Page 444 - madame-bovary

is the end for me, do you see! I saw my wife go, then my son,
and now to-day it’s my daughter.’
He wanted to go back at once to Bertaux, saying that he
could not sleep in this house. He even refused to see his
granddaughter.
‘No, no! It would grieve me too much. Only you’ll kiss her
many times for me. Good-bye! you’re a good fellow! And
then I shall never forget that,’ he said, slapping his thigh.
‘Never fear, you shall always have your turkey.’
But when he reached the top of the hill he turned back,
as he had turned once before on the road of Saint-Victor
when he had parted from her. The windows of the village
were all on fire beneath the slanting rays of the sun sink-
ing behind the field. He put his hand over his eyes, and saw
in the horizon an enclosure of walls, where trees here and
there formed black clusters between white stones; then he
went on his way at a gentle trot, for his nag had gone lame.
Despite their fatigue, Charles and his mother stayed very
long that evening talking together. They spoke of the days
of the past and of the future. She would come to live at Yon-
ville; she would keep house for him; they would never part
again. She was ingenious and caressing, rejoicing in her
heart at gaining once more an affection that had wandered
from her for so many years. Midnight struck. The village as
usual was silent, and Charles, awake, thought always of her.
Rodolphe, who, to distract himself, had been rambling
about the wood all day, was sleeping quietly in his chateau,
and Leon, down yonder, always slept.
There was another who at that hour was not asleep.