Page 442 - madame-bovary

bluish haze rested upon the cots covered with iris. Charles
as he passed recognised each courtyard. He remembered
mornings like this, when, after visiting some patient, he
came out from one and returned to her.
The black cloth bestrewn with white beads blew up from
time to time, laying bare the coffin. The tired bearers walked
more slowly, and it advanced with constant jerks, like a boat
that pitches with every wave.
They reached the cemetery. The men went right down to
a place in the grass where a grave was dug. They ranged
themselves all round; and while the priest spoke, the red
soil thrown up at the sides kept noiselessly slipping down
at the corners.
Then when the four ropes were arranged the coffin
was placed upon them. He watched it descend; it seemed
descending for ever. At last a thud was heard; the ropes
creaked as they were drawn up. Then Bournisien took the
spade handed to him by Lestiboudois; with his left hand
all the time sprinkling water, with the right he vigorously
threw in a large spadeful; and the wood of the coffin, struck
by the pebbles, gave forth that dread sound that seems to us
the reverberation of eternity.
The ecclesiastic passed the holy water sprinkler to his
neighbour. This was Homais. He swung it gravely, then
handed it to Charles, who sank to his knees in the earth and
threw in handfuls of it, crying, ‘Adieu!’ He sent her kiss-
es; he dragged himself towards the grave, to engulf himself
with her. They led him away, and he soon grew calmer, feel-
ing perhaps, like the others, a vague satisfaction that it was

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