Page 37 - madame-bovary

CHAPTER FOUR

he guests arrived early in carriages, in one-horse chais-
Tes, two-wheeled cars, old open gigs, waggonettes with
leather hoods, and the young people from the nearer vil-
lages in carts, in which they stood up in rows, holding on
to the sides so as not to fall, going at a trot and well shaken
up. Some came from a distance of thirty miles, from Goder-
ville, from Normanville, and from Cany.
All the relatives of both families had been invited, quar-
rels between friends arranged, acquaintances long since lost
sight of written to.
From time to time one heard the crack of a whip behind
the hedge; then the gates opened, a chaise entered. Gallop-
ing up to the foot of the steps, it stopped short and emptied
its load. They got down from all sides, rubbing knees and
stretching arms. The ladies, wearing bonnets, had on dress-
es in the town fashion, gold watch chains, pelerines with
the ends tucked into belts, or little coloured fichus fastened
down behind with a pin, and that left the back of the neck
bare. The lads, dressed like their papas, seemed uncomfort-
able in their new clothes (many that day hand-sewed their
first pair of boots), and by their sides, speaking never a work,
wearing the white dress of their first communion length-
ened for the occasion were some big girls of fourteen or
sixteen, cousins or elder sisters no doubt, rubicund, bewil-

Madame Bovary