CHAPTER THIRTEEN

As soon as he returned home, Rodolphe quickly sat down, with a pep in his hand, to write Emma a goodbye letter.

"Be brave, Emma, be brave! I do not want to ruin your life. Have you thought about your decision? No, I think you have not! I shall never forget you. I shall always love you. But, one day, these feelings would have changed. We would not be in love any longer. I am in pain writing you this letter, I know this letter will upset you, but you must forget me. Why did we have to meet? Why were you so beautiful? But, your life will be better without me. If we had gone off somewhere together, we would have had problems all along. I will always remember you, but now I am leaving the country, for I cannot be here to see you in pain. I shall leave immediately, but I do not know where. Be always good and kind."

"There, I think that's all," he said to himself, "oh, and to make sure that she will not come here to look for me ... 

"I shall be far away when you read this sad letter. I have decided to leave immediately, so I can never see you again. I shall come back some day, and perhaps we may talk about our past love. Goodbye!"

"Poor little woman!" he thought to himself.

The next afternoon, Madame Bovary was in the kitchen when the letter arrived. Rodolphe had sent her a basket of fruit hiding the letter. Madame looked at the basket in fear. She quickly took the basket into the dining room, and emptied the fruit to find the letter. She then ran upstairs to read the letter alone. Some time after she finished the letter, her husband called her to dinner.

And down she went, to sit with him!

She tried to eat, but she could not. They sat in silence at the table.

"Monsieur Rodolphe will be going away for some time. He's going away on a journey. Someone told me just now outside the Café Francais."

Emma almost began to cry. She looked out the window, and saw Rodolphe pass by in a carriage. She screamed and fell to the floor.

After thinking for some time, Rodolphe decided he should go away, but had to go through Yonville to reach the road.

"Emma, say something! It's me—your Charles, who loves you—don't you know me? Look, here's your little girl. Give her a kiss!"

The child held out her arms, Emma turned away.

She got up, but fell again. They carried her to her bed.

That evening, her illness became worse. She had pains in her heart, sometimes in her chest, then in her head. She started vomiting—Charles thought she might have cancer.

Poor Charles was also worried about money problems.

(end of section)