Page 215 - madame-bovary

her plate between the two lighted candles.
‘Emma!’ he said.
‘What?’
‘Well, I spent the afternoon at Monsieur Alexandre’s. He
has an old cob, still very fine, only a little brokenkneed, and
that could be bought; I am sure, for a hundred crowns.’ He
added, ‘And thinking it might please you, I have bespoken
it—bought it. Have I done right? Do tell me?’
She nodded her head in assent; then a quarter of an hour
later—
‘Are you going out to-night?’ she asked.
‘Yes. Why?’
‘Oh, nothing, nothing, my dear!’
And as soon as she had got rid of Charles she went and
shut herself up in her room.
At first she felt stunned; she saw the trees, the paths, the
ditches, Rodolphe, and she again felt the pressure of his arm,
while the leaves rustled and the reeds whistled.
But when she saw herself in the glass she wondered at
her face. Never had her eyes been so large, so black, of so
profound a depth. Something subtle about her being trans-
figured her. She repeated, ‘I have a lover! a lover!’ delighting
at the idea as if a second puberty had come to her. So at last
she was to know those joys of love, that fever of happiness
of which she had despairedl She was entering upon marvels
where all would be passion, ecstasy, delirium. An azure in-
finity encompassed her, the heights of sentiment sparkled
under her thought, and ordinary existence appeared only
afar off, down below in the shade, through the interspaces

1 Madame Bovary