CHAPTER THREE

As she was getting up the next morning, she saw the clerk cross the market place. She was in her nightclothes. He looked up and smiled. She smiled back and quickly shut the window.

Leon waited all day for six o'clock to arrive; when he got to the inn, he only found Monsieur Binet, already at a table.

The dinner party the previous night was exciting for Leon. Never before had he spent two whole hours talking to a lady. Normally he was quiet, in part because he was shy and another part because he found some others boring to talk with. The people of Yonville considered him "a real gentleman." He respected the older people and did not speak about politics in anger, uncommon in a young man. He had many talents, as well. He could paint and read music, and read quite often. Monsieur Homais respected him for his education; Madame Homais liked him for his friendliness. He often took the Homais children out to play in the garden, although they were quite spoiled. In addition to the maid, they had Justin to look after them. Justin was a distant cousin of Homais'. The boy had no home, so the Homais family took him into theirs. He studied under the chemist, and helped with the housework, as well.

The chemist was an excellent neighbor to the Bovarys. He gave Madame Bovary advice on the town, and how to buy cheap butter. The chemist had an important reason for showing his neighbors such respectful attention.

Some time ago, he came into trouble with the police. He did not have a diploma in medicine, but would sometimes perform medical operations in his laboratory. He was forced to go to court, and the event terrified him. He often had nightmares of going to prison, his family in tears, his beloved shop sold.

After several months, this memory was slowly forgotten, and he began again to give medical advice. But the mayor of the town did not approve, and others envied him. He had to be quite careful. His kind behavior toward Monsieur Bovary would require him to keep silent if he ever noticed Monsieur Homais' extra business. And so, every morning, Homais brought him the daily paper, and often came for short visits in the afternoon.

Charles was unhappy: the patients were not coming. He sat for long hours in silence, or went into his office for a rest. He had little money after spending so much on repairs at Tostes, on clothes for his wife, then on moving, and now his savings were all spent in a couple of years.

Although he was quite worried about money matters, when he would think of his wife's pregnancy, all his worries were forgotten. Husband and wife grew closer during the pregnancy. When he watched her sitting in a chair, he was in perfect happiness; he went over and kissed her, touched her cheek, called her "Little Mummy." He was delighted in becoming a father.

After her first feelings of being astonished, Emma was eager to have the child and to find out what the feeling of being a mother was. But, as they had little money to spend, she was unable to buy clothes and toys for the coming baby. This upset her, and for the baby's first outfit, she had the dressmaker decide, without choosing anything herself. So she gave up the exciting pleasure of preparing for a coming child.

However, Charles spoke about the child at every meal, and her interest in the coming baby returned. She wanted a son. A man is free, whereas a woman is never able to make her own choices.

The baby was born at about six o'clock one Sunday morning.

"It's a girl," said Charles.

Emma turned away.

During her recovery, she spent many hours wondering what to call her daughter. After asking her neighbors for suggestions and remembering every female character of the past books she had read, she remembered hearing the Marquise at la Vaubyessard call a young woman "Berthe." After remembering hearing that name, Emma had made her decision. Charles' parents came for the child's birth, although Emma's father, Monsieur Rouault was unable to come.

Monsieur Bovary senior stayed in Yonville for a month. The townspeople were impressed with his grand silver cap, which he wore in the mornings when he smoked his pipe in the market place. As he regularly drank a great deal of brandy, he was constantly sending the maid out to buy a bottle, which Charles would pay for.

His daughter-in-law loved having him in Yonville. He had traveled to many places around the world during his days as a military officer. Sometimes, on the stairs or in the garden, he would take her around the waist and call out: "Be careful, Charles!"

The elder Madame Bovary worried about her son's happiness. She decided that she and her husband must soon leave, as she did not trust her husband with her son's beautiful wife.

One day, Emma suddenly desired to see her baby, which was being cared for by a local nurse, named Madame Rollet, during the day. It was midday. As she walked along, Emma began to feel weak. She stopped, wondering whether to return home or to sit down for a moment.

At that moment, Monsieur Leon appeared. He walked up and greeted her. Madame Bovary told him she was on the way to see her baby, but was getting tired. She requested him to walk with her. That night, everyone in Yonville had heard this disturbing news. If Madame Bovary was known to walk alone with a man other than her husband, her reputation would surely suffer.

They arrived and were greeted by a woman holding two young children in her arms.

"Come in," she said. "Your baby's over there, asleep."

Madame Bovary gently picked up her daughter from the floor. Leon watched her attentively as she moved. They left, and Emma once more took Monsieur Leon's arm. She walked quickly for a while, and then slowed down. They returned to Yonville along the river. Along the way, they discussed a dance group that was soon to come to Rouen.

"Will you go?" she asked.

"If I can," he answered.

Did they have nothing more to say to each other? More serious communication was passing between their eyes. When they reached her garden, Madame Bovary opened the little gate, ran up the stairs, and quickly went into the house.

Leon walked back to his office. He looked over some papers, then finally picked up his hat and left. He walked up to the top of a nearby hill and sat down, looking up at the sky.

"I'm sick of it!" he said to himself. "Sick of it!"

It was difficult, he thought, to live in this village, with Homais for a friend and few others to talk with, and his master, Monsieur Guillaumin, the town's main lawyer, was too concerned with his business to talk. There was the chemist's wife to talk with, but conversation with her bored him.

Who else was there? Binet. A few shopkeepers. The local priest. There was really no one who interested him, aside from one outstanding woman—Emma. He was always thinking of her, but knew they could never be together, and felt that as they spent more time together, they were growing farther apart.

At first, he had visited her often, in the company of the chemist. Charles seemed to enjoy the visits. And Leon didn't know how to speak to Madame Bovary about his feelings; he was quite frightened that she might not return his feelings of burning love that he truly felt.

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