Chapter 2

One night, towards eleven o'clock, they were awakened by the noise of a horse pulling up outside their door. A servant had come for the doctor, and had a letter for him. Natasie, the Bovarys' servant, came downstairs shivering to open the door.

The letter, sealed with blue wax , begged Mr. Bovary to come immediately to the farm of the Bertaux to set a broken leg. Now from Tostes to the Bertaux was a good eighteen miles across country. It was a dark night; Madame Bovary junior was afraid of accidents for her husband. So it was decided a servant should go on first; Charles would start three hours later when the moon rose. A boy was to be sent to meet him, and show him the way to the farm, and open the gates for him.

Towards four o'clock in the morning, Charles, well wrapped up in his cloak , set out. As he passed Vassonville he came upon a boy sitting on the grass at the edge of a ditch.

“Are you the doctor?” asked the child.

And on Charles's answer, he took his wooden shoes in his hands and ran on in front of him. The doctor, riding along,gathered from his guide's talk that Mr. Rouault was a wealthy farmer. He had broken his leg the evening before on his way home from a feast at a neighbour's. His wife had been dead for two years. There was with him only his daughter, who helped him to keep house.

It was a substantial looking farm. In the stables , over the top of the open doors, one could see great horses quietly feeding. A young woman in a blue dress came to the threshold of the door to receive Mr. Bovary, whom she led to the kitchen,where a large fire was blazing . The servant's breakfast was boiling beside it in small pots of all sizes.

Charles went up to see the patient. He found him in his bed, sweating under his bedclothes. He was a fat little man of fifty, with white skin and blue eyes.

The fracture was a simple one, without any kind of complication . Charles could not have hoped for an easier case.Then calling to mind the devices of his masters at the bedsides of patients, he comforted the sufferer with all sorts of kind remarks. The servant tore up sheets to make bandages, and Mademoiselle Emma tried to sew some pads . Charles was surprised at the whiteness of her nails. They were shiny and delicate at the tips. Her real beauty, though, was in her eyes.Although brown, they seemed black because of the lashes , and her look came at you frankly , with a true boldness .

The bandaging over, the doctor was invited by Mr. Rouault himself to eat before he left. Charles went down into the room on the ground floor. Knives and forks and silver cups were laid for two on a little table. First, Charles and Mademoiselle Emma spoke of the patient, then of the weather and of the great cold.

When Charles, after bidding farewell to old Rouault,returned to the room before leaving, he found her standing,her forehead against the window, looking into the garden. She turned round. “Are you looking for anything?” she asked.

“My whip , if you please,” he answered.

He began looking around the room. It had fallen to the floor, near the wall. Mademoiselle Emma saw it, and bent over to pick it up. Charles, out of politeness, made a dash also, and as he stretched out his arm, at the same moment felt his chest brush against the back of the young girl bending beneath him.She drew herself up, red with embarrassment , and looked at him over her shoulder as she handed him his whip.

Instead of returning to the Bertaux in three days as he had promised, he went back the very next day, then regularly twice a week, without counting the visits he paid now and then as if by accident.

Everything, moreover, went well; the patient progressed favourably ; and, at the end of forty-six days, old Rouault was seen trying to walk alone. As to Charles, he did not stop to ask himself why it was a pleasure for the doctor to visit so often. Had he done so, he would, no doubt, have attributed his eagerness to the importance of the case, or perhaps to the money he hoped to make by it. Was it for this, however, that his visits to the farm formed a delightful exception to the dull occupations of his life? On these days, he liked going into the courtyard, and noticing the gate turn against his shoulder and the lads run to meet him. He liked the small wooden shoes of Mademoiselle Emma, and when she walked in front of him, the wooden soles sprung up quickly. She always accompanied him to the first step of the stairs. When his horse had not yet been brought round she stayed there. They had said “goodbye”;there was no more talking. The sunshade of silk through which the sun shone, lit up the white skin of her face. She smiled under the tender warmth.

During the first period of Charles's visits to the Bertaux,Madame Bovary junior never failed to inquire after the invalid ,but when she heard he had a daughter, she began to make other inquiries. She soon learned that Mademoiselle Emma, brought up at an excellent school for girls, had received what is called“a good education,” and so knew dancing, geography, drawing,music and needlework.

“So it is for this,” she said to herself, “that his face beams when he goes to see her, and that he puts on his new coat at the risk of spoiling it with the rain. Ah! That woman! That woman!”

And she disliked the girl instinctively . Why did he go back to the Bertaux now that Mr. Rouault was cured and that these folks hadn't paid yet? Ah! It was because a young lady was there, someone who knows how to talk and be witty . That was what he cared about; he wanted town misses.

For very weariness of always arguing over the matter with his wife, Charles left off going to the Bertaux. His wife made him swear that he would go there no more, after much sobbing and many kisses, in a great outburst of love. He obeyed then, but the strength of his desire protested against his wife's wishes.

Charles's mother came to see them from time to time, but after a few days, the daughter-in-law seemed to put her own edge on her, and then, like two knives, they criticized him with their refl ections and observations. It was wrong of him to eat so much. Why did he always offer a glass of something to everyone who came?

In the spring came news that the holder of the widow Dubuc's fortune went off, taking with him all the money in his office. She had lied, the good lady! She had told her husband,before their marriage, that she had, besides the great fortune, a wealth of property , which she did not. The Bovary parents came to Tostes. Explanations followed. There were scenes. Charles'wife was in tears, throwing her arms about her husband,begging him to defend her from his parents. Charles tried to speak up for her. They grew angry and left the house.

A week after, as she was hanging up some washing in her yard, she was seized with a spitting of blood, and the next day,while Charles had his back turned to her, drawing the curtain,she said, “O, God!” gave a sigh and fell. She was dead! What a surprise! When all was over at the cemetery , Charles went home. He found no one downstairs; he went up to their room; he saw her dress still hanging at the foot of the bed; then, leaning against the writing table, he stayed until the evening, buried in sorrowful memories. She had loved him after all!

shiver /ˈʃɪvə/ vi. 颤抖

wax /wæks/ n. 蜡，蜡状物

mile /maɪl/ n. 英里（1 英里=1.609 344 千米）

wrap /ræp/ vt. 裹

cloak /kləʊk/ n. 披风，斗篷

ditch /dɪtʃ/ n. 沟渠

feast /fi:st/ n. 宴会

s ubstantial /səbˈstænʃəl/ adj. 实质的，真实的，充实的

stable /ˈsteɪbəl/ n. 厩

threshold /ˈθreʃhəʊld/ n. 门口

blaz e / bleɪz / vi .熊熊燃烧

fracture /ˈfræktʃə/ n. 骨折

complication /ˌkɒmplɪˈkeɪʃən/ n. 复杂

pad /pæd/ n. 垫子

shiny /ˈʃaɪnɪ/ adj. 发亮的，有光泽的

delicate /ˈdelɪkət/ adj. 精致的，纤细的，细长的

lash /læʃ/ n. 睫毛

frankly /ˈfræŋklɪ/ adv. 坦诚地

boldness / ˈbəʊldnɪs/ n. 大胆，勇敢

farewell /ˌfeəˈwel/ n. 辞别，告别

whip /hwɪp/ n. 鞭子

embarrassment /ɪmˈbærəsmənt/ n. 困窘

favourably /ˈfeɪvərəbəlɪ/ adv. 顺利地

attribute /əˈtrɪbju:t/ vt. 归结于

sole /səʊl/ n. 鞋底

accompany /əˈkʌmpənɪ/ vt. 陪伴

invalid /ˈɪnvəlɪd/ n. 病人

spoil /spɔɪl/ vt. 损坏，搞坏

instinctively / ɪnˈstɪŋktɪvlɪ/ adv. 本能地

witty /ˈwɪtɪ/ adj. 机智的，诙谐的

weariness /ˈwɪərɪnɪs/ n. 疲倦，厌烦

swear /sweə/ vt. 发誓

criticize /ˈkrɪtɪsaɪz/ vt. 批评，责备

reflection /rɪˈfl ekʃən/ n. 沉思，反映

property /ˈprɒpətɪ/ n. 财产

cemetery /ˈsemɪtərɪ/ n. 墓地，公墓

lean /li:n/ vi. 倚靠 VWesHeSuMgKQSYSrpHhMAnTW6psjbD0XfJc4eCfVLXBtfxsFPUJzT3poX7DvJDKu