Page 258 - madame-bovary

them. He seemed to hear the light breathing of his child.
She would grow big now; every season would bring rapid
progress. He already saw her coming from school as the day
drew in, laughing, with ink-stains on her jacket, and carry-
ing her basket on her arm. Then she would have to be sent
to the boarding-school; that would cost much; how was it
to be done? Then he reflected. He thought of hiring a small
farm in the neighbourhood, that he would superintend ev-
ery morning on his way to his patients. He would save up
what he brought in; he would put it in the savings-bank.
Then he would buy shares somewhere, no matter where; be-
sides, his practice would increase; he counted upon that, for
he wanted Berthe to be well-educated, to be accomplished,
to learn to play the piano. Ah! how pretty she would be lat-
er on when she was fifteen, when, resembling her mother,
she would, like her, wear large straw hats in the summer-
time; from a distance they would be taken for two sisters.
He pictured her to himself working in the evening by their
side beneath the light of the lamp; she would embroider
him slippers; she would look after the house; she would fill
all the home with her charm and her gaiety. At last, they
would think of her marriage; they would find her some
good young fellow with a steady business; he would make
her happy; this would last for ever.
Emma was not asleep; she pretended to be; and while he
dozed off by her side she awakened to other dreams.
To the gallop of four horses she was carried away for a
week towards a new land, whence they would return no
more. They went on and on, their arms entwined, without