the lambs, who answered one
another at street corners. In fact, the cowherds and shep-
herds had driven their beasts thus far, and these lowed from
time to time, while with their tongues they tore down some
scrap of foliage that hung above their mouths.
Rodolphe had drawn nearer to Emma, and said to her in
a low voice, speaking rapidly—
‘Does not this conspiracy of the world revolt you? Is
there a single sentiment it does not condemn? The noblest

1 Madame Bovary