Page 422 - madame-bovary

evening after dinner.
‘Oh, it isn’t his blood that’s too thick,’ said the physician.
And, smiling a little at his unnoticed joke, the doctor
opened the door. But the chemist’s shop was full of people;
he had the greatest difficulty in getting rid of Monsieur Tu-
vache, who feared his spouse would get inflammation of the
lungs, because she was in the habit of spitting on the ashes;
then of Monsieur Binet, who sometimes experienced sud-
den attacks of great hunger; and of Madame Caron, who
suffered from tinglings; of Lheureux, who had vertigo; of
Lestiboudois, who had rheumatism; and of Madame Lefran-
cois, who had heartburn. At last the three horses started;
and it was the general opinion that he had not shown him-
self at all obliging.
Public attention was distracted by the appearance of
Monsieur Bournisien, who was going across the market
with the holy oil.
Homais, as was due to his principles, compared priests
to ravens attracted by the odour of death. The sight of an
ecclesiastic was personally disagreeable to him, for the cas-
sock made him think of the shroud, and he detested the one
from some fear of the other.
Nevertheless, not shrinking from what he called his
mission, he returned to Bovary’s in company with Caniv-
et whom Monsieur Lariviere, before leaving, had strongly
urged to make this visit; and he would, but for his wife’s
objections, have taken his two sons with him, in order to
accustom them to great occasions; that this might be a les-
son, an example, a solemn picture, that should remain in

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