CHAPTER TWO

Emma got out first, followed by her maid, Felicite. They had to wake Charles up, as he had fallen asleep hours ago. For the first few nights, the Bovarys were to first dine at the Golden Lion Inn, owned by Madame Lefrancois, until their home was ready. Madame Bovary walked to the kitchen fireplace. On the other side of the fireplace was a fair-haired young man, watching her in silence. He was Monsieur Leon Dupuis, who worked as a clerk in Yonville, and often dined at the inn, having nothing else to do in the sleepy town.

He turned to Madame Bovary, "I believe you must be tired, Madame."

"That's true," replied Emma, "but I always enjoy traveling."

"It is so depressing," sighed the clerk, "to always be in the same place."

"If you were like me, always having to visit patients ... " said Charles.

"Surely," Leon interrupted, turning again to Madame Bovary, "nothing could be more pleasant."

The town chemist then walked in to add, "Medical practice is not too difficult in this town, for the roads are good enough, and in general you're paid pretty well, the farmers being wealthy, although the townspeople still fear modern medicine. They still trust their prayers, rather than coming to the doctor or the chemist."

"Are there any good walks in the neighborhood?" asked Madame Bovary to the young clerk.

"Not many!" he replied. "There's a place at the top of the hill, near the woods. I go there with a book sometimes on Sundays, and watch the sunset."

I don't think there's anything as wonderful as the sunset," she said, "especially by the seaside."

"I love the sea!" exclaimed Monsieur Leon.

"Don't you feel," Madame Bovary continued, "that to just watch the measureless changes of the sea lifts your soul?"

"Mountains are like that, too," said Leon. "How the sight must inspire you! I heard about that famous musician who used to play his piano in sight of some incredible scene to inspire him."

"Are you a musician?" she asked.

"No, though I'm very fond of music," he answered.

"Don't believe him, Madame Bovary," Homais, the chemist interrupted. "He sings beautifully. I could hear him from my laboratory."

Leon rented a room from the chemist. Leon looked embarrassed at this compliment.

Emma continued, "What sorts of music do you like best?"

"Oh, German, it lets you dream," Leon responded.

"Do you know the Italian opera?"

"Not yet, but I shall go next year when I'm in Paris."

"As I've explained to your husband," said the chemist, "your home is one of the most comfortable in Yonville. It also has a garden, by the river, and if Madame is fond of gardening, she'll be able ... "

"My wife doesn't enjoy that much," said Charles. "She would rather stay in her room all the time reading."

"I'm the same," remarked Leon. "What could be better than a book by the fireside?"

"Yes! Yes!" she said, looking at him.

"You forget everything," he continued. "You travel in your chair through countries you seem to see. You become the character."

"How true! How true!" said she.

"Have you ever, while reading a book, come upon an idea that you have thought of yourself, which expresses your own feelings?"

"I have felt that," she answered.

"Yes, living here far from the world, books are a distraction. Yonville is quite dull."

"Like Tostes, no doubt," Emma answered. "I always belonged to a library there."

The chemist interrupted, "You must come visit my library, any time you would like."

They had been sitting over the meal for two hours and a half. While Charles and the chemist spoke about medicine, Emma and Leon discussed everything—Paris shows, names of novels, new dances, and the world they had never known—so they spoke until dinner was over. Late in the evening, they departed. The village was asleep.

As she stepped inside, Emma smelled the new paint. It was the fourth time she had slept in a strange place. The first was at the church in her youth, the second when she arrived at Tostes, the third at la Vaubyessard, and now this was the fourth. Each had seemed to begin a new stage in her life. She didn't think things could remain the same in different places. And since her life had been unlucky so far, the future must surely be better.

(end of section)