Page 305 - madame-bovary

side of a Parisienne in her laces, in the drawing-room of
some illustrious physician, a person driving his carriage
and wearing many orders, the poor clerk would no doubt
have trembled like a child; but here, at Rouen, on the har-
bour, with the wife of this small doctor he felt at his ease,
sure beforehand he would shine. Self-possession depends
on its environment. We don’t speak on the first floor as on
the fourth; and the wealthy woman seems to have, about
her, to guard her virtue, all her banknotes, like a cuirass in
the lining of her corset.
On leaving the Bovarys the night before, Leon had fol-
lowed them through the streets at a distance; then having
seen them stop at the ‘Croix-Rouge,’ he turned on his heel,
and spent the night meditating a plan.
So the next day about five o’clock he walked into the
kitchen of the inn, with a choking sensation in his throat,
pale cheeks, and that resolution of cowards that stops at
nothing.
‘The gentleman isn’t in,’ answered a servant.
This seemed to him a good omen. He went upstairs.
She was not disturbed at his approach; on the contrary,
she apologised for having neglected to tell him where they
were staying.
‘Oh, I divined it!’ said Leon.
He pretended he had been guided towards her by chance,
by, instinct. She began to smile; and at once, to repair his
folly, Leon told her that he had spent his morning in look-
ing for her in all the hotels in the town one after the other.
‘So you have made up your mind to stay?’ he added.

0 Madame Bovary