Page 225 - madame-bovary

dalised her.
Rodolphe reflected a good deal on the affair of the pis-
tols. If she had spoken seriously, it was very ridiculous, he
thought, even odious; for he had no reason to hate the good
Charles, not being what is called devoured by jealousy; and
on this subject Emma had taken a great vow that he did not
think in the best of taste.
Besides, she was growing very sentimental. She had in-
sisted on exchanging miniatures; they had cut off handfuls
of hair, and now she was asking for a ring—a real wedding-
ring, in sign of an eternal union. She often spoke to him of
the evening chimes, of the voices of nature. Then she talked
to him of her mother—hers! and of his mother—his! Ro-
dolphe had lost his twenty years ago. Emma none the less
consoled him with caressing words as one would have done
a lost child, and she sometimes even said to him, gazing at
the moon
‘I am sure that above there together they approve of our
love.’
But she was so pretty. He had possessed so few women
of such ingenuousness. This love without debauchery was a
new experience for him, and, drawing him out of his lazy
habits, caressed at once his pride and his sensuality. Em-
ma’s enthusiasm, which his bourgeois good sense disdained,
seemed to him in his heart of hearts charming, since it was
lavished on him. Then, sure of being loved, he no longer
kept up appearances, and insensibly his ways changed.
He had no longer, as formerly, words so gentle that they
made her cry, nor passionate caresses that made her mad,

Madame Bovary