SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION
 
 Sentimental 
 Education 
 
 The Story of a Young Man 
 
 GUSTAVE FLAUBER1 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 DORA KNOWLES RANOUS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 BREXTANO'S 
 Publishers 
 
 KCA
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY 
 
 BRENTANO'S 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
 
 CONTENTS 
 BOOK I 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I A PROMISING EPISODE 1 
 
 II THE WISDOM OF YOUTH .... 15 
 
 III THE RULING PASSION 24 
 
 IV THE ETERNAL FEMININE .... 34 
 V A CONSUMING LOVE 66 
 
 VI HOPES DEFERRED . 117 
 
 VII PARIS AGAIN . . ...... 130 
 
 VIII FREDERICK ENTERTAINS AND Is ENTER- 
 TAINED 162 
 
 IX THE FAMILY FRIEND 218 
 
 X A PLEASANT LITTLE DINNER . . . 260 
 
 XI A DUEL 277 
 
 XII LITTLE LOUISE BECOMES A WOMAN . 321 
 
 XIII ROSANETTE IN A NEW ROLE 335 
 
 v
 
 BOOK II 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XIV REVOLUTIONARY DAYS 1 
 
 XV LOUISE Is DISILLUSIONED .... 80 
 
 XVI THREE CHARMING WOMEN .... 100 
 
 XVII FREDERICK'S BETROTHAL 126 
 
 XVIII UNDER THE HAMMER 173 
 
 XIX AFTER MANY YEARS 195 
 
 XX WHEN A MAN'S FORTY . . 203
 
 BOOK I
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 A PROMISING EPISODE 
 
 IN front of the Quai St. Bernard, the Ville de Mon- 
 tereau, which was just about to start, was puffing 
 great whirlwinds of smoke. It was six o'clock on 
 the morning of the I5th of September, 1840. 
 
 People rushed on board the vessel in frantic haste. 
 The traffic was obstructed by casks, cables, and baskets 
 of linen. The sailors answered no questions. People 
 jostled one another. Between the two paddle-boxes 
 was a heap of parcels ; the clamour was drowned in 
 the loud hissing of the steam, which, making its way 
 through the plates of sheet-iron, encompassed every- 
 thing in a white mist, while the bell at the prow kept 
 continuously ringing. 
 
 At last, the vessel drew away ; and the banks of the 
 river, crowded with warehouses, timber-yards, and 
 manufactories, opened out like two huge ribbons being 
 unrolled. 
 
 A young man about eighteen, with long hair, hold- 
 ing an album under his arm, stood motionless near the 
 helm. Penetrating the haze, he could see steeples, 
 buildings of which he did not know the names ; then, 
 with a farewell glance, he observed the He St. Louis, 
 the Cite, and Notre Dame. As Paris faded from view 
 he heaved a deep sigh.
 
 2 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Frederick Moreau had just taken his Bachelor's de- 
 gree, and was returning home to Nogent-sur-Seine, 
 where he would have to lead a monotonous existence 
 for two months, before going back to begin his legal 
 studies. His mother had sent him, with enough money 
 to cover his expenses, to Havre to see an uncle, from 
 whom she had expectations of his receiving an inherit- 
 ance. He had returned from there only yesterday; 
 and he consoled himself for not having been able to 
 spend a little time in the capital by taking the longest 
 possible though less convenient route to reach his 
 own part of the country. 
 
 The uproar had subsided. The passengers were all 
 taking their places. Some of them stood warming 
 themselves around the machinery, and the chimney 
 spat forth with a slow, rhythmic rattle its plume of 
 black smoke. Drops of dew glistened on the copper 
 plates; the deck quivered with the vibration from 
 within; and the two paddle-wheels, rapidly turning, 
 lashed the water. The river edges were covered with 
 sand. The vessel swept past rafts of wood which os- 
 cillated under the rippling of the waves, or a boat with- 
 out sails in which a man sat fishing. Then the drift- 
 ing haze cleared ; the sun appeared ; the hill which 
 had been visible on the right of the Seine subsided 
 by degrees, and another rose nearer on the opposite 
 bank. 
 
 Frederick was thinking about the apartment which 
 he would occupy over there, on the plan of a drama, 
 on subjects for pictures, on future passions. He was 
 beginning to find that the happiness merited by the 
 excellence of his soul was slow in arriving. He 
 declaimed some melancholy verses as he walked 
 rapidly along the deck till he reached the end at 
 which the bell was. In the centre of a group of pas-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 3 
 
 sengers and sailors he saw a gentleman talking soft 
 nothings to a country-woman, while fingering the 
 gold cross which she wore over her breast. He was 
 a jovial blade of forty, with frizzled hair. He wore 
 a jacket of black velvet, two emeralds sparkled in his 
 cambric shirt, and his wide, white trousers fell over 
 odd-looking red boots of Russia leather ornamented 
 with blue designs. 
 
 The presence of Fredrick did not discompose him. 
 He turned round and glanced several times at the young 
 man with winks of inquiry. He next offered cigars 
 to all who were standing near him. But, apparently 
 getting tired of their society, he moved away and took 
 a seat further up. Frederick followed him. 
 
 The conversation, at first, was on the various kinds 
 of tobacco, then quite naturally it turned into a dis- 
 cussion about women. The gentleman in the red 
 boots gave the younger man advice; he put forward 
 theories, related anecdotes, referred to himself by 
 way of illustration, and he gave utterance to all these 
 things in a paternal tone, with the ingenuousness of 
 entertaining depravity. 
 
 He was republican in his opinions. He had trav- 
 elled ; was familiar with the inner life of theatres, 
 restaurants, and newspapers, and knew all the theat- 
 rical celebrities, whom he spoke of by their first 
 names. Frederick told him confidentially about his 
 projects; and the elder man took an encouraging 
 view of them. 
 
 He stopped talking a moment to take a look at the 
 funnel, then he mumbled rapidly a long calculation 
 in order to ascertain " how much each stroke of the 
 piston at so many times per minute would come to," 
 etc., and, having found the number, he spoke about 
 the scenery, which he admired immensely. Then he
 
 4 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 expressed his delight at having got away from busi- 
 ness. 
 
 Frederick regarded him with a certain amount of 
 respect, and politely intimated a desire to know his 
 name. The stranger, without a moment's hesitation, 
 replied : 
 
 "Jacques Arnoux, proprietor of L'Art Industriel, 
 Boulevard Montmartre." 
 
 A man-servant in a gold-laced cap came up and said : 
 
 " Would Monsieur have the kindness to go below ? 
 Mademoiselle is crying." 
 
 L'Art Industriel was a hybrid establishment, 
 wherein the functions of an art journal and a picture- 
 shop were combined. Frederick remembered seeing 
 this title several times in the bookseller's window in 
 his native place on bi-g prospectuses, on which the 
 name of Jacques Arnoux displayed itself magis- 
 terially. 
 
 The sun's rays fell perpendicularly, shedding a 
 glittering light on the iron hoops around the masts, 
 the plates of the barricades, and the surface of the 
 water, which, at the prow, was cut into two furrows 
 that spread out as far as the borders of the meadows. 
 At each curve of the river, a screen of pale poplars 
 presented itself with the utmost uniformity. The 
 surrounding country at this point had an empty look. 
 In the sky were little white clouds which remained 
 motionless, and the sense of weariness, which vaguely 
 diffused itself over everything, seemed to retard the 
 progress of the steamboat and to add to the insignifi- 
 cant appearance of the passengers. With the excep- 
 tion of a few persons of good position who were 
 travelling first class, they consisted of artisans or 
 shopmen with their wives and children. It was cus- 
 tomary at that time to wear old clothes when trav-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 5 
 
 elling, so nearly all had their heads covered with 
 shabby Greek caps or discoloured hats, and wore thin 
 black coats that had become threadbare from constant 
 rubbing against writing-desks, or frock-coats with 
 the casings of their buttons loose from continual ser- 
 vice in the shop. Here and there some roll-collar 
 waistcoat afforded a glimpse of a coffee-stained calico 
 shirt. Pinchbeck pins were stuck into torn cravats. 
 List shoes were kept up by stitched straps. 
 
 Frederick, in order to get back to his place, pushed 
 against the grating leading into the part of the ves- 
 sel reserved for first-class passengers, and in so doing 
 disturbed two sportsmen with their dogs. 
 
 What he then saw was like a vision. She was 
 seated in the middle of a bench all alone, or, at least 
 it appeared so to him; he could see no one else, 
 dazzled as he was by her eyes. At the moment when 
 he was passing, she raised her head; his shoulders 
 bent involuntarily ; and, when he had seated himself, 
 some little distance away, on the same side, he 
 glanced toward her. 
 
 She wore a wide straw hat, the red ribbons of which 
 fluttered in the wind behind her. Her black tresses, 
 braided around the top of her large forehead, descended 
 very low near her cheeks, and seemed amorously to 
 press the oval of her face. Her robe of muslin spotted 
 with green spread out in ample folds. She was em- 
 broidering something; and her straight nose, her 
 rounded chin, her entire person was outlined on 
 the background of the luminous air and the blue sky. 
 
 As she maintained the same attitude, he took sev- 
 eral turns to the right and to the left, hiding from 
 her his change of position; then he placed himself 
 close to her parasol, which lay against the bench, and 
 pretended to be looking at a sloop on the river.
 
 6 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Never before had he seen such a lustrous dark skin, 
 such a seductive figure, or more delicately shaped 
 fingers than those through which the sunlight 
 gleamed. He gazed with amazement at her work- 
 basket, as if it were something unusual. What was 
 her name, her place of residence, her life, her past? 
 He longed to become familiar with the furnishings 
 of her apartment, with the dresses that she had worn, 
 with the people whom she visited ; and the desire of 
 physical possession yielded to a deeper yearning, a 
 painful and boundless curiosity. 
 
 A negress, wearing a silk handkerchief tied round 
 her head, appeared, holding by the hand a little girl 
 already tall for her age. The child, whose eyes were 
 swimming in tears, had just awakened. The lady 
 took the little one on her knees. " Mademoiselle was 
 not good, though she would soon be seven ; her 
 mother would not love her any more. She was too 
 often forgiven for being naughty." And Frederick 
 heard those things with delight, as if he had made a 
 discovery, an acquisition. 
 
 He concluded that she must be of Andalusian de- 
 scent, perhaps a Creole: had she brought this negress 
 with her from the West Indian Islands? 
 
 Meanwhile his attention was directed to a long 
 shawl with violet stripes thrown behind her over the 
 copper support of the bench. She must have, many a 
 time, wrapped it around her, as the vessel sped 
 through the waves; drawn it over her feet, gone to 
 sleep in it ! 
 
 Frederick suddenly noticed that with the sweep of 
 its fringes it was slipping off, and on the point of 
 falling into the water; with a bound he caught it. 
 She said: 
 
 " Thank you, Monsieur."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 7 
 
 Their eyes met. 
 
 " Are you ready, my dear ? " cried my lord Arnoux, 
 presenting himself at the hood of the companion- 
 ladder. 
 
 Mademoiselle Marthe ran over to him, and, cling- 
 ing to his neck, she began pulling at his moustache. 
 The strains of a harp were heard she wanted to see 
 the music played; and presently the performer on the 
 instrument, at the request of the negress, entered the 
 place reserved for saloon passengers. Arnoux recog- 
 nised in him a man who had formerly been a model, 
 and " thou'd " him, to the astonishment of the by- 
 standers. At length the harpist, flinging back his 
 long hair, stretched out his hands and began playing. 
 
 It was an Oriental ballad all about poniards, flow- 
 ers, and stars. The man in rags sang it in a sharp 
 voice ; the twanging of the harp-strings broke the 
 harmony of the tune with false notes. He played 
 more vigorously: the chords vibrated, and their me- 
 tallic sounds seemed to emit sobs, and, as it were, 
 the plaint of a proud and vanquished love. On both 
 sides of the river, woods reached down to the edge 
 of the water. A current of fresh air swept past, and 
 Madame Arnoux gazed vaguely into the distance. 
 When the music stopped, she moved her eyes as if 
 she were starting out of a dream. 
 
 The harpist approached them with an air of hu- 
 mility. While Arnoux was searching his pockets for 
 money, Frederick stretched out toward the cap his 
 closed hand, and then, opening it in a shamefaced 
 manner, he deposited in the cap a louis d'or. It was 
 not vanity that had prompted him to bestow this alms 
 in her presence, but the hope of a blessing in which 
 he felt she might share an almost religious impulse 
 of the heart.
 
 8 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Arnoux, leading the way, cordially invited him to 
 go below. Frederick replied that he had just lunched; 
 on the contrary, he was nearly dying of hunger; but 
 he had not a single centime in his purse. 
 
 After that, it seemed to him that he had as much 
 right as anyone else to remain in the cabin. 
 
 Ladies and gentlemen were seated before round 
 tables, lunching, while an attendant went about serv- 
 ing coffee. Monsieur and Madame Arnoux were in 
 the extreme right-hand corner. He seated himself 
 on the long bench covered with velvet, picking up a 
 newspaper which he found there. 
 
 They would have to take the diligence at Monte- 
 reau for Chalons. Their tour in Switzerland would 
 last a month. Madame Arnoux blamed her husband 
 for his weakness with the child. He whispered in 
 her ear; it was evidently something agreeable, for 
 she smiled. Then he rose to draw down the window 
 curtain at her back. Under the low, white ceiling, a 
 crude light filled the cabin. Frederick, sitting oppo- 
 site, could distinguish the shadow made by her eye- 
 lashes. She just moistened her lips at her glass and 
 broke a little piece of crust between her fingers. The 
 lapis-lazuli locket fastened by a gold chain to her 
 *vrist made a ringing sound, every now and then, as 
 it touched her plate. Those present, however, did 
 not appear to notice it. 
 
 At intervals one could see, through the port-holes, 
 the side of a boat which was taking away passengers 
 or putting them on board. Those who sat round the 
 tables looked through the openings, and called out 
 the names of the various places they passed along the 
 river. 
 
 Arnoux complained of the cooking. He grumbled 
 particularly at the amount of the bill, and had it re-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 9 
 
 duced. Then he carried off the young man toward 
 the forecastle to drink a glass of grog with him. 
 But Frederick speedily returned to gaze at Madame 
 Arnoux, who had gone back to her seat under the 
 awning. She was reading a thin, grey-covered vol- 
 ume. From time to time the corners of her mouth 
 curled and a gleam of pleasure lighted up her face. 
 He felt jealous of the author of a book which ap- 
 peared to interest her so much. The more he con- 
 templated her, the more he felt that there were yawn- 
 ing abysses between them. He was reflecting that he 
 should very soon lose sight of her irrevocably, and 
 without having extracted a few words from her, 
 without leaving her even a souvenir! 
 
 On the right, a plain was visible. On the left, a 
 strip of pasture-land rose gently to meet a hillock 
 where one could see vineyards, groups of walnut- 
 trees, a mill embedded in the grassy slopes, and, be- 
 yond that, little zigzag paths over a white mass of 
 rocks that reached up toward the clouds. What 
 bliss it would have been to ascend side by side with 
 her, his arm around her waist, as her gown swept 
 the yellow leaves, listening to her voice and gazing 
 into her glowing eyes ! The steamboat might stop, 
 and all they would have to do would be to step right 
 out; and yet this thing, simple as it seemed, was not 
 less difficult than it would have been to alter the 
 course of the sun. 
 
 The little girl kept skipping playfully around the 
 place where he had stationed himself on the deck. 
 Frederick tried to kiss her. She hid herself behind 
 her nurse. Her mother scolded her for not being 
 nice to the gentleman who had rescued her own 
 shawl. Was this an indirect overture? 
 
 " Is she going to speak to me? " he asked himself.
 
 10 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Time was flying. How was he to get an invitation 
 to the Arnoux's house? And he could think of noth- 
 ing better than to draw her attention to the autumnal 
 hues, adding: 
 
 " We are approaching winter the season of balls 
 and dinner-parties." 
 
 But Arnoux was entirely occupied with his lug- 
 gage. They had arrived at the river's bank facing 
 Surville. The two bridges drew nearer. They 
 passed a rope walk, then a range of low-built houses, 
 inside which there were pots of tar and splinters of 
 wood ; and children ran along the sand turning head 
 over heels. Frederick recognised a man with a 
 sleeved .waistcoat, and called out to him: 
 
 " Make haste." 
 
 They were at the landing-place. He looked around 
 anxiously for Arnoux amongst the crowd of passen- 
 gers, and presently the other came and shook hands 
 with him, saying: 
 
 " A pleasant time, Monsieur ! " 
 
 When he was on the quay, Frederick looked back. 
 She was standing beside the helm. He cast a look 
 toward her into which he tried to put his whole soul. 
 She remained motionless, as if nothing had hap- 
 pened. Then, without paying the slightest attention 
 to the obeisances of his manservant: 
 
 " Why is not the trap here ? " 
 
 The man made excuses. 
 
 " Clumsy fellow ! Give me some money." 
 
 And after that he went off to get something to eat 
 at an inn. 
 
 A quarter of an hour later, he felt an inclination to 
 turn into the coachyard, as if by chance. He might 
 see her again. 
 
 " What's the use? " he said to himself.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 11 
 
 The vehicle carried him off. The two horses did 
 not belong to his mother. She had borrowed one 
 from M. Chambrion, the tax-collector. Isidore, hav- 
 ing set forth the day before, had taken a rest at Bray 
 until evening, and had slept at Montereau, so that 
 the animals, with restored vigour, were trotting 
 briskly. 
 
 Fields on which the crops had been cut stretched 
 out in apparently endless succession ; and by degrees 
 Villeneuve, St. Georges, Ablon, Chatillon, Corbeil, 
 and the other places his entire journey came back 
 to his mind with such vividness that he could recall 
 fresh details, more intimate particulars. 
 Under the lowest flounce of her gown, her foot 
 showed itself encased in a dainty silk boot of ma- 
 roon shade. The awning made of ticking formed a 
 wide canopy over her head, and the little red tassels 
 of the edging kept trembling in the breeze. 
 
 She resembled the women of whom he had read 
 in romances. Nothing could be added to the charms 
 of her person, and nothing could be taken from them. 
 The universe had suddenly enlarged. She was the 
 luminous point toward which all things converged ; and, 
 lulled by the movement of the vehicle, with half-closed 
 eyes, and his face turned toward the clouds, he aban- 
 doned himself to a dreamy, infinite joy. 
 
 At Bray, he did not wait till the horses had got 
 their oats ; he walked on along the road by himself. 
 Arnoux addressed her as " Marie." He now loudly 
 repeated the name " Marie ! " His voice pierced the 
 air and was lost in the distance. 
 
 The sky toward the west was one great mass of 
 flaming purple. Huge stacks of wheat, rising up in 
 the midst of the stubble fields, threw giant shadows. 
 A dog barked in a distant farm-house. He shivered,
 
 12 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 seized with disquietude for which he could assign 
 no cause. 
 
 When Isidore came up with him, he jumped into 
 the front seat to drive. His fit of weakness was over. 
 He had thoroughly made up his mind to effect an in- 
 troduction into the house of the Arnoux, and to be- 
 come intimate with them. Their house should be 
 entertaining ; besides, he liked Arnoux ; then you 
 never can tell ! Thereupon a wave of blood rushed 
 up to his face ; his temples throbbed ; he cracked his 
 whip, shook the reins, and set the horses going at such 
 a pace that the old coachman repeatedly exclaimed : 
 " Easy ! easy now, or they'll get broken-winded ! " 
 Gradually Frederick calmed down, and he attended 
 to what the man was saying. Monsieur's return was 
 impatiently awaited. Mademoiselle Louise had cried 
 to go in the trap to meet him* 
 
 " Who, pray, is Mademoiselle Louise ? " 
 " Monsieur Roque's little girl, you know." 
 " Ah, yes ! I had forgotten," rejoined Frederick 
 carelessly. 
 
 Meanwhile, the two horses could keep up the fu- 
 rious pace no longer. They were both getting lame; 
 nine o'clock struck at St. Laurent's when he arrived 
 at the parade in front of his mother's house. 
 
 This large house, with a garden looking out on the 
 open country, conferred additional social importance 
 on Madame Moreau, who was the most respected 
 lady in the district. 
 
 She had descended from an old family of nobles, 
 of which the male line was now extinct. Her hus- 
 band, a plebeian whom her parents had forced her to 
 marry, met his death by a sword-thrust, during her 
 pre'gnancy, leaving a much encumbered estate. She 
 received visitors three times a week, and from time
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 13 
 
 to time gave a fashionable dinner. But the number 
 of wax candles was calculated beforehand, and she 
 looked forward with impatience to the payment of 
 her rents. These pecuniary embarrassments, con- 
 cealed as if there were some guilt attached to them, 
 imparted a certain gravity to her character. Never- 
 theless, she displayed no prudery, no sourness, in the 
 practice of her particular virtues. Her most trifling 
 charities seemed munificent alms. She was consulted 
 about the selection of servants, the education of 
 young girls, and the art of making preserves, and 
 Monseigneur used to stay at her house on the occa- 
 sion of his episcopal visitations. 
 
 Madame Moreau cherished a lofty ambition for 
 her son. Through a prudence which was grounded 
 on the expectation of favours, she did not care to 
 hear blame cast on the Government. He would re- 
 quire patronage at first; then, with such aid, he 
 might become a councillor of state, an ambassador, 
 a minister. His success at the college of Sens justi- 
 fied this proud anticipation ; had he not carried off 
 the prize of honour? 
 
 When he entered the drawing-room, all present 
 arose noisily ; he was embraced ; then the chairs, large 
 and small, were drawn up in a big semi-circle around 
 the fireplace. M. Gamblin immediately asked him 
 what his opinion was about Madame Lafarge. This 
 case, the rage of the moment, did not fail to lead to 
 a violent discussion. Madame Moreau stopped it, to 
 the regret, however, of M. Gamblin ; he deemed it 
 serviceable to the young man in his character of a 
 future lawyer, and, nettled at what had occurred, he 
 left the drawing-room. 
 
 Nothing done by a friend of Pere Roque should 
 have caused surprise. The reference to Pere Roque
 
 14 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 led them to speak of M. Dambreuse, who had lately 
 become the owner of the demesne of La Fortelle. 
 But the tax-collector had drawn Frederick aside to 
 ask what he thought of M. Guizot's latest work. 
 They were all anxious to know about his private af- 
 fairs, and Madame Benoit went cleverly to work, 
 with that end in view, by inquiring about his uncle. 
 How was that worthy relative? They no longer 
 heard from him. Had he not a distant cousin in 
 America ? 
 
 The cook announced that Monsieur's soup was 
 served. The guests discreetly retired. As soon as 
 they were alone in the dining-room, his mother said 
 to him in a low tone : 
 
 "Well?" 
 
 The old man had received him in a very cordial 
 manner, but had not disclosed his intentions. 
 
 Madame Moreau sighed. 
 
 " Where is she now ? " was his thought. 
 
 The diligence was probably rolling along the road, 
 and, wrapped up in the shawl, doubtless, she was 
 leaning against the cloth of the coupe, her beautiful 
 head nodding as she slept. 
 
 He and his mother w r ere about to go up to their 
 apartments when a waiter from the Swan of the 
 Cross brought him a note. 
 
 " What is that, pray ? " 
 
 " It is-Deslauriers, who wishes to see me," said he. 
 
 " Ha ! your chum ! " said Madame Moreau, with a 
 contemptuous sneer. " Certainly it is a nice hour to 
 choose ! " 
 
 Frederick hesitated. But friendship was stronger. 
 He got his hat. 
 
 His mother requested him to return quickly.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE WISDOM OF YOUTH 
 
 THE father of Charles Deslauriers was an ex- 
 captain in the line. He had retired from the 
 service in 1818 and returned to Nogent, where 
 he had married. With the amount of the dowry he 
 bought up the business of a process-server, which 
 barely maintained him. Made bitter by continuous 
 unjust treatment, suffering still from the effects of 
 old wounds, and always regretting the Emperor, he 
 vented on those around him the fits of rage that 
 seemed to choke him. Few children received so 
 many thrashings as did his son. In spite of blows, 
 however, the child remained obstinate. His mother, 
 when she interposed, was also ill-treated. Finally, 
 the captain placed the boy in his office, and all day 
 long kept him bent over a desk copying documents, 
 with the result that his right shoulder was noticeably 
 higher than his left. 
 
 In 1833, on the invitation of the president, the 
 captain sold his office. His wife died of cancer. He 
 then went to live at Dijon and started in business 
 at Troyes, where he was connected with the slave 
 trade. Having obtained a small scholarship for 
 Charles, he placed him at the college of Sens, where 
 Frederick met him. But one of the boys was twelve 
 years old, while the other was fifteen; besides, a 
 thousand differences of character and origin tended 
 to keep them apart. 
 
 Frederick had in his chest of drawers all sorts of
 
 16 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 useful things choice articles, such as a dressing- 
 case would indicate. He liked to lie in bed in the 
 mornings, to look at the swallows, and to read plays; 
 and, missing the comforts of home, he thought col- 
 lege life rough. To the process-server's son it 
 seemed a pleasant existence. He worked so hard 
 that, at the end of the second year, he got into the 
 third form. However, owing to his poverty or to his 
 quarrelsome disposition, he was intensely disliked. 
 But when on one occasion, in the courtyard where 
 pupils of the middle grade exercised, an attendant 
 openly called him a beggar's child, he sprang at the 
 fellow's throat, and would have killed him if three of 
 the ushers had not intervened. Frederick, moved by 
 admiration, pressed him in his arms. From that day 
 forward they were fast friends. The affection of a 
 grandee no doubt flattered the vanity of the youth 
 of meaner rank, and the other accepted as a piece of 
 good fortune the devotion freely offered to him. 
 During the holidays Charles's father left him in the 
 college. A translation of Plato which he chanced on 
 excited his enthusiasm. He became smitten with a 
 love of metaphysical studies ; and he made rapid 
 progress, for he came to the subject with all the 
 energy of youth and the self-confidence of an eman- 
 cipated intellect. Jouffroy, Cousin, Laromiguiere, 
 Malebranche, and the Scotch metaphysicians every- 
 thing that the library contained dealing with this 
 branch of knowledge passed through his hands. He 
 even stole the key in order to get at the books. 
 
 Frederick's intellectual distractions were of a less 
 serious description. He made sketches of the gene- 
 alogy of Christ as carved on a post in the Rue des 
 Trois Rois, then of the gateway of a cathedral. 
 After a course of mediaeval dramas, he turned to
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 17 
 
 memoirs Froissart, Comines, Pierre de 1'Estoile, and 
 Brantome. 
 
 The impressions left on his mind by this kind of 
 reading impressed him to such an extent that he felt 
 a need within him of reproducing those pictures of 
 bygone days. His ambition was to be, one day, the 
 Walter Scott of France. Deslauriers dreamed of 
 formulating an exhaustive system of philosophy, cal- 
 culated to have the most far-reaching results. 
 
 They conversed on all these matters at recreation 
 hours, in the playground, in front of the moral 
 maxim inscribed under the clock. They whispered 
 to each other about them in the chapel, even with St. 
 Louis staring down at them. They dreamed about 
 them in the dormitory, which looked out on a burial- 
 ground. On walking-days they took up a position 
 behind the others, and talked unceasingly. 
 
 They spoke of what they would do later, when 
 they had left college. First of all, they would set out 
 on a long voyage with the money which Frederick 
 would take out of his own fortune immediately on 
 reaching his majority. Then they would return to 
 Paris; they would work together, and would never 
 part; and, as a relaxation from their labours, they 
 would have love-affairs with princesses in boudoirs 
 lined with satin, or dazzling orgies with famous 
 courtesans. Their rapturous day-dreams were fol- 
 lowed by doubts. After a crisis of verbose gaiety, 
 they would often lapse into a long silence. 
 
 On summer evenings, when they had been walking 
 for some time over stony paths which bordered on 
 vineyards, or on the highroad in the open country, 
 and when they saw the wheat waving in the sunlight, 
 while the air was filled with the fragrance of an- 
 gelica, a sort of suffocating sensation overpowered
 
 18 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 them, and they stretched themselves on their backs, 
 dizzy, intoxicated. 
 
 The proctor maintained that they mutually cried 
 up each other. Nevertheless, if Frederick worked his 
 way up to the higher forms, it was through the per- 
 suasions of his friend ; and, during the vacation in 
 1837, he often brought Deslauriers to his mother's 
 house. 
 
 Madame Moreau did not like the young man. He 
 had a terrible appetite. He was fond of making re- 
 publican speeches. To crown all, she got it into her 
 head that he had been the means of leading her son 
 into improper places. Their relations toward each 
 other were watched. This only made their friend- 
 ship grow stronger, and they bade one another adieu 
 with deep sorrow when, a year later, Deslauriers left 
 the college to study law in Paris. 
 
 Frederick anxiously looked forward to the time 
 when they would meet again. For two years they 
 had not seen each other; and, when their embraces 
 were over, they walked across the bridges to talk 
 more at their ease. 
 
 The captain, who had set up a billiard-room at 
 Villenauxe, had become very angry when his son de- 
 manded an account of the expense of tutelage, and 
 even cut down the cost of food to the lowest figure. 
 As he intended to become a candidate later for a 
 professor's chair at the school, and as he had no 
 money, Deslauriers accepted the post of principal 
 clerk in an attorney's office at Troyes. By dint of 
 sheer privation he spared four thousand francs; and 
 by not drawing upon the sum which came to him 
 through his mother, he would always have enough 
 to enable him to work freely for three years while 
 waiting for a better position. It was necessary,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 19 
 
 therefore, to abandon their former plan of living to- 
 gether in the capital, at least for the present. 
 
 Frederick hung down his head. This was the first 
 of his dreams to crumble into dust. 
 
 " Be comforted," said the captain's son. " Life is 
 long. We are both young. We shall meet again. 
 Think no more of it ! " 
 
 He shook the other's hand warmly, and, to distract 
 his attention, questioned him at length about his 
 journey. 
 
 Frederick had little to tell. But, at the recollec- 
 tion of Madame Arnoux, his vexation disappeared. 
 He did not mention her, restrained by a feeling of 
 bashfulness. He made up for this by expatiating on 
 Arnoux, recalling his talk, his agreeable manner, his 
 stories; and Deslauriers urged him strongly to culti- 
 vate this new acquaintance. 
 
 Frederick had of late written nothing. His liter- 
 ary opinions were changed. Passion was now su- 
 preme in his estimation. He was equally enthusias- 
 tic over Werther, Rene, Franck, Lara, Lelia, and 
 other imaginative creations of less merit. Sometimes 
 it seemed to him that music alone was capable of 
 giving expression to his internal agitation; he 
 dreamed of symphonies ; or else the surface of 
 things attracted him, and he longed to paint. He 
 had, however, writen verses. Deslauriers considered 
 them beautiful, but did not suggest that he should 
 write another poem. 
 
 As for himself, he had given up metaphysics. So- 
 cial economy and the French Revolution absorbed all 
 his attention. He was a tall fellow of twenty-two, 
 thin, with a wide mouth, and a resolute air. On this 
 particular evening, he wore a poor-looking paletot of 
 lasting; and his shoes were white with dust, for he
 
 20 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 had come all the way from Villenauxe on foot ex- 
 pressly to see Frederick. 
 
 Isidore appeared while they were talking. Ma- 
 dame begged of Monsieur to return home, and, for 
 fear of catching cold, she had sent him his heavy 
 cloak. 
 
 " Wait a while ! " said Deslauriers. And they con- 
 tinued walking from one end to the other of the two 
 bridges which rest on the narrow islet formed by the 
 canal and the river. 
 
 On the side toward Nogent they had immediately in 
 front of them a block of houses which projected a 
 little. At the right was the church, behind the mills, 
 whose sluices had been closed up ; and, on the left, were 
 the hedges, covered with shrubs, skirting the wood, 
 and forming a boundary for the gardens, which could 
 scarcely be distinguished. On the side toward Paris 
 the high road formed a sheer descending line, and the 
 meadows lost themselves in the distance amid the 
 vapours of the night. Silence reigned along this road, 
 whose white track gleamed through the surrounding 
 gloom. Odours of damp leaves ascended toward them. 
 The waterfall, where the stream had been diverted 
 from its course a hundred paces farther away, rumbled 
 with that deep harmonious sound which waves make in 
 the night time. 
 
 Deslauriers stopped, and said : 
 
 " Tis droll to have all these worthy folks sleeping 
 peacefully ! Patience ! A new 'eighty-nine is in the air. 
 People are tired of constitutions, charters, subtleties, 
 lies ! Ah, if I only had a newspaper, or a platform, how 
 I would wrestle with all these things! But, in order 
 to undertake anything whatever, money is necessary. 
 What a curse it is to be a tavern-keeper's son. and to 
 waste one's youth in quest of bread ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 21 
 
 He hung his head, bit his lips, and shivered beneath 
 his threadbare overcoat. 
 
 Frederick flung half his cloak over his friend's shoul- 
 ders. They both wrapped themselves up in it; and, 
 with their arms around each other, they walked down 
 the road. 
 
 " How do you think I can possibly live over there 
 without you ? " said Frederick. 
 
 His friend's bitterness had revived his own sadness. 
 
 " I could have done something, with a woman to love 
 me. Why do you laugh ? Love is the inspiration, and, 
 as it were, the atmosphere of genius. Extraordinary 
 emotions produce sublime results. As for seeking after 
 her whom I desire, I w y ill not ! Besides, if I should ever 
 find her, she would repel me. I belong to the race of 
 the disinherited, and I shall be swept under by a treas- 
 ure that will be of paste or of diamond I know not 
 which." 
 
 A shadow fell across the road, and at the same time 
 they heard these words : 
 
 " Pardon me, gentlemen ! " 
 
 The person who had uttered them was a little man 
 attired in an ample brown frock-coat, and with a cap 
 on his head which under its peak afforded a glimpse of 
 a sharp nose. 
 
 " Monsieur Roque ? " said Frederick. 
 
 ' The very man ! " returned the voice. 
 
 He explained his presence by stating that he was 
 inspecting the wolf-traps in his garden near the water- 
 side. 
 
 " And so you are back again in the old home? Very 
 good ! I heard of it through my little girl. Your health 
 is good, I hope ? You are not going away again ? " 
 
 Then he left them, repelled, probably, by Frederick's 
 coldness.
 
 22 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Madame Moreau, indeed, was not on visiting terms 
 with him. Pere Roque lived in peculiar relations with 
 his maidservant, and was held in very poor esteem, al- 
 though he was the vice-president at elections, and M. 
 Dambreuse's manager. 
 
 ' The banker who lives in the Rue d'Anjou," ob- 
 served Deslauriers. " Do you know what you ought 
 to do, my fine fellow ? " 
 
 Isidore once more interrupted. His orders were 
 positive ; he was not to return without Frederick. 
 Madame would be getting uneasy at his absence. 
 
 "' Well, well, he will go back," said Deslauriers. 
 " He won't stay out all night." 
 
 And, as soon as the man-servant had disappeared : 
 
 " You ought to get that old fellow to introduce you 
 to the Dambreuses. There's nothing so useful as to 
 be on visiting terms at a rich man's house. Since you 
 have a black coat and white gloves, make use of them. 
 You must mix in that set. You can introduce me later. 
 Just think! a man worth millions! Do all you can 
 to make him like you, and his wife, too. Become her 
 lover ! " 
 
 Frederick uttered an exclamation of protest. 
 
 *' Why, I can quote classical examples for you on 
 that point ; I should rather think so ! Recall Rastignac 
 in the Comedie Humaine. You will succeed, I have no 
 doubt." 
 
 Frederick had so much faith in Deslauriers that he 
 felt himself weakening, and forgetting Madame Ar- 
 noux, or including her in the prediction made with 
 regard to the other, he could not refrain from smiling. 
 
 The clerk added : 
 
 " A last piece of advice : pass your examinations. It 
 is always helpful to have a handle to your name : and, 
 without more ado, give up your Catholic and Satanic
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 23 
 
 poets, whose philosophy is as old as the twelfth cen- 
 tury ! Your despair is absurd. The very greatest men 
 have had more difficult beginnings ; for example, Mira- 
 beau. Besides, our separation will not be for long. I 
 will make that pickpocket of a father of mine disgorge. 
 It is time for me to be going back. Farewell ! Have 
 you got a hundred sous, that I may pay for my din- 
 ner? " 
 
 Frederick gave him ten francs, all that was left of 
 what he had got in the morning from Isidore. 
 
 Meanwhile, some forty yards away from the bridges, 
 a light shone from the garret-window of a low-built 
 house. 
 
 Deslauriers noticed it. Then, removing his hat, he 
 said impressively : 
 
 " Your pardon, Venus, Queen of Heaven, but neces- 
 sity is the parent of wisdom. We have been slandered 
 enough for that so have mercy." 
 
 This allusion to an adventure in which they had both 
 taken part, put them in a merry mood. They laughed 
 loudly as they passed through the streets. 
 
 Then, having settled his bill at the inn, Deslauriers 
 walked back with Frederick as far as the crossway near 
 the Hotel-Dieu. The two friends parted after a fond 
 embrace.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE RULING PASSION 
 
 FINDING himself one morning, two months later, 
 in the Rue Coq-Heron, Frederick bethought him- 
 self that it was a good opportunity to make his 
 momentous visit. 
 
 Chance aided him. Pere Roque had given him a 
 roll of papers, requesting him to deliver them up per- 
 sonally to M. Dambreuse ; and the worthy man accom- 
 panied the package with an open letter of introduction 
 in behalf of his young friend. 
 
 Madame Moreau appeared surprised at this proceed- 
 ing, but Frederick concealed his delight. 
 
 M. Dambreuse's real title was the Comte d'Am- 
 breuse ; but since 1825, gradually abandoning his title 
 of nobility and his party, he had given his attention to 
 business ; and with his ears open in every office, his 
 hand in every enterprise, on the alert for every oppor- 
 tunity, as subtle as a Greek and as industrious as a 
 native of Auvergne, he had amassed a fortune which 
 might be called considerable. Furthermore, he was an 
 officer of the Legion of Honour, a member of the Gen- 
 eral Council of the Aube, a deputy, and some day 
 would be a peer of France. However, affable as he 
 was in other respects, he wearied the Minister by his 
 continual applications for relief, for crosses, and for 
 licences for tobacconists' shops; and in his complaints 
 against authority he showed inclinations toward the 
 Left Centre.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 25 
 
 His wife, the pretty Madame Dambreuse, who fig- 
 ured in the fashion journals, presided at charitable 
 assemblies. By flattering the duchesses, she appeased 
 the rancours of the aristocratic faubourg, and caused 
 the residents to believe that M. Dambreuse might yet 
 repent and render them some services. 
 
 The young man was agitated when he made his call. 
 
 " It would have been better to take my dress- 
 coat with me. No doubt they will give me an invitation 
 to next week's ball. What will they think of me ? " 
 
 His self-confidence returned when he reflected that 
 M. Dambreuse was only a person of the middle class, 
 and he sprang out of the cab briskly on reaching the 
 Rue d'Anjou. 
 
 When he had pushed open one of the two gateways 
 he crossed the courtyard, mounted the steps in front 
 of the house, and entered a vestibule paved with col- 
 oured marble. 
 
 A bell rang, upon which a valet made his appearance. 
 He showed Frederick into a little apartment, where 
 there stood two strong-boxes, and numerous pigeon- 
 holes filled with pieces of pasteboard. In the centre of 
 the room M. Dambreuse was writing at a roll-top 
 desk. 
 
 He glanced over Pere Roque's letter, then opened 
 the canvas in which the papers were wrapped, and ex- 
 amined them. 
 
 At some distance M. Dambreuse presented the ap- 
 pearance of being still young, owing to his slight figure. 
 But his thin white hair, his feeble limbs, and, above all, 
 the extraordinary pallor of his face, indicated a shat- 
 tered constitution. There was an expression of pitiless 
 energy in his sea-green eyes, colder than eyes of glass. 
 His cheek-bones projected, and his finger-joints were 
 knotted.
 
 26 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 At length he arose and asked the young man a few 
 questions with regard to mutual acquaintances at No- 
 gent and also with regard to his studies, and then dis- 
 missed him with a bow. Frederick went out through 
 another lobby, and found himself at the lower end of 
 the courtyard near the coach-house. 
 
 A blue brougham, to which a black horse was yoked, 
 stood before the house. The carriage door opened, a 
 lady stepped in, and the vehicle, with a rumbling noise, 
 went rolling along the gravel. Frederick had reached 
 the courtyard gate from the other side at the same mo- 
 ment. As there was not room enough for him to pass, 
 he waited. The young lady, with her head thrust for- 
 ward past the carriage blind, spoke to the door-keeper 
 in a very low tone. All he could see was her back, cov- 
 ered with a violet mantle. However, he glanced into 
 the interior of the carriage, lined with blue rep, and 
 ornamented with silk lace and fringes. The lady's 
 robes filled up the space within. He stole away from 
 this little padded box with its perfume of iris, and its 
 vague atmosphere of feminine elegance. The coach- 
 man slackened the reins, the horse jerked abruptly past 
 the starting-point, and all disappeared. 
 
 Frederick returned on foot, following the track of 
 the boulevard. 
 
 He regretted not having been able to get a satis- 
 factory view of Madame Dambreuse. A little higher 
 than the Rue Montmartre a regular jumble of vehicles 
 made him turn his head, and on the opposite side, fac- 
 ing him, he read on a marble plate : 
 
 " JACQUES ARNOUX." 
 
 Strange that he had not thought about her sooner! 
 It was Deslauriers' fault ; and he approached the shop,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 27 
 
 which, however, he did not enter. He was waiting for 
 her to appear. 
 
 The high, transparent plate-glass windows contained 
 statuettes, drawings, engravings, catalogues and num- 
 bers of L'Art Industrie!, arranged in a skilful fashion ; 
 and the amounts of the subscriptions were repeated on 
 the door, which was decorated with the publisher's 
 initials. 
 
 Frederick pretended to be examining the drawings. 
 After hesitating for a long time, he went in. A clerk 
 lifted the portiere, and in reply to a question, said that 
 Monsieur would not be in the shop before five o'clock. 
 But if the message could be conveyed 
 
 " No ! I will come back again," Frederick answered 
 blandly. 
 
 The following days were occupied in searching for 
 lodgings ; and he fixed upon an apartment in the second 
 story of a furnished mansion in the Rue Hyacinthe. 
 
 With a fresh blotting-case under his arm, he set out 
 to attend the opening lecture of the course. Three 
 hundred young men, bare-headed, filled an amphi- 
 theatre, where an old man in a red gown was deliver- 
 ing a discourse in a monotonous voice. Quill pens 
 could be heard scratching over the paper. In this hall 
 he found once more the dusty odour of the school, a 
 reading-desk of familiar shape, the same wearisome 
 monotony ! For a fortnight he regularly attended the 
 law lectures. But he dropped the study of the Civil 
 Code before getting as far as Article 3, and he gave up 
 the Institutes at the Summa Divisio Personarum. 
 
 The pleasures that he had anticipated did not come 
 to him; and when he had exhausted a circulating li- 
 brary, gone over the collections in the Louvre, and 
 been at the theatre a great many nights in succession, 
 he sank into the lowest depths of idleness.
 
 28 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 His depression was augmented by a thousand fresh 
 annoyances. He found it necessary to count his linen 
 and to tolerate the door-keeper, a bore with the figure 
 of a male hospital nurse, who made up his bed in the 
 morning, smelling of alcohol always and grunting. He 
 did not like his apartment, which was ornamented with 
 an alabaster time-piece. The partitions were thin ; he 
 could hear the students making punch, laughing and 
 singing. 
 
 Tired of this solitude, he sought out one of his old 
 schoolfellows, Baptiste Martinon; he discovered this 
 friend of his boyhood in a middle-class boarding-house 
 in the Rue Saint-Jacques, cramming in legal procedure, 
 seated before a coal fire. A woman in a print dress sat 
 opposite him darning his socks. 
 
 Martinon was what people call a very fine man big, 
 chubby, with regular features, and blue eyes set high up 
 in his face. His father, an extensive landowner, had 
 destined him for the magistracy; and wishing already 
 to present a dignified exterior, he wore his beard cut 
 like a collar round his neck. 
 
 As there was no rational foundation for Frederick's 
 complaints, and as he could not give evidence of any 
 real misfortune, Martinon was unable to understand 
 his lamentations about existence. As for him, he went 
 every morning to the school, after that took a walk in 
 the Luxembourg, in the evening swallowed his half- 
 cup of coffee ; and with fifteen hundred francs a year, 
 and the love of this work-woman, he felt perfectly 
 happy. 
 
 " What happiness ! " was Frederick's internal com- 
 ment. 
 
 At the school he had formed another acquaintance, a 
 youth of aristocratic family, who on account of his 
 dainty manners resembled a young lady.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 29 
 
 M. de Cisy devoted himself to drawing, and loved 
 the Gothic style. They frequently went together to 
 admire the Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame. But the 
 young patrician's rank and pretensions covered an in- 
 tellect of the feeblest order. Everything took him by 
 surprise. He laughed immoderately at the most trifling 
 joke, and displayed such utter simplicity that Frederick 
 at first took him for a wag, and finally regarded him as 
 a booby. 
 
 The young man was finding it impossible, therefore, 
 to be cordial with anyone ; and he was constantly look- 
 ing forward to an invitation from the Dambreuses. 
 
 On New Year's Day he sent them visiting-cards, but 
 received none in return. 
 
 He made his way back to the office of L'Art Indus- 
 triel. 
 
 A third time he returned to it, and at last saw Ar- 
 noux carrying on an argument with five or six persons 
 around him. He scarcely responded to the young 
 man's bow ; and Frederick was hurt by this reception. 
 None the less he cogitated over the best means of find- 
 ing his way to her side. 
 
 His first idea was to come frequently to the shop on 
 the pretext of getting pictures at low prices. Then he 
 conceived the notion of slipping into the letter-box of 
 the journal a few " very strong " articles, which might 
 lead to friendly relations. Perhaps it would be wiser 
 to go straight to the mark at once, and declare his love ? 
 Acting on this impulse, he wrote a letter covering a 
 dozen pages, full of lyric lines and apostrophes ; but he 
 tore it up, and did nothing, attempted nothing bereft 
 of motive power by his want of success. 
 
 Above Arnoux's shop there were, on the first floor, 
 three windows which were lighted up every evening. 
 Shadows might be seen moving about behind the blinds,
 
 30 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 especially one ; this was hers ; and he went far out of 
 his way in order to gaze at the windows, and to con- 
 template that shadow. 
 
 A negress who crossed his path one day in the Tuil- 
 eries, holding a little girl by the hand, recalled to his 
 mind Madame Arnoux's negress. She was sure to 
 come there, like the others ; every time he passed 
 through the Tuileries his heart began to beat with the 
 anticipation of meeting her. On sunny days he con- 
 tinued to walk as far as the end of the Champs-Elysees. 
 
 Women seated with careless ease in open carriages, 
 and with their veils floating in the wind, passed close 
 to him, their horses advancing at a steady walking pace, 
 and with an unconscious see-saw movement that made 
 the varnished leather of the harness crackle. His eyes 
 wandered along the rows of female heads, and certain 
 vague resemblances brought back Madame Arnoux to 
 his mind. He pictured her to himself, in the midst of 
 the others, in one of those little broughams like that in 
 which he had seen Madame Dambreuse. 
 
 But the sun was setting, the cold wind raised whirl- 
 ing clouds of dust, and all the equipages descended the 
 long sloping avenue at a quick trot, touching', sweeping 
 past one another, getting out of one another's way; 
 then, at the Place de la Concorde, they went off in dif- 
 ferent directions. 
 
 Frederick went to a restaurant in the Rue de la 
 Harpe and got a dinner for forty-three sous. He 
 glanced disdainfully at the old mahogany counter, the 
 soiled napkins, the worn silver-plate, and the hats 
 hanging on the wall. 
 
 Those around him were students like himself. They 
 talked about their professors, and about their mis- 
 tresses. What cared he about professors? And had 
 he a mistress? To avoid being a witness of their en-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 31 
 
 joyment, he came as late as possible. The tables were 
 all strewn with remnants of food. The two waiters, 
 worn out with attendance on customers, lay asleep, 
 each in a different corner ; and an odour of cooking, 
 of an argand lamp, and of tobacco, filled the deserted 
 dining-room. Then he slowly toiled along the streets 
 again. 
 
 He was smitten with a vague remorse. He renewed 
 his attendance at lectures. But as he was entirely ig- 
 norant of the matters which formed the subject of 
 explanation, things of the simplest description puzzled 
 him. He set about writing a novel, which he entitled 
 Sylvio, the Fisherman's Son. The scene of the story 
 was Venice. The hero was himself, and Madame 
 Arnoux was the heroine. She was named Antonia; 
 and, to get possession of her, the hero assassinated a 
 number of noblemen, and burned a portion of the city ; 
 after which feats he sang a serenade under her bal- 
 cony, whereon fluttered in the breeze the red damask 
 curtains of the Boulevard Montmartre. 
 
 The numerous reminiscences on which he dwelt pro- 
 duced a disheartening effect on him ; he went no far- 
 ther with the work, and his mental vacuity redoubled. 
 
 After this, he begged of Deslauriers to come and 
 share his apartment. They might make arrangements 
 to live together with the aid of his allowance of two 
 thousand francs; anything would be better than this 
 miserable existence. Deslauriers could not yet leave 
 Troyes. He urged his friend to find some means of 
 diverting his thoughts, and, with that end in view, sug- 
 gested that he should call on Senecal. 
 
 Senecal was a mathematical tutor, a hard-headed 
 man with republican convictions, a future Saint- Just, 
 according to the clerk. Frederick ascended the five 
 flights, up which he lived, three times in succession,
 
 32 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 without getting a visit from him in return. He did not 
 go back. 
 
 He now determined to amuse himself. He attended 
 the balls at the Opera House. These exhibitions of 
 riotous gaiety chilled him the moment he had passed 
 the door. Besides, he was embarrassed by the fear of 
 being subjected to insult on the subject of money, his 
 notion being that a supper with a domino entailed 
 considerable expense, and was rather a big adventure. 
 
 It seemed to him, nevertheless, that he must needs 
 love her. Sometimes he used to wake up with his 
 heart full of hope, dress himself carefully as if he were 
 going to keep an appointment, and start on inter- 
 minable excursions all over Paris. Whenever a woman 
 walked in front of him, or came toward him, he would 
 say : " Here she is ! " Every time it was only a fresh 
 disappointment. The thought of Madame Arnoux 
 strengthened these desires. Perhaps he might find her 
 on his way; and he conjured up dangerous complica- 
 tions, extraordinary perils from which he might have 
 the opportunity to save her. 
 
 So the days slipped by with the same tiresome ex- 
 periences, and enslavement to contracted habits. Every 
 week he wrote long letters to Deslauriers, dined from 
 time to time with Martinon,and occasionallysawM.de 
 Cisy. Then he hired a piano and composed German 
 waltzes. 
 
 One evening at the theatre of the Palais-Royal, he 
 saw, in one of the stage-boxes, Arnoux with a woman 
 by his side. Was it she ? The screen of green taffeta, 
 pulled over the side of the box, hid her face. At length, 
 the curtain rose, and the screen was drawn aside. She 
 was a tall woman of about thirty, rather faded, and, 
 when she laughed, her thick lips uncovered a row of 
 shining teeth. She chatted familiarly with Arnoux,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 33 
 
 tapping" him on the fingers from time to time with her 
 fan. Then a fair-haired young girl with eyelids a little 
 red, as if she had just been weeping, seated herself 
 between them. Arnoux, after that, remained stooping 
 over her shoulder, pouring forth a stream of talk to 
 which she listened without replying. Frederick taxed 
 his ingenuity to conceive what the social position of 
 these modestly attired women could be. 
 
 At the close of the play, he made a dash for the pas- 
 sages. A crowd of people going out filled them up. 
 Arnoux, just ahead of him, was descending the stair- 
 case step by step, with a woman on each arm. 
 
 Suddenly a gas-burner shed its light on him. He 
 wore a crape hat-band. She was dead, perhaps ? This 
 idea tormented Frederick's mind so much, that he hur- 
 ried, next day, to the. office of L 'Art Industriel, and 
 paying, without a moment's delay, for one of the en- 
 gravings exposed in the window for sale, he asked the 
 shop-assistant how Monsieur Arnoux was. 
 
 The shop-assistant replied : 
 
 " Why, quite well ! " 
 
 Frederick, growing pale, added : 
 
 " And Madame ? " 
 
 " Madame, also." 
 
 Frederick forgot to carry off his engraving. 
 
 The winter drew to a close. He was less melancholy 
 in the spring time, and began to study for his examina- 
 tion. After passing it indifferently, he went home. 
 
 He refrained from going to Troyes to see his friend, 
 in order to escape his mother's comments. On his re- 
 turn to Paris at the end of the vacation, he moved to 
 two rooms on the Quai Napoleon, which he furnished. 
 He was hopeless now of ever getting an invitation 
 from the Dambreuses. His great passion for Madame 
 Arnoux was also fading away.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ETERNAL FEMININE 
 
 WHILE on his way to attend a law lecture 
 one morning in December Frederick noticed 
 more than ordinary excitement in the Rue 
 Saint- Jacques. The students were rushing out of the 
 cafes, and, through the open windows, they were call- 
 ing from one house to the other. The shop-keepers, 
 standing in the middle of the footpath, were looking 
 about them anxiously ; the window-shutters were fas- 
 tened ; and when he reached the Rue Soufflot there 
 was a large assemblage around the Pantheon. 
 
 Frederick found himself close to fair-haired young 
 man of prepossessing appearance, with, a moustache 
 and a tuft of beard on his chin, like a dandy of Louis 
 Kill's time. He asked the stranger what the mat- 
 ter was. 
 
 " I haven't the least idea," replied the other, " nor 
 have they, for that matter! 'Tis their fashion just 
 now ! What a good joke ! " 
 
 And he burst out laughing. The petitions for Re- 
 form, which had been signed at the quarters of the 
 National Guard, together with the property-census of 
 Humann and other events besides, had, for the past six 
 months, led to inexplicable gatherings of riotous crowds 
 in Paris, and so frequently had they broken out that 
 the newspapers had ceased to refer to them. 
 
 " This lacks graceful outline and colour," continued 
 Frederick's neighbour. " I am convinced, messire, that
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 35 
 
 we have degenerated. In the good epoch of Louis XI, 
 and even in that of Benjamin Constant, there was more 
 mutiny amongst the students. I find them as pacific a? 
 sheep, as stupid as greenhorns, and only fit to be grocers. 
 Ye gods ! And these are what we call the youth of 
 the schools ! " 
 
 He extended his arms after the fashion of Frederick 
 Lemaitre in Robert Macaire. 
 
 " Youth of the schools, I give you my blessing ! " 
 
 After this, addressing a ragpicker, who was moving 
 a heap of oyster-shells up against the wall of a wine- 
 merchant's house : 
 
 " Do you belong to them the youth of the schools ? " 
 
 The old man lifted up a hideous countenance in 
 which one could trace, in the midst of a grey beard, a 
 red nose and two dull eyes, bloodshot from drink. 
 
 " No, you appear to me rather one of those men with 
 patibulary faces whom we see, on various occasions, 
 liberally scattering gold. Oh, scatter it, my patriarch, 
 scatter it! Corrupt me with the treasures of Albion! 
 Are you English? I do not reject the presents of 
 Artaxerxes ! Let us have a little talk about the union 
 of customs ! " 
 
 Frederick felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Mar- 
 tinon, looking exceedingly pale. 
 
 " Well ! " said he with a deep sigh, " another riot ! " 
 
 He was afraid of being compromised, and uttered 
 complaints. Men in blouses especially made him feel 
 uneasy, suggesting a connection with secret societies. 
 
 " You mean to say you believe in secret societies," 
 said the young man with the moustaches. " That is a 
 worn-out trick of the Government to frighten the mid- 
 dle-class folk ! " 
 
 Martinon urged him to speak in a lower tone, for 
 fear of the police.
 
 36 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " You believe also in the police, do you ? As a mat- 
 ter of fact, how do you know, Monsieur, that I am not 
 myself a police spy?" 
 
 And he looked at him in such a way, that Martinon, 
 much discomposed, was, at first, unable to see the joke. 
 The people pushed them on, and they were all three 
 forced to stand on the little staircase which led, by one 
 of the passages, to the new amphitheatre. 
 
 The crowd soon dispersed of its own accord. Many 
 faces could be distinguished. They bowed toward 
 the distinguished Professor Samuel Rondelot, who, 
 wrapped in his big frock-coat, with his silver spectacles 
 up high on his forehead, and breathing hard from his 
 asthma, was advancing at an easy pace, on his way to 
 deliver his lecture. This man was one of the judicial 
 glories of the nineteenth century, the rival of tlu, 
 Zachariaes and the Ruhdorffs. His new dignity as peer 
 of France had in no way altered his external de- 
 meanour. He was known to be poor, and was treated 
 with profound respect. 
 
 Meanwhile, at the lower end of the square, some per- 
 sons cried out : 
 
 " Down with Guizot ! " 
 
 " Down with Pritchard ! " 
 
 " Down with the sold ones ! " 
 
 " Down with Louis Philippe ! " 
 
 The crowd swayed to and fro, and, pressing against 
 the gate of the courtyard, which was shut, the professor 
 was prevented from going farther. He stopped in 
 front of the staircase. He was speedily observed on 
 the lowest of three steps. He spoke; the loud mur- 
 murs of the throng drowned his voice. Although at 
 another time they might love him, they hated him now, 
 for he represented authority. He was answered by 
 vociferations from all sides. He shrugged his shoulders
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 37 
 
 disdainfully, and plunged into the passage. Martinon 
 profited by his situation to disappear at the same mo- 
 ment. 
 
 " What a coward ! " said Frederick. 
 
 " He was prudent," returned the other. 
 
 There was an outburst of applause from the crowd, 
 from whose point of view this retreat, on the part of 
 the professor, appeared in the light of a victory. rFfi>m 
 every window, faces, eager with curiosity, lookecj-lpi}fo 
 Some struck up the " Marseillaise "; others 
 going to Beranger's house. 
 
 " To Laffitte's house ! " ' oo { 
 
 " To Chateaubriand's house ! " 
 
 " To Voltaire's house ! " yelled the young man wr$ 
 the fair moustaches. "j- 
 
 The police tried to pass around, saying in the mildest 
 tones they could assume : 
 
 " Move on, messieurs ! Move on ! Take yourselves 
 off!" 
 
 Somebody shouted : 
 
 " Down with the slaughterers ! " 
 
 This was a form of insult common since the troubles 
 of September. Everyone echoed it. The guardians of 
 public order were hooted and hissed. They began to 
 grow pale. One of them could endure it no longer, 
 and, seeing a low-sized young man approaching too 
 close, and laughing in his teeth, he pushed him back so 
 roughly that he tumbled over on his back some five 
 paces away, in front of a wine-merchant's shop. All 
 made way ; but almost immediately afterward the po- 
 liceman rolled on the ground himself, felled by a blow 
 from a species of Hercules, whose hair hung down like 
 a bundle of tow under an oilskin cap. Having stopped 
 for a few minutes at the corner of the Rue Saint- 
 Jacques, he had very quickly laid down a large case,
 
 38 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 which he had been carrying, in order to make a spring 
 at the policeman, and, holding down that functionary, 
 punched his face unmercifully. The other policemen 
 rushed to the rescue of their comrade. The terrible 
 shop-assistant was so powerfully built that it took four 
 of them to overcome him. Two shook him, while keep- 
 ing a grip on his collar ; two others dragged his arms ; 
 a fifth gave him digs of the knee in the ribs ; and all 
 of them called him " brigand," " assassin," " rioter." 
 With his breast bare, and his clothes in rags, he pro- 
 tested that he was innocent ; he could not, in cold blood, 
 look at a child being beaten. 
 
 " My name is Dussardier. I'm employed at Mes- 
 sieurs Valincart Brothers' lace and fancy warehouse, in 
 the Rue de Clerv. Where's my case? I want my 
 case ! " 
 
 He kept repeating: 
 
 " Dussardier, Rue de Clery. My case ! " 
 
 However, he quieted down, and, with a stoical air, 
 allowed himself to be led toward the guard-house in the 
 Rue Descartes. A flood of people came rushing after 
 him. Frederick and the young man with the mous- 
 taches walked immediately behind, full of admiration 
 for the shopman, and indignant at the violence of power. 
 
 As they advanced, the crowd thinned. 
 
 The policemen from time to time turned round, with 
 threatening looks; and the rowdies, no longer having 
 anything to do, and the spectators not having anything 
 to look at, all drifted away by degrees. The passers-by, 
 who met the procession, stared at Dussardier, and in 
 loud tones made abusive remarks about him. One old 
 woman, at her own door, bawled out that he had stolen 
 a loaf of bread from her. This unjust accusation in- 
 creased the wrath of the two friends. At length, they 
 reached the guard-house.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 39 
 
 Frederick and his companion boldly demanded to 
 have the man under arrest delivered up. The sentinel 
 threatened, if they persisted, to ram them into jail too. 
 They said they desired to see the commander of the 
 guard-house, and stated their names, and the fact that 
 they were law-students, declaring that the prisoner was 
 one also. 
 
 They were ushered into a room perfectly bare, in 
 which, amid an atmosphere of smoke, four benches 
 lined the roughly plastered walls. At the lower end 
 there was an open wicket. Then appeared the sturdy 
 face of Dussardier, who, with his hair all tousled, his 
 honest little eyes, and his broad snout, suggested to 
 one's mind in a confused sort of way the physiognomy 
 of a faithful dog. 
 
 " Don't you recognise us? " said Hussonnet. 
 
 This was the name of the young man with the mous- 
 taches. 
 
 " Why " stammered Dussardier. 
 
 " Don't play the fool any longer," returned the other. 
 " We know that, like ourselves, you, too, are a law- 
 student." 
 
 In spite of their winks, Dussardier failed to under- 
 stand. He appeared to be collecting his thoughts ; then, 
 suddenly : 
 
 " Has my case been found? " 
 
 Frederick raised his eyes, feeling much discouraged. 
 
 Hussonnet, however, said promptly : 
 
 " Ha ! your case, in which you keep your notes of 
 lectures ? Yes, yes, make your mind easy about that ! " 
 
 They made further pantomimic signs with redoubled 
 energy, till Dussardier at last realised that they had 
 come to help him ; and he held his tongue, fearing that 
 he might compromise them. Besides, he experienced 
 a kind of shamefacedness at seeing himself raised to
 
 40 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the social rank of student, and to an equality with those 
 young men who had such white hands. 
 
 "Do you wish to send any message to anyone?" 
 asked Frederick. 
 
 " No, thanks, not to anyone." 
 
 " But your family ? " 
 
 He bent his head without replying; the poor fellow 
 was a bastard. The two friends stood quite astonished 
 at his silence. 
 
 " Have you anything to smoke ? " was Frederick's 
 next question. 
 
 He felt about, then drew forth from the depths of 
 one of his pockets the remains of a pipe a beautiful 
 pipe, made of white talc with a shank of blackwood, a 
 silver cover, and an amber mouthpiece. 
 
 For the last three years he had been engaged in com- 
 pleting this masterpiece. He had carefully kept the 
 bowl of it in a kind of sheath of chamois, smoking it 
 as slowly as possible, without ever letting it lie on any 
 cold stone substance, and hanging it up every evening 
 over the head of his bed. And now he shook out the 
 fragments of it into his hand, the nails of which were 
 covered with blood, and with his chin sunk on his chest, 
 his pupils fixed and dilated, he gazed at this wreck of 
 the thing that had yielded him such delight with un- 
 utterable sadness. 
 
 " Suppose we give him some cigars, eh? " said Hus- 
 sonnet in a whisper, making a gesture as if he were 
 handing them out. 
 
 Frederick had already laid down a cigar-holder, 
 filled, on the edge of the wicket. 
 
 " Pray take this. Good-bye ! Cheer up ! " 
 
 Dussardier flung himself on the two hands that were 
 held out toward him. He pressed them frantically, his 
 voice choked with sobs.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 41 
 
 " What ? For me ! f or me ! " 
 
 The two friends tore themselves away from this ef- 
 fusive display of gratitude, and went off to lunch to- 
 gether at the Cafe Tabourey, near the Luxembourg. 
 
 While cutting up the beefsteak, Hussonnet informed 
 his companion that he worked for the fashion journals, 
 and manufactured catchwords for L 'Art Industriel. 
 
 "At Jacques Arnoux's establishment?" said Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 " Do you know him? " 
 
 " Yes ! no ! that is to say, I have seen him I have 
 met him." 
 
 He carelessly asked Hussonnet if he ever saw Ar- 
 noux's wife. 
 
 " Sometimes/' the Bohemian replied. 
 
 Frederick did not venture to follow up his inquiries. 
 This man henceforth would occupy a large space in his 
 life. He paid the cafe bill without any protest on the 
 other's part. 
 
 There was a bond of mutual sympathy between 
 them ; they gave one another their respective addresses, 
 and Hussonnet cordially invited Frederick to accom- 
 pany him to the Rue de Fleurus. 
 
 They had reached the middle of the garden, when 
 Arnoux's clerk, holding his breath, twisted his features 
 into a hideous grimace, and began to crow like a cock. 
 Thereupon all the cocks in the vicinity responded with 
 prolonged " cock-a-doodle-doos." 
 
 " It is a signal," explained Hussonnet. 
 
 They stopped close to the Theatre Bobino, in front 
 of a house, which they approached by way of an 
 alley. In the skylight of a garret, between the nastur- 
 tiums and the sweet peas, a young woman showed her- 
 self, bare-headed, in her stays, her two arms resting on 
 the edge of the roof-gutter.
 
 42 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Good-morrow, my angel ! good-morrow, ducky ! " 
 said Hussonnet, sending her kisses. 
 
 He made the barrier fly open with a kick, and dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 Frederick waited for him all the week. He did not 
 like to call at Hussonnet's residence, lest it might ap- 
 pear as if he were in a hurry for a luncheon in return 
 for the one he had paid for. But he sought the clerk all 
 over the Latin Quarter. He came across him one even- 
 ing, and brought him to his apartment on the Quai 
 Napoleon. 
 
 They had a long chat, and unbosomed themselves to 
 each other. Hussonnet yearned after the glory and the 
 gains of the theatre. He collaborated in the writing 
 of vaudevilles which were not accepted, " had heaps of 
 plans," could turn a couplet ; he sang for Frederick a 
 few of the verses he had composed. Then, noticing on 
 one of the shelves a volume of Hugo and another of 
 Lamartine, he broke out into sarcastic criticisms of the 
 romantic school. These poets had neither good sense 
 nor correctness, and, above all, did not write French ! 
 He plumed himself on his knowledge of the language, 
 and analysed the most beautiful phrases with that 
 snarling severity, that academic taste, which persons of 
 playful disposition exhibit when they are discussing 
 serious art. 
 
 Frederick was wounded in his predilections, and felt 
 a desire to shorten the discussion. Why not take the 
 risk at once of uttering the word on which his happi- 
 ness depended ? He asked this literary youth whether 
 it would be possible to get an introduction into the 
 Arnoux's house through him. 
 
 The thing was declared to be quite easy, and they 
 fixed upon the following day. 
 
 Hussonnet failed to keep the appointment, and on
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 43 
 
 three subsequent occasions he did not turn up. One 
 Saturday, about four o'clock, he made his appearance. 
 But, taking advantage of the cab into which they had 
 got, he drew up in front of the Theatre Frangais to get 
 a box-ticket, got down at a tailor's shop, then at a 
 dressmaker's, and wrote notes in the doorkeeper's 
 lodge. At last they came to the Boulevard Mont- 
 martre. Frederick passed through the shop, and went 
 up the staircase. Arnoux recognised him through the 
 glass-partition in front of his desk, and while continu- 
 ing to write he stretched out his hand and laid it on 
 Frederick's shoulder. 
 
 Five or six persons, standing around, filled the nar- 
 row apartment, which was lighted by a single window 
 looking out on the yard ; a sofa of brown damask wool 
 filled the interior of an alcove between two door-cur- 
 tains of similar material. Upon the chimney-piece, 
 covered with old papers, there was a bronze Venus. 
 Two candelabra, garnished with rose-coloured wax- 
 tapers, supported it, one at each side. At the right, 
 near a cardboard chest of drawers, a man, seated in an 
 armchair, and with his hat on, was reading a news- 
 paper. The walls were hidden beneath an array of 
 prints and pictures, precious engravings or sketches by 
 contemporary masters, adorned with dedications testi- 
 fying the most sincere affection for Jacques Arnoux. 
 
 " You're getting on well all this time ? " said he, turn- 
 ing round to Frederick. 
 
 And, without waiting for an answer, he asked Hus- 
 sonnet in a low tone : 
 
 " What is your friend's name ? " Then, raising his 
 voice : 
 
 " Take a cigar out of the box on the cardboard 
 stand." 
 
 The office of L 'Art Industriel, situated in a central
 
 44 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 position in Paris, was a convenient place of resort, a 
 neutral ground wherein rivalries elbowed each other 
 familiarly. On this day might be seen there Antenor 
 Braive, who painted portraits of kings ; Jules Burrieu, 
 who by his sketches was popularising the wars in Al- 
 geria ; the caricaturist Sombary, the sculptor Vourdat, 
 and several others. And not a single one of them cor- 
 responded with the student's preconceived ideas. Their 
 manners were simple, their talk free and easy. The 
 mystic Lovarias told an obscene story ; and the inventor 
 of Oriental landscape, the famous Dittmer, wore a knit- 
 ted shirt under his waistcoat, and went home in the 
 omnibus. 
 
 The first topic discussed was the case of a girl named 
 Apollonie, formerly a model, whom Burrieu alleged 
 that he had seen on the boulevard in a carriage. Hus- 
 sonnet explained this metamorphosis through the suc- 
 cession of persons who had loved her. 
 
 " How well this sly dog knows the girls of Paris ! " 
 said Arnoux. 
 
 " After you, if there are any of them left, sire," re- 
 plied the Bohemian, with a military salute, in imitation 
 of the grenadier offering his flask to Napoleon. 
 
 The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of 
 a man of middle stature, whose coat was fastened by a 
 single button, and whose eyes glittered with a rather 
 wild expression. 
 
 " What a lot of shopkeepers you are ! " said he. 
 " God bless my soul ! what does money signify ? The 
 old masters did not trouble their heads about the mil- 
 lion Correggio, Murillo " 
 
 " Add Pellerin," said Sombary. 
 
 But, without taking the least notice of the epigram, 
 he went on talking with such vehemence that Arnoux 
 was forced to repeat twice to him :
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 45 
 
 " My wife expects you on Thursday. Don't for- 
 get!" 
 
 This remark recalled Madame Arnoux to Frederick's 
 thoughts. No doubt, she could be reached through the 
 little room near the sofa. Arnoux had just opened the 
 portiere leading into it to get a pocket-handkerchief, 
 and Frederick had seen a wash-stand at the far end of 
 the apartment. 
 
 But at this point a kind of muttering sound came 
 from the corner of the chimney-piece ; it was caused by 
 the personage who sat in the armchair reading the 
 newspaper. He was a man of five feet nine inches in 
 height, with rather heavy eyelashes, a head of grey 
 hair, and an imposing appearance; his name was 
 Regimbart. 
 
 " What's the matter now, citizen ? " said Arnoux. 
 
 " Another piece of rascality on the part of the Gov- 
 ernment ! " 
 
 He was referring to the dismissal of a schoolmaster. 
 
 Pellerin again took up his parallel between Michael 
 Angelo and Shakespeare. Dittmer was leaving when 
 Arnoux pulled him back in order to put two bank notes 
 into his hand. Thereupon Hussonnet said, considering 
 this an opportune time : 
 
 " Couldn't you give me an advance, my dear mas- 
 ter ?" 
 
 But Arnoux had resumed his seat, and was severely 
 reprimanding an old man of mean aspect, who wore a 
 pair of blue spectacles. 
 
 " Ha ! a nice fellow you are, Pere Isaac ! Here are 
 three works cried down, destroyed ! Everybody is 
 laughing at me ! People know what they are now ! 
 What can I do with them ? I'll have to send them off 
 to California or to the devil-! Hold your tongue! " 
 
 The specialty of this old worthy consisted in attach-
 
 46 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ing the signatures of the great masters to pictures. 
 Arnoux refused to pay him, and dismissed him in a 
 brutal fashion. Then, with an entire change of man- 
 ner, he bowed to a gentleman of affectedly grave de- 
 meanour, who wore whiskers and displayed a white 
 tie around his neck and the cross of the Legion of Hon- 
 our over his breast. 
 
 With his elbow resting on the window-fastening, he 
 talked to him for a long time in honeyed tones. At last 
 he exclaimed : 
 
 " Ah ! well, I am not bothered with brokers, Count." 
 
 The nobleman gave way, and Arnoux paid him down 
 twenty-five louis. As soon as he had gone : 
 
 " What a plague these big lords are ! " 
 
 "A lot of scoundrels! " muttered Regimbart. 
 
 As it grew later, Arnoux became more busy. He 
 classified articles, tore open letters, set out accounts in 
 a row ; at the sound of hammering in the warehouse he 
 went out to look after the packing; then he returned 
 to his ordinary work ; and, while he kept his steel pen 
 running over the paper, he indulged in sharp witti- 
 cisms. He had an invitation to dine with his lawyer 
 that evening, and was starting next day for Belgium. 
 
 The door near the sofa flew open, and a tall, thin 
 woman entered with abrupt movements, which made 
 all the trinkets of her watch rattle under her black taf- 
 feta gown. 
 
 It was the woman of whom Frederick had caught a 
 glimpse last summer at the Palais-Royal. Some of 
 those present, addressing her by name, shook hands 
 with her. Hussonnet had at last managed to extract 
 fifty francs from his employer. The clock struck seven. 
 
 All rose to go. 
 
 Arnoux told Pellerin to remain, and accompanied 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz into the dressing-room.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 47 
 
 Frederick could not hear what they said ; they spoke 
 in whispers. Presently, the woman's voice was raised : 
 
 " I have been waiting ever since the job was done, 
 six months ago." 
 
 There was a long silence, and then Mademoiselle 
 Yatnaz reappeared. Arnoux had again promised her 
 something. 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! later, we shall see ! " 
 
 " Good-bye ! happy man," said she, as she was go- 
 ing out. 
 
 Arnoux quickly reentered the dressing-room, rubbed 
 some cosmetic over his moustaches, raised his braces, 
 stretched his straps ; and said, while he was washing 
 his hands: 
 
 " I would require two over the door at two hundred 
 and fifty apiece, in Boucher's style. Is that under- 
 stood?" 
 
 " Very well," said the artist, his face reddening. 
 
 '' Good ! and don't forget my wife ! " 
 
 Frederick accompanied Pellerin to the end of the 
 Faubourg Poissonniere, and asked his permission to 
 call on him sometimes, a favour which was graciously 
 accorded. 
 
 Pellerin read numerous works on aesthetics, in order 
 to find out the true theory of the Beautiful, convinced 
 that, when he had discovered it, he would produce 
 masterpieces. He had surrounded himself with every 
 imaginable auxiliary drawings, plaster-casts, models, 
 engravings ; and he kept searching about, eating his 
 heart out. Tormented by the desire for glory, and 
 wasting his days in discussions, believing in a thousand 
 fooleries in systems, in criticisms, in the importance 
 of a regulation or a reform in the domain of Art he 
 had at fifty as yet produced nothing save mere sketches. 
 
 On entering his studio one's attention was directed
 
 48 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 toward two large pictures, in which the first tones of 
 colour laid on here and there made on the white canvas 
 spots of brown, red, and blue. Overhead was a net- 
 work of lines in chalk, like stitches of thread repeated 
 twenty times ; it was impossible to understand. Pel- 
 lerin explained the subject of these two compositions 
 by indicating with his thumb the portions that were 
 lacking. The first was intended to represent " The 
 Madness of Nebuchadnezzar," and the second " The 
 Burning of Rome by Nero." Frederick expressed ad- 
 miration of them. 
 
 He admired academies of women with dishevelled 
 hair, landscapes abounding in trunks of trees, twisted 
 by the storm ; and, above all, freaks of the pen, imita- 
 tions from memory of Callot, Rembrandt, or Goya, of 
 which he did not know the models. Pellerin no longer 
 set any value on these works of his youth. He was 
 now all in favour of the grand style ; he dogmatised 
 eloquently about Phidias and Winckelmann. The ob- 
 jects around him strengthened the force of his lan- 
 guage ; a death's head on a prie-dieu, yataghans, a 
 monk's habit. Frederick put on the latter. 
 
 Arriving early one day, he surprised the artist in his 
 wretched folding-bed, which was hidden from view by 
 a strip of tapestry ; for Pellerin went to bed late, being 
 an assiduous frequenter of the theatres. An old wo- 
 man in tatters attended on him. He dined at a cook- 
 shop, and lived without a mistress. 
 
 But why had he never chanced to speak of Madame 
 Arnoux? As for her husband, at one time he called 
 Arnoux a decent fellow, at other times a charlatan. 
 Frederick was waiting for some disclosures on his part. 
 
 One day, while looking over one of the portfolios in 
 the studio, he thought he could trace in the portrait of 
 a female Bohemian sonv resemblance to Mademoiselle
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 49 
 
 Vatnaz; and, as he felt interested in this lady, he de- 
 sired to know her exact social position. 
 
 She had been, at one time, as far as Pellerin could 
 ascertain, a schoolmistress in the provinces. She now 
 gave lessons in Paris, and tried to write for the small 
 journals. 
 
 Frederick suggested that one would imagine from 
 her manners with Arnoux that she was his mistress. 
 
 " Pshaw ! he has others ! " 
 
 Then, turning away his face, which reddened with 
 shame at the baseness of the suggestion, the young man 
 replied, with a swaggering air : 
 
 " Very likely his wife gets even with him? " 
 
 " Not at all ; she is virtuous." 
 
 Frederick again experienced a feeling of compunc- 
 tion, and the result was that his attendance at the office 
 of the art journal became more frequent than before. 
 
 The big letters which formed the name of Arnoux 
 on the marble plate above the shop seemed to him 
 quite peculiar and pregnant with significance, like some 
 sacred writing. The wide footpath, by its descent, 
 facilitated his approach ; the door almost opened of its 
 own accord ; and the handle, smooth to the touch, gave 
 him the sensation of friendly and, as it were, intelligent 
 fingers clasping his. Unconsciously, he became as 
 regular as Regimbart. 
 
 Every day Regimbart seated himself in the chimney- 
 corner, in his armchair, got hold of the National, and 
 kept possession of it, expressing his thoughts by ex- 
 clamations or by shrugs of the shoulders. 
 
 At eight o'clock in the morning he descended the 
 heights of Montmartre, in order. to imbibe white wine 
 in the Rue Notre Dame des Victoires. A late break- 
 fast, after several games of billiards, occupied time 
 till three o'clock. He then directed his steps toward the
 
 50 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Passage des Panoramas, where 'he had a glass of ab- 
 sinthe. After the sitting in Arnoux's shop, he entered 
 the Bordelais smoking-divan, where he swallowed some 
 bitters ; then, rather than return home to his wife, he 
 preferred to dine alone in a little cafe in the Rue Gail- 
 Ion, where he desired them to serve up to him " house- 
 hold dishes, natural things." Finally, he made his way 
 to another billiard-room, and remained there till mid- 
 night ; in fact, till one o'clock in the morning, up to the 
 last moment, when, the gas being put out and the win- 
 dow-shutters fastened, the master of the establishment, 
 worn out, begged him to leave. 
 
 And it was not the love of drinking that attracted 
 Citizen Regimbart to these places, but the inveterate 
 habit of talking politics at such resorts. 
 
 Arnoux appeared to have a very great esteem for 
 him. One day he said to Frederick : 
 
 " He knows a lot, I can tell you. He is an able man." 
 
 On another occasion Regimbart spread over his desk 
 papers relating to the kaolin mines in Brittany. Arnoux 
 referred to his own experience on the subject. 
 
 Frederick showed himself more ceremonious toward 
 Regimbart, going so far as to invite him from time to 
 time to join him in a glass of absinthe ; and, although 
 he considered him a stupid man, he often remained a 
 full hour in his company solely because he was Jacques 
 Arnoux's friend. 
 
 After pushing forward some contemporary masters 
 early in their career, Arnoux, the picture-dealer, 
 a man of progressive ideas, had tried, while clinging 
 to his artistic ways, to extend his pecuniary profits. 
 His object was to emancipate the fine arts, to get the 
 sublime at a cheap price. Over every industry asso- 
 ciated with Parisian luxury he exercised an influence 
 which proved advantageous with respect to little things,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 51 
 
 but fatal with respect to great things. With his mania 
 for pandering to public opinion, he made clever artists 
 swerve from their true path, corrupted the strong, ex- 
 hausted the weak, and won distinction for those of 
 mediocre talent; he set them up with the assistance of 
 his connections and of his magazine. Tyros in paint- 
 ing were ambitious to see their works in his shop- 
 window, and upholsterers brought specimens of furni- 
 ture to his house. Frederick regarded him, at the one 
 time, as a millionaire, as a dilettante, and as a man of 
 action. However, he noticed many things that rilled 
 him with astonishment, for my lord Arnoux was rather 
 sly in his commercial transactions. 
 
 He received from the very heart of Germany or of 
 Italy a picture purchased in Paris for fifteen hundred 
 francs, and, exhibiting an invoice that brought the 
 price up to four thousand, he sold it over again for 
 three thousand five hundred. One of his regular tricks 
 with painters was to exact as a drink-allowance an 
 abatement in the purchase-money of their pictures, un- 
 der the pretence that he would bring out an engraving 
 of it. He always, when selling such pictures, made a 
 profit by the abatement; but the engraving never ap- 
 peared. To those who complained that he had taken 
 an advantage of them, he would reply by a slap on the 
 stomach. Generous in other ways, however, he squan- 
 dered money on cigars for his acquaintances, " thee'd " 
 and " thou'd " persons who were unknown, displayed 
 enthusiasm about a work or a man ; and, after that, 
 sticking to his opinion, and, regardless of consequences, 
 spared no expense in journeys, correspondence, and 
 advertising. He considered himself very upright, and, 
 yielding to an irresistible impulse to unbosom himself, 
 ingenuously told his friends about certain indelicate 
 acts of which he had been guilty. Once, in order to
 
 52 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 annoy a member of his own trade who inaugurated 
 another art journal with a big banquet, he asked Fred- 
 erick to write, under his own eyes, a little before the 
 hour fixed for the entertainment, letters to the guests 
 recalling the invitations. 
 
 " This impugns nobody's honour, you understand ? " 
 
 And the young man did not dare to refuse the ser- 
 vice. 
 
 Next day, on entering with Hussonnet M. Arnoux's 
 office, Frederick saw through the door (the one open- 
 ing on the staircase) the hem of a lady's dress disap- 
 pearing. 
 
 " A thousand pardons ! " said Hussonnet. " If I had 
 known that there were women " 
 
 " Oh ! that one is my own," replied Arnoux. " She 
 just came in to pay me a visit as she was passing." 
 
 " You don't say so ! " said Frederick. 
 
 " Why, yes ; she is going back home again." 
 
 The charm of the surroundings was suddenly with- 
 drawn. That which had seemed to him to be diffused 
 vaguely through the place had now vanished or, 
 rather, it had never been there. He felt an infinite 
 amazement, and, as it were, the painful sensation of 
 having been betrayed. 
 
 Arnoux, while rummaging about in his drawer, 
 smiled. Was he laughing at him ? The clerk laid down 
 a bundle of moist papers on the table. 
 
 " Ha ! the placards," exclaimed the picture-dealer. 
 " I am not ready to dine this evening." 
 
 Regimbart took up his hat. 
 
 " What, are you leaving? " 
 
 " Seven o'clock," said Regimbart. 
 
 Frederick followed him. 
 
 At the corner of the Rue Montmartre, he looked 
 back. He glanced toward the windows of the first
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 53 
 
 fioor, and he laughed internally with self-pity as he re- 
 called to mind with what love he had so often contem- 
 plated them. Where, then, did she reside? How would 
 he ever meet her now? Once more the object of his 
 desire was encompassed by a solitude more immense 
 than ever! 
 
 " Are you going to take it ? " asked Regimbart. 
 
 " To take what ? " 
 
 " The absinthe." 
 
 And, yielding to his importunities, Frederick allowed 
 himself to be led toward the Bordelais smoking-divan. 
 Whilst his companion, leaning on his elbow, was star- 
 ing at the decanter, he was turning his eyes to the right 
 and to the left. He caught a glimpse of Pellerin's pro- 
 file on the footpath outside ; the painter gave a quick 
 tap at the window-pane, and he had scarcely sat down 
 when Regimbart asked him why they no longer saw 
 him at the office of L'Art Industriel. 
 
 " May I perish before ever I go back there again. 
 The fellow is a brute a mere tradesman, a wretch, a 
 downright rogue ! " 
 
 These insulting words harmonised with Frederick's 
 present angry mood. Nevertheless, he was wounded, 
 for it seemed to him that they hit at Madame Arnoux 
 more or less. 
 
 " Why, what has Arnoux done to you ? " said Re- 
 gimbart. 
 
 Pellerin stamped with his foot on the ground, and his 
 only response was an energetic puff. 
 
 He had been devoting himself to artistic work of a 
 kind that he did not care to connect his name with, such 
 as portraits for two crayons, or pasticcios from the 
 great masters for amateurs of limited knowledge ; and, 
 as he felt humiliated by these inferior productions, he 
 preferred usually to hold his tongue on the subject.
 
 54 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 But " Arnoux's dirty conduct " exasperated him. He 
 had to relieve his feelings. 
 
 In accordance with an order, which had been given 
 in Frederick's very presence, he had brought Arnoux 
 two pictures. Thereupon the dealer took the liberty of 
 criticising them. He found fault with the composition, 
 the colouring, and the drawing above all, the draw- 
 ing; he would not, in short, take them at any price. 
 But, driven to extremities by a bill falling due, Pellerin 
 had to give them to the Jew Isaac ; and, a fortnight 
 later, Arnoux himself sold them to a Spaniard for two 
 thousand francs. 
 
 " Not a sou less ! What rascality ! and, faith, he is 
 always doing things just as bad. One of these morn- 
 ings we'll see him in the dock ! " 
 
 " How you exaggerate ! " said Frederick, in a timid 
 voice. 
 
 " Come, now, that's good ; I exaggerate ! " exclaimed 
 the artist, giving the table a great blow with his fist. 
 
 This violence completely restored the young man's 
 self-command. No doubt he might have acted more 
 generously ; still, if Arnoux found these two pic- 
 tures 
 
 " Bad, say it! Are you then a judge of them? Is 
 that your profession ? Now, you know, my boy, I don't 
 allow this sort of thing on the part of mere amateurs." 
 
 " Ah, well, it's none of my business," said Frederick. 
 
 " Then, what interest have you in defending him ? " 
 returned Pellerin, coldly. 
 
 The young man faltered : 
 
 " Well since I am his friend 
 
 " Go, and give him a hug for me. Good evening ! " 
 
 And the painter rushed away in a rage, and, of 
 course, without paying for his drink. 
 
 Frederick, whilst defending Arnoux, had convinced
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 55 
 
 himself. In the heat of his eloquence, he was filled with 
 tenderness toward this man, so intelligent and kind, 
 whom his friends calumniated, and who was now aban- 
 doned by them. He could not resist a strange impulse 
 to go at once and see him again. Ten minutes later he 
 pushed open the door of the picture-warehouse. 
 
 Arnoux was preparing, with the assistance of his 
 clerks, some huge placards for an exhibition of pic- 
 tures. 
 
 " Halloa ! what brings you back again ? " 
 
 This question, simple though it was, embarrassed 
 Frederick, and, at a loss for an answer, he asked 
 whether they had happened to find a notebook of his 
 a little notebook with a blue leather cover. 
 
 " The one that you put your letters to women in ? " 
 said Arnoux. 
 
 Frederick, blushing like a young girl, protested 
 against such an assumption. 
 
 " Your verses, then ? " returned the picture-dealer. 
 
 He was handling the pictures that were to be ex- 
 hibited, examining their form, colouring, and frames ; 
 and Frederick felt more and more irritated by his air 
 of abstraction, and particularly by the appearance of 
 his hands large hands, rather soft, with flat nails. At 
 length, M. Arnoux arose, and saying, " That's disposed 
 of ! " he chucked the young man familiarly under the 
 chin. Frederick was offended at this liberty, and re- 
 coiled a pace or two ; then he made a dash for the shop- 
 door, and passed out through it, as he imagined, for the 
 last time in his life. Madame Arnoux herself had been 
 lowered in his mind by the vulgarity of her husband. 
 
 During the same week he got a letter from Des- 
 lauriers', informing him that the clerk would be in Paris 
 on the following Thursday. Then he flung himself 
 back violently on this affection as one of a more solid
 
 56 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 and lofty character. A man of this sort was worth all 
 the women in the world. He would no longer have any 
 need of Regimbart, of Pellerin, of Hussonnet, of any- 
 one ! In order to provide his friend with as comfort- 
 able quarters as possible, he bought an iron bedstead 
 and a second armchair, stripping off some of his own 
 bed-covering to furnish the new one properly. On 
 Thursday morning he was dressing himself to go to 
 meet Deslauriers when there was a ring at the door. 
 
 Arnoux entered. 
 
 " Just a word. Yesterday I got a fine trout from 
 Geneva. We expect you to-night at seven o'clock 
 sharp. The address is the Rue de Choiseul 24 bis. 
 Don't forget ! " 
 
 Frederick was obliged to sit down ; his knees were 
 tottering under him. He repeated to himself, " At 
 last ! at last ! " Then he wrote to his tailor, to his 
 hatter, and to his bootmaker ; and he despatched these 
 three notes by three different messengers. 
 
 The key turned in the lock, and the door-keeper 
 appeared with a trunk on his shoulder. 
 
 Frederick, on seeing Deslauriers, began to tremble 
 like an adulteress before her husband. 
 
 " What has happened to you ? " said Deslauriers. 
 " Surely you got my letter ? " 
 
 Frederick had not enough energy left to lie. He 
 flung himself on his friend's breast. 
 
 Then the clerk told his story. His father tried to 
 avoid giving an account of the expense of tutelage, 
 thinking that the period limited for rendering such ac- 
 counts was ten years ; but, well versed in legal pro- 
 cedure, Deslauriers had managed to get the share 
 coming to him from his mother into his own posses- 
 sion seven thousand francs clear which he had there 
 with him in an old pocket-book.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 57 
 
 " 'Tis a reserve fund, in case of misfortune. I must 
 think over the best way of investing it, and find quar- 
 ters for myself to-morrow morning. To-day I'm per- 
 fectly free, and am entirely at your service, my old 
 friend." 
 
 " Oh, don't put yourself about," said Frederick. " If 
 you had anything of importance to attend to this even- 
 ing 
 
 " Come, now ! I would be a selfish wretch " 
 
 This epithet, flung out at random, touched Freder- 
 ick to the quick, like a reproach. 
 
 The door-keeper had placed on the table close to the 
 fire some chops, cold meat, a large lobster, some sweets 
 for dessert, and two bottles of Bordeaux. 
 
 Deslauriers was touched by these excellent prepara- 
 tions to welcome his arrival. 
 
 " Upon my word, you are treating me like a king ! " 
 
 They talked about the past and about the future; 
 and, from time to time, they grasped each other's 
 hands across the table, gazing at each other tenderly. 
 
 But a messenger came with a new hat. Deslauriers, 
 in a loud tone, remarked that it was very showy. Next 
 came the tailor himself to fit on the coat, to which he 
 had given a touch with the smoothing-iron. 
 
 " One would imagine you were about to be mar- 
 ried," said Deslauriers. 
 
 An hour later, a third individual appeared on the 
 scene, and drew forth from a big black bag a pair of 
 shining patent leather boots. While Frederick was 
 trying them on, the bootmaker indirectly drew atten- 
 tion to the shoes of the young man from the country. 
 
 " Does Monsieur require anything ? " 
 
 " No, thanks," replied the clerk, drawing behind his 
 chair his old shoes fastened with strings. 
 
 This humiliating incident annoyed Frederick. At
 
 58 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 length he exclaimed, as if the idea had suddenly taken 
 possession of him : 
 
 " Ha! deuce take it! I was forgetting." 
 
 " What is it, pray ? " 
 
 " I have to dine in the city this evening." 
 
 " At the Dambreuses' ? Why did you never say 
 anything to me about them in your letters ? " 
 
 " It is not at the Dambreuses', but at the Arnoux's." 
 
 " You should have let me know beforehand," said 
 Deslauriers. " I would have come a day later." 
 
 " Impossible," returned Frederick, abruptly. " I 
 only received the invitation this morning." 
 
 And to redeem his error and distract his friend's 
 mind from the occurrence, he proceeded to unfasten 
 the tangled cords around the trunk, and to arrange the 
 contents in the chest of drawers, expressing his will- 
 ingness to give him his ow r n bed, and offering to sleep 
 himself in the dressing-room bedstead. Then, at four 
 o'clock, he began the preparations for his toilet. 
 
 " You have plenty of time," said the other. 
 
 At last he was dressed and off he went. 
 
 " That's the way with the rich," thought Deslauriers. 
 
 And he went to dine in the Rue Saint-Jacques, at a 
 little restaurant kept by a man he knew. 
 
 Frederick stopped several times while going up the 
 stairs, so violently did his heart beat. Arnoux, who 
 was mounting the stairs behind him, took him by the 
 arm and led him in. 
 
 Mademoiselle Marthe came to announce that her 
 mamma was dressing. Arnoux raised her in his arms 
 and kissed her; then, as he wished to select certain 
 bottles of wine from the cellar himself, he left Freder- 
 ick with the little girl. 
 
 She had grown considerably since the trip in the 
 steamboat. Her dark hair descended in long ringlets,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 59 
 
 which curled over her bare arms. Her dress, more 
 fluffed out than the petticoat of a danseusc, disclosed 
 her rosy calves, and her pretty childlike form had all 
 the fresh odour of a bunch of flowers. She received 
 the young gentleman's compliments with a coquettish 
 air, fixed on him her large, dreamy eyes, then slipping 
 on the carpet, disappeared like a cat. 
 
 After this he no longer felt ill at ease. The globes 
 of the lamps, covered with a paper lace-work, sent 
 forth a white light, softening the colour of the walls, 
 hung with mauve satin. It was altogether a peaceful 
 sight, suggesting the idea of propriety and innocent 
 family life. 
 
 Arnoux returned, and at the same moment Madame 
 Arnoux appeared at the other doorway. As she was 
 enveloped in shadow, the young man could at first 
 distinguish only her head. She wore a black velvet 
 gown, and in her hair she had fastened a long Al- 
 gerian cap, in a red silk net, which coiling round her 
 comb, fell over her left shoulder. 
 
 Arnoux introduced Frederick. 
 
 " Oh ! I remember Monsieur perfectly," she re- 
 sponded. 
 
 Then the guests arrived, nearly all at the same time 
 Dittmer, Lovarias, Burrieu, the composer Rosen- 
 wald, the poet Theophile Lorris, two art critics, col- 
 leagues of Hussonnet, a paper manufacturer, and in 
 the rear the illustrious Pierre Paul Meinsius, the last 
 representative of the grand school of painting, who 
 blithely carried along with his glory his forty-five years 
 and his big paunch. 
 
 When they were passing into the dining-room, 
 Madame Arnoux took his arm. A chair had been left 
 vacint fo- Pellerin. Arnoux, though he took advan- 
 tage of him in business, was fond of him. Besides, he
 
 60 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 was afraid of his terrible tongue, so much so that, in 
 order to soften him, he had printed a portrait of him 
 in L'Art Industricl, accompanied by exaggerated eu- 
 logies ; and Pellerin, more sensitive about distinction 
 than about money, made a breathless appearance about 
 eight o'clock. Frederick judged that they had been a 
 long time reconciled. 
 
 He liked the company, the dishes, everything. He 
 had to make his choice between ten sorts of mustard. 
 He partook of daspachio, of curry, of ginger, of Cor- 
 sican blackbirds, and a species of Roman macaroni 
 called lasagna ; he drank extraordinary wines, lip-f raeli 
 and tokay. Arnoux indeed prided himself on enter- 
 taining people in good style. With an eye to the pro- 
 curement of eatables, he paid court to mail-coach 
 drivers, and was in league with the cooks of great 
 houses, who divulged to him the secrets of rare sauces. 
 
 But Frederick was particularly entertained by the 
 conversation. His taste for travelling was tickled by 
 Dittmer, who talked about the East ; he gratified his 
 curiosity about theatrical matters by listening to Rosen- 
 wald's chat about the opera ; and the atrocious existence 
 of Bohemia assumed for him a droll aspect when pre- 
 sented through the gaiety of Hussonnet, who related, 
 in a picturesque fashion, how he had spent an entire 
 winter with no food except Dutch cheese. Then a dis- 
 cussion between Lovarias and Burrieu about the 
 Florentine School gave him new ideas with regard to 
 masterpieces and widened his horizon. He found dif- 
 ficulty in restraining his enthusiasm when Pellerin 
 exclaimed : 
 
 " Don't talk to me about your hideous reality ! 
 What does it mean reality? Some see things black, 
 others blue the multitude sees them brute-fashion. 
 There is nothing less natural than Michael Angelo ;
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 61 
 
 there is nothing more powerful ! The anxiety about 
 eternal truth is a mark of contemporary baseness ; and 
 art will become, if things go on in that way, a sort 
 of poor joke as much below religion as it is below 
 poetry, and as much below politics as it is below busi- 
 ness. You will never reach its end yes, its end! 
 which is to cause within us an impersonal exalta- 
 tion, with petty works, in spite of all your finished 
 execution. Look, for instance, at Bassolier's pictures : 
 they are pretty coquettish, spruce, and by no means 
 dull. You might put them into your pocket, carry 
 them with you when you are travelling. Notaries buy 
 them for twenty thousand francs, while pictures of the 
 ideal type bring three sous. But, without ideality, 
 there is no grandeur ; without grandeur there is no 
 beauty. Olympus is a mountain. The most effective 
 monument will always be the Pyramids. Exuberance 
 is better than taste ; the desert is better than a street- 
 pavement, and a savage is surely better than a hair- 
 dresser ! " 
 
 Frederick, as these words fell upon his ear, glanced 
 towards Madame Arnoux. They sank into his soul 
 like metals falling into a furnace, added to his passion, 
 and supplied the material of love. 
 
 His chair was three seats below hers on the same 
 side. From time to time, she bent forward a little, 
 turning aside her head to address a few words to her 
 little daughter ; and as she smiled on these occasions, 
 a dimple appeared in her cheek, giving to her face an 
 expression of dainty good-nature. 
 
 As soon as the time came for the gentlemen to take 
 their wine, she disappeared. The conversation became 
 more free and easy. M. Arnoux shone in it, and 
 Frederick was amazed at the cynicism of men. How- 
 ever, their preoccupation with women established be-
 
 62 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 tween them and him, as it were, an equality, which 
 raised him in his own estimation. 
 
 When they had returned to the drawing-room, he 
 took up, to keep himself in countenance, one of the 
 albums which lay about on the table. The great artists 
 of the day had illustrated them with drawings, had 
 written in them snatches of verse or prose, or simply 
 their signatures. In the midst of famous names he 
 found many that he had never heard of before, and 
 original thoughts appeared only underneath a flood of 
 nonsense. All these effusions contained a more or 
 less direct expression of homage toward Madame 
 Arnoux. Frederick would have been afraid to write 
 a line beside them. 
 
 She went into her boudoir to look at the little chest 
 with silver clasps which he had noticed on the mantel- 
 shelf. It was a present from her husband, a work of 
 the Renaissance. Arnoux's friends complimented him, 
 and his wife thanked him. His tender emotions were 
 aroused, and before all the guests he kissed her. 
 
 After this they chatted in groups here and there. 
 The worthy Meinsius was beside Madame Arnoux in 
 an easy chair close by the fire. She was leaning for- 
 ward toward his ear; their heads were almost touch- 
 ing, and Frederick would have been glad to become 
 deaf, infirm, and ugly if he might thereby gain an 
 illustrious name and white hair in short, if he only 
 happened to possess something which would justify 
 such intimate association with her. He began once 
 more to eat out his heart, furious at the idea of being 
 so young a man. 
 
 But at last she came into the corner of the drawing- 
 room where he was sitting, and asked him whether he 
 was acquainted with any of the guests, whether he 
 was fond of painting, how long he had been a student
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 63 
 
 in Paris. Every word that came out of her mouth 
 seemed to Frederick something entirely new, an ex- 
 clusive appendage of her personality. He gazed at 
 the fringes of her head-dress, the ends of which car- 
 essed her bare shoulder, and he was unable to remove 
 his eyes ; he plunged his soul into the whiteness of 
 that feminine flesh, and yet he did not venture to raise 
 his eyes to glance at her higher, face to face. 
 
 Rosenwald interrupted them, begging of Madame 
 Arnoux to sing something. He played a prelude, she 
 waited, her lips opened slightly, and a sound, pure, 
 long-continued, silvery, ascended into the air. 
 
 Frederick did not understand a single one of the 
 Italian words. The song began with a grave meas- 
 ure, something like church music, then in a more ani- 
 mated strain, with a crescendo movement, it broke 
 into repeated bursts of sound, then suddenly subsided, 
 and the melody came back again in a tender fashion 
 with a wide and rhythmic swing. 
 
 She stood beside the keyboard, her arms hanging 
 down and a far-off look on her face. Sometimes, in 
 order to read the music, she advanced her forehead 
 for a moment and her eyelashes moved to and fro. 
 Her contralto voice in the low notes took a mournful 
 intonation which had a chilling effect on the listener, 
 and then her beautiful head, with those great brows 
 of hers, bent over her shoulder ; her bosom swelled ; 
 her eyes widened ; her neck, from which roulades made 
 their escape, fell back as if under aerial kisses. She 
 flung out three sharp notes, came down again, sent 
 forth one higher still, and, after a silence, finished with 
 an organ-point. 
 
 Rosenwald did not leave the piano. He continued 
 playing, to amuse himself. From time to time a guest 
 stole away. At eleven o'clock, as the last of them were
 
 64 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 departing, Arnoux went out along with Pellerin, under 
 the pretext of seeing him home. He was one of those 
 people who claim to be ill when they do not " take 
 a turn " after dinner. Madame Arnoux had made her 
 way toward the anteroom. Dittmer and Hussonnet 
 bowed to her. She stretched out her hand to them. 
 She did the same to Frederick; and he felt, as it were, 
 something penetrating every particle of his skin. 
 
 He left his friends. He wished to be alone. His 
 heart was overflowing. Why had she offered him 
 her hand ? Was it a thoughtless act, or an encourage- 
 ment ? " Come now ! I am mad ! " Besides, what 
 did it matter, now that he could visit her entirely at 
 his ease, live in the very atmosphere she breathed? 
 
 The streets were deserted. Now and then a heavy 
 wagon would roll past, shaking the pavements. Sud- 
 denly he felt himself in the midst of a circle of damp 
 air, and found that he was on the edge of the quays. 
 
 He stopped in the middle of the Pont Neuf, and, 
 taking off his hat and exposing his chest, he drank in 
 the air. He felt as if something that was inexhaustible 
 were ascending from the very depths of his being, an 
 afflux of tenderness that enervated him, like the mo- 
 tion of the waves under his eyes. A church-clock 
 slowly struck one, and had the effect of a voice calling 
 out to him. 
 
 Then, he was seized with one of those shuddering 
 sensations of the soul in which one seems to be trans- 
 ported into a higher world. He felt, as it were, en- 
 dowed with some extraordinary faculty, the purpose 
 of which he could not determine. He seriously ques- 
 tioned himself whether he would be a great painter 
 or a great poet ; and he decided in favour of painting, 
 for this profession would bring him into closer contact 
 with Madame Arnoux. At last, he had found his
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 65 
 
 vocation ! The goal of his life was now perfectly clear, 
 and there could be no mistake about the future. 
 
 When he had closed his door, he heard some one 
 snoring in the dark closet near his apartment. It was 
 his friend. He no longer wasted a thought on him. 
 
 Looking in the glass he contemplated his own face. 
 It appeared to him handsome. For a whole minute 
 he stood gazing at himself.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A CONSUMING LOVE 
 
 FREDERICK had purchased an easel, a box of 
 paints, and brushes before twelve o'clock the 
 following day. Pellerin agreed to give him 
 lessons, and Frederick brought him to his lodgings 
 to see whether anything more was needed among his 
 painting utensils. 
 
 Deslauriers was in, and the second armchair was 
 occupied by a young man. The clerk said, pointing 
 towards him : 
 
 "-'Tis he ! There he is ! Senecal ! " Frederick did 
 not like this young man. His forehead was heightened 
 by the manner in which he wore his hair, cut straight 
 like a brush. There was a certain hard, cold look in 
 his grey eyes ; and his long black coat, his entire 
 costume, savoured of the pedagogue and the ecclesi- 
 astic. 
 
 They first discussed topics of the moment, amongst 
 others the Stabat of Rossini. Senecal, in answer to 
 a question, stated that he never went to the theatre. 
 
 Pellerin opened the box of colours. 
 
 "Are these all yours?" said the clerk. 
 
 " Why, certainly ! " 
 
 " Well, really ! What a notion ! " And he leaned 
 across the table, at which the mathematical tutor was 
 turning over the leaves of a volume of Louis Blanc. 
 He had brought it with him, and was reading passages 
 from it in low tones, while Pellerin and Frederick
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 67 
 
 examined together the palette, the knife, and the 
 bladders ; then the talk came round to the dinner at 
 Arnoux's. 
 
 " The picture-dealer, is it? " asked Senecal. "A nice 
 gentleman, truly ! " 
 
 " Why, now ? " said Pellerin. Senecal replied : 
 
 " A man who makes money by political turpitude ! " 
 
 And he went on to talk about a well-known litho- 
 graph, in which all the Royal Family were represented 
 as being engaged in edifying occupations: Louis 
 Philippe had a copy of the Code in his hand ; the Queen 
 had a Catholic prayer-book; the Princesses were em- 
 broidering ; the Due de Nemours was girding on a 
 sword ; M. de Joinville was showing a map to his 
 young brothers ; and at one end of the apartment could 
 be seen a bed with two divisions. This picture, which 
 was entitled " A Good Family," was a source of de- 
 light to commonplace middle-class people, but of grief 
 to patriots. 
 
 Pellerin, in a tone of annoyance, as if he had been 
 himself the producer of this work, observed by way of 
 answer that every opinion had some value. Senecal 
 protested : Art should aim exclusively at promoting 
 morality amongst the masses! The only subjects that 
 ought to be reproduced were those which incited to 
 virtuous actions ; all others were injurious. 
 
 " But that depends on the execution," cried Pellerin. 
 " I might produce masterpieces." 
 
 " So much the worse of you, then ; you have no 
 right " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " No, Monsieur, you have no right to excite my 
 interest in matters of which I disapprove. What need 
 have we of laborious trifles, from which it is impos- 
 sible to derive any benefit those Venuses, for instance.
 
 68 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 with all your landscapes ? They contain no instruction 
 for the people ! Show us rather their miseries ! arouse 
 enthusiasm in us for their sacrifices ! Ah, my God ! 
 there is no lack of subjects the farm, the work- 
 shop 
 
 Pellerin stammered forth his indignation at this, 
 and, imagining that he had found an argument : 
 
 " Moliere, do you accept him ? " 
 
 " Certainly ! " said Senecal. " I admire him as the 
 precursor of the French Revolution." 
 
 " Ha ! the Revolution ! What art ! Never was there 
 a more pitiable epoch ! " 
 
 " None greater, Monsieur ! " 
 
 Pellerin folded his arms, and looking at him straight 
 in the face : 
 
 " You have the appearance of a famous member of 
 the National Guard ! " 
 
 His opponent, accustomed to discussions, responded : 
 
 " I am not, and I abhor it just as much as you. But 
 with such principles we corrupt the crowd. This sort 
 of thing, however, is profitable to the Government. It 
 would not be so powerful but for the complicity of 
 rogues of that sort." 
 
 The painter commenced to defend the picture-dealer, 
 for Senecal's opinions exasperated him. He even went 
 so far as to maintain that Arnoux was really a man 
 with a heart of gold, devoted to his friends, deeply 
 attached to his wife. 
 
 " Oho ! if you offered him a sufficient sum, he would 
 not refuse to let her serve as a model." 
 
 Frederick turned pale. 
 
 " So then, he has done you some great harm, Mon- 
 sieur? " 
 
 " Me? no! I saw him once at a cafe with a friend. 
 That's all."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 69 
 
 Senecal had spoken truly. But he had his teeth 
 daily set on edge by the announcements in L 'Art In- 
 dustricl. Arnoux to him represented a world which 
 he considered antagonistic to democracy. An austere 
 Republican, he suspected something corrupt in every 
 form of elegance, and the more so as he wanted noth- 
 ing himself and was inflexible in his integrity. 
 
 They found some difficulty in resuming the con- 
 versation. The painter soon recalled to mind his ap- 
 pointment, the tutor his pupils ; and, when they had 
 gone, after a long silence, Deslauriers asked a number 
 of questions about Arnoux. 
 
 " You will introduce me there later, will you not, 
 old fellow ? " 
 
 " Certainly," said Frederick. Then they talked about 
 settling themselves. Deslauriers had without much 
 trouble obtained the post of second clerk in a solicitor's 
 office ; he had also entered his name for the terms at 
 the Law School, and bought the indispensable books. 
 The life of which they had dreamed for so long now 
 began. 
 
 It was delightful, owing to their youth, which made 
 everything assume a favourable aspect. As Deslauriers 
 had said nothing relative to any pecuniary arrange- 
 ment, Frederick did not refer to the subject. He 
 helped to defray all the expenses, kept the cupboard 
 well stocked, and attended to all the household require- 
 ments ; but if it happened to be necessary to give the 
 doorkeeper a rating, the clerk took that on his own 
 shoulders, still maintaining the part, which he had 
 assumed in their college days, of protector and senior. 
 
 Separated all day long, they met in the evenings. 
 Each took his place at the fireside and set about his 
 work. But ere long it would be interrupted. Then 
 would follow endless outpourings, unaccountable
 
 70 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 bursts of merriment, and occasional disputes about 
 the lamp flaring too much or a book being mislaid, 
 momentary manifestations of anger which subsided in 
 hearty laughter. 
 
 While in bed they left open the door of the little 
 room where Deslauriers slept, and kept chattering to 
 each other. 
 
 When it was not raining on Sunday they went out 
 together, and, arm in arm, sauntered through the 
 streets. The same ideas nearly always occurred to 
 them simultaneously. Sometimes they would go on 
 chatting without noticing anything around them. Des- 
 lauriers longed for riches, as a means for gaining 
 power over men. 
 
 Frederick's ideal was to furnish for himself a palace 
 in the Moorish fashion, to spend his life reclining on 
 cashmere divans, listening to the murmur of a jet of 
 water, and attended by negro pages. And these things, 
 of which he had only dreamed, became in time so 
 definite that he felt as dejected as if he had lost them. 
 
 " What is the use of talking about all these things," 
 said he, " when we'll never have them? " 
 
 "Who knows?" returned Deslauriers. 
 
 Despite his democratic views, he urged Frederick 
 to get an introduction into the Dambreuses' house. 
 
 The other, by way of objection, pointed to the failure 
 of his previous attempts. 
 
 " Bah ! go back there. They'll give you an invi- 
 tation ! " 
 
 Toward the close of the month of March, they re- 
 ceived amongst other bills that of the restaurant- 
 keeper who supplied them with dinners. Frederick, 
 not having the entire amount, borrowed a hundred 
 crowns from Deslauriers. A fortnight afterward, he 
 renewed the same request, and the clerk lectured him
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 71 
 
 on the extravagant habits he was contracting in the 
 Arnoux's society. 
 
 As a matter of fact, he put no restraint upon him- 
 self in this respect. A view of Venice, a view of 
 Naples, and another of Constantinople occupying the 
 centre of three walls respectively, equestrian subjects 
 by Alfred de Dreux here and there, a group by Pra- 
 dier over the mantelpiece, numbers of L'Art Industriel 
 lying on the piano, and works in boards on the floor 
 in the corners, encumbered the apartment to such an 
 extent that it was difficult to find a place to lay a book 
 on, or to move one's elbows about freely. Frederick 
 maintained that he needed all this for his painting. 
 
 He pursued his art-studies under Pellerin. But 
 when he called on the artist, the latter was often out, 
 being accustomed to attend at every funeral and pub- 
 lic occurrence of which an account was given in the 
 newspapers, and so it was that Frederick spent hours 
 alone in the studio. His eyes wandering from the task 
 at which he was engaged, roamed over the shell-work 
 on the wall, around the objects of virtu, and, like a 
 traveller who has lost his way in the middle of a 
 wood, and whom every path brings back to the same 
 spot, continually, he found underlying every idea in 
 his mind the recollection of Madame Arnoux. 
 
 He selected days for calling on her. When he had 
 reached the second floor, he would pause on the 
 threshold, doubtful as to whether he ought to ring 
 or not. Steps drew nigh, the door opened, and at the 
 announcement " Madame is out," a sense of relief 
 would come upon him, as if a weight had been lifted 
 from his heart. He met her, however. On the first 
 occasion there were three other ladies with her ; the 
 next time it was in the afternoon, and Mademoiselle 
 Marthe's writing-master was present. The men whom
 
 72 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Madame Arnoux received were not very punctilious 
 about paying visits. For the sake of prudence he 
 deemed it better not to call again. 
 
 But he did not fail to appear regularly at the office 
 of L 'Art Industricl every Wednesday in order to get 
 an invitation to the Thursday dinners, and he remained 
 there later than all the others, even than Regimbart, 
 right up to the last moment, pretending to be looking 
 at an engraving or to be running his eye over a news- 
 paper. At last Arnoux would say to him, " Shall you 
 be disengaged to-morrow evening?" and, before the 
 sentence was finished, he would give an affirmative 
 answer. Arnoux appeared to have taken a fancy, to 
 him. 
 
 During these dinners he scarcely uttered a word ; he 
 kept gazing at her. She had a little mole close to her 
 temple. Her head-bands were darker than the rest of 
 her hair, and were always a little moist at the edges ; 
 from time to time she stroked them with only two 
 fingers. He was familiar with the shape of each of 
 her nails. He took delight in listening to the rustle of 
 her silk skirt as she swept past doors ; he stealthily in- 
 haled the perfume that came from her handkerchief; 
 her comb, her gloves, her rings were for him things of 
 special interest, important as works of art, almost en- 
 dowed with human life ; all took possession of his 
 heart and strengthened his passion. 
 
 He had not sufficient self-control to conceal it from 
 Deslauriers. When he came home from Madame 
 Arnoux's, he would wake up his friend, as if inad- 
 vertently, in order to have an opportunity to talk about 
 her. 
 
 Deslauriers, who slept in the little closet-room, close 
 to where they had their water-supply, would give great 
 yawns. Frederick seated himself on the side of the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 73 
 
 bed. At first he spoke about the dinner; then he re- 
 ferred to a thousand petty details, in which he saw 
 marks of contempt or of affection. On one occasion, 
 for instance, she had refrsed his arm, in order to take 
 Dittmer's ; and Frederick gave vent to his humiliation : 
 
 " Ah ! how stupid ! " 
 
 Or else she had called him her " dear friend." 
 
 " Then go after her gaily ! " 
 
 " But I dare not," said Frederick. 
 
 " Well, then, think no more about her ! Good 
 night ! " 
 
 Deslauriers thereupon turned on his side, and fell 
 asleep. He felt utterly unable to comprehend this love, 
 which seemed to him the last weakness of adolescence ; 
 and, as his own society was apparently not enough to 
 satisfy Frederick, he conceived the idea of bringing 
 together, once a week, those whom they both recog- 
 nised as friends. 
 
 They came on Saturday about nine o'clock. The 
 three Algerine curtains were carefully drawn. The 
 lamp and four wax-lights were burning. In the mid- 
 dle of the table the tobacco-pot, filled with pipes, dis- 
 played itself between the beer-bottles, the tea-pot, a 
 flagon of rum, and some fancy biscuits. 
 
 They discussed the immortality of the soul, and drew 
 comparisons between the different professors. 
 
 One evening Hussonnet introduced a tall young 
 man, wearing a frock-coat, too short in the wrists, and 
 with a look of embarrassment on his face. It was the 
 young fellow whom they had tried to release from 
 the guard-house the year before. 
 
 As he had been unable to restore the box of lace 
 lost in the scuffle, his employer had accused him of 
 theft, and threatened to prosecute him. He was now 
 a clerk in a wagon-office. Hussonnet had come across
 
 74 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 him that morning at the corner of the street, and 
 brought him along, for Dussardier, in a spirit of grati- 
 tude, had expressed a wish to see " the other." 
 
 He held out toward Frederick the cigar-holder, 
 which he had religiously preserved, still full, in the 
 hope of being able to give it back. The young men 
 invited him to pay them a second visit; and he was 
 not slow in doing so. 
 
 They all had sympathies in common. Their hatred 
 of the Government reached the height of an unques- 
 tionable dogma. Martinon alone attempted to defend 
 Louis Philippe. They overwhelmed him with the com- 
 monplaces rampant in the newspapers the " Bastilli- 
 zation " of Paris, the September laws, Pritchard, Lord 
 Guizot so that Martinon decided to hold his tongue 
 for fear of giving offence to somebody. During his 
 seven years at college he had never incurred the 
 penalty of an imposition, and at the Law School he 
 knew how to make himself agreeable to the professors. 
 He usually wore a big putty-colored frock-coat, with 
 india-rubber goloshes ; but one evening he presented 
 himself arrayed like a bridegroom, in a velvet roll- 
 collar waistcoat, a white tie, and a gold chain. 
 
 The astonishment of the other young men was still 
 greater when they learned that he had just come away 
 from M. Dambreuse's house. In fact, the banker 
 Dambreuse had just bought a portion of an extensive 
 wood from Martinon senior ; and, when the worthy 
 man introduced his son, the other had invited them 
 both to dinner. 
 
 "Were there plenty of truffles there?" asked Des- 
 lauriers. " And did you take his wife by the waist 
 between the two doors, sicut decet?" 
 
 Hereupon the conversation turned on women. Pel- 
 lerin would not admit that there were beautiful women
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 75 
 
 (he preferred tigers) ; besides, the human female was 
 an inferior creature in the aesthetic hierarchy: 
 
 " What fascinates you physically is just the very 
 thing that degrades her as an idea ; I mean her breasts, 
 her hair " 
 
 " Nevertheless," urged Frederick, " long black hair 
 and large dark eyes 
 
 " Oh ! we know all about that," cried Hussonnet. 
 " Enough of Andalusian beauties on the lawn. Those 
 things are out of date ; no, thank you ! For the fact 
 is, honour bright ! a fast woman is more amusing 
 than the Venus of Milo. Let us be Gallic, in Heaven's 
 name, and after the Regency style, if we can ! 
 
 'Flow, generous wines; ladies, deign to smile!' 
 
 We must pass from the dark to the fair. Do you agree, 
 Father Dussardier?" 
 
 Dussardier did not reply. They all pressed him to 
 state what his tastes were. 
 
 " Well," said he, colouring, " for my part, I would 
 like to love the same one always ! " 
 
 This was said in such a way that there was a mo- 
 ment of silence, some of them being surprised at this 
 candour, and others finding in his words, perhaps, the 
 secret yearning of their souls. 
 
 Senecal placed his glass of beer on the mantelpiece, 
 declaring dogmatically that, as prostitution was tyran- 
 nical and marriage immoral, it was better to practise 
 abstinence. Deslauriers regarded women as a source 
 of amusement nothing more. M. de Cisy looked 
 upon them with the utmost dread. 
 
 Brought up under the eyes of a grandmother who 
 was a devotee, he found the society of these young 
 fellows as alluring as a place of ill-repute and as in- 
 structive as the Sorbonne. Frederick showed him the
 
 76 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 greatest attention. He admired the shade of his cravat, 
 the fur on his overcoat, and especially his boots, as 
 thin as gloves, and so very neat and fine that they had 
 a look of insolent superiority. His carriage used to 
 wait for him below in the street. 
 
 One evening, after his departure, when there was 
 a fall of snow, Senecal began to complain about his 
 having a coachman. He declaimed against kid-gloved 
 exquisites and against the Jockey Club. He had more 
 respect for a workman than for these fine gentlemen. 
 
 " For my part, I work for my livelihood ! I am a 
 poor man ! " 
 
 : ' That's quite evident/' said Frederick, at length, 
 losing patience. 
 
 The tutor held a grudge against him for this remark. 
 
 But, as Regimbart said he knew Senecal pretty well, 
 Frederick, wishing to be civil to a friend of the Ar- 
 noux, invited him to the Saturday meetings ; and the 
 two patriots were glad to be brought together in this 
 way. 
 
 However, they took opposite views of most things. 
 
 Senecal whose skull was of the angular type 
 fixed his attention entirely on systems, whereas Reg- 
 imbart, on the contrary, saw in facts nothing more than 
 facts. The thing that chiefly troubled him was the 
 Rhine frontier. He claimed to be an authority on the 
 subject of artillery, and got his clothes made by a 
 tailor of the Polytechnic School. 
 
 The first day, when they offered him some cakes, 
 he disdainfully shrugged his shoulders, saying that 
 they might suit women; and on following occasions 
 his manner was not much more gracious. Whenever 
 speculative ideas had reached a certain elevation, he 
 would mutter: "Oh! no Utopias, no dreams!" On 
 the subject of Art (though he used to visit the studios,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 77 
 
 and occasionally, out of complaisance, give a lesson in 
 fencing) his opinions were not remarkable for their 
 excellence. He compared the style of M. Marast to 
 that of Voltaire, and Mademoiselle Vatnaz to Madame 
 de Stae'l, on account of an Ode on Poland in which 
 " there was some spirit." In short, Regimbart bored 
 everyone, and especially Deslauriers, for the Citizen 
 was a friend of the Arnoux family. Now the clerk 
 was most anxious to visit those people in the hope 
 that he might there make acquaintances who would 
 be of advantage to him. 
 
 " When are you going to take me there with you ? " 
 he would say. Arnoux was either overburdened with 
 business, or else starting on a journey. Then it was 
 not worth while, as the dinners were soon coming to 
 an end. 
 
 If he had been called on to risk his life for his friend, 
 Frederick would have done so. But, as he was de- 
 sirous of presenting as good a figure as possible, and 
 with this in view was most careful about his language 
 and manners, and so attentive to his costume that he 
 always appeared at the office of L 'Art Industriel irre- 
 proachably gloved, he was afraid that Deslauriers, with 
 his shabby black coat, his attorney-like exterior, and 
 his swaggering kind of talk, might not be agreeable 
 to Madame Arnoux, and thus compromise him and 
 lower him in her estimation. The other results would 
 have been bad enough, but the last one would have an- 
 noyed him immeasurably. 
 
 The clerk realised that his friend did not wish to 
 keep his promise, and Frederick's silence seemed to 
 him an aggravation of the insult. Moreover, Fred- 
 erick, with his thoughts full of Madame Arnoux, fre- 
 quently talked about her husband ; and Deslauriers now 
 began an intolerable course of boredom by repeating
 
 78 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the name a hundred times a day, at the end of each re- 
 mark, like the parrot-cry of an idiot. 
 
 When there was a knock at the door he would call 
 out, " Come in, Arnoux ! " At the restaurant he would 
 order a Brie cheese " a la Arnoux," and at night, pre- 
 tending to wake up from a bad dream, he would rouse 
 his comrade by howling out, " Arnoux ! Arnoux ! " 
 At last Frederick, worn out, said to him one day, in a 
 piteous voice : 
 
 " Oh ! don't bother me any more about Arnoux ! " 
 
 " Never ! " replied the clerk : 
 
 "He always, everywhere, burning or icy cold, 
 The pictured form of Arnoux " 
 
 " Hold your tongue, I tell you ! " exclaimed Fred- 
 erick, raising his fist. 
 
 Then less angrily he added: 
 
 " You know very well that this is a painful subject 
 to me." 
 
 " Oh ! forgive me, old fellow," returned Deslauriers 
 with a very low bow. " From this time forth we will 
 be considerate toward Mademoiselle's nerves. Again, 
 I say, forgive me. A thousand pardons ! " 
 
 And so this little joke came to an end. 
 
 But, three weeks later, one evening, Deslauriers said 
 to him : 
 
 " Well, I have just seen Madame Arnoux." 
 
 "Where, pray?" 
 
 " At the Palais, with Balandard, the solicitor. A 
 dark woman, is she not, of middle height ? " 
 
 Frederick made a gesture of assent. He waited for 
 Deslauriers to speak further. At the least expression 
 of admiration he would have been most effusive, and 
 would have fairly hugged the other. However, Des- 
 lauriers said nothing. At last, unable to contain him-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 79 
 
 self any longer, Frederick, with assumed indifference, 
 asked him what he thought of her. 
 
 Deslauriers considered that " she was not so bad, 
 but still nothing extraordinary." 
 
 " Ha ! you think so," said Frederick. 
 
 They soon reached the month of August, the time 
 when he was to present himself for his second exam- 
 ination. According to the prevailing opinion, the sub- 
 jects could be prepared for in a fortnight. Frederick, 
 having full confidence in his own powers, swallowed 
 up in a trice the first four books of the Code of Pro- 
 cedure, the first three of the Penal Code, fragments 
 of the system of criminal investigation, and a part of 
 the Civil Code, with the annotations of Monsieur 
 Poncelet. 
 
 As several examinations were taking place at the 
 same time, there were many persons in the precincts, 
 and among others Hussonnet and Cisy : young men 
 never failed to come and watch these ordeals when the 
 fortunes of their comrades were at stake. 
 
 Frederick put on the traditional black gown ; then, 
 followed by the throng, with three other students, he 
 entered a spacious apartment, into which the light 
 penetrated through uncurtained windows. There were 
 benches ranged along the walls, and in the centre of 
 the room leather chairs were set round a table adorned 
 with a green cover. This separated the candidates 
 from the examiners in their red gowns, and ermine 
 shoulder-knots, the head examiners wearing gold-laced 
 flat caps. 
 
 Frederick found himself the last but one in the series 
 an unfortunate place. In answer to the first ques- 
 tion, as to the difference between a convention and a 
 contract, he defined the one as if it were the other ; and 
 the professor, who was a fair sort of man, said to him,
 
 80 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Don't be agitated. Monsieur ! Compose yourself ! " 
 Then, having asked two easy questions, which were an- 
 swered in a doubtful fashion, he passed on at last to the 
 fourth. This wretched beginning caused Frederick to 
 lose his head. Deslauriers, who was facing him 
 amongst the spectators, made an encouraging sign to 
 him to indicate that it was not a hopeless case yet ; and 
 at the second series of questions, dealing with the crim- 
 inal law, he came out tolerably well. But after the 
 third, with reference to the " mystic will," the examiner 
 having remained impassive the whole time, his mental 
 distress redoubled ; for Hussonnet brought his hands 
 together as if to applaud, whilst Deslauriers liberally 
 indulged in shrugs of the shoulders. Finally, the mo- 
 ment was reached for the examination on Procedure. 
 The professor, displeased at listening to theories op- 
 posed to his own, presently asked him in a churlish 
 tone: 
 
 "And so this is your view, Monsieur? How do 
 you reconcile the principle of Article 1351 of the Civil 
 Code with this application by a third party to set aside 
 a judgment by default? " 
 
 Frederick had a bad headache from not having slept 
 the night before. A ray of sunlight, penetrating 
 through one of the slits in a Venetian blind, fell on his 
 face. Standing behind the seat, he kept wriggling 
 about and tugging at his moustache. 
 
 " I am still awaiting your answer," the man with the 
 gold-edged cap observed. 
 
 And as Frederick's movements, no doubt, irritated 
 him: 
 
 " You won't find it in that moustache of yours ! " 
 
 This sarcasm made the spectators laugh. The pro- 
 fessor, feeling flattered, adopted a coaxing tone. He 
 put two more questions with reference to adjournment
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 81 
 
 and summary jurisdiction, then nodded his head by 
 way of approval. The examination was over. Fred- 
 erick retired into the vestibule. 
 
 While an usher was taking off his gown, to put it on 
 some other person immediately afterward, his friends 
 gathered around him and succeeded in fairly worry- 
 ing him with their conflicting opinions as to the result 
 of his examination. Presently the announcement was 
 made in a sonorous voice at the entrance of the hall: 
 " The third was put off ! " 
 
 " Sent packing ! " said Hussonnet. " Let us go 
 away ! " 
 
 In front of the doorkeeper's lodge they met Marti- 
 non, flushed, excited, with a smile on his face and the 
 halo of victory around his brow. He had just passed 
 his final examination without any impediment. All he 
 had now to do was the thesis. Before a fortnight was 
 over he would be a licentiate. His family enjoyed the 
 acquaintance of a Minister ; " a beautiful career " was 
 opening before him . 
 
 " All the same, this puts you into a mess," said Des- 
 lauriers. 
 
 There is nothing so humiliating as to see blockheads 
 succeed in undertakings in which we ourselves fail. 
 Frederick, filled with vexation, replied that he did not 
 care a straw about the matter. He had higher pre- 
 tensions ; and as Hussonnet made a move to leave, 
 Frederick took him aside, and said to him : 
 
 " Not a word about this to them, mind ! " 
 
 It was easy to keep it secret, since Arnoux was 
 starting the next morning for Germany. 
 
 When he returned in the evening the clerk found his 
 friend singularly altered.: he was dancing about and 
 whistling; the other was astonished at this capricious 
 change of mood. Frederick declared that he did not in-
 
 82 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 tend to go home to his mother, as he meant to spend 
 his holidays working. 
 
 At the news of Arnoux's departure, a feeling of joy 
 had taken possession of him. He might present him- 
 self at the house whenever he liked without any fear 
 of having his visits interrupted. The consciousness of 
 absolute security would give him confidence. Now he 
 would not stand aloof, he would not be separated from 
 her! Something more powerful than an iron chain 
 attached him to Paris ; a voice from the depths of his 
 heart told him to remain. 
 
 There were certain obstacles in his path. These he 
 overcame by writing to his mother: first of all he ad- 
 mitted that he had failed to pass, owing to alterations 
 made in the course a mere mischance an unfair 
 thing; besides, all the great advocates (he referred to 
 them by name) had been rejected at their examina- 
 tions. But he planned to present himself again in the 
 month of November. Now, having no time to lose, he 
 would not go home this year; and he asked, in addi- 
 tion to the quarterly allowance, for two hundred and 
 fifty francs, to enable him to get coached in law by a 
 private tutor, which would be of great assistance to 
 him ; and he threw around the entire epistle a garland 
 of regrets, condolences, expressions of affection, and 
 protestations of filial love. 
 
 Madame Moreau, who had been expecting him the 
 following day, was doubly grieved. She threw a veil 
 over her son's misadventure, and in answer told him 
 to " come all the same." Frederick would not give 
 way, and the result was a falling out between them. 
 However, at the end of the week he received the 
 amount of the quarter's allowance, together with the 
 sum required for the payment of the private tutor. 
 This helped to pay for a pair of pearl-grey trousers, a
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 83 
 
 white felt hat, and a gold-headed switch. When he 
 had procured all these things he thought : 
 
 " Perhaps this is only a hairdresser's fancy on my 
 part ! " 
 
 And a feeling of considerable hesitation took pos- 
 session of him. 
 
 In order to decide as to whether he ought to call 
 on Madame Arnoux, he tosed three coins into the air 
 in succession. On each occasion luck was in his favour. 
 Surely Fate must have ordained it. He hailed a cab 
 and drove to the Rue de Choiseul. 
 
 He quickly ascended the staircase and drew the bell- 
 pull, but without effect. He felt as if he were about 
 to faint. 
 
 Then, with fierce energy, he pulled the heavy silk 
 tassel. There was a resounding peal which gradually 
 died away till no further sound was heard. Frederick 
 got rather frightened. 
 
 He laid his ear to the door not a breath ! He 
 looked in through the key-hole and only saw two 
 reed-points on the wall-paper in the midst of designs 
 of flowers. At last he was on the point of going away 
 when he thought he would try once more. This time 
 he gave a timid little ring. The door flew open, and 
 Arnoux himself appeared on the threshold, with his 
 hair all in disorder, his face crimson, and his features 
 distorted by an expression of sullen embarrassment. 
 
 " Hallo ! What the deuce brings you here ? Come 
 in!" 
 
 He led Frederick, not into the boudoir or into the 
 bed-room, but into the dining-room, where on the 
 table was a bottle of champagne and two glasses ; and, 
 in an abrupt tone : 
 
 " There is something you want to ask me, my dear 
 friend?"
 
 84 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " No ! nothing ! nothing ! " stammered the young 
 man, trying to think of some excuse for his visit. At 
 length he said that he had called to enquire if there 
 were any news from him, as Hussonnet had announced 
 that he had gone to Germany. 
 
 " Not at all ! " returned Arnoux. " What a feather- 
 headed fellow that is to misunderstand everything ! " 
 
 In order to conceal his agitation, Frederick kept 
 walking from right to left in the dining-room. Hap- 
 pening to come into contact with a chair, he knocked 
 down a parasol which had been laid across it, and the 
 ivory handle broke. 
 
 " Good heavens ! " he exclaimed. " How sorry I am 
 for having broken Madame Arnoux's parasol ! " 
 
 At this remark, the picture-dealer raised his head 
 and smiled in a very peculiar fashion. Frederick, 
 taking advantage of the opportunity thus offered to 
 talk about her, added shyly: 
 
 "Could I not see her?" 
 
 No. She had gone to the country to see her mother, 
 who was ill. 
 
 He did not venture to ask any questions as to the 
 length of time that she would be away. He merely 
 inquired what was Madame Arnoux's native place. 
 
 " Chartres. Does this astonish you ? " 
 
 " Astonish me ? Oh, no ! Why should it ? Not in 
 the least ! " 
 
 After that they could find absolutely nothing to 
 talk about. Arnoux, having made a cigarette for him- 
 self, kept walking round the table, puffing. Frederick, 
 standing near the stove, stared at the walls, the what- 
 not, and the floor; and the delightful pictures flitted 
 through his memory, or, rather, before his eyes. Then 
 he left the apartment. 
 
 .A piece of a newspaper, rolled up into a ball, lay on
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 85 
 
 the floor in the anteroom. Arnoux snatched it up, 
 and, raising himself on the tips of his toes, he stuck 
 it into the bell, in order, as he said, that he might be 
 able to go and finish his interrupted siesta. Then, as 
 he grasped Frederick's hand : 
 
 " Kindly tell the porter that I am not in." 
 
 And he shut the door after him with a bang. 
 
 Frederick descended the staircase slowly. The fail- 
 ure of this first attempt discouraged him as to the pos- 
 sible results of those that might follow. Then began 
 three months of absolute boredom. 
 
 He went back to his bedchamber ; then, throwing 
 himself on the sofa, he abandoned himself to a con- 
 fused succession of thoughts plans of work, schemes 
 for the guidance of his conduct, attempts to penetrate 
 the future. At last, in order to shake off broodings 
 which were all about himself, he went out into the open 
 air. 
 
 He plunged at random into the Latin Quarter, 
 usually so noisy, but deserted at this particular time, 
 for the students had gone back to their families. 
 
 Every day he went to the office of L'Art Industrie!; 
 and in order to ascertain when Madame Arnoux would 
 be back, he made elaborate enquiries about her mother. 
 Arnoux's answer never varied " the change for the 
 better was continuing " his wife, with his little 
 daughter, would be returning the following week. 
 The longer she remained away the more uneasiness 
 Frederick exhibited, so that Arnoux, touched by so 
 much affection, took him five or six times a week to 
 dine at a restaurant. 
 
 In the long talks which they had together on these 
 occasions Frederick discovered that the picture-dealer 
 was not a particularly intellectual type of a man. Ar- 
 noux might, however, take notice of his chilling man-
 
 86 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ner ; and Frederick deemed it advisable to pay back, in 
 a small measure, his polite attentions. 
 
 Being anxious to do things on a good scale, the 
 young man sold all his new clothes to a second-hand 
 clothes-dealer for the sum of eighty francs, and having 
 added it to the hundred francs which he still had left, 
 he called at Arnoux's house to bring him out to dine. 
 Regimbart happened to be there, and all three of them 
 set forth for Les Trois Freres Provengaux. 
 
 The Citizen began by taking off his surtout, and, 
 knowing that the two others would defer to his gastro- 
 nomic tastes, he drew up the menu. But in vain did 
 he make his way to the kitchen to speak himself to the 
 chef, go down to the cellar, with every corner of which 
 he was familiar, and send for the master of the estab- 
 lishment, to whom he gave " a blowing up." He was 
 not pleased with the dishes, the wines, or the attend- 
 ance. At each new dish, at each fresh bottle, as soon 
 as he had swallowed the first mouthful, the first 
 draught, he threw down his fork or pushed his glass 
 some distance away from him ; then, with his elbows 
 on the table-cloth, and stretching out his arms, he de- 
 clared in a loud tone that it was no longer possible to 
 dine in Paris ! Finally, not knowing what to put into 
 his mouth, Regimbart ordered kidney-beans dressed 
 with oil, " quite plain," which, though only a partial 
 success, slightly appeased him. Then he had a talk 
 with the waiter about the latter's predecessors at the 
 " Provengaux" : " What had become of Antoine ? 
 And a fellow named Eugene ? And Theodore, the lit- 
 tle fellow who always used to attend down stairs? 
 There was much better fare in those days, and Bur- 
 gundy vintages the like of which they would never see 
 again." 
 
 They went out to get coffee in the smoking-divan
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 87 
 
 on the ground-floor in the Passage du Saumon. Fred- 
 erick had to stand around while interminable games 
 of billiards were being played, drenched in innumer- 
 able glasses of beer ; and he lingered on there till mid- 
 night without knowing why, merely through want of 
 energy, through sheer senselessness, in the vague ex- 
 pectation that something might happen which would 
 give a favourable turn to his love. 
 
 When, then, would he see her again ? Frederick was 
 in a state of despair. But one evening, toward the 
 close of November, Arnoux said to him : 
 
 " My wife, you know, came back yesterday ! " 
 
 Next day, at five o'clock, he made his way to her 
 house. He began by congratulating her on her moth- 
 er's recovery from such a serious illness. 
 
 " Why, no ! Who told you that ? " 
 
 " Arnoux ! " 
 
 She gave vent to a slight " Ah ! " then added that 
 she had grave fears at first, which, however, were now 
 entirely dispelled. She was seated close beside the 
 fire in an upholstered easy-chair. He was on the sofa, 
 with his hat between his knees ; and the conversation 
 was difficult to carry on, as it was broken off nearly 
 every minute, so he got no chance of giving utterance 
 to his sentiments. But when he began to complain of 
 having to study legal quibbles, she answered, " Oh ! I 
 understand business ! " and she let her face fall, 
 buried suddenly in her own reflections. 
 
 He was eager to know what they were, and thought 
 of nothing else. The twilight shadows gathered 
 around them. 
 
 She rose, having to do some shopping; then she 
 reappeared in a bonnet trimmed with velvet, and a 
 black mantle edged with minever. He plucked up 
 enough courage to offer to accompany her.
 
 88 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 It was now so dark that one could scarcely see any- 
 thing. The air was cold, and had an unpleasant odour, 
 owing to a heavy fog, which partially blotted out the 
 fronts of the houses. Frederick breathed it with de- 
 light ; for he could feel through the wadding of his 
 coat the form of her arm ; and her hand, cased in a 
 chamois glove with two buttons, her little hand which 
 he would have liked to cover with kisses, leaned on 
 his sleeve. Owing to the slipperiness of the pavement, 
 they lost their balance a little ; it seemed to him as if 
 they were both rocked by the wind in the midst of a 
 cloud. 
 
 The glitter of the lamps on the boulevard awoke, 
 him to the realities of existence. The opportunity was 
 a good one, there was no time to lose. He allowed 
 himself as far as the Rue de Richelieu to declare his 
 love. But almost at that very moment, in front of a 
 china-shop, she stopped abruptly and said to him : 
 
 " This is the place. Thanks. On Thursday is it 
 not? as usual." 
 
 The dinners were now renewed ; and the more he 
 visited at Madame Arnoux's the more his love-sick- 
 ness increased. The contemplation of this woman had 
 an enervating effect upon him, like the use of a per- 
 fume that is too strong. It penetrated into the very 
 depths of his nature, and became almost a kind of ha- 
 bitual sensation, a new mode of existence. 
 
 The prostitutes whom he brushed past under the gas- 
 light, the female ballad-singers breaking into bursts of 
 melody, the ladies rising on horseback at full gallop, 
 the shopkeepers' wives on foot, the grisettes at their 
 windows, all women brought her before his mental 
 vision, either by their resemblance to her or through 
 the violent contrast they presented. 
 
 When he went into the Jardin des Plantes the sight
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 89 
 
 of a palm-tree directed his thoughts to distant coun- 
 tries. They were travelling together on the backs of 
 dromedaries, under the awnings of elephants, in the 
 cabin of a yacht amongst the blue archipelagoes, or 
 side by side on mules with little bells attached to them 
 who went stumbling through the grass against broken 
 columns. Then he saw her descending some wide por- 
 phyry staircase in the midst of senators under a dais of 
 ostriches' feathers, clad in a robe of brocade. At an- 
 other time he dreamed of her in yellow silk trousers on 
 the cushions of a harem. 
 
 As for attempting to make her his mistress, he was 
 sure that it would be futile. 
 
 One evening Dittmer, on his arrival, kissed her on 
 the forehead ; Lovarias did the same, observing : 
 
 " You give me permission don't you ? as it is a 
 friend's privilege ? " 
 
 Frederick stammered out : 
 
 " It seems to me that we are all friends." 
 
 " Not all old friends ! " she returned. 
 
 This was repulsing him beforehand indirectly. 
 
 Besides, what could he do? Tell her that he loved 
 her? No doubt, she would decline to listen to him 
 or else she would feel indignant and order him out of 
 the house. He preferred to submit to even the most 
 painful ordeal rather than run the horrible risk of 
 seeing her no more. He envied pianists for their 
 talents and soldiers for their scars. He longed for a 
 dangerous attack of sickness, hoping in this way to 
 arouse her interest. 
 
 One thing caused astonishment to himself, that he 
 felt in no way jealous of Arnoux; and he could not 
 picture her in his imagination undressed, so natural 
 did her modesty appear, and so far did her sex recede 
 into a mysterious background.
 
 90 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Nevertheless, he dreamed of the happiness of living 
 with her, of " theeing " and *' thouing " her, of pass- 
 ing his hand lingeringly over her head-bands, or re- 
 maining in a kneeling posture on the floor, with both 
 arms clasped round her waist, so as to drink in her 
 soul through his eyes. To accomplish this it would 
 be necessary to overcome Fate ; and so, incapable of 
 action, cursing God, and accusing himself of being a 
 coward, he kept moving restlessly within the confines 
 of his passion just as a prisoner keeps moving about in 
 his dungeon. The pangs which he was perpetually en- 
 during were choking him. For hours he would remain 
 quite motionless, or else he would burst into tears ; and 
 one day when he had not the strength to control his 
 emotion, Deslauriers said to him : 
 
 " Why, goodness gracious ! what's the matter with 
 you ? " 
 
 Frederick's nerves were unstrung. Deslauriers did 
 not believe a word of it. At the sight of so much men- 
 tal anguish he felt all his old affection reawakening, 
 and he tried to cheer up his friend. A man like him 
 to allow himself to get depressed, what folly ! It was 
 all very well whilst one was yoi.ng; but as one grows 
 older, it is only waste of time. 
 
 " You are spoiling my Frederick for me ! I want 
 him whom I knew in bygone days. The same boy as 
 ever ! I liked him ! Come, smoke a pipe, old chap ! 
 Shake yourself up a little ! You drive me mad ! " 
 
 " It is true," said Frederick, " I am a fool ! " 
 
 The clerk replied-: 
 
 " Ah ! old troubadour, I know very well what's troub- 
 ling you! A little affair of the heart? Confess it! 
 Bah ! One lost, four found to replace the one ! We 
 console ourselves for virtuous women with the other 
 sort. Would you like me to introduce you to some
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 91 
 
 women? You have only to come to the Alhambra." 
 
 (This was a place for public balls recently opened 
 at the top of the Champs-Elysees, which had gone 
 down owing to a display of licentiousness somewhat 
 more extreme than is usual in establishments of the 
 kind.) 
 
 " That's a place where there seems to be good fun. 
 You may take your friends, if you like. I can even 
 pass in Regimbart for you." 
 
 Frederick did not think fit to ask the Citizen to go. 
 Deslauriers deprived himself of the pleasure of Sene- 
 cal's society. They took only Hussonnet and Cisy 
 along with Dussardier; and the same hackney-coach 
 set the group of five down at the entrance of the Al- 
 hambra. 
 
 Two Moorish galleries extended on the right and 
 on the left, parallel to one another. The wall of a 
 house opposite filled the entire background ; and the 
 fourth side (that in which the restaurant was) repre- 
 sented a Gothic cloister with stained-glass windows. 
 A sort of Chinese roof screened the platform reserved 
 for the musicians, and the numerous walks, garnished 
 with sand of a deep yellow, carefully raked, made the 
 garden look much larger than it really was. 
 
 Stvidents were escorting their mistresses to and fro ; 
 drapers' clerks strutted about with canes in their 
 hands ; lads fresh from college were smoking their re- 
 galias ; old men had dyed beards, carefully combed. 
 There were English, Russians, men from South Amer- 
 ica, and three Orientals in tarbooshes. Lorettes, gri- 
 settes, and girls of the town were there in the hope of 
 finding a protector, a lover, a gold coin, or simply for 
 the pleasure of dancing. 
 
 Hussonnet was acquainted with a number of the 
 women through his connection with the fashion-jour-
 
 92 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 nals and the smaller theatres. He sent them kisses 
 with the tips of his fingers, and from time to time he 
 left his friends to go and chat with them. 
 
 Deslauriers felt jealous of these playful familiarities. 
 He accosted in a cynical manner a tall, fair-haired girl 
 in a nankeen costume. After looking him over with a 
 certain air of sullenness, she said : 
 
 " No ! I wouldn't trust you, my good fellow ! " and 
 turned on her heel. 
 
 His next attempt was on a stout brunette, who ap- 
 parently was a little mad ; for she gave a bounce at 
 the very first word he spoke to her, threatening, if he 
 went any further, to call the police. Deslauriers pre- 
 tended to laugh ; then, coming across a little woman 
 sitting by herself under a gas-lamp, he asked her to be 
 his partner in a quadrille. 
 
 The musicians, perched on the platform in the at- 
 titude of apes, kept scraping and blowing away with 
 desperate energy. The conductor, standing up, kept 
 beating time automatically. The dancers were much 
 crowded and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The 
 bonnet-strings, getting loose, rubbed against the cra- 
 vats ; the boots sank under the petticoats ; and all this 
 bouncing went on to the accompaniment of the music. 
 Deslauriers hugged the little woman, and, seized with 
 the delirium of the cancan, whirled about, like a big 
 marionette, in the midst of the dancers. Cisy and Dus- 
 sardier were still walking up and down. The young 
 aristocrat kept ogling the girls, but, in spite of the 
 clerk's persuasions, he did not venture to talk to them, 
 having an idea in his head that in the resorts of these 
 women there was always " a man hidden in the cup- 
 board with a pistol who would come out of it and force 
 you to sign a bill of exchange." 
 
 They came back and joined Frederick. Deslauriers
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 93 
 
 had stopped dancing; and they were all asking them- 
 selves how they were to finish up the evening, when 
 Hussonnet exclaimed : 
 
 " Look ! Here's the Marquise d'Amaegui ! " 
 
 The person referred to was a pale woman with a 
 retrousse nose, mittens up to her elbows, and big black 
 earrings hanging down her cheeks, like two dog's ears. 
 Hussonnet said to her : 
 
 " We should organise a little fete at your house 
 a sort of Oriental rout. Try to collect some of your 
 friends here for these French cavaliers. Well, what is 
 the matter ? Are you going to wait for your hidalgo ? " 
 
 The Andalusian hung down her head : being well 
 aware of the by no means generous habits of her 
 friend, she was afraid of having to pay for any re- 
 freshments he ordered. When, at length, she let the 
 word " money " slip from her, Cisy offered five na- 
 poleons all he had in his purse ; and so it was settled 
 that the thing should come off. 
 
 But Frederick was absent. He fancied that he had 
 recognised the voice of Arnoux, and suddenly got a 
 glimpse of a woman's hat ; he hastened toward an ar- 
 bour which was not far off. 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz was alone there with Arnoux. 
 
 " Excuse me ! I am in the way ? " 
 
 " Not in the least ! " returned the picture-merchant. 
 
 Frederick, from the concluding words of their con- 
 versation, understood that Arnoux had come to the 
 Alhambra to talk over an important matter of business 
 with Mademoiselle Vatnaz; and it was evident that he 
 was not completely reassured, for he said to her, with 
 some uneasiness in his manner : 
 
 " You are quite sure ? " 
 
 " Perfectly certain ! You are loved. Ah ! what a 
 man you are ! "
 
 94 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 And she assumed a pouting look, putting out her 
 big lips, so red that they seemed tinged with blood. 
 But she had wonderful eyes, of a tawny hue, with 
 specks of gold in the pupils, full of vivacity, amorous- 
 ness, and sensuality. They lit up, like lamps, the 
 rather yellow tint of her thin face. Arnoux seemed 
 to relish her exhibition of pique. He stooped over 
 her, saying : 
 
 " You are nice give me a kiss! " 
 
 She caught hold of his two ears, and pressed her 
 lips against his forehead. 
 
 At that moment the dancing stopped ; and in the 
 conductor's place appeared a handsome young man, 
 rather fat, with a waxen complexion. He had long 
 black hair, which he wore in the same fashion as 
 Christ, and a blue velvet waistcoat embroidered with 
 large gold palm-branches. He looked as proud as a 
 peacock, and as stupid as a turkey-cock; and, having 
 bowed to the audience, he began a ditty. A villager 
 was supposed to be giving an account of his journey 
 to the capital. The singer used the dialect of Lower 
 Normandy, and played the part of a drunken man. 
 The refrain 
 
 "Ah! I laughed at you there, I laughed at you there, 
 In that rascally city of Paris!" 
 
 was greeted with prolonged applause. Delmas, " a 
 vocalist who sang with expression," was too clever to 
 let the excitement of his listeners cool. A guitar was 
 quickly handed to him and he moaned forth a ballad 
 entitled " The Albanian Girl's Brother." 
 
 The words recalled to Frederick those which had 
 been sung by the man in rags between the paddle- 
 boxes of the steamboat. His eyes involuntarily rested 
 on the hem of the dress spread out before him. 
 
 After each couplet there was a long pause, and
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 95 
 
 the blowing of the wind through the trees resembled 
 the sound of waves. 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz blushed -the moment she saw 
 Dussardier. She soon rose, and stretching out her 
 hand toward him : 
 
 " You do not remember me, Monsieur Auguste ? " 
 
 " How do you know her?" asked Frederick. 
 
 " We have been in the same house," he replied. 
 
 Cisy pulled him by the sleeve ; they went out ; and, 
 scarcely had they disappeared, when Madame Vatnaz 
 began to pronounce a eulogy on his character. She 
 even went so far as to say that he possessed " the 
 genius of the heart." 
 
 Then they chatted about Delmas, admitting that as 
 a mimic he might be a success on the stage ; and a 
 discussion followed in which Shakespeare, the Censor- 
 ship, Style, the People, the receipts of the Porte Saint- 
 Martin, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, and Dumer- 
 san were all mixed up together. 
 
 Arnoux had known many celebrated actresses ; the 
 young men listened eagerly to what he had to say about 
 these ladies. But his words were lost in the noise of 
 the music; and, as soon as the quadrille or the polka 
 was over, they all sat round the tables, called the 
 waiter, and laughed. Behind the mediaeval cloister 
 could be heard crackling sounds ; squibs went off ; arti- 
 ficial suns began revolving; the gleam of the Bengal 
 fires, like emeralds in colour, lighted up for the space 
 of a minute the entire garden ; and, with the last rocket, 
 a great sigh escaped from the assembled throng. 
 
 It slowly died away. A cloud of gunpowder floated 
 into the air. Frederick and Deslauriers were walking 
 side by side through the midst of the crowd, when 
 they happened to see something that made them 
 suddenly stop: Martinon was in the act of paying
 
 96 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 some money at the place where umbrellas were left; 
 and he had with him a woman of fifty, plain-look- 
 ing, magnificently dressed, and of problematic social 
 rank. 
 
 " That sly dog," said Deslauriers, " is not so simple 
 as we imagine. But where in the world is Cisy ? " 
 
 Dussardier pointed toward the smoking-divan, 
 where they perceived the knightly youth, with a bowl 
 of punch before him, and a pink hat by his side, to 
 keep him company. Hussonnet, who had been away 
 for the past few minutes, reappeared at the same mo- 
 ment with a young girl leaning on his arm, who ad- 
 dressed him in a loud voice as " My little cat." 
 
 " Oh, no ! " said he to her " not in public ! Call 
 me rather ' Vicomte.' That gives you a cavalier style 
 Louis XIII and dainty boots the sort of thing I 
 like! Yes, my good friends, one of the old regime! 
 nice, isn't she ? " and he chucked her under the chin 
 " Salute these gentlemen ! they are all the sons of 
 peers of France. I associate with them in order that 
 they may get an appointment for me as an ambassa- 
 dor." 
 
 " How insane you are ! " sighed Mademoiselle Vat- 
 naz. She asked Dussardier to see her as far as her 
 own door. 
 
 Arnoux watched them going off; then, turning 
 toward Frederick : 
 
 " Did you like the Vatnaz ? At any rate, you're not 
 quite frank about these affairs. I believe you keep 
 your amours secret." 
 
 Frederick, turning pale, swore that he kept nothing 
 hidden. 
 
 " Can it be possible you don't know what it is to 
 have a mistress ? " said Arnoux. 
 
 Frederick felt a longing to mention some woman's
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 97 
 
 name at random. But the story might be repeated to 
 her. So he replied that as a matter of fact he had no 
 mistress. 
 
 The picture-dealer reproached him for this. 
 
 " This evening you had a good opportunity ! Why 
 didn't you do like the others, each of whom went off 
 with a woman ? " 
 
 "Well, and what about yourself?" said Frederick, 
 irritated by his persistency. 
 
 " Oh ! myself that's quite another matter, my lad ! 
 I go home to my own one ! " 
 
 Then he called a cab, and disappeared. 
 
 The two friends walked homeward. An east wind 
 was blowing. They did not exchange a word. Des- 
 lauriers was regretting that he had not succeeded in 
 making a shine before a certain newspaper-manager, 
 and Frederick was lost once more in his melancholy 
 broodings. At length, breaking the silence, he re- 
 marked that this public-house ball appeared to him a 
 stupid affair. 
 
 "Whose fault is that? If you had not left us, to 
 join that Arnoux of yours " 
 
 " Bah ! anything I could have done would have been 
 utterly useless ! " 
 
 But the clerk had theories of his own. All that was 
 necessary in order to get a thing was to desire it 
 strongly. 
 
 " Nevertheless, you yourself, a little while ago " 
 
 " I don't care a straw about that sort of thing ! " re- 
 turned Deslauriers, cutting short Frederick's allusion. 
 " Am I going to get entangled with women ? " 
 
 And he declaimed against their affectations, their 
 silly ways in short, he disliked them. 
 
 " Don't be acting, then ! " said Frederick. 
 
 Deslauriers was silent. Then, all at once :
 
 98 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Will you bet me a hundred francs that I won't 
 catch the first woman that passes? " 
 
 " Yes it's a bet! " 
 
 The first who passed was a hideous-looking beggar- 
 woman, and they were giving up all hope of a chance 
 presenting itself when, in the middle of the Rue de 
 Rivoli, they saw a tall girl with a little bandbox in her 
 hand. 
 
 Deslauriers accosted her under the arcades. She 
 turned up abruptly by the Tuileries, and soon diverged 
 into the Place du Carrousel. She looked to the right 
 and to the left. She ran after a hackney-coach ; Des- 
 lauriers overtook her. He walked by her side, talking 
 to her with expressive gestures. At length, she ac- 
 cepted his arm, and they walked on together along the 
 quays. Then, when they reached the rising ground in 
 front of the Chatelet, they kept tramping up and down 
 for at least twenty minutes, like two sailors keeping 
 watch. But, all of a sudden, they passed over the 
 Pont-au-Change, through the Flower Market, and 
 along the Quai Napoleon. Frederick came up behind 
 them. Deslauriers gave him to understand that he 
 would be in their way, and had better follow his ex- 
 ample. 
 
 " How much have you got left ? " 
 
 " Two hundred sous pieces." 
 
 ' That's enough good night to you ! " 
 
 Frederick was seized with the astonishment one feels 
 at seeing a piece of foolery coming to a successful 
 issue. 
 
 " He has the laugh at me," was his reflection. 
 " Suppose I went back again ? " 
 
 Perhaps Deslauriers imagined that he was envious of 
 this paltry love ! " As if I had not one a hundred times 
 more satisfying, more noble, more absorbing." He felt
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 99 
 
 a sort of angry feeling impelling him onward. He ar- 
 rived in front of Madame Arnoux's door. 
 
 None of the outer windows belonged to her apart- 
 ment. Nevertheless, he remained with his eyes fixed 
 on the front of the house as if he fancied he could, 
 by his contemplation, penetrate the walls. No doubt, 
 she was now sunk in repose, tranquil as a sleeping 
 flower, with her beautiful black hair resting on the lace 
 of the pillow, her lips slightly parted, and one arm 
 under her head. Then Arnoux's face rose before him, 
 and he rushed away to escape from this vision. 
 
 The advice which Deslauriers had given to him came 
 back to his memory. It only filled him with horror. 
 Then he walked about the streets in a vagabond 
 fashion. He found himself on the Pont de la Con- 
 corde. 
 
 Then he recalled that evening in the previous winter, 
 when, as he left her house for the first time, he was 
 forced to stand still, so rapidly did his heart beat with 
 the hopes that filled him. And now they had all with- 
 ered ! 
 
 He resumed his walk. But, as he was exceedingly 
 hungry, and none of the restaurants were open, he 
 went to get a " snack " at a tavern by the fish-markets ; 
 after which, thinking it too soon to return home, he 
 kept wandering about the Hotel de Ville till a quarter 
 past eight. 
 
 Deslauriers had long since got rid of his wench ; and 
 he was writing at the table in the middle of his room. 
 About four o'clock that afternoon, Monsieur de Cisy 
 came in. 
 
 Thanks to Dussardier, he had enjoyed the society of 
 a lady the night before ; and he had even accompanied 
 her home in the carriage with her husband to the very 
 threshold of their house, where she had given him an
 
 100 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 assignation. He parted with her without even finding 
 out her name. 
 
 " And what do you propose that I should do in that 
 way? " said Frederick. 
 
 Thereupon the young gentleman began to cudgel his 
 brains to think of a suitable woman ; he mentioned 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz, the Andalusian, and all the 
 others. At length, with much circumlocution, he came 
 to the object of his visit. Relying on the discretion of 
 his friend, he came to aid him in taking an important 
 step, after which he might definitely regard himself as 
 a man ; and Frederick showed no reluctance. He told 
 the story to Deslauriers without relating the facts with 
 reference to himself personally. 
 
 The clerk was of opinion that he was now progres- 
 sing very well. This respect for his advice increased 
 his good humour. He owed to that quality his success, 
 on the very first night he met her, with Mademoiselle 
 Clemence Daviou, embroideress in gold for military 
 outfits, the sweetest creature that ever lived, as slender 
 as a reed, with large blue eyes, perpetually staring with 
 wonder. The clerk had taken advantage of her cred- 
 ulity to such an extent as to make her believe that he 
 had been decorated. At their private meetings he had 
 his frock-coat adorned with a red ribbon, but divested 
 himself of it on public occasions in order, as he put it, 
 not to humiliate his master. However, he kept her at 
 a distance, allowed himself to be fawned upon, like a 
 pasha, and, in a laughing sort of way, called her 
 " daughter of the people." Every time they met, she 
 brought him little bunches of violets. Frederick 
 would not have enjoyed a love affair of this sort. 
 
 Meanwhile, whenever they set forth arm-in-arm to 
 visit Pinson's or Barillot's circulating library, he ex- 
 perienced a feeling of singular depression. Frederick
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 101 
 
 did not realise how much pain he had caused Deslau- 
 riers for the past year, while brushing his nails pre- 
 paratory to dining in the Rue de Choiseul ! 
 
 One evening, when from the commanding position 
 in which his balcony stood, he had just been watching 
 them as they went out together, he saw Hussonnet, 
 some distance off, on the Pont d'Arcole. The Bo- 
 hemian made signals to him, and, when Frederick had 
 descended the five flights of stairs : 
 
 " Here is the thing it is next Saturday, the 24th, 
 Madame Arnoux's feast-day." 
 
 " How is that, when her name is Marie? " 
 
 " And Angele.also no matter! They will entertain 
 their guests at their country-house at Saint-Cloud. I 
 was told to give you due notice about it. You'll find 
 a vehicle waiting at the magazine-office at three o'clock. 
 So that makes matters all right ! Excuse me for hav- 
 ing disturbed you ! But I have such a number of calls 
 to make ! " 
 
 Frederick had scarcely turned round when his door- 
 keeper placed a letter in his hand : 
 
 " Monsieur and Madame Dambreuse beg of Mon- 
 sieur F. Moreau to do them the honour to come and 
 dine with them on Saturday the 24th inst. R.S.V.P." 
 
 " Too late ! " he said to himself. Nevertheless, he 
 showed the letter to Deslauriers, who exclaimed : 
 
 " Ha ! at last ! But you don't look as if you were 
 pleased. Why?" 
 
 After some little hesitation, Frederick said that he 
 had another invitation for the same day. 
 
 " Be kind enough to let me run across to the Rue de 
 Choiseul. I'm not joking! I'll answer this for you 
 If it disturbs you." 
 
 And the clerk wrote an acceptance of the invitation 
 In the third person.
 
 102 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Having seen nothing of the social world save 
 through the fever of his desires, he pictured it to him- 
 self as an artificial creation discharging its functions by 
 virtue of mathematical laws. A dinner in the city, an 
 accidental meeting with a man in office, a smile from a 
 pretty woman, might, by a series of actions deducing 
 themselves from one another, have gigantic results. 
 Certain Parisian drawing-rooms were similar to those 
 machines which take a material in the rough and ren- 
 der it a hundred times more valuable. He believed in 
 courtesans advising diplomatists, in wealthy marriages 
 brought about by intrigues, in the cleverness of con- 
 victs, in the capacity of strong men for getting the bet- 
 ter of fortune. In short, he considered it so important 
 to visit the Dambreuses, and talked about it so plausi- 
 bly, that Frederick was at a loss to know what to do. 
 
 The least attention he could show, as it was Madame 
 Arnoux's feast-day, was to make her a present. He 
 naturally thought of a parasol, in order to replace the 
 one he had broken. He came across a shot-silk parasol 
 with a little carved ivory handle, which had come all 
 the way from China. But the price of it was a hun- 
 dred and seventy-five francs, and he had not a sou, 
 having in fact to live on the credit of his next quar- 
 ter's allowance. However, he wished to get it ; he was 
 determined to have it; and in spite of his repugnance 
 to doing so, he had recourse to Deslauriers. 
 
 Deslauriers answered Frederick's first question by 
 saying that he had no money. 
 
 " I need some," said Frederick " I need some very 
 badly ! " 
 
 As the other made the same excuse again, he flew 
 into a passion. 
 
 " You might find it to your advantage some 
 time "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 103 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? " 
 
 "Oh! nothing." 
 
 The clerk understood. He took the sum required 
 out of his reserve-fund, and when he had counted out 
 the money, coin by coin : 
 
 "' I am not asking you for a receipt, as I see you 
 have a lot of expense ! " 
 
 Frederick threw himself on his friend's neck with a 
 thousand affectionate protestations. Deslauriers re- 
 ceived this display of emotion frigidly. Then, next 
 morning, noticing the parasol on the top of the piano : 
 
 " Ah ! it was for that ! " 
 
 " I may send it, perhaps/' said Frederick, with an 
 air of carelessness. 
 
 Good fortune was on his side, for that evening he 
 received a note with a black border from Madame 
 Dambreuse announcing that she had lost an uncle, and 
 excusing herself for having to defer till a later period 
 the pleasure of making his acquaintance. 
 
 At two o'clock, he reached the office of the art jour- 
 nal. Instead of waiting to drive him in his carriage, 
 Arnoux had left the city the night before, unable to 
 resist the opportunity of getting some fresh air. 
 
 Every year it had been his custom, as soon as the 
 leaves were budding forth, to start early in the morn- 
 ing and to remain away several days, making long 
 journeys across the fields, drinking milk at the farm- 
 houses, romping with the village girls, asking ques- 
 tions about the harvest, and carrying back home with 
 him stalks of salad in his pocket-handkerchief. At 
 length, he realised a long-cherished dream of his, by 
 buying a country -house. 
 
 While Frederick was talking to the picture-dealer's 
 clerk, Mademoiselle Vatnaz suddenly made her appear- 
 ance, and expressed herself disappointed at not seeing
 
 104 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Arnoux. He would, perhaps, be remaining away two 
 days longer. The clerk advised her " to go there " 
 she could not ; to write a letter she was afraid that it 
 might get lost. Frederick offered to be the bearer of 
 it himself. She rapidly scribbled off a letter, and im- 
 plored him to let nobody see him delivering it. 
 
 Forty minutes later, he found himself at Saint- 
 Cloud. The house, which was about a hundred paces 
 farther away than the bridge, stood half-way up the 
 hill. The garden-walls were hidden by two rows of 
 linden-trees, and a wide lawn sloped to the bank of 
 the river. The railed entrance before the door was 
 open, and Frederick went in. 
 
 Arnoux, stretched on the grass, was playing with a 
 litter of kittens. This amusement appeared to absorb 
 him completely. Mademoiselle Vatnaz's letter aroused 
 him out of his sleepy idleness. 
 
 " The deuce ! the deuce ! this is a bore ! She is 
 right, though ; I must go." 
 
 Then, having stuck the missive into his pocket, he 
 showed the young man through the grounds with evi- 
 dent delight. Presently a few harmonious notes burst 
 forth above their heads: Madame Arnoux, fancying 
 that there was nobody near, was singing to amuse her- 
 self. She ceased all at once, when M. and Madame 
 Oudry, two neighbours, presented themselves. 
 
 Then she appeared herself at the top of the steps in 
 front of the house ; and, as she descended, he caught a 
 glimpse of her foot. She wore little open shoes of red- 
 dish-brown leather, with three straps crossing each 
 other so as to draw just above her stockings a wire- 
 work of gold. 
 
 Those who had been invited arrived. With the ex- 
 ception of Maitre Lefaucheur, an advocate, they were 
 the same guests who came to the Thursday dinners.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 105 
 
 Each had brought some present Dittmer a Syrian 
 scarf, Rosenwald a scrap-book of ballads, Burieu a 
 water-colour painting, Sombary one of his own cari- 
 catures, and Pellerin a charcoal-drawing, representing 
 a kind of dance of death, a hideous fantasy, poorly 
 executed. Hussonnet dispensed with the formality 
 of making a present. 
 
 Frederick was waiting to offer his gift. 
 
 She thanked him very much for it. Thereupon, he 
 said : 
 
 " Why, 'tis nothing more than a debt. I have been 
 so much annoyed " 
 
 " At what, pray ? " she returned. " I don't under- 
 stand." 
 
 " Come! dinner is waiting! " said Arnoux, catching 
 hold of his arm ; then in a whisper : " You are not very 
 knowing, certainly ! " 
 
 Nothing could well be prettier than the dining-room, 
 decorated in water-green. Through the open windows 
 the entire garden could be seen with the long lawn 
 flanked by an old Scotch fir. 
 
 They chatted first about the view before them, then 
 about scenery in general ; and they were beginning to 
 plunge into discussions when Arnoux, at half-past 
 nine o'clock, ordered the carriage to be brought round. 
 
 " Would you like me to go back with you ? " said 
 Madame Arnoux. 
 
 " Why, certainly ! " and, making her a graceful bow : 
 " You know well, Madame, that it is impossible to live 
 without you ! " 
 
 Everyone congratulated her on having so good a 
 husband. 
 
 " Ah ! it is because I am not the only one," she re- 
 plied quietly, pointing toward her little daughter. 
 
 Then, the conversation having turned once more on
 
 106 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 painting, there was some talk about a Ruysdael, for 
 which Arnoux expected a big sum, and Pellerin asked 
 him if it were true that the celebrated Saul Mathias 
 from London had come over during the past month 
 to make him an offer of twenty-three thousand francs 
 for it. 
 
 " 'Tis an absolute fact ! " and turning to\vard Fred- 
 erick : " That was the very same gentleman I brought 
 with me a few days ago to the Alhambra, much against 
 my will, I assure you, for these English are by no 
 means congenial companions." 
 
 Frederick, who suspected that Mademoiselle Vat- 
 naz's letter contained some reference to an intrigue, 
 was amazed at the facility with which my lord Ar- 
 noux found a way of passing it off as a perfectly 
 honourable transaction ; but this new lie, which was 
 quite unnecessary, made the young man open his eyes 
 in speechless astonishment. 
 
 The picture-dealer added, with an air of simplicity: 
 
 " What's the name, by-the-by, of that young fellow, 
 your friend ? " 
 
 " Deslauriers," said Frederick quickly. 
 
 And, in order to repair the injustice which he felt 
 he had done to his comrade, he praised him as one 
 who possessed exceptional ability. 
 
 " Ah ! indeed ? But he doesn't look such a fine fel- 
 low as the other the clerk in the waggon office." 
 
 Frederick bestowed a mental imprecation on Dus- 
 sardier. She would now be thinking that he asso- 
 ciated with the common herd. 
 
 Then they began to talk about the decorating of the 
 capital the new districts of the city and the worthy 
 Oudry happened to refer to M. Dambreuse as one of 
 the big speculators. 
 
 Frederick, taking advantage of the opportunity to
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 107 
 
 make a good figure, remarked that he was acquainted 
 with that gentleman. But Pellerin launched into a 
 harangue against shopkeepers he saw no difference 
 between them, whether they were sellers of candles or 
 of money. 
 
 When they had taken their coffee, while they 
 smoked, under the linden-trees, and strolled about the 
 garden for some time, they went for a walk along the 
 river. 
 
 The party stopped before a fishmonger's shop, where 
 a man was washing eels. Mademoiselle Marthe wished 
 to look at them. He emptied the box out on the grass ; 
 and the little girl threw herself on her knees in order 
 to catch them, laughed with delight, and then began to 
 scream with terror. They all got spoiled, and Arnoux 
 paid for them. 
 
 He next took it into his head to go out for a sail in 
 the cutter. 
 
 One side of the horizon was beginning to assume a 
 pale aspect, while on the other side a wide strip of 
 orange colour appeared, deepening into purple at the 
 summits of the hills, which were steeped in shadow. 
 Madame Arnoux seated herself on a big stone, this 
 glittering splendour forming a background. The other 
 ladies sauntered about. Hussonnet, at the lower end 
 of the river's bank, made ducks and drakes over the 
 water. 
 
 Arnoux presently returned, followed by a weather- 
 beaten long boat, into which, in spite of the most pru- 
 dent remonstrances, he packed his guests. The boat 
 got upset, and they had to go ashore again. 
 
 By this time wax tapers were burning in the draw- 
 ing-room, all hung with chintz, and with branched can- 
 dlesticks of crystal fixed close to the walls. Mere 
 Oudry was sleeping comfortably in an armchair, and
 
 108 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the others were listening to M. Lefaucheux expatiating 
 on the glories of the Bar. Madame Arnoux was seated 
 by herself near the window. Frederick went over to 
 her. 
 
 They chatted about the remarks which were being 
 made in their vicinity. She admired oratory ; he pre- 
 ferred the renown gained by writing. But, she ven- 
 tured to suggest, it must give a man greater pleasure 
 to move crowds directly by addressing them in person, 
 face to face, than it does to infuse into their souls by 
 his pen all the sentiments that animate his own. Such 
 triumphs as these did not tempt Frederick much, as 
 he lacked ambition. 
 
 Then he broached the subject of sentimental ad- 
 ventures. She spoke pityingly of the havoc wrought 
 by passion, but expressed indignation at hypocritical 
 vileness, and this rectitude of spirit harmonised so well 
 with the regular beauty of her face that it seemed in- 
 deed as if her physical beauty were the outcome of 
 her moral nature. 
 
 She smiled, every now and then, letting her eyes 
 rest on him for a moment. Then he felt her glances 
 penetrating his soul like those great rays of sunlight 
 which descend into the depths of the water. He loved 
 her without a single mental reservation, without any 
 hope of his love being reciprocated, unconditionally ; 
 and in those silent transports, which were like out- 
 bursts of gratitude, he would fain have covered her 
 forehead with a rain of kisses. An inspiration from 
 within carried him beyond himself he felt moved by 
 a longing for self-sacrifice, an imperative impulse 
 toward immediate self-devotion, and it was all the 
 stronger because he could not gratify it. 
 
 He did not leave with the others. Neither did Hus- 
 sonnet. They were to go back in the carriage; and
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 109 
 
 the vehicle was waiting just in front of the steps when 
 Arnoux rushed into the garden to gather some flowers. 
 Then the bouquet having been tied round with a 
 thread, as the stems were uneven, he searched in his 
 pocket, which was full of papers, took out a piece at 
 random, wrapped them up, completed his handiwork 
 with the aid of a strong pin, and then offered the flow- 
 ers to his wife with a certain amount of gallant ten- 
 derness. 
 
 "Look here, my darling! Forgive me for having 
 forgotten you ! " 
 
 But she uttered a little scream : the pin, having been 
 awkwardly fixed, had scratched her, and she hastened 
 up to he r room. They waited nearly a quarter of an 
 hour for her. At last, she reappeared, picked up 
 Marthe, and threw herself into the carriage. 
 
 " And your bouquet? " said Arnoux. 
 
 " No ! no it is not worth while ! " Frederick was 
 running off to fetch it for her ; she called out to him : 
 
 " I don't want it ! " 
 
 But he speedily brought it to her, saying that he had 
 just put it into an envelope again, as he had found the 
 flowers lying on the floor. She thrust them behind 
 the leathern apron of the carriage close to the seat, and 
 off they started. 
 
 Frederick, seated by her side, noticed that she was 
 trembling frightfully. Then, when they had passed 
 the bridge, as Arnoux was turning to the left : 
 
 "Why, no! you are making a mistake ! the other 
 way, to the right ! " 
 
 She seemed irritated ; everything annoyed her. At 
 length, Marthe having closed her eyes, Madame Ar- 
 noux drew forth the bouquet, and flung it out through 
 the carriage-door, then caught Frederick's arm, mak- 
 ing a sign to him with the other hand to say nothing.
 
 110 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 After this, she pressed her handkerchief to her lips, 
 and sat quite motionless. 
 
 The two others, on the dickey, kept talking about 
 printing and about subscribers. Arnoux, who was 
 driving recklessly, lost his way in the middle of the 
 Bois de Boulogne. Then they plunged into narrow 
 paths. The horse proceeded along at a walking pace ; 
 the branches of the trees grazed the hood. Frederick 
 could see nothing of Madame Arnoux save her two 
 eyes. Marthe lay stretched across her lap while he 
 supported the child's head. 
 
 " She is tiring you ! " said her mother. 
 
 He replied : 
 
 " No ! Oh, no ! " 
 
 Whirlwinds of dust rose up slowly. They passed 
 through Auteuil. All the houses were closed ; a gas- 
 lamp here and there lighted up the angle of a wall; 
 then again they were surrounded by darkness. At one 
 time he noticed that she was shedding tears. 
 
 Was this from remorse or passion? What in the 
 world was it? This grief, of whose exact cause he was 
 ignorant, interested him like a personal matter. There 
 was now a new bond between them, as if, in a sense, 
 they were accomplices ; and he said to her in the most 
 caressing voice he could assume : 
 
 "You are ill?" 
 
 " Yes, a little," she returned. 
 
 The carriage rolled on, and the honeysuckles and 
 the syringas trailed over the garden fences, sending 
 forth an enervating odour into the night air. He bent 
 over the little girl, and spreading out her pretty brown 
 tresses, kissed her softly on the forehead. 
 
 " You are good ! " said Madame Arnoux. 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because you are fond of children."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 111 
 
 " Not of all children ! " 
 
 He said no more, but he let his left hand hang down 
 by her side wide open, fancying that she might do 
 likewise, and that he would find her palm touching his. 
 Then he felt ashamed and withdrew it. They soon 
 reached the paved street. The carriage advanced more 
 quickly ; the number of gaslights increased it was 
 Paris. 
 
 Next morning he began working as hard as ever 
 he could. 
 
 He fancied himself in an Assize Court, on a winter's 
 evening, at the close of the advocates' speeches, when 
 the jurymen are looking pale, and when the panting 
 audience make the partitions of the praetorium creak; 
 and after having being four hours speaking, he was 
 recapitulating all his proofs, feeling with every phrase, 
 with every word, with every gesture, the chopper of 
 the guillotine; which was suspended behind him, ready 
 to fall ; then in the tribune of the Chamber, an orator 
 who bears on his lips the safety of an entire people, 
 drowning his opponents under his figures of rhetoric, 
 crushing them under a repartee, with thunders and 
 musical intonations in his voice, ironical, pathetic, fiery, 
 sublime. She would be there somewhere amidst the 
 others, hiding beneath her veil her enthusiastic tears. 
 
 Deslauriers, who had found it so troublesome to 
 coach him once more for the second examination at 
 the close of December, and for the third in February, 
 was astonished at his enthusiasm. Then the great ex- 
 pectations of former days returned. In ten years Fred- 
 erick might be deputy ; in fifteen a minister. Why not? 
 With his patrimony, which would soon be in his own 
 hands, he might at first start a newspaper ; this would 
 be the first step in his career; after that they would 
 see what the future would bring. As for himself, he
 
 112 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 was still ambitious of obtaining a chair in the Law 
 School ; and he sustained his thesis for the degree of 
 Doctor with such remarkable ability that it won for 
 him the compliments of the professors. 
 
 Three days afterward, Frederick took his own de- 
 gree. Before leaving for his holidays, he conceived the 
 idea of getting up a picnic to bring to a close their 
 Saturday reunions. 
 
 He displayed the utmost gaiety on the occasion. 
 Madame Arnoux was at the time with her mother at 
 Chartres. But he would soon see her again, and 
 would end by being her lover. 
 
 Deslauriers, admitted the same day to the young ad- 
 vocates' pleading rehearsals at Orsay, had made a 
 speech which was greatly applauded. Although he 
 was sober, he drank a little more wine than was good 
 for him, and said to Dussardier at dessert : 
 
 " You are an honest fellow ! and when I'm a rich 
 man I'll make you my manager." 
 
 All were delighted. Cisy did not intend to finish his 
 law-course. Martinon planned to remain during the 
 period before his admission to the Bar, in the provinces, 
 where he would be nominated a deputy-magistrate. 
 Pellerin was devoting himself to the production of a 
 large picture representing " The Genius of the Revolu- 
 tion." Hussonnet was, in the following week, to sub- 
 mit to the Director of Public Amusements the scheme 
 of a play, and had no doubt as to its success : 
 
 " As for the framework of the drama, they may rely 
 on me! As for the passions, I have knocked about 
 enough to comprehend them thoroughly; and as for 
 witticisms, they're entirely in my line ! " 
 
 He gave a spring, fell on his two hands, and thus 
 moved for some time around the table with his legs 
 in the air. This performance, worthy of a street-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 113 
 
 urchin, did not banish Senecal's frowns. He had just 
 been dismissed from the boarding-school, in which he 
 had been a teacher, for having given a whipping to an 
 aristocrat's son. His straitened circumstances had got 
 worse in consequence : he laid the blame of this on the 
 inequalities of society, and cursed the wealthy. He 
 poured out his grievances into the sympathetic ears of 
 Regimbart, who every day became more and more dis- 
 illusioned, saddened, and disgusted. The Citizen had 
 now turned his attention toward questions arising out 
 of the Budget, and blamed the Court party for the loss 
 of millions in Algeria. 
 
 As he could not sleep without first paying a visit to 
 the Alexandre smoking-divan, he disappeared at eleven 
 o'clock. The rest went away some time afterward ; 
 and Frederick, as he was parting with Hussonnet, 
 learned that Madame Arnoux had been due the night 
 before. 
 
 He accordingly went to the coach-office to change 
 his time for starting to the next day and at about six 
 o'clock in the evening presented himself at her house. 
 Her return, the doorkeeper said, had been postponed 
 for a week. Frederick dined alone, and then lounged 
 about the boulevards. 
 
 He stopped in front of the theatre of the Porte Saint- 
 Martin to look at the bill ; and, for want of something 
 to occupy him, paid for a seat and went in. 
 
 An old-fashioned dramatic version of a fairy-tale 
 was being played. There was a very small audience ; 
 and through the skylights of the top gallery the vault 
 of heaven seemed cut up into little blue squares, whilst 
 the stage lamps above the orchestra formed a single 
 line of yellow illuminations. 
 
 He had just got to his seat when, glancing at the 
 balcony, he saw a lady and a gentleman enter the first
 
 114 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 box in front of the stage. The husband had a pale face 
 with a narrow strip of grey beard round it, the rosette 
 of a Government official, and that frigid look which is 
 supposed to characterise diplomatists. 
 
 His wife, who was at least twenty years younger, 
 and who was neither tall nor under-sized, neither ugly 
 nor pretty, wore her fair hair in corkscrew curls in the 
 English fashion, and displayed a long-bodiced dress 
 and a large black lace fan. Frederick could not recall 
 to mind where he had seen that face. 
 
 In the next interval between the acts, while passing 
 through one of the lobbies, he came face to face with 
 both of them. As he bowed in an undecided manner, 
 M. Dambreuse, at once recognising him, came up and 
 apologised for having treated him with unpardonable 
 neglect. This was an allusion to the numerous visit- 
 ing-cards he had sent in accordance with the clerk's 
 advice. However, he confused the periods, supposing 
 that Frederick was in the second year of his law- 
 course. Then he said he envied the young man the 
 opportunity of going into the country. He sadly 
 needed a little rest himself, but business kept him in 
 Paris. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse, leaning on his arm, nodded her 
 head slightly, and the agreeable sprightliness of her 
 face contrasted with its gloomy expression of a short 
 time before. 
 
 " One finds charming diversions in it, nevertheless," 
 she said, after her husband's last remark. " What a 
 stupid play that was was it not, Monsieur ? " And 
 all three of them remained there chatting about 
 theatres and new pieces. 
 
 Frederick, accustomed to the grimaces of provincial 
 dames, had not seen in any woman such ease of man- 
 ner combined with that simplicity which is the es-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 115 
 
 sence of refinement, and in which ingenuous souls 
 imagine the expression of instantaneous sympathy. 
 
 They would anticipate seeing him as soon as he re- 
 turned. M. Dambreuse asked him to give his kind 
 remembrances to Pere Roque. 
 
 Frederick, when he reached his lodgings, did not 
 fail to inform his friend Deslauriers of their hospitable 
 invitation. 
 
 " Splendid ! " was the clerk's reply ; " and don't let 
 your mamma get round you ! Come back without de- 
 lay ! " 
 
 On the day after his arrival, when breakfast was 
 over, Madame Moreau brought her son out into the 
 garden. 
 
 She said she was happy to see him in a profession, 
 for they were not as rich as people thought. The land 
 brought in little ; the people who farmed it paid badly. 
 She had even been compelled to part with her carriage. 
 Finally, she placed their situation in its true colours 
 before him. 
 
 During the first embarrassments which followed the 
 death of her late husband, M. Roque, a man of great 
 cunning, had made her loans of money which had been 
 renewed, and left long unpaid, in spite of her desire to 
 clear them off. He had suddenly made a demand for 
 immediate payment, and she had gone beyond the strict 
 terms of the agreement by giving up to him, at an un- 
 reasonable figure, the farm of Presles. Ten years 
 later her capital was lost through the failure of a 
 banker at Alelun. Because of a horror which she had 
 of mortgages, and to keep up appearances, which might 
 be necessary in view of her son's future, she had, 
 when Pere Roque presented himself again, listened to 
 him once more. But now she was free from debt. In 
 short, there was left them an income of only about
 
 116 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ten thousand francs, of which two thousand three hun- 
 dred belonged to him his entire patrimony. 
 
 " It isn't possible ! " exclaimed Frederick. 
 
 She nodded her head, as if to declare that it was 
 perfectly possible. 
 
 But he would inherit something from his uncle? 
 
 That was by no means positive! 
 
 And they took a turn around the garden without 
 exchanging a word. At last she pressed him to her 
 heart, and in a voice choked with rising tears : 
 
 " Ah ! my poor boy ! I have had to relinquish all 
 my dreams ! " 
 
 He seated himself on a bench beneath a large acacia. 
 
 Her advice was that he should become a clerk to 
 M. Prouharam, solicitor, who would assign over his 
 office to him ; if he increased its value, he might sell it 
 again and find a better practice. 
 
 Frederick was no longer listening to her. He was 
 gazing automatically across the hedge into the other 
 garden opposite. 
 
 A little girl of about twelve with red hair was there 
 all alone. She had made earrings for herself with the 
 berries of the service-tree. Her bodice, made of grey 
 linen, allowed her shoulders, slightly burned by the 
 hot sun, to be seen. Her short white petticoat was 
 spotted with berry stains ; and there was, so to speak, 
 the grace of a young wild animal about her entire per- 
 son, which was at the same time nervous and thin. 
 Apparently, the presence of a stranger astonished her, 
 for she had stopped abruptly with her watering-pot in 
 her hand darting glances at him with her large bright 
 eyes, which were of a limpid greenish-blue colour. 
 
 " That is Monsieur Roque's little girl," said Madame 
 Moreau. " He has married his servant after all and le- 
 gitimised their child."
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 HOPES DEFERRED 
 
 STILL seated on the bench, as if stunned, he cursed 
 Fate stripped of everything, ruined. He would 
 have liked to beat somebody ; and, to increase 
 his despair, he felt a kind of outrage, a sense of dis- 
 grace, oppressing him ; for Frederick had been under 
 the impression that the fortune coming to him through 
 his father would mount up one day to an income of 
 fifteen thousand livres, and he had so informed the 
 Arnoux' in an indirect sort of way. So now he would 
 be looked upon as a braggart, a rogue, an obscure 
 blackguard, who had forced himself upon them in the 
 expectation of making some profit out of them ! And 
 as for her Madame Arnoux how could he ever see 
 her again ? 
 
 Moreover, all that he had hoped was completely 
 impossible when he had only a yearly income of three 
 thousand francs. He could not always lodge on the 
 fourth floor, have the doorkeeper as a servant, and 
 make his appearance with wretched black gloves turn- 
 ing blue at the ends, a greasy hat, and the same frock- 
 coat for a whole year. No, no ! never ! And yet with- 
 out her existence was intolerable. Some people were 
 able to live without any fortune, Deslauriers amongst 
 the rest ; and he thought himself a coward to attach 
 so much importance to matters of trifling conse- 
 quence. Necessity would perhaps multiply his facul- 
 ties a hundredfold. He tried to inspire himself by
 
 118 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 thinking of the great men who had worked in garrets. 
 A soul like that of Madame Arnoux ought to be 
 touched at such a spectacle, and moved by it to sym- 
 pathetic tenderness. So, after all, this catastrophe was 
 a piece of good fortune ; like those earthquakes which 
 unveil treasures, it had revealed to him the hidden 
 wealth of his nature. But there was only one place 
 in the world where this could be utilised Paris ; for 
 to his mind, art, science, and love (those three faces 
 of God, as Pellerin would have said) were associated 
 exclusively with the capital. That evening, he in- 
 formed his mother of his intention to go back there. 
 Madame Moreau was surprised and indignant. She 
 regarded it as a foolish and absurd course. It would 
 be far better to follow her advice, namely, to remain 
 near her in an office. Frederick shrugged his shoul- 
 ders, " Come now " looking on this proposal as an 
 insult to himself. 
 
 Thereupon, the good lady followed another course. 
 In a tender voice broken by sobs she began to speak 
 of her solitude, her old age, and the sacrifices she had 
 made for him. Now that she was more unhappy 
 than ever, he was abandoning her. Then, alluding to 
 the anticipated close of her life : 
 
 "A little patience good heavens! you will soon 
 be free ! " 
 
 These lamentations were renewed twenty times a 
 day for three months ; and at the same time the lux- 
 uries of a home made him effeminate. He found it 
 enjoyable to have a softer bed and napkins that were 
 not torn ; so that, weary, enervated, overcome by the 
 insinuating force of comfort, Frederick allowed him- 
 self to be brought to Maitre Prouharam's office. 
 
 He displayed neither knowledge nor aptitude. Up 
 to this time, he had been regarded as a young man of
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 119 
 
 great means who would probably be the shining light 
 of the Department. The public would now come to 
 the conclusion that he was an impostor. 
 
 At first, he said to himself: 
 
 " It is necessary to inform Madame Arnoux about 
 it : " and for a whole week he kept formulating in 
 his own mind dithyrambic letters and short notes in 
 an eloquent and sublime style. The fear of avowing 
 his actual position restrained him. Then he thought 
 that it might be better to write to the husband. Ar- 
 noux knew life and could appreciate the true state of 
 the case. At length, after a fortnight's hesitation : 
 
 " Bah ! I ought not to see them any more : let them 
 forget me ! At any rate, I shall be cherished in her 
 memory without having grown less in her estimation! 
 She will believe that I am dead, and will regret me 
 perhaps." 
 
 As extravagant resolutions cost him little, he swore 
 in his own mind that he would never return to Paris, 
 and that he would not even make inquiries about 
 Madame Arnoux. 
 
 He arose very late, and looked through the window 
 at the passing teams of waggoners. The first six 
 months especially were hateful. 
 
 On certain days, however, he was possessed by a 
 feeling of indignation even against her. Then he 
 would wander through the meadows, half covered in 
 winter time by the inundations of the Seine. They 
 were divided up by rows of poplar-trees. Here and 
 there was a little bridge. He tramped about till even- 
 ing, rolling the yellow leaves under his feet, inhaling 
 the fog, and jumping over the ditches. As his arteries 
 began to throb more vigorously, he felt himself car- 
 ried away by a desire to do something wild ; he longed 
 to become a trapper in America, to attend on a pasha
 
 120 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 in the East, to take ship as a sailor ; and he gave vent 
 to his melancholy in long letters to Deslauriers. 
 
 The latter was struggling to get on. The idleness 
 of his friend and his eternal jeremiads appeared to 
 him simply stupid. Their correspondence soon became 
 a mere form. Frederick had left all his furniture 
 with Deslauriers, who stayed on in the same lodgings. 
 From time to time his mother mentioned it. One day 
 he told her about the present he had made, and she 
 was giving him a rating for it, when a letter was placed 
 in his hands. 
 
 " What is the matter now ? " she said, " you are 
 trembling." 
 
 ; ' There is nothing the matter with me," replied 
 Frederick. 
 
 Deslauriers informed him that he had taken Senecal 
 under his protection, and that for the past fortnight 
 they had been living together. So now Senecal was 
 settled in the midst of things that had come from the 
 Arnoux's shop. He might sell them, criticise, make 
 jokes about them. Frederick was wounded in the 
 depths of his soul. He went up to his own apartment. 
 He felt a yearning for death. 
 
 His mother called him to consult him about some 
 plants in the garden. 
 
 This garden was, after the fashion of an English 
 park, divided in the middle by a stick fence ; and the 
 half of it belonged to Pere Roque, who had another 
 garden for vegetables on the bank of the river. The 
 two neighbours, having disagreed, abstained from mak- 
 ing their appearance there at the same hour. But since 
 Frederick's return the old gentlemen used to walk 
 about them more frequently, and was not stinted in 
 his courtesies towards Madame Moreau's son. He 
 sympathised with the young man for having to live
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 121 
 
 in a country town. One day he told him that Madame 
 Dambreuse had been anxious to hear from him. On 
 another occasion he expatiated on the custom of Cham- 
 pagne, where the stomach conferred nobility. 
 
 " At that time you would have been a lord, since 
 your mother's name was De Fouvens. And 'tis all 
 very well to talk never mind ! there's something in 
 a name. After all," he added, with a sly glance at 
 Frederick, " that depends on the Keeper of the Seals." 
 
 This pretension to aristocracy contrasted strangely 
 with his personal appearance. As he was small, his 
 big chestnut-coloured frock-coat exaggerated the 
 length of his bust. When he removed his hat, a face 
 almost like that of a woman with an extremely sharp 
 nose could be seen ; his hair, which was of a yellow 
 colour, resembled a wig. He saluted people with a 
 very low bow, brushing against the wall. 
 
 Up to his fiftieth year he had been content with the 
 domestic services of Catherine, a native of Lorraine, of 
 the same age as himself and strongly marked with 
 smallpox. But in the year 1834, he brought back with 
 him from Paris a handsome blonde with a sheep-like 
 type of countenance and a " queenly carriage." Ere 
 long, she was noticed strutting about with large ear- 
 rings ; and everything was explained by the birth of 
 a daughter who was introduced to the world under 
 the name of Elisabeth Olympe Louise Roque. 
 
 Catherine, in her first ebullition of jealousy, ex- 
 pected that she would hate this child. On the con- 
 trary, she became fond of the little girl, and treated 
 her with the utmost care, consideration, and tender- 
 ness, in order to win her affections from her mother 
 and render her odious an easy task, inasmuch as 
 Madame Eleonore entirely neglected the little one, 
 preferring to gossip at the tradesmen's shops. On
 
 122 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the day after her marriage, she paid a visit at the Sub- 
 prefecture, no longer " thee'd " and " thou'd " the 
 servants, and took it into her head that, as a matter 
 of good form, she ought to exhibit a certain severity 
 toward the child. She was present while the little 
 one was at her lessons. The teacher, an old clerk who 
 had been employed at the Mayor's office, did not know 
 how to set about instructing the girl. The pupil re- 
 belled, got her ears boxed, and rushed away to shed 
 tears on the lap of Catherine, who always took her 
 part. After this the two women wrangled, and M. 
 Roque ordered them to hold their tongues. He had 
 married only out of tender regard for his little daugh- 
 ter, and did not wish to be annoyed by them. 
 
 Louise wore a white dress with ribbons, and 
 pantalettes trimmed with lace ; and on great festival- 
 days she would leave the house attired like a princess, 
 in order to mortify the matrons of the town, who 
 forbade their children to associate with her on account 
 of her illegitimate birth. 
 
 She passed her life mostly by herself in the garden, 
 went see-sawing in the swing, chased butterflies, then 
 suddenly stopped to watch the floral beetles swooping 
 down on the rose-trees. It was, no doubt, these 
 habits which imparted to her face an expression at the 
 same time of audacity and dreaminess. She had, more- 
 over, a figure like Marthe, so that at their second in- 
 terview Frederick said to her: 
 
 " Will you permit me to kiss you, Mademoiselle ? " 
 
 The little girl lifted up her head and replied : 
 
 "I will!" 
 
 But the stick-hedge separated them. 
 
 " We must climb over," said Frederick. 
 
 " No, lift me up ! " 
 
 He stooped over the hedge, and raising her off the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 123 
 
 ground, kissed her on both cheeks ; then he put her 
 back on her own side ; and this performance was re- 
 peated on the next occasions when they met. 
 
 With less reserve than a child of four, as soon as 
 she heard her friend coming, she sprang forward to 
 meet him, or else, hiding behind a tree, she began 
 yelping like a dog to frighten him. 
 
 One day, when Madame Moreau was out, he 
 brought her up to his own room. She opened all the 
 scent-bottles, and pomaded her hair plentifully ; then, 
 without the slightest embarrassment, she lay down on 
 the bed, where she remained stretched out at full 
 length, wide awake. 
 
 " I fancy myself your wife," she said to him. 
 
 Next day he found her in tears. She confessed 
 that she had been " weeping for her sins ; " and, when 
 he wished to know what they were, she hung down 
 her head, and answered : 
 
 " Ask me no more ! " 
 
 The time for first communion was at hand. She 
 had been taken to confession in the morning. The 
 sacrament scarcely made her wiser. Occasionally, she 
 flew into a real passion ; and Frederick was sent for 
 to appease her. 
 
 He often took her with him in his walks. While 
 he indulged in day-dreams as he walked along, she 
 would gather wild poppies at the edges of the corn- 
 fields ; and, when she saw him more melancholy than 
 usual, she tried to cheer him with her pretty childish 
 prattle. His heart, bereft of love, fell back on this 
 friendship inspired by a little girl. He gave her 
 sketches of old fogies, told her stories, and read books 
 to her. 
 
 He began with the Annalcs Romantiques, a collec- 
 tion of prose and verse popular at the period. Then,
 
 124 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 forgetting her age, so much was he charmed by her 
 intelligence, he read for her in succession, Atala, Cinq- 
 Mars, and Lcs Fcuillcs d'Automnc. One night (she 
 had that very evening heard Macbeth in Letourneur's 
 simple translation) she woke up, exclaiming: 
 
 " The spot ! the spot ! " Her teeth chattered, she 
 shivered, and, fixing terrified glances on her right 
 hand, she kept rubbing it, saying: 
 
 " Always a spot ! " 
 
 At last a doctor was brought, who ordered that 
 she should be kept free from violent emotions. 
 
 The townsfolk saw in all this only an unfavourable 
 prognostic for her morals. It was said that " young 
 Moreau " wished to make an actress of her later. 
 
 Soon another event became the subject of discus- 
 sion namely, the arrival of Uncle Barthelemy. Ma- 
 dame Moreau gave up her sleeping-apartment to him, 
 and was so gracious as to serve up meat to him on 
 fast-days. 
 
 The old man was not very amiable. He was per- 
 petually making comparisons between Havre and 
 Nogent, the air of which he considered heavy, the 
 bread bad, the streets ill-paved, the food indifferent, 
 and the inhabitants very lazy. " How miserable trade 
 is with you in this place ! " He blamed his deceased 
 brother for his extravagance, pointing out by way of 
 contrast how he had himself accumulated an income 
 of twenty-seven thousand livres a year. He left at 
 the end of the week, and on the footboard of the car- 
 riage gave utterance to these by no means reassuring 
 words : 
 
 " I am always very glad to feel that you are in a 
 comfortable position." 
 
 " You will get nothing," said Madame Moreau as 
 they reentered the dining-room.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 125 
 
 He had come only at her urgent request, and for 
 eight days she had been seeking for an opening only 
 too obviously perhaps. She repented now of having 
 done so, and remained seated in her armchair with 
 her head bent and her lips tightly pressed together. 
 Frederick sat opposite, staring at her; and they were 
 both silent, as they had been five years before on his 
 return home by the Montereau steamboat. This coin- 
 cidence, which presented itself even to her mind, re- 
 called Madame Arnoux to his recollection. 
 
 At that moment the crack of a whip outside the 
 window reached their ears, while a voice was heard 
 calling out to him. 
 
 It was Pere Roque, who was alone in his tilted cart. 
 He was going to spend the whole day at La Fortelle 
 with M. Dambreuse, and cordially offered to take 
 Frederick with him. 
 
 " You have no need of an invitation as long as you 
 are with me. Don't be afraid ! " 
 
 Frederick felt inclined to accept this offer. But how 
 would he explain his fixed sojourn at Nogent? He 
 had no proper summer suit. Finally, what would his 
 mother say? He accordingly decided not to go. 
 
 From that time, their neighbour exhibited less 
 friendliness. Louise was growing tall ; Madame 
 Eleonore fell dangerously ill ; and the intimacy was 
 broken, to the great delight of Madame Moreau, who 
 feared lest her son's prospects of being settled in life 
 might be affected by association with such people. 
 
 She was thinking of purchasing for him the regis- 
 trarship of the Court of Justice. Frederick raised no 
 particular objection to this scheme. He now accom- 
 panied her to mass; in the evening he took a hand 
 hi a game of " all fours." He had become accus- 
 tomed to provincial habits of life, and allowed himself
 
 126 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 to slide into them; and even his love had assumed a 
 character of mournful sweetness, a kind of soporific 
 charm. 
 
 One day, the i2th of December, 1845, about nine 
 o'clock in the morning, the cook brought up a letter 
 to his room. The address, which was in big charac- 
 ters, was written in a hand he was not familiar with ; 
 and Frederick, feeling sleepy, was in no great haste 
 to break the seal. At length, when he did so, he read : 
 
 "Justice of the Peace at Havre, 
 
 i nth Arrondissement. 
 
 "MONSIEUR, Monsieur Moreau, your uncle, having died in- 
 testate " 
 
 He had fallen in for the inheritance ! As if a con- 
 flagration had burst out behind the wall, he jumped 
 out of bed, and flung the window wide open. 
 
 He read the letter over three times in succession. 
 Could there be anything more certain? His uncle's 
 entire fortune ! A yearly income more than a thou- 
 sand pounds ! And he was overwhelmed with frantic 
 joy at the thought of seeing Madame Arnoux once 
 more. Then he thought of his mother; and he de- 
 scended the stairs with the letter in his hand. 
 
 Madame Moreau made an effort to control her emo- 
 tion, but could not keep herself from swooning. Fred- 
 erick caught her in his arms and kissed her on the 
 forehead. 
 
 " Dear mother, you can now buy back your car- 
 riage laugh then ! shed no more tears ! be happy ! " 
 
 Ten minutes later the news had travelled as far as 
 the faubourgs. Then M. Benoist, M. Gamblin, M. 
 Chambion, and other friends hurried toward the 
 house. Frederick left them a minute in order to write 
 to Deslauriers. Then other visitors arrived. The 
 afternoon passed in congratulations. They had for-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 127 
 
 gotten all about " Roque's wife," who was declared 
 to be " very low." 
 
 When they were alone, the same evening, Madame 
 Moreau advised her son to set up as an advocate at 
 Troyes. As he was better known in his own part of 
 the country than in any other, he would more easily 
 find there a profitable connection. 
 
 " Ah, it is too hard ! " exclaimed Frederick. He 
 had scarcely grasped his good fortune in his hands 
 when he yearned to carry it to Madame Arnoux. He 
 announced his express determination to live in Paris. 
 
 " And what are you going to do there ? " 
 
 " Nothing ! " 
 
 Madame Moreau, astonished at his manner, asked 
 what he intended to become. 
 
 " A minister," was Frederick's reply. And he de- 
 clared that he was not joking, that he meant to plunge 
 at once into diplomacy, and that his studies and 
 his instincts impelled him in that direction. He would 
 first enter the Council of State under M. Dambreuse's 
 patronage. 
 
 " So then, you are acquainted with him ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes through M. Roque." 
 
 " That is singular," said Madame Moreau. He had 
 stirred in her heart her former ambitious dreams. 
 She internally abandoned herself to them, and said 
 no more about other matters. 
 
 If he had yielded to his impatience, Frederick would 
 have left that very instant. Next morning every seat 
 in the diligence had been engaged ; and so he kept 
 eating out his heart till seven o'clock in the evening. 
 
 They were seated at dinner when three prolonged 
 tolls of the church-bell fell on their ears ; and the 
 housemaid, coming in, informed them that Madame 
 Eleonore had just died.
 
 128 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 This death, after all, was not a misfortune for any- 
 one, not even for her child. The young girl would 
 only find it advantageous for herself afterward. 
 
 As the two houses were close to each other, a great 
 coming and going and a clatter of tongues could be 
 heard ; and the idea of this corpse being so near threw 
 a certain funereal gloom over their parting. Madame 
 Moreau wiped her eyes two or three times. Frederick 
 felt his heart oppressed. 
 
 When the meal was over, Catherine stopped him 
 between two doors. Mademoiselle had expressed a 
 wish to see him. She was waiting for him in the 
 garden. He went out there, strode over the hedge, 
 and knocking more or less against the trees, directed 
 his steps toward M. Roque's house. Lights glittered 
 through a window in the second story, then a form 
 appeared in the midst of the darkness and a voice 
 whispered : 
 
 "Tis I!" 
 
 She seemed to him taller than usual, probably owing 
 to her black dress. Not knowing what to say to her, 
 he contented himself with catching her hands, and 
 sighing : 
 
 " Ah ! my poor Louise ! " 
 
 She did not reply. She gazed at him for a long 
 time with an expression of sad, deep earnestness. 
 
 Frederick was afraid of missing the coach ; he 
 fancied that he could hear the rolling of wheels some 
 distance away, and, in order to put an end to the 
 interview : 
 
 " Catherine told me that you had something 
 
 " Yes 'tis true ! I wanted to tell you " 
 
 He was astonished to find that she addressed him 
 in the plural ; and, as she again stopped : 
 
 "Well, what?"
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 129 
 
 " I don't know. I cannot remember ! Is it true that 
 you're going away ? " 
 
 " Yes, I'm starting now." 
 
 She repeated : " Ah, now ? for good ? we'll never 
 meet again ? " 
 
 She was choking with sobs. 
 
 " Good-bye ! good-bye ! embrace me then ! " 
 
 And passionately she threw her arms about him.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PARIS AGAIN 
 
 FREDERICK plunged into an intoxicating dream 
 of the future, after he had seated himself be- 
 hind the other passengers in the front of the 
 diligence and the five horses had started off at a brisk 
 trot. As an architect draws up the plan of a palace, 
 so he mapped out his future life. He filled it with 
 dainties and with splendours; it rose up to the sky; 
 there was a profuse display of allurements; and so 
 deeply was he buried in the contemplation of these 
 things that he became oblivious to all external objects. 
 
 At the foot of the hill of Sourdun his attentions 
 were directed to the stage which they had reached in 
 their journey. They had not travelled more than five 
 kilometres * at the most. He was annoyed at this 
 tardy rate of travelling. He pulled down the coach- 
 window in order to get a view of the road. He asked 
 the conductor several times at what hour they were 
 due at their destination. However, he eventually re- 
 gained his composure, and remained seated in his 
 corner of the vehicle with wide-open eyes. 
 
 At Mormans, the clocks struck a quarter past one. 
 
 " So then we are in another day," he thought, " we 
 have been in it for some time ! " 
 
 Gradually his hopes and his recollections, Nogent, 
 the Rue de Choiseul, Madame Arnoux, and his 
 mother, were all confused together. 
 
 * A little over three miles. TRANSLATOR. '
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 131 
 
 He was awakened by the dull sound of wheels pass- 
 ing over planks : they were crossing the Pont de 
 Charenton it was Paris. Then his two travelling 
 companions, the first taking off his cap, and the second 
 his silk handkerchief, put on their hats, and began 'to 
 chat. 
 
 The first, a big, red-faced man in a velvet frock- 
 coat, was a merchant; the second was coming up to 
 the capital to consult a physician ; and, fearing that 
 he had disturbed this gentleman during the night, 
 Frederick spontaneously apologised to him, so much 
 had the young man's heart been softened by the happi- 
 ness that possessed" it. They turned into Ivry, then 
 drove up a street: all at once, he saw before him the 
 dome of the Pantheon. 
 
 They were kept waiting a long time at the barrier, 
 for vendors of poultry, waggoners, and a flock of sheep 
 caused an obstruction there. The conductor uttered 
 his sonorous shout: 
 
 " Look alive ! look alive ! oho ! " and the scavengers 
 drew out of the way, the pedestrians sprang back, the 
 mud gushed against the coach-windows ; they passed 
 dung-carts, cabs, and omnibuses. At length, the iron 
 gate of the Jardin des Plantes came into sight. 
 
 They once more crossed the Seine over the Pont- 
 Neuf, descended in the direction of the Louvre ; and, 
 having traversed the Rues Saint-Honore, Croix des 
 Petits-Champs, and Du Bouloi, reached the Rue Coq- 
 Heron, and entered the courtyard of the hotel. 
 
 So that his enjoyment might last the longer, Fred- 
 erick dressed himself as slowly as possible, and even 
 walked as far as the Boulevard Montmarte. He smiled 
 at the thought of presently beholding once more the 
 beloved name on the marble plate. 
 
 He hastened to the Rue de Choiseul. M. and Ma-
 
 132 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 dame Arnoux no longer lived there, and a woman next 
 door was keeping an eye on the porter's lodge. Fred- 
 erick waited to see the porter himself. After some 
 time he made his appearance it was no longer the 
 same man. He did not know their address. 
 
 Frederick went into a cafe, and, while at breakfast, 
 consulted the Commercial Directory. There were 
 three hundred Arnoux in it, but not one Jacques Ar- 
 noux. Where, then, could they be living? Pellerin 
 ought to know. 
 
 He made his way to the top of the Faubourg Pois- 
 sonniere, to the artist's studio. As the door had neither 
 a bell nor a knocker, he rapped loudly on it with his 
 knuckles, and then called out shouted. But the only 
 response was the echo of his voice from the empty 
 house. 
 
 Then he thought of Hussonnet ; but where could 
 one discover a man of that sort? On one occasion he 
 had waited on Hussonnet when the latter was paying 
 a visit at his mistress's house in the Rue de Fleurus. 
 Frederick had just reached the Rue de Fleurus when 
 he realised that he did not even know the young 
 woman's name. 
 
 He had recourse to the Prefecture of Police. He 
 wandered from staircase to staircase, from office to 
 office. He found that the Intelligence Department was 
 closed for the day, and was told to come back again 
 next morning. 
 
 Then he called at all the picture-dealers' shops that 
 he could find, and inquired whether they could give 
 him any information as to Arnoux's whereabouts. The 
 only answer he got was that M. Arnoux was no longer 
 in the trade. 
 
 At last, discouraged, weary, sickened, he returned 
 to his hotel, and went to bed. Just as he was stretch-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 133 
 
 ing himself between the sheets, an idea flashed upon 
 him which made him leap up with delight : 
 
 "Regimbart! what a stupid I was not to think of 
 him before ! " 
 
 Next morning, at seven o'clock, he arrived in the 
 Rue Notre Dame des Victoires, in front of a dram- 
 shop, where Regimbart habitually drank white wine. 
 It was not yet open. He walked about the neighbour- 
 hood, and at the end of about half-an-hour, presented 
 himself at the place again. Regimbart had left. 
 
 Frederick rushed out into the street. He fancied 
 that he could see Regimbart's hat some distance away. 
 A hearse and some mourning coaches intercepted his 
 progress. When they had got out of the way, the 
 vision had disappeared. 
 
 Fortunately, he recalled to mind that the Citizen 
 breakfasted every day at eleven o'clock sharp, at a 
 little restaurant in the Place Gaillon. All he had to do 
 was to wait patiently till then ; and, after wandering 
 about from the Bourse to the Madeleine, and from the 
 Madeleine to the Gymnase ; so long that it seemed un- 
 ending, Frederick, just as the clocks were striking 
 eleven, entered the restaurant in the Rue Gaillon, con- 
 vinced that he would find Regimbart there. 
 
 " Don't know ! " said the restaurant-keeper, in an 
 unceremonious tone. 
 
 Frederick persisted : the man replied : 
 
 " I have no longer any acquaintance with him, Mon- 
 sieur " and, as he spoke, he raised his eyebrows ma- 
 jestically and shook his head in a mysterious fashion. 
 
 But in their last interview, the Citizen had men- 
 tioned the Alexandre smoking-divan. Frederick swal- 
 lowed a cake, jumped into a cab, and asked the driver 
 whether there happened to be anywhere on the heights 
 of Sainte-Genevieve a certain Cafe Alexandre. The
 
 134 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 cabman drove him to the Rue des Francs Bourgeois 
 Saint-Michel, where there was an establishment of that 
 name, and in answer to his question : 
 
 " Monsieur Regimbart, if you please? " the keeper of 
 the cafe said with an unusually gracious smile: 
 
 " He has not arrived as yet, Monsieur," while he 
 directed toward his wife, who sat behind the counter, 
 a look of intelligence. And the next moment, turning 
 toward the clock : 
 
 " But he'll be here, I hope, in ten minutes, or at most 
 a quarter of an hour. Celestin, hurry with the news- 
 papers ! What would Monsieur like to take ? " 
 
 Though he did not desire anything, Frederick swal- 
 lowed a glass of rum, then a glass of kirsch, then a 
 glass of curagoa, then several glasses of grog, both 
 cold and hot. He read through that day's Siecle, and 
 then re-read it ; he examined the caricatures in the 
 Charii'ari down to the very tissue of the paper. When 
 he had finished, he knew the advertisements by heart. 
 
 What in the world could Regimbart be doing? 
 Frederick waited in an exceedingly miserable frame of 
 mind. 
 
 At length when it was half-past four, Frederick, 
 who had been there since about twelve, sprang to his 
 feet, and declared that he would not wait any longer. 
 
 " I can't understand it at all myself," replied the 
 cafe-keeper, in a straightforward tone. " This is the 
 first time that M. Ledoux has failed to come ! " 
 
 " What ! Monsieur Ledoux ? " 
 
 " Why, yes, Monsieur ! " 
 
 " I said Regimbart," exclaimed Frederick, exas- 
 perated. 
 
 " Ah ! a thousand pardons ! You are making a mis- 
 take ! Madame Alexandre, did not Monsieur say Mon- 
 sieur Ledoux ? "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 135 
 
 And, questioning the waiter : " You heard him your- 
 self, just as I did ? " 
 
 No doubt, to pay his master off for old scores, the 
 waiter contented himself with smiling. 
 
 Frederick drove back to the boulevards, furious at 
 having his time wasted, raging against the Citizen, 
 but longing for his presence as if for that of a god, 
 and firmly resolved to drag him forth, if necessary, 
 from the depths of the most remote cellars. In one 
 cafe he was told that Regimbart had just gone out; 
 in another, that he might perhaps call at a later hour; 
 in a third, that they had not seen him for six months ; 
 and, in another place, that he had the day before or- 
 dered a leg of mutton for Saturday. Finally, at Vau- 
 tier's dining-rooms, Frederick, on opening the door, 
 knocked against the waiter. 
 
 " Do you know Monsieur Regimbart ? " 
 
 " What, Monsieur ! do I know him ? Tis I who 
 have the honour of attending on him. He's upstairs 
 he is just finishing his dinner ! " 
 
 And, with a napkin under his arm, the master of 
 the establishment himself accosted him : 
 
 " You're asking for Monsieur Regimbart, Monsieur ? 
 He was here a moment ago." 
 
 Frederick gave vent to an oath, but the proprietor 
 of the dining-rooms stated that he would certainly find 
 the gentleman at Bouttevilain's. 
 
 " I assure you, on my honour, he left a little earlier 
 than usual, for he had a business appointment with 
 some gentlemen. But you'll find him, I tell you again, 
 at Bouttevilain's, Rue Saint-Martin, Number Ninety- 
 two, the second row of steps at the left at the end of 
 the courtyard first floor door to the right ! " 
 
 At last, he saw Regimbart, in a cloud of tobacco- 
 smoke, at the lower end of the refreshment-room.
 
 136 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Ah ! I have been a long time trying to find you ! " 
 
 Without rising, Regimbart extended toward him 
 only two fingers, and, as if he had seen Frederick the 
 day before, he gave utterance to a number of common- 
 place remarks about the opening of the session. 
 
 Frederick interrupted him, saying in the least con- 
 cerned tone he could assume : 
 
 " Is Arnoux going on well ? " 
 
 The reply was a long time coming, as Regimbart 
 was gargling the liquor in his throat : 
 
 " Yes, not badly." 
 
 " Where is he living now ? " 
 
 " Why, in the Rue Paradis Poissonniere," the Citi- 
 zen returned with astonishment. 
 
 "What number?" 
 
 ' Thirty-seven confound it ! what an odd fellow 
 you are ! " 
 
 Frederick rose. 
 
 " What! are you going? " 
 
 " Yes, yes ! I have to make a call some business 
 matter I had forgotten ! Good-bye ! " 
 
 Frederick covered the distance from the smoking- 
 divan to the Arnoux's residence, as if carried along by 
 a tepid wind, with the sensation of extreme ease that 
 people experience in dreams. 
 
 He soon found himself on the second floor in fror.t 
 of a door, at the ringing of whose bell a servant ap- 
 peared. A second door was flung open. Madame Ar- 
 noux was seated near the fire. Arnoux jumped up, 
 and rushed across to embrace Frederick. She had on 
 her lap a little boy not quite three years old. Her 
 daughter, now as tall as herself, was standing at the 
 opposite side of the mantelpiece. 
 
 " Allow me to present this gentleman to you," said 
 Arnoux, taking his son up in his arms. And he
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 137 
 
 amused himself for some minutes by throwing the 
 child high up in the air, and then catching him with 
 both hands as he came down. 
 
 " You'll kill him ! ah ! good heavens, have done ! " 
 exclaimed Madame Arnoux. 
 
 But Arnoux, declaring that there was not the slight- 
 est danger, still kept tossing up the child, and even 
 addressed him in words of endearment such as nurses 
 use in the Marseillaise dialect, his natal tongue : " Ah ! 
 my fine picheoun ! my ducksy of a little nightingale ! " 
 
 Then, he asked Frederick why he had been so long 
 without writing to them, what he had been doing down 
 in the country, and why he had returned. 
 
 " As for me, I am at present, my dear friend, a 
 dealer in faience. But let us talk about yourself ! " 
 
 Frederick gave as reasons for his absence a pro- 
 tracted lawsuit and the condition of his mother's 
 health. He laid special stress on the latter subject in 
 order to make himself interesting. He ended by say- 
 ing that this time he was to settle in Paris for good ; 
 but he did not mention the inheritance, lest it might be 
 prejudicial to his past. 
 
 Madame Arnoux wore a large blue merino dressing- 
 gown. With her face turned toward the fire and one 
 hand on the shoulder of the little boy, she unfastened 
 with the other his bodice. The youngster in his shirt 
 began to cry, while scratching his head, like the son of 
 M. Alexandre. 
 
 Frederick expected to experience spasms of joy ; but 
 the passions grow pale when we find ourselves in an 
 altered situation ; and, as he no longer saw Madame 
 Arnoux in the environment wherein he had known her, 
 she seemed to him to have lost some of her fascination ; 
 to have degenerated in some way that he could not 
 comprehend in fact, not to be the same. He was sur-
 
 138 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 prised at the serenity of his own heart. He made en- 
 quiries about some old friends, Pellerin, amongst 
 others. 
 
 " I don't see him often," said Arnoux. She added : 
 
 " We no longer entertain as we used to do for- 
 merly ! " 
 
 Was the object of this remark to let him know that 
 he would get no invitation from them? But Arnoux, 
 continuing to exhibit the same cordiality, reproached 
 him for not having come to dine with them uninvited ; 
 and he explained the reason why he had changed his 
 business. 
 
 " What can be done in an age of decadence like 
 ours ? Great painting is gone out of fashion ! Be- 
 sides, we may import art into everything. You know 
 that, for my part, I am a lover of the beautiful. I must 
 bring you one of these days to see my earthenware 
 works." 
 
 And he wanted to show Frederick at once some of 
 his productions in the store which he had between the 
 ground-floor and the first floor. Frederick, who was 
 cold and hungry, was bortd with Arnoux's display of 
 his wares. He hurried off to the Cafe Anglais, where 
 he ordered a sumptuous supper, and while eating, said 
 to himself: 
 
 " I was well off enough below there with all my 
 troubles ! She scarcely noticed me ! How like a shop- 
 keeper's wife ! " 
 
 And in an abrupt expansion of healthfulness, he 
 formed egoistic resolutions. He felt his heart as hard 
 as the table on which his elbows rested. So then he 
 could this time plunge fearlessly into the vortex of 
 society. The thought of the Dambreuses recurred to 
 his mind. He would make use of them. Then he re- 
 called Deslauriers. " Ah ! faith, so much the worse ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 139 
 
 Nevertheless, he sent him a note by a messenger, mak- 
 ing a breakfast appointment with him for the follow- 
 ing day. 
 
 Fortune had not been so kind to the other. 
 
 He had presented himself at the examination for a 
 fellowship with a thesis on the law of wills, in which 
 he held that the powers of testators ought tt be re- 
 stricted as much as possible; and, as his adversary 
 provoked him in such a way as to cause him to say 
 foolish things, he gave utterance to many of these ab- 
 surdities without in any way inducing the examiners 
 to falter in deciding that he was wrong. Then fate so 
 willed it that he should choose by lot, as a subject for 
 a lecture, Prescription. Thereupon, Deslauriers gave 
 vent to some lamentable theories : the questions in dis- 
 pute in former times ought to be brought forward as 
 well as those which had recently arisen ; why should 
 the proprietor be deprived of his estate because he 
 could furnish his title-deeds only after the lapse of 
 thirty-one years ? This was giving the security of the 
 honest man- to the inheritor of the enriched thief. 
 Every injustice was consecrated by extending this law, 
 which was a form of tyranny, the abuse of force ! He 
 had even exclaimed : " Abolish it ; and the Franks will 
 no longer oppress the Gauls, the English oppress the 
 Irish, the Yankee oppress the Redskins, the Turks op- 
 press the Arabs, the whites oppress the blacks, Po- 
 land " 
 
 The President interrupted him : " Well ! well ! 
 Monsieur, we have no interest in your political 
 opinions you will have them represented in your be- 
 half by-and-by! " 
 
 Deslauriers did not desire to have his opinions rep- 
 resented ; but this unfortunate Title XX. of the Third 
 Book of the Civil Code had become a sort of moun-
 
 140 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 tain over which he stumbled. He was elaborating a 
 great work on " Prescription considered as 'the Basis 
 of the Civil Law and of the Law of Nature amongst 
 Peopies " ; and he got lost in Dunod, Rogerius, Balbus, 
 Merlin, Vazeille, Savigny, Traplong, and other weighty 
 authorities on the subject. In order to have more time 
 for devoting himself to this task, he had resigned his 
 post of head-clerk. He lived by giving private tui- 
 tions and preparing theses. 
 
 He came to keep the appointment in a big paletot, 
 lined with red flannel, like the one Senecal used to wear 
 in former days. 
 
 Only respect for the passers-by prevented them from 
 straining one another in an embrace of friendship ; and 
 they made their way to Vefour's arm-in-arm, laughing 
 happily, though with tear-drops lingering in the depths 
 of their eyes. Then, as soon as they were free from 
 observation, Deslauriers exclaimed : 
 
 " Ah ! damn it ! we'll have a jolly time now ! " 
 
 Frederick was not quite pleased to find Deslauriers 
 all at once associating himself in this way with his 
 own newly-acquired inheritance. His friend mani- 
 fested too much pleasure on account of them both, and 
 not enough on his account alone. 
 
 After this, Deslauriers gave details about the re- 
 verses he had met with, and gradually told Frederick 
 all about his occupations and his daily existence, speak- 
 ing of himself in a stoical fashion, and of others in 
 tones of intense bitterness. He found fault with every- 
 thing ; every man in office was an idiot or a rascal. He 
 flew into a passion against the waiter because a glass 
 was badly rinsed, and when Frederick uttered a re- 
 proach with a view to mitigating his wrath : " As if I 
 were going to annoy myself with such numbskulls, who, 
 you must know, can earn as much as six and even
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 141 
 
 eight thousand francs a year, who are electors, perhaps 
 eligible as candidates. Ah ! no, no! " 
 
 Then, with a sprightly air, " But I've forgotten that 
 I'm talking to a capitalist, to a Mondor,* for you are 
 a Mondor now ! " 
 
 And, returning to the question of the inheritance, he 
 gave expression to this view that collateral successor- 
 ship (a thing unjust in itself, though in the present 
 case he was glad it was possible) would be abolished 
 one of these days during the approaching revolution. 
 
 "Do you believe in that?" said Frederick. 
 
 " I am sure of it ! " he replied. " This sort of thing 
 cannot last. There is too much suffering. When I see 
 into the wretchedness of men like Senecal '' 
 
 " Always Senecal ! " thought Frederick. 
 
 " But at all events, tell me the news ? Are you still 
 in love with Madame Arnoux ? Or is it all over eh ? " 
 
 Frederick, not knowing what to answer, closed his 
 eyes and hung down his head. 
 
 With regard to Arnoux, Deslauriers told him that 
 the journal was now the property of Hussonnet, who 
 had transformed it. It was called " L 'Art, a literary 
 institution a company with shares of one hundred 
 francs each ; capital of the firm, forty thousand francs," 
 each shareholder having the privilege of putting into 
 it his own contributions ; for " the company has for its 
 object to publish the works of beginners, to spare 
 talent, perchance genius, the sad crises which drench," 
 etc. 
 
 " You see the trick ! " There was, however, some- 
 thing to be effected by the change the tone of the 
 journal could be elevated ; then, without any delay, 
 while retaining the same writers, and promising a con- 
 
 *A notorious Italian charlatan, who, in the seventeenth cent- 
 ury, settled in Paris and made a large fortune.
 
 142 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 tinuation of the feuilleton, to supply the subscribers 
 with a political organ : the amount to be advanced 
 would not be very great. 
 
 " What do you think of it ? Come ! would you like 
 to have an interest in it ? " 
 
 Frederick did not reject the proposal ; but he pointed 
 out that it was necessary for him to attend to the reg- 
 ulation of his affairs. 
 
 " After that, if you require anything 
 
 " Thanks, my boy ! " said Deslauriers. 
 
 Then they smoked puros, leaning with their elbows 
 on the shelf covered with velvet beside the window. 
 Deslauriers, with half-closed eyes, was staring vacantly 
 into the distance. His breast heaved, and he broke out : 
 
 " Ah ! those were better days when Camille Des- 
 moulins, standing below there on a table, drove the 
 people on to the Bastille. Men really lived in those 
 times ; they could assert themselves, and prove their 
 power! Simple advocates commanded generals. 
 Kings were beaten by beggars ; whilst now " 
 
 He stopped, then added all of a sudden : 
 
 " Pooh ! the future is big with great things ! " 
 
 And, drumming a battle-march on the window- 
 panes, he declaimed some verses of Barthelemy, which 
 ran thus : 
 
 " 'That dread Assembly shall again appear, 
 Which, after forty years, fills you with fear 
 Marching with giant stride and dauntless soul,' 
 
 I don't know any more of it ! But 'tis late ; suppose 
 we go ? " 
 
 And he continued setting forth his theories in the 
 street. 
 
 Frederick, without heeding him, was looking at cer- 
 tain materials and articles of furniture in the shop-win- 
 dows which would be suitable for his new residence in
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 143 
 
 Paris; and it was, perhaps, the thought of Madame 
 Arnoux that made him stop before a second-hand deal- 
 er's window, where three plates made of fine ware were 
 exposed to view. They were decorated with yellow 
 arabesques with metallic reflections, and were worth a 
 hundred crowns apiece. He ordered them put aside 
 for him. 
 
 " For my part, if I were in your place," said Des- 
 lauriers, " I would rather buy silver plate," revealing 
 by this love of substantial things the man of mean ex- 
 traction. 
 
 As soon as he was alone, Frederick went to the es- 
 tablishment of the celebrated Pomadere, where he or- 
 dered three pairs of trousers, two coats, a p'elisse 
 trimmed with fur, and five waistcoats. Then he visited 
 a bootmaker's, shirtmaker's, and hatter's, giving them 
 directions in each shop to be as speedy as possible. 
 Three days later, on the evening of his return from 
 Havre, he found his complete wardrobe awaiting him 
 in his Parisian abode ; and impatient to make use of it, 
 he resolved to pay an immediate visit to the Dam- 
 breuses. But it was too early yet scarcely eight 
 o'clock. 
 
 " Suppose I go to see the others ? " said he to him- 
 self. 
 
 He found Arnoux, all alone, in the act of shaving in 
 front of his glass. The latter proposed to drive him 
 to a place where they could amuse themselves, and 
 when M. Dambreuse was mentioned, " Ah, that's just 
 lucky! You'll see some of his friends there. Come 
 on ! It will be good fun ! " 
 
 Frederick asked to be excused. Madame Arnoux 
 recognised his voice, and wished him good-day, 
 through the partition, for her daughter was indisposed, 
 and she was not feeling well herself. The noise of a
 
 144 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 soup-ladle against a glass could be heard from within, 
 and all those sounds made by things being lightly 
 moved about, which are usual in a sick-room. Then 
 Arnoux left his dressing-room to say good-bye to his 
 wife. He brought forward many reasons for going 
 out: 
 
 " You know well that it is a serious matter ! I really 
 must go there ; 'tis a case of necessity. They'll be 
 waiting for me ! " 
 
 " Go, go, my dear ! Amuse yourself ! " 
 
 Arnoux hailed a hackney-coach : 
 
 " Palais Royal. Number Seven Montpensier Gal- 
 lery." 
 
 And, as he let himself sink back in the cushions : 
 
 " Ah ! how tired I am, my dear fellow ! It will be 
 the death of me ! However, I can tell it to you to 
 you ! " 
 
 He whispered in Frederick's ear in a mysterious 
 fashion : 
 
 " I am trying to re-discover the red of Chinese cop- 
 per!" 
 
 And he explained the nature of the glaze and the 
 little fire. 
 
 On their arrival at Chevet's shop, a large hamper 
 was brought to him, which he stowed away in the 
 hackney-coach. Then he ordered for his " poor wife " 
 pine-apples and various dainties, and directed that they 
 should be sent early next morning. 
 
 After this, they called at a costumer's establishment ; 
 it was to a ball they were going. 
 
 Arnoux selected blue velvet breeches, a vest of the 
 same material, and a red wig; Frederick a domino, 
 after which they went down the Rue de Laval toward 
 a house the second floor of which was illuminated by 
 coloured lanterns.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 145 
 
 At the foot of the stairs they heard the sound of vio- 
 lins from above. 
 
 "Where the deuce are you bringing me to?" said 
 Frederick. 
 
 " To see a pretty girl ! don't be afraid ! " 
 
 The door was opened for them by a groom; and 
 they entered the anteroom, where paletots, mantles, 
 and shawls were thrown together in a heap on some 
 chairs. A young woman in the costume of a dragoon 
 in the reign of Louis XIV was passing at that moment. 
 It was Mademoiselle Rosanette Bron, the mistress of 
 the place. 
 
 "Well?" said Arnoux. 
 
 '"Tis done! " she replied. 
 
 " Ah ! thanks, my angel ! " 
 
 And he tried to kiss her. 
 
 " Take care, now, you foolish man ! You'll spoil the 
 paint on my face ! " 
 
 Arnoux introduced Frederick. 
 
 " Step in there, Monsieur ; you are very welcome ! " 
 
 She drew aside a door-curtain, and cried out with 
 a certain emphasis : 
 
 " Here's my lord Arnoux, girls, and a princely friend 
 of his ! " 
 
 Frederick was at first dazzled by the lights. He 
 could distinguish nothing save some silk and velvet 
 dresses, naked shoulders, a mass of colours swaying to 
 and fro to the accompaniment of an orchestra hidden 
 behind green foliage, between walls hung with yellow 
 silk, with pastel portraits here and there and crystal 
 chandeliers in Louis XVI style. 
 
 The dancing stopped, and there were bursts of ap- 
 plause, a general hubbub of delight, as Arnoux ad- 
 vanced with his hamper on his head ; the eatables con- 
 tained in it made a lump in the centre.
 
 146 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Make way for the lustre ! " 
 
 Frederick raised his eyes : it was the lustre of old 
 Saxe that had adorned the shop attached to the office 
 of L'Art Indnstricl. The memory of former days came 
 back to his mind. But a foot-soldier of the line in un- 
 dress, with that silly expression of countenance 
 ascribed by tradition to conscripts, planted himself 
 right in front of him. Frederick recognised his old 
 friend Hussonnet. In a half-Alsatian, half-negro kind 
 of gibberish, the Bohemian loaded him with congratu- 
 lations, addressing him as " colonel." Frederick, em- 
 barrassed by the crowd of personages assembled 
 around him, was at a loss for an answer. At a tap 
 on the desk from a fiddlestick, the partners in the 
 dance fell into place. 
 
 They numbered about sixty, the women being for 
 the most part dressed either as village-girls or march- 
 ionesses, and the men, who were nearly all of mature 
 age, appeared as waggoners, 'longshoremen, or sailors. 
 
 Frederick having placed himself close to the wall, 
 stared at those who were going through the quadrille. 
 
 An old beau, dressed like a Venetian Doge in a 
 long gown of purple silk, was dancing with Mademoi- 
 selle Rosanette, who wore a green coat, laced breeches, 
 and boots of soft leather with gold spurs. In front of 
 them were an Albanian laden with yataghans and a 
 Swiss girl with blue eyes and skin white as milk, who 
 looked as plump as a quail with her chemise-sleeves 
 and red corset exposed to view. In order to display 
 her hair, which fell down to her hips, a tall blonde, a 
 walking lady in the opera, had assumed the part of a 
 female savage; and over her brown swaddling-cloth 
 she wore nothing save leathern breeches, glass brace- 
 lets, and a tinsel diadem, from which rose a large sheaf 
 of peacock's feathers. In front of her, a gentleman
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 147 
 
 intended to represent Pritchard, muffled up in a gro- 
 tesquely big black coat, was beating time with his el- 
 bow on his snuff-box. A little Watteau shepherd in 
 blue-and-silver, like moonlight, dashed his crook 
 against the thyrsus of a Bacchante crowned with 
 grapes, who wore a leopard's skin over her left side, 
 and buskins with gold ribbons. On the other side, a 
 Polish lady, in a spencer of nacarat-coloured velvet, 
 wore a gauze petticoat, which fluttered over her pearl- 
 grey stockings and fashionable pink boots bordered 
 with white fur. She was smiling on a big-paunched 
 man of forty, robed as a choir-boy, who was skipping 
 very high, raising his surplice with one hand, and with 
 the other his red clerical cap. But the queen, the star, 
 was Mademoiselle Loulou, a celebrated dancer at pub- 
 lic halls. As she had lately become wealthy, she wore 
 a large lace collar over her vest of smooth black vel- 
 vet; and her gay trousers of poppy-coloured silk, 
 clinging closely to her figure, and drawn tight round 
 her waist by a cashmere scarf, had all over their seams 
 little natural white camellias. Her pale face, a little 
 puffed, and with the nose somewhat retrousse, looked 
 all the more pert from the disordered appearance of 
 her wig, over which she had clapped a man's grey felt 
 hat, so that it covered her right ear ; and, with every 
 kick she gave, her pumps, adorned with diamond 
 buckles, nearly reached the nose of her neighbour, a 
 big mediaeval baron, who was continually getting en- 
 tangled in his steel armour. There was also an angel, 
 with a gold sword in her hand, and two swan's wings 
 over her back, who kept running up and down, every 
 minute losing her partner, who appeared as Louis XIV, 
 and who was in utter ignorance of the figures and con- 
 fused the quadrille. 
 
 Frederick, as he gazed at these people, experienced
 
 148 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 a sense of forlornness, a feeling of uneasiness. He was 
 still thinking of Madame Arnoux, and it seemed to him 
 as if he were furthering some plot that was being 
 hatched against her. 
 
 When the quadrille was over, Mademoiselle Rosa- 
 nette accosted him. She was slightly out of breath, 
 and her gorget, polished like a mirror, swelled up 
 softly under her chin. 
 
 " And you, Monsieur," said she, " don't you dance ? " 
 
 Frederick excused himself; he did not know how 
 to dance. 
 
 "Really! but with me? Are you quite sure?" 
 And, poising herself on one hip, with her other knee 
 a little drawn back, while she stroked with her left hand 
 the mother-of-pearl pommel of her sword, she kept 
 looking up at him for a minute with a half-beseeching, 
 half-teasing air. At last she said " Good-night, then ! " 
 made a pirouette, and disappeared. 
 
 Frederick, dissatisfied with himself, and not well 
 knowing what to do, wandered through the rooms. 
 
 He entered the boudoir padded with pale blue silk, 
 with bouquets of flowers from the fields, whilst on 
 the ceiling, in a circle of gilt wood, Cupids, emerging 
 out of an azure sky, played over the clouds. This dis- 
 play of luxuries, which would now-a-days be only 
 trifles to persons like Rosanette, dazzled him, and he 
 admired everything the artificial convolvuli decorat- 
 ing the surface of the mirror, the curtains on the man- 
 telpiece, the Turkish divan, and a sort of tent in a 
 recess in the wall, with pink silk hangings and a cov- 
 ering of white muslin. Furniture made of dark wood 
 with inlaid work of copper filled the sleeping apart- 
 ment, where, on a platform covered with swan's-down, 
 stood a large canopied bedstead trimmed with ostrich- 
 feathers.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 149 
 
 Here were surroundings specially calculated to fas- 
 cinate him. In a sudden revolt of his youthful blood 
 he swore that he would enjoy such things; he grew 
 bold ; then, coming back to the place opening into the 
 drawing-room, where there was now a larger gathering 
 it kept moving about in a kind of luminous pulveru- 
 lence he stood to watch the quadrilles, blinking his 
 eyes to see better, and inhaling* the soft perfumes of 
 the women, which floated through the atmosphere like 
 an all-pervading kiss. 
 
 But, close to him, on the other side of the door, was 
 Pellerin Pellerin, in full dress, his left hand over 
 his breast, his hat and a torn white glove in his right. 
 
 " Halloa ! 'Tis a long time since we saw you ! 
 Where the deuce have you been ? Travelling in Italy ? 
 'Tis a commonplace country enough Italy, eh? not 
 so unique as people say it is? No matter! Will you 
 bring me your sketches one of these days ? " 
 
 And, without allowing him time to answer, the artist 
 began talking about himself. He had made consider- 
 able progress, having definitely satisfied himself as to 
 the stupidity of studying the line. We ought not to 
 look so much for beauty and unity in a work as for 
 character and diversity of subject. 
 
 " For everything exists in nature ; therefore, every- 
 thing is legitimate ; everything is plastic. It is only a 
 question of catching the mood, mind you ! I have dis- 
 covered the secret," and giving him a nudge, he re- 
 peated several times, " I have discovered the secret, 
 you see ! Just look at that little woman with the head- 
 dress of a sphinx who is dancing with a Russian pos- 
 tilion that's neat, dry, fixed, all in flats and in stiff 
 tones indigo under the eyes, a patch of vermilion on 
 the cheek, and bistre on the temples pif ! paf ! " And 
 with his thumb he drew, as it were, pencil-strokes in
 
 150 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the air. " Whilst the big one over there," he continued, 
 pointing toward a fishwife in a cherry gown with a 
 gold cross hanging from her neck, and a lawn fichu 
 fastened round her shoulders, " is nothing but curves. 
 The nostrils are spread out just like the borders of her 
 cap ; the corners of the mouth are rising up ; the chin 
 sinks : all is fleshy, melting, abundant, tranquil, and 
 sunshiny a true Rubens ! Nevertheless, both are per- 
 fect ! Where, then, is the type ? " He grew warm with 
 the subject "What is this but a beautiful woman? 
 What is it but the beautiful ? Ah ! the beautiful tell 
 me what that is 
 
 Frederick interrupted him to inquire who was the 
 merry-andrew with the face of a he-goat, who was in 
 the act of blessing all the dancers in the middle of a 
 pastourelle. 
 
 " Oh ! he's not anybody ! a widower, the father of 
 three boys. He leaves them without breeches, spends 
 all his time at the club, and lives with the servant ! " 
 
 " And who is that dressed like a bailiff talking in the 
 recess of the window to a Marquise de Pompadour ? " 
 
 " The Marquise is Mademoiselle Vandael, at one 
 time an actress at the Gymnase, the mistress of the 
 Doge, the Comte de Palazot. They have now been 
 twenty years living together nobody can tell why. 
 Had she fine eyes at one time, that woman? As for 
 the citizen beside her, his name is Captain d'Herbigny, 
 an old man of the hurdy-gurdy sort that you can play 
 on, with nothing in the world except, his Cross of the 
 Legion of Honour and his pension. He passes for the 
 uncle of the grisettes at festival times, arranges duels, 
 and dines in the city." 
 
 " A rascal ? " said Frederick. 
 
 " No ! an honest man ! " 
 
 "Ha!"
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 151 
 
 The artist was about to mention the names of others, 
 when, perceiving a gentleman who, like Moliere's phy- 
 sician, wore a big black serge gown opening very wide 
 as it descended in order to display all his trinkets: 
 
 " The person there is Doctor Des Rogis, who, full 
 of bitterness at not having become famous, has written 
 a book of medical pornography, and willingly blacks 
 people's boots in society, while he is at the same time 
 discreet. These ladies adore him. He and his wife 
 (that lean chatelaine in the grey dress) are seen to- 
 gether at every public place aye, and at other places 
 too. In spite of domestic embarrassments, they have 
 a da\ artistic teas, at which verses are recited. Atten- 
 tion !" 
 
 Between two quadrilles, Rosanette went toward the 
 mantelpiece, where an obese little old man, in a ma- 
 roon coat with gold buttons, was seated in an arm- 
 chair. In spite of his withered cheeks, which hung 
 over his white cravat, his hair, still fair, and curling 
 naturally like that of a poodle, gave him a frivolous 
 appearance. 
 
 She was listening to him with her face bent close to 
 his. Presently, she handed him a little glass of syrup ; 
 and nothing could be more dainty than her hands under 
 their laced sleeves, which passed over the facings of 
 her green coat. When the old man had swallowed it, 
 he kissed them. 
 
 " Why, that's Monsieur Oudry, a neighbour of Ar- 
 noux ! " 
 
 " He has lost her ! " said Pellerin, smiling. 
 
 A Longjumeau postilion caught her by the waist. A 
 waltz was beginning. Then all the women, seated 
 round the drawing-room on benches, rose up quickly ; 
 and their petticoats, their scarfs, and their head-dresses 
 went whirling round.
 
 152 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 They whirled so close to him that Frederick could 
 see the beads of perspiration on their foreheads ; and 
 this gyral movement, more and more lively, regular, 
 provocative of dizzy sensations, communicated to his 
 mind a sort of intoxication, which made other images 
 surge up within it, while each woman passed with the 
 same dazzling effect, and with a special kind of excit- 
 ing influence, according to her style of beauty. 
 
 The Polish lady, surrendering herself in a languor- 
 ous fashion, inspired him with a longing to clasp her 
 to his heart while they were both spinning forward 
 on a sledge along a plain covered with snow. Hori- 
 zons of tranquil voluptuousness in a chalet at the side 
 of a lake opened out under the footsteps of the Swiss 
 girl, who waltzed with her bust erect and her eye- 
 lashes drooping. Then, suddenly, the Bacchante, 
 bending back her head with its dark locks, made him 
 dream of devouring caresses in a wood of oleanders, 
 in the midst of a storm, to the confused accompani- 
 ment of tabours. The fishwife, who was panting 
 from the rapidity of the music, which was far too 
 great for her, gave vent to bursts of laughter ; and he 
 would have liked, while drinking with her in some 
 tavern in the " Porcherons," to rumple her fichu 
 with both hands, as in the good old times. But the 
 'longshorewoman, whose light toes barely skimmed 
 the floor, seemed to conceal under the suppleness of 
 her limbs and the seriousness of her face all the re- 
 finements of modern love, which possesses the ex- 
 actitude of a science and the mobility of a bird. 
 Rosanette was whirling with arms akimbo; her wig, 
 in an awkward position, bobbed over her collar, and 
 flung iris-powder around her ; and, at every turn, she 
 was near catching hold of Frederick by the ends of 
 her gold spurs.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 153 
 
 During the closing bar of the waltz, Mademoiselle 
 Yatnaz made her appearance. 
 
 Behind her came a tall fellow in the classical cos- 
 tume of Dante, who happened to be she now made no 
 concealment of it the ex-singer of the Alhambra, and 
 who, though his name was Auguste Delamare, had first 
 called himself Antenor Delamarre, then Delmas, then 
 Belmar, and at last Delmar, thus modifying and per- 
 fecting his name, as his celebrity increased, for he had 
 forsaken the public-house concert for the theatre, and 
 had just made his debut in a noisy fashion at the Am- 
 bigu in Gaspardo Ic Pccheur. 
 
 Hussonnet, on noticing him, knitted his brows. 
 Since his play had been rejected, he hated actors. It 
 was impossible to conceive the vanity of individuals of 
 this sort, and above all of this fellow. " What a prig ! 
 Just look at him ! " 
 
 After a slight bow toward Rosanette, Delmar leaned 
 against the mantelpiece ; and there he remained, mo- 
 tionless, with one hand over his heart, his left foot 
 thrust forward, his eyes raised toward heaven, with 
 his wreath of gilt laurels above his cowl, while he 
 strove to put a poetical expression on his face in order 
 to fascinate the ladies. They made, at some distance, 
 a circle around him. 
 
 The Yatnaz, having given Rosanette a prolonged 
 embrace, came to beg of Hussonnet to revise, with a 
 view to the improvement of the style, an educational 
 work which she intended to publish, under the title 
 of The Young Ladies' Garland, a collection of lit- 
 erary and moral philosophy. 
 
 The man of letters agreed to assist her in the prepa- 
 ration of the work. Then she asked him whether he 
 could not in one of the publications to which he had 
 access give her friend a slight puff, and even assign
 
 154 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 to him some employment. Hussonnet in his interest 
 had forgotten to take a glass of punch. 
 
 It was Arnoux who had brewed the beverage ; and, 
 followed by the Comte's groom carrying an empty tray, 
 he offered it to the ladies with a self-satisfied air. 
 
 When he was passing in front of M. Oudry, Rosa- 
 nette stopped him. 
 
 "Well and this little business?" 
 
 He coloured slightly; finally, addressing the old 
 man : 
 
 " Our fair friend tells me that you would have the 
 kindness 
 
 " What of that, neighbour ? I am quite at your ser- 
 vice ! " 
 
 And M. Dambreuse's name was pronounced. As 
 they were talking in low tones, Frederick could 
 only hear indistinctly ; and he made his way to the 
 other side of the mantelpiece, where Rosanette and 
 Delmar were chatting. 
 
 The mummer had a vulgar countenance, made, like 
 the scenery of the stage, to be viewed from a distance 
 coarse hands, big feet, and a heavy jaw; and he 
 spoke slightingly of the most distinguished actors, and 
 of poets with patronising contempt, making use of the 
 expressions " my organ," " my physique," " my pow- 
 ers," enamelling his conversation with words that were 
 scarcely intelligible even to himself, and for which he 
 had quite an affection, such as " morbidezza" "ana- 
 logue," and " homogeneity." 
 
 Rosanette listened to him with little nods of ap- 
 proval. One could see her enthusiasm burning under 
 the paint on her cheeks, and a touch of moisture ap- 
 peared like a veil over her bright eyes of an indefinable 
 colour. How could such a man as this fascinate her? 
 Frederick internally excited himself to still greater con-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 155 
 
 tempt for him, in order to banish, perhaps, a species 
 of envy which he felt with regard to him. 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz was now with Arnoux, and, 
 while laughing from time to time very loudly, she cast 
 glances toward Rosanette, whom Monsieur Oudry kept 
 in sight. 
 
 Then Arnoux and the Vatnaz disappeared. The old 
 man began talking in a subdued voice to Rosanette. 
 
 " Well, yes, 'tis settled then ! Leave me alone ! " 
 
 And she asked Frederick to give a glance into the 
 kitchen to see whether Arnoux happened to be there. 
 
 A battalion of half-full glasses covered the floor; 
 and the saucepans, the pots, the turbot-kettle, and the 
 frying-stove were all in a state of confusion. Arnoux 
 was giving directions to the servants, whom he 
 " thee'd " and " thou'd," beating up the mustard, tast- 
 ing the sauces, and flirting with the housemaid. 
 
 " All right," he said ; " tell them 'tis ready ! I'm 
 going to have it served up." 
 
 The dancing had ceased. The women sat down; 
 the men were walking about. 
 
 Where could Rosanette be? Frederick went on 
 further to find her, even into her boudoir and her bed- 
 room. Some, in order to be alone, or in pairs, had 
 retreated into the corners. Whisperings intermingled 
 with the shade. There were little laughs stifled under 
 handkerchiefs, and at the sides of women's corsages 
 one could catch glimpses of fans quivering with slow, 
 gentle movements, like the beating of a wounded bird's 
 wings. 
 
 As he entered the conservatory, he saw under the 
 large leaves of a caladium near the fountain, Delmar 
 lying at length on the linen-covered sofa. Rosanette, 
 seated beside him, was passing her fingers through his 
 hair ; and they were gazing into each other's faces. At
 
 156 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the same moment, Arnotix came in at the opposite side 
 that which was near the aviary. Delmar sprang to 
 his feet ; then he went out at a rapid pace, without 
 turning round ; but he paused close to the door to 
 gather a hibiscus flower, with which he adorned his 
 button-hole. Rosanette hung her head ; Frederick, who 
 caught sight of her profile, saw that she was in tears. 
 
 " I say ! What's the matter with you ? " exclaimed 
 Arnoux. 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders without replying. 
 
 " Is it on his account ? " he went on. 
 
 She threw her arms round his neck, and kissing him 
 on the forehead, slowly : 
 
 " You should know that I will always love you, my 
 big fellow ! Think no more about it ! Let us go to 
 supper ! " 
 
 A copper chandelier with forty wax tapers lighted 
 up the dining-room, the walls of which were hidden 
 from view under some fine old earthenware that was 
 hung up there. With a rustle of garments, the women 
 took their seats beside one another ; the men, standing 
 up, posted themselves at the corners. Pellerin and 
 M. Oudry were placed near Rosanette, Arnoux was 
 facing her. Palazot and his female companion had 
 just gone out. 
 
 " Good-bye to them ! " said she. " Now let us begin 
 the attack ! " 
 
 And the choir-boy, a facetious man, with a big sign 
 of the cross, said grace. 
 
 The ladies were scandalised, and especially the fish- 
 wife, who was the mother of a young girl of whom 
 she wished to make an honest woman. Neither did 
 Arnoux care for " that sort of thing," as he considered 
 that religion ought to be respected. 
 
 A German clock with a cock attached to it happening
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 157 
 
 to chime out the hour of two, gave rise to a number 
 of jokes about the cuckoo. All kinds of talk followed 
 puns, anecdotes, bragging remarks, bets, lies taken 
 for truth, improbable assertions, a tumult of words, 
 which soon became dispersed in the form of conversa- 
 tion between particular individuals. The wines went 
 round; the dishes succeeded one another; the doctor 
 carved. The angel poised on the piano-stool the only 
 place on which her wings permitted her to sit was 
 placidly masticating without stopping. 
 
 " What an appetite ! " the choir-boy kept repeating 
 in amazement, " what an appetite ! " 
 
 And a sphinx drank brandy, screamed out with her 
 mouth full, and wriggled like a demon. Suddenly her 
 jaws swelled, and no longer being able to keep down 
 the blood which rushed to her head and nearly choked 
 her, she pressed her napkin against her lips and threw 
 herself under the table. 
 
 Frederick had seen her falling : " Tis nothing ! " 
 And at his request to be allowed to go and look after 
 her, she replied slowly : 
 
 " Pooh ! what's the use? That's just as pleasant as 
 anything else. Life is not so amusing ! " 
 
 Then, he shivered, a feeling of icy sadness taking 
 possession of him, as if he had caught a glimpse of 
 whole worlds of wretchedness and despair a chafing- 
 dish of charcoal beside a folding-bed, the corpses of 
 the Morgue in leathern aprons, with the stream of cold 
 water flowing over their heads. 
 
 Meanwhile Hussonnet, seated at the feet of the fe- 
 male savage, was howling in a hoarse voice in imi- 
 tation of the actor Grassot : 
 
 " Be not cruel, O Celuta ! this little family fete is 
 charming ! Intoxicate me with delight, my loves ! Let 
 us be gay ! let us be gay ! "
 
 158 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 And he began kissing the women on the shoulders. 
 They quivered under the tickling of his moustaches. 
 Then he conceived the idea of breaking a plate over 
 his head. Others followed his example. The broken 
 earthenware flew about in bits like slates in a storm; 
 and the 'longshore-woman exclaimed : 
 
 " Don't bother yourselves about that ; they cost noth- 
 ing. We get a present of them from the merchant 
 who makes them ! " 
 
 Every eye was riveted on Arnoux. He replied : 
 
 " Ha ! about the invoice allow me ! " desiring, no 
 doubt, to pass for not being, or for no longer being, Ro- 
 sanette's lover. 
 
 But two angry voices here interrupted : 
 
 "Idiot!" 
 
 " Rascal ! " 
 
 " I am at your command ! " 
 
 " So am I at yours ! " 
 
 It was the mediaeval knight and the Russian postilion 
 who were disputing, the latter having stated that ar- 
 mour dispensed with bravery, while the other regarded 
 this view as an insult. He desired to fight; all inter- 
 posed to prevent him, and in the midst of the uproar 
 the captain tried to make himself heard. 
 
 " Listen to me, Messieurs ! One word ! I have some 
 experience, Messieurs ! " 
 
 Rosanette, by tapping with her knife on a glass, 
 succeeded eventually in restoring silence, and, address- 
 ing the knight, who had his helmet on, and then the 
 postilion, whose head was covered with a large hairy 
 cap: 
 
 " Take off that saucepan of yours ! and you, there, 
 your wolf's head ! Are you going to obey me, damn 
 you ? Show respect to my epaulets ! I am your com- 
 manding officer ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 159 
 
 They complied, and everyone applauded, exclaim- 
 ing-, " Long- live the Marechale ! long live the Mare- 
 chale ! " Then she took a bottle of champagne off the 
 stove, and poured its contents into the cups which they 
 successively stretched out to her. 
 
 The little birds of the aviary, the door of which had 
 been left open, flew into the apartment, quite scared ; 
 they flew round the chandelier, knocking against the 
 window-panes and against the furniture, and some of 
 them, alighting on the heads of the guests, looked like 
 large flowers. 
 
 The musicians had gone. The piano had been drawn 
 out of the anteroom. The Vatnaz seated herself before 
 it, and, accompanied by the choir-boy, who thumped 
 his tambourine, she wildly dashed into a quadrille, 
 striking the keys like a horse pawing the ground, and 
 wriggling her waist, the better to mark the time. The 
 Marechale dragged out Frederick ; Hussonnet took the 
 windmill ; the 'longshore-woman worked her joints like 
 a circus-clown ; the merry-andrew acted after the man- 
 ner of an orang-outang; the female savage, with out- 
 spread arms, imitated the swaying motion of a boat. 
 At last, unable to keep it up any longer, they all 
 stopped ; and a window was flung open. 
 
 The broad daylight penetrated the apartment with 
 the cool breath of morning. There was an exclamation 
 of astonishment, followed by silence. ' The hangings 
 were soiled, the dresses rumpled and dusty. The plaits 
 of the women's hair hung loose over their shoulders, 
 and the paint, trickling down with the perspiration, 
 revealed pallid faces and red, blinking eyelids. 
 
 The Marechale, fresh as if she had just stepped out 
 of a bath, had rosy cheeks and sparkling eyes. She 
 flung her wig away, and her hair fell around her like 
 fleece, allowing none of her uniform to be seen ex-
 
 160 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 cept her breeches, the effect thus produced being at the 
 same time comical and pretty. 
 
 The Sphinx, whose teeth chattered as if she had 
 the ague, asked for a shawl. 
 
 Rosanette rushed up to her own room to look for 
 one, and, as the other came after her, she quickly shut 
 the door in her face. 
 
 The Turk remarked, in a loud tone, that M. Oudry 
 had not been seen going out. Nobody paid any 
 attention to the maliciousness of this observation, so 
 worn out were they all. 
 
 Then, while waiting for vehicles, they managed to 
 get on their broad-brimmed hats and cloaks. It struck 
 seven. The angel was still in the dining-room, with 
 a plate of sardines and fruit stewed in melted butter in 
 front of her, and close beside her was the fishwife, 
 smoking cigarettes, while giving her advice as to the 
 right way to live. 
 
 At last, the cabs having arrived, the guests took 
 their departure. But the angel, attacked by the pre- 
 liminary symptoms of indigestion, was unable to rise. 
 A mediaeval baron carried her to a cab. 
 
 " Take care of her wings ! " cried the 'longshore- 
 woman through the window. 
 
 At the head of the stairs, Mademoiselle Vatnaz said 
 to Rosanette: 
 
 " Good-bye, darling ! It has been a very nice party." 
 
 Then, bending close to her ear : " Take care of 
 him!" 
 
 " Till better times come," returned the Marechale, in 
 drawling tones, as she turned her back. 
 
 Arnoux and Frederick returned together, just as 
 the^ had come. The dealer in faience looked so gloomy 
 that his companion asked if he were ill. 
 
 "I? Not at all!"
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 161 
 
 He bit his moustache, knitted his brows ; and Fred- 
 erick inquired if it were his business that annoyed him. 
 
 " By no means ! " 
 
 Then all of a sudden : 
 
 " You know him Pere Oudry don't you ? " 
 
 And, with a spiteful expression on his countenance: 
 
 " He's rich, the old scoundrel ! " 
 
 After this, Arnoux spoke about an important piece 
 of ware-making, which had to be finished that day 
 at his works. He wished to see it ; the train was start- 
 ing in an hour. 
 
 " Meantime, I must go and embrace my wife." 
 
 " Ha ! his wife ! " thought Frederick. Then he 
 made his way home to go to bed, with his head aching 
 terribly ; and, to appease his thirst, he swallowed a 
 whole carafe of water. 
 
 Another thirst had come to him the thirst for 
 women, for licentious pleasure, for all that Parisian life 
 permitted him to enjoy. Then, two large black eyes, 
 which had not been at the ball, appeared ; and, light as 
 butterflies, burning as torches, they came and went, 
 ascended to the cornice and descended to his very 
 mouth. 
 
 Frederick strove desperately to recognise those eyes, 
 but could not do so. Already the dream had taken hold 
 of him. It seemed to him that he was yoked beside 
 Arnoux to the pole of a hackney-coach, and that the 
 Marechale sat astride of him, and disembowelled him 
 with her gold spurs.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 FREDERICK ENTERTAINS AND IS ENTERTAINED 
 
 AT the corner of the Rue Rumfort was a small 
 mansion which was just what Frederick 
 needed. He purchased it, along with the 
 horse, the brougham, the furniture, and a couple of 
 flower stands which were taken from the Arnoux's 
 house to be placed on each side of his drawing-room 
 door. In the rear of the apartment were a bedroom 
 and a closet. The idea occurred to his mind to take 
 in Deslauriers with him. But how could he receive 
 her her, his future mistress? The presence of a 
 friend would be inconvenient. He knocked down the 
 partition-wall in order to enlarge the drawing-room, 
 and converted the closet into a smoking-room. 
 
 He bought the works of the poets whom he loved, 
 books of travel, atlases, and dictionaries, for he had 
 innumerable plans of study. He hurried on the work- 
 men, rushed about to the different shops, and in his 
 impatience to enjoy, carried off everything without 
 even bargaining beforehand. 
 
 From the tradesmen's bills, Frederick calculated 
 that he would have to expend very soon forty thou- 
 sand francs, not including the succession duties, which 
 would exceed thirty-seven thousand. As his fortune 
 was in landed property, he wrote to the notary at 
 Havre to sell a portion of it that he might pay off 
 his debts and have some money at his disposal. Then, 
 anxious to become acquainted at last with that vague
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 163 
 
 entity, glittering and indefinable, which is known as 
 " society," he sent a note to the Dambreuses to know 
 whether he might call upon them. Madame, in reply, 
 said she would expect a visit from him the following 
 day. 
 
 This happened to be their reception-day. Carriages 
 were standing in the courtyard. Two footmen rushed 
 forward under the marquee, and a third at the head 
 of the stairs walked before him. 
 
 Frederick smiled with pleasure in spite of himself. 
 
 At last he reached an oval apartment wainscoted in 
 cypress-wood, full of dainty furniture, and letting 
 in the light through a single sheet of plate-glass, which 
 looked out on a garden. Madame Dambreuse was 
 seated at the fireside, with a dozen persons gathered 
 round her in a circle, With a polite greeting, she 
 signed to him to take a seat, without, however, ex- 
 hibiting any surprise at not having seen him for so 
 long a time. 
 
 Just at the moment he was entering the room, they 
 had been praising the eloquence of the Abbe Coeur. 
 Then they deplored the immorality of servants, a 
 topic suggested by a theft which a valet-de-chambre 
 had committed, and they began to indulge in tittle- 
 tattle. Old Madame de Sommery had a cold ; Made- 
 moiselle de Turvisot had married ; the Montcharrons 
 were not expected before the end of January ; neither 
 would the Bretancourts return for some time, now 
 that people remained in the country till late in the 
 year. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse received all of them graciously. 
 When it was mentioned that anyone was ill, she 
 knitted her brows with a pained expression, and when 
 balls or evening parties were discussed, assumed a 
 joyous air. She would ere long be compelled to de-
 
 164 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 prive herself of these pleasures, for she was going 
 to take away from a boarding-school a niece of her 
 husband, an orphan. The guests extolled her de- 
 votedness: this was behaving like a true mother of 
 a family. 
 
 Frederick gazed at her attentively. The dull skin 
 of her face looked as if it had been stretched out, and 
 had a bloom in which there was no brilliancy, like 
 that of preserved fruit. But her hair, which she wore 
 in corkscrew curls, after the English fashion, was 
 finer than silk ; her eyes were of a sparkling blue ; and 
 all her movements were dainty. Seated at the lower 
 end of the apartment, on a small sofa, she kept brush- 
 ing off the red flock from a Japanese screen, probably 
 to let her hands be seen to greater advantage long 
 narrow hands, a trifle thin, with fingers tilting up at 
 the points. She wore a grey moire gown with a high- 
 necked body, like a Puritan lady. 
 
 Frederick inquired whether she intended to go to 
 La Fortelle this year. Madame Dambreuse was un- 
 able to say. He was sure, however, of one thing, that 
 one would be bored to death in Nogent. 
 
 Then the visitors thronged in more quickly. It 
 soon became impossible to follow the conversation; as 
 Frederick withdrew Madame Dambreuse said to him : 
 
 " Every Wednesday, is it not, Monsieur Moreau ? " 
 making up for her previous apparent indifference by 
 these simple words. 
 
 He was satisfied. Nevertheless, he took a deep 
 breath when he got out into the open air; and, crav- 
 ing a less artificial environment, Frederick recalled to 
 mind that he owed the Marechale a visit. 
 
 The door of the anteroom was open. Two Hava- 
 nese lapdogs rushed forward. A voice exclaimed : 
 
 " Delphine ! Delphine ! Is that you, Felix ? "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 165 
 
 He stood there without advancing a step. The two 
 little dogs kept up a continuous yelping. At length 
 Rosanette appeared, wrapped up in a sort of dressing- 
 gown of white muslin trimmed with lace, and with 
 her stockingless feet in Turkish slippers. 
 
 " Ah ! excuse me, Monsieur ! I thought it was the 
 hairdresser. One minute ; I am coming back ! " 
 
 And he was left alone in the dining-room. The 
 Venetian blinds were closed. Frederick, as he glanced 
 round, was beginning to recall the hubbub of the other 
 night, when he noticed on the table, in the middle of 
 the room, a man's hat, an old felt hat, bruised, greasy, 
 dirty. To whom did this hat belong? Impudently 
 displaying its torn lining, it seemed to say: 
 
 " I have the laugh, after all ! I am the master! " 
 
 The Marechale suddenly reappeared on the scene. 
 She picked up the hat ?> opened the conservatory, flung 
 it in there, shut the door again (other doors flew open 
 and closed again at the same moment), and, having 
 brought Frederick through the kitchen, she introduced 
 him into her dressing-room. 
 
 It was evident that this was the most frequented 
 room in the house, and, so to speak, its true moral 
 centre. The walls, the armchairs, and a big divan 
 with a spring were adorned with a chintz pattern on 
 which was traced a great deal of foliage. On a white 
 marble table stood two large washhand-basins of fine 
 blue earthenware. Crystal shelves, forming a what- 
 not, were laden with phials, brushes, combs, sticks of 
 cosmetic, and powder-boxes. The fire was reflected 
 in a high cheval-glass. A sheet was hanging outside 
 a bath, and odours of almond-paste and of benzoin 
 were exhaled. 
 
 " You'll excuse the disorder. I'm dining out this 
 evening."
 
 166 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 As she turned on her heel, she nearly crushed one 
 of the little dogs. Frederick declared that they were 
 charming. She lifted up the pair of them, and raising 
 their black snouts up to her face : 
 
 " Come ! do a laugh kiss the gentleman ! " 
 
 A man dressed in a dirty overcoat with a fur collar 
 entered abruptly. 
 
 " Felix, my worthy fellow," said she, " you'll have 
 that business of yours attended to next Sunday with- 
 out fail." 
 
 The man proceeded to dress her hair. Frederick 
 told her he had heard news of her friends, Madame 
 de Rochegune, Madame de Saint-Florentin, and Ma- 
 dame Lombard, every woman being noble, just as 
 it might be at the mansion of the Dambreuses. Then 
 he talked about the theatres. An extraordinary per- 
 formance was to be given that evening at the Ambigu. 
 
 "Shall you be there?" 
 
 " Faith, no! I'm staying at home." 
 
 Delphine appeared. Her mistress scolded her for 
 having gone out without permission. 
 
 The other vowed that she was " just returning from 
 market." 
 
 " Well, bring me your book. You have no objec- 
 tion, isn't that so ? " 
 
 And, reading the pass-book in a low tone, Rosanette 
 made remarks on every item. The different sums 
 were not added up correctly. 
 
 " Hand me four sous ! " 
 
 Delphine handed the amount over to her, and, when 
 she had sent the maid away : 
 
 " Ah ! Holy Virgin ! could I be more unfortunate 
 than I am with these creatures ? " 
 
 Frederick was shocked at this grumbling about ser- 
 vants. It recalled the others too vividly to his mind,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 167 
 
 and established between the two houses a kind of 
 irritating- equality. 
 
 When Delphine came back again, she drew close 
 to the Marechale's side in order to whisper something 
 in her ear. 
 
 " Ah. no ! I don't want her ! " 
 
 Delphine presented herself once more. 
 
 " Madame, she insists." 
 
 " Ah, what a nuisance! Throw her out! " 
 
 At the same moment, an old lady, dressed in black, 
 pushed open the door. Frederick heard nothing, saw 
 nothing. Rosanette rushed into the other room to 
 meet her. 
 
 When she reappeared her cheeks were flushed, and 
 she dropped into one of the armchairs without saying 
 a word. A tear fell down her face ; then, turning to- 
 ward the young man softly : 
 
 " What is your first name ? " 
 
 '' Frederick." 
 
 " Ha ! Frederico ! It doesn't annoy you when I 
 address you in that way?" 
 
 And she gazed at him coaxingly, almost amorously. 
 
 All of a sudden she uttered an exclamation of de- 
 light at the entrance of Mademoiselle Vatnaz. 
 
 The lady-artist had no time to spare before presid- 
 ing at her table d'hote at six o'clock sharp ; and she 
 was panting for breath, being completely exhausted. 
 She first took out of her pocket a gold chain in a 
 paper, then various objects that she had bought. 
 
 " You should know that there are in the Rue Jou- 
 bert splendid Suede gloves at thirty-six sous. Your 
 dyer requires eight days more. As for the guipure, 
 I told you that they would dye it again. Bugneaux has 
 received the instalment you paid. That's all, I think. 
 You owe me a hundred and eighty-five francs."
 
 168 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Rosanette went to a drawer to get ten napoleons. 
 Neither of the pair had any money. Frederick offered 
 some. 
 
 " I'll pay you back," said the Vatnaz, as she stuffed 
 the fifteen francs into her handbag. " But you are 
 a naughty boy ! I don't love you any longer you 
 didn't ask me to dance with you even once the other 
 evening ! Ah ! my dear, I came across a case of 
 stuffed humming-birds which are perfect loves at a 
 shop in the Quai Voltaire. If I were in your place, 
 I would make myself a present of them. Look here! 
 What do you think of it ? " 
 
 And she exhibited an old remnant of pink silk which 
 she had purchased at the Temple to make a mediaeval 
 doublet for Delmar. 
 
 " He was here to-day, wasn't he ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " That's strange. 
 
 And, after a minute's silence : 
 
 " Where are you going this evening? " 
 
 ' To Alphonsine's," said Rosanette, this being the 
 third version given by her as to the way in which she 
 was going to pass the evening. 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz went on : " And what news 
 about the old man of the mountain ? " 
 
 But, with an abrupt wink, the Marechale bade her 
 hold her tongue; and she accompanied Frederick out 
 as far as the anteroom to find out how soon he would 
 see Arnoux. 
 
 " Pray ask him to come not before his wife, 
 mind ! ' 
 
 At the top of the stairs an umbrella was standing 
 against the wall near a pair of goloshes. 
 
 " Vatnaz's goloshes," said Rosanette. " What a 
 foot, eh ? My little friend is rather strongly built ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 169 
 
 And, in a melodramatic tone, making the final letter 
 of the word roll : 
 
 " Don't tru-us-st her ! " 
 
 Frederick, emboldened by this confidence, tried to 
 kiss her on the neck. 
 
 " Oh, do it ! It costs nothing ! " 
 
 He felt light-hearted as he left her, having no doubt 
 but that ere long the Marechale would be his mistress. 
 This desire awakened another, and, in spite of the 
 species of grudge that he owed her, he felt a longing 
 to see Madame Arnoux. 
 
 Besides, he would have to call at her house in order 
 to execute the commission with which he had been 
 entrusted by Rosanette. 
 
 "But now," thought he (it had just struck six), 
 " Arnoux is probably at home." 
 
 So he postponed his visit till the following day. 
 
 She was seated in the same attitude as on the former 
 day, and was sewing a little boy's shirt. 
 
 The child, at her feet, was playing with a wooden 
 toy menagerie. Marthe, a short distance away, was 
 writing. 
 
 He began by complimenting her on her children. 
 She replied without any exaggeration of maternal 
 silliness. 
 
 The room had a peaceful aspect. A glow of sun- 
 shine crept in through the window-panes, lighting up 
 the angles of the furniture, and, as Madame Arnoux 
 sat close beside the window, a large ray, falling on the 
 curls over the nape of her neck, penetrated with liquid 
 gold her skin, which appeared like amber. 
 
 Then he said: 
 
 " This young lady has grown very tall during the 
 past three years ! Do you remember, Mademoiselle, 
 when you slept on my knees in the carriage ? "
 
 170 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Marthe did not remember. 
 
 "One evening, returning from Saint-Cloud?" 
 
 There was a look of peculiar sadness in Madame 
 Arnoux's face. Did she wish to prevent any allusion 
 on his part to the memories they possessed in common ? 
 
 Her beautiful black eyes glistened as they moved 
 gently under their somewhat drooping lids, and her 
 pupils revealed in their depths an inexpressible kindness 
 of heart. He was seized with a love stronger than ever, 
 a passion that knew no bounds. It enervated him to 
 contemplate the object of his attachment ; with an 
 effort, he shook off this feeling. How was he to make 
 the most of himself? by what means? And, having 
 turned the matter over thoroughly in his mind, Fred- 
 erick could think of none more effectual than money. 
 
 He began talking about the weather, which was less 
 cold than it had been at Havre. 
 
 " You have been there ? " 
 
 " Yes ; about a family matter an inheritance." 
 
 " Ah ! I am very glad," she said, with an air of 
 such genuine pleasure that he felt as touched as if 
 she had rendered him a great service. 
 
 She asked him what he intended to do, as it was 
 necessary for a man to occupy himself with something. 
 
 He recalled to mind his false position, and said 
 that he hoped to reach the Council of State with the 
 help of M. Dambreuse, the secretary. 
 
 " You are acquainted with him, then ? " 
 
 " Merely by name." 
 
 Then, in a low tone: 
 
 "He brought you to the ball the other night, did 
 he not?" 
 
 Frederick remained silent. 
 
 ;< That was all I wanted to know ; thanks ! " 
 
 After that she put two or three discreet questions
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 171 
 
 to him about his family and the part of the country 
 in which he lived. It was very kind of him not to 
 have forgotten them after having lived so long away 
 from Paris. 
 
 " But could that be possible? " he rejoined. " Have 
 you any doubt about it ? " 
 
 Madame Arnoux arose : " I believe that you enter- 
 tain toward us a true and steadfast affection. Au 
 revoirl" 
 
 And she extended her hand toward him in a sincere 
 and virile fashion. 
 
 Was this not an engagement, a promise ? Frederick 
 felt a sense of delight at merely living; he had to re- 
 strain himself to keep from singing. He wanted to 
 do generous deeds, to give alms. 
 
 Then he remembered his friends. The first of 
 whom he thought was Hussonnet, the second Pel- 
 lerin. The humble position of Dussardier naturally 
 claimed consideration. As for Cisy, he was not un- 
 willing to let that young aristocrat get a slight glimpse 
 of the extent of his fortune. He wrote accordingly 
 to all four to come to a housewarming the following 
 Sunday at eleven o'clock sharp ; and he invited Deslau- 
 riers to bring Senecal. 
 
 The tutor had been dismissed from the third board- 
 ing-school in which he had been employed for not 
 having given his consent to the distribution of prizes 
 a custom which he looked upon as dangerous to 
 equality. He was now with an engine-builder, and 
 for the past six months had not lived with Deslauriers. 
 There had been nothing unpleasant about their parting. 
 
 Senecal had been visited by men in blouses all 
 patriots, all workmen, honest fellows no doubt, but 
 at the same time men whose society was distasteful 
 to the advocate. Besides, he disliked certain ideas of
 
 172 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 his friend, excellent though they might be as weapons 
 of warfare. He held his tongue through motives of 
 ambition, deeming it prudent to pay deference to him 
 in order to exercise control over him, for he looked 
 forward impatiently to a revolutionary movement, in 
 which he calculated on making an opening for himself 
 and occupying a prominent position. 
 
 Senecal's convictions were more disinterested. 
 Every evening, when his work was finished, he re- 
 turned to his garret and sought in books for some- 
 thing that might justify his dreams. He had annotated 
 the Control Social; he had crammed himself with the 
 Revue Indepcndante; he was acquainted with Mably, 
 Morelly, Fourier, Saint-Simon, Comte, Cabet, Louis 
 Blanc 'the heavy cartload of Socialistic writers 
 those who claim for humanity the dead level of bar- 
 racks, who would like to amuse it in a brothel or to 
 bend it over a counter ; and from a medley of all these 
 things he constructed an ideal of virtuous democracy, 
 with the double aspect of a farm in which the land- 
 lord was to receive a share of the produce, and a 
 spinning-mill, a sort of American Lacedaemon, in 
 which the individual would only exist for the benefit 
 of the community, which was to be more omnipotent, 
 absolute, infallible, and divine than the Grand Lamas 
 and the Nebuchadnezzars. He had no doubt as to 
 the early realisation of this ideal; and Senecal raged 
 against everything that he considered hostile to it 
 with the logic of a geometrician and the zeal of an 
 Inquisitor. Titles of nobility, crosses, plumes, liveries 
 especially, and even reputations that were too loud- 
 sounding, scandalised him, his studies as well as his 
 sufferings intensifying day by day, his essential hatred 
 of every kind of distinction and every form of social 
 superiority.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 173 
 
 " What do I owe to this gentleman that I should 
 be polite to him ? If he wants me, he can come to me." 
 
 Deslauriers, however, induced him to go to Fred- 
 erick's reunion. 
 
 They found their friend in his bedroom. Spring- 
 roller blinds and double curtains, Venetian mirrors 
 nothing was wanting there. Frederick, in a velvet 
 vest, was lying back on an easy-chair, smoking cigar- 
 ettes of Turkish tobacco. 
 
 Senecal wore the stern look of a bigot arriving in 
 the midst of a pleasure-party. 
 
 Deslauriers gave him a single comprehensive glance ; 
 then, with a very low bow : 
 
 " Monseigneur, permit me to pay my respects to 
 you ! " 
 
 Dussardier leaped on his neck. " So you are a rich 
 man now. Ah ! upon my soul, so much the better ! " 
 
 Cisy appeared with crape on his hat. Since the 
 death of his grandmother, he was in the enjoyment 
 of a considerable fortune, and was less bent on amus- 
 ing himself than on being distinguished from others 
 not being the same as everyone else in short, on 
 " having the proper stamp." This was his favourite 
 phrase. 
 
 However, it was now midday, and they were all 
 yawning. 
 
 Frederick was waiting for some one. 
 
 At the mention of Arnoux's name, Pellerin made 
 a wry face. He considered him a renegade since he 
 had abandoned the fine arts. 
 
 " Suppose we pass over him what do you all say 
 to that?" 
 
 They all approved of this suggestion. 
 
 The door was opened by a man-servant in long 
 gaiters; and the dining-room could be seen with its
 
 174 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 lofty oak plinths relieved with gold, and its two side- 
 boards laden with plate. 
 
 These luxuries were lost on Senecal. He began by 
 asking for household bread (the hardest that could 
 be got), and in connection with this subject, spoke 
 of the murders of Buzangais and the crisis arising 
 from lack of the means of subsistence. 
 
 Nothing of this sort could have happened if agri- 
 culture had been better protected, if everything had 
 not been given up to competition, to anarchy, and to 
 the deplorable system of " Let things alone ! let things 
 go their own way ! " It was in this manner that the 
 feudalism of money was established the worst form 
 of feudalism. But let them beware ! The people in 
 the end will get tired of it, and may make the capitalist 
 pay for their sufferings either by bloody proscriptions 
 or by the plunder of their houses. 
 
 Frederick saw, as if by a lightning-flash, a mob 
 of men with bare arms invading Madame Dambreuse's 
 drawing-room, and smashing the mirrors with blows 
 of pikes. 
 
 Senecal went on to say that the workman, owing 
 to the insufficiency of wages, was more unfortunate 
 than the helot, the negro, and the pariah, especially 
 if he has children. 
 
 " Ought he to get rid of them by asphyxia, as some 
 English doctor, whose name I don't remember a 
 disciple of Malthus advises ? " 
 
 And, turning towards Cisy : " Are we to be forced 
 to follow the advice of the infamous Malthus ? " 
 
 Cisy, who was ignorant of the infamy and even of 
 the existence of Malthus, said by way of reply, that 
 after all, much human misery was relieved, and that 
 the higher classes 
 
 " Ha ! the higher classes ! " said the Socialist, with
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 175 
 
 a sneer. " To commence with, there are no higher 
 classes. 'Tis the heart alone that makes anyone higher 
 than another. We want no alms, understand ! but 
 equality, the fair division of what is produced." 
 
 What he required was that the workman might be- 
 come a capitalist, just as thfe soldier might become 
 a colonel. The trade-wardenships, at least, in limit- 
 ing the number of apprentices, prevented workmen 
 from growing inconveniently numerous, and the sen- 
 timent of fraternity was kept up by means of the fetes 
 and the banners. 
 
 Hussonnet, as a poet, regretted the banners ; so did 
 Pellerin, too a predilection which had taken pos- 
 session of him at the Cafe Dagneaux, while listening 
 to the Phalansterians talking. He expressed the 
 opinion that Fourier was a great man. 
 
 " Come now ! " said Deslauriers. " An old fool 
 who sees in the overthrow of governments the effects 
 of Divine vengeance. He is just like my lord Saint- 
 Simon and his church, with his hatred of the French 
 Revolution a set of buffoons who would fain re- 
 establish Catholicism." 
 
 M. de Cisy, no doubt in order to get information 
 or to make a good impression, broke in with this re- 
 mark, which he uttered in a mild tone: 
 
 " These two men of science are not, then, of the 
 same way of thinking as Voltaire ? " 
 
 " That fellow ! I make you a present of him ! " 
 
 "How is that? Why, I thought 
 
 " Oh ! no, he did not love the people ! " 
 
 Then the conversation came down to contemporary 
 events: the Spanish marriages, the dilapidations of 
 Rochefort, the new chapter-house of Saint-Denis, 
 which had led to the taxes being doubled. But, accord- 
 ing to Senecal, they were not high enough !
 
 176 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " And why are they paid ? My God ! to erect the 
 palace for apes at the Museum, to allow showy staff- 
 officers to parade along our squares, or to maintain 
 a Gothic etiquette among the flunkeys of the Chateau !" 
 
 " I read in the Mode," said Cisy, " that at the Tuil- 
 eries ball on the feast of Saint-Ferdinand, everyone 
 was disguised as a miser." 
 
 " How pitiable ! " said the Socialist, with a shrug 
 of his shoulders, as if to indicate his disgust. 
 
 " And the Museum of Versailles ! " exclaimed Pel- 
 lerin. " Let us talk about that ! These idiots have 
 foreshortened a Delacroix and lengthened a Gros! 
 At the Louvre they have so well restored, scratched, 
 and made a jumble of all the canvases, that in ten 
 years probably not one will be left. As for the mis- 
 takes in the catalogue, a German has written a whole 
 volume on the subject. Upon my word, the foreigners 
 are laughing at. us." 
 
 " Yes, we are the laughing-stock of Europe," said 
 Senecal. 
 
 " Tis because Art is conveyed in fee-simple to the 
 Crown." 
 
 " As long as we haven't universal suffrage " 
 
 " Allow me ! " for the artist, having been rejected 
 at every salon for the last twenty years, was filled 
 with bitterness against Power. 
 
 " Ah ! why let them bother us ? As for me, I ask for 
 nothing. Only the Chambers ought to pass enactments 
 in the interests of Art. A chair of aesthetics should be 
 established with a professor who, being a practical 
 man as well as a philosopher, would succeed, I hope, 
 in grouping the multitude. You would do well, Hus- 
 sonnet, to touch on this matter with a word or two 
 in your newspaper ! " 
 
 " Are the newspapers free ? are we ourselves free ? "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 177 
 
 said Deslauriers in an angry tone. " When one re- 
 flects that there might be as many as twenty-eight 
 different formalities to set up a boat on the river, it 
 makes me feel a longing to go and live amongst the 
 cannibals ! The Government is eating us up. Every- 
 thing belongs to it philosophy, law, the arts, the 
 very air of heaven ; and France, bereft of all energy, 
 lies under the boot of the gendarme and the cassock 
 of the devil-dodger with the death-rattle in her 
 throat ! " 
 
 The future Mirabeau thus poured out his bile in 
 abundance. Finally he raised his glass in his right 
 hand, and with his other arm akimbo, and his eyes 
 flashing: 
 
 " I drink to the utter destruction of the existing 
 order of things that is to say, of everything included 
 in the words Privilege, Monopoly, Regulation, Hier- 
 archy, Authority, State ! " and in a louder voice 
 " which I would like to smash as I do this ! " dashing 
 on the table the beautiful wine-glass, which broke into 
 a thousand pieces. 
 
 They all applauded, and especially Dussardier. 
 
 Frederick was a little surprised at these views. 
 They probably bored Cisy, for he changed the con- 
 versation to the tableaux vivants at the Gymnase, 
 which at that time were very popular. 
 
 Senecal regarded them with disfavour. Such ex- 
 hibitions demoralised the daughters of the proletariat. 
 Then, it was noticeable that they went in for a display 
 of shameless luxury. He approved of the conduct of 
 the Bavarian students who insulted Lola Montes. In 
 imitation of Rousseau, he expressed more esteem for 
 the wife of a coal-porter than for the mistress of a 
 king. 
 
 " You don't appreciate dainties," retorted Hussonnet
 
 178 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 in a majestic tone. And he took up the championship 
 of ladies of this class in order to praise Rosanette. 
 Then, as he happened to make an allusion to the ball 
 at her house and to Arnoux's costume, Pellerin 
 remarked : 
 
 " It is rumoured that he is becoming shaky." 
 
 The picture-dealer had just been engaged in a law- 
 suit with reference to his grounds at Belleville, and 
 he was actually in a kaolin company in Lower Brit- 
 tany with other rogues of the same sort. 
 
 Dussardier knew still more about him, for his own 
 master, M. Moussinot, having made inquiries about 
 Arnoux from the banker, Oscar Lefebvre, the latter 
 had said that he considered him by no means solvent, 
 as he knew that bills of his had been renewed. 
 
 Dessert was over; they passed into the drawing- 
 room, which was hung, like that of the Marechale, 
 in yellow damask in the style of Louis XVI. 
 
 Pellerin criticised Frederick for not having chosen 
 in preference the Neo-Greek style ; Senecal rubbed 
 matches against the hangings ; Deslauriers said 
 nothing. 
 
 There was a bookcase set up there, which he referred 
 to as " a little girl's library." The principal contem- 
 porary writers were to be found there. It was impos- 
 sible to speak about their works, for Hussonnet im- 
 mediately began relating anecdotes with reference to 
 their personal characteristics, criticising their faces, 
 their habits, their dress, glorifying fifth-rate intellects 
 and disparaging the greater ones ; and all the while 
 making it clear that he deplored and despised modern 
 decadence. 
 
 He instanced some village ditty as containing in 
 itself alone more poetry than all the lyrics of the nine- 
 teenth century. He maintained that Balzac was over-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 179 
 
 rated, that Byron was effaced, and that Hugo knew 
 nothing about the stage. 
 
 " Why, then," said Senecal, " have you not got the 
 volumes of the working-men poets ? " 
 
 And M. de Cisy, who devoted his attention to lit- 
 erature, was astonished at not seeing on Frederick's 
 table some of those new physiological studies the 
 physiology of the smoker, of the angler, of the man 
 employed at the barrier. 
 
 They irritated him to such an extent that he would 
 have liked to shove them out by the shoulders. 
 
 ' They are making me appear quite stupid ! " And 
 he drew Dussardier aside, and wished to know whether 
 he could do him any service. 
 
 The honest fellow was moved. He answered that 
 his post of cashier entirely sufficed for his wants. 
 
 After that, Frederick led Deslauriers into his own 
 apartment, and, taking out of his escritoire two thou- 
 sand francs : 
 
 " Look here, old boy, put this money in your pocket. 
 Tis the balance of my old debts to you." 
 
 " But what about the journal? " said the advocate. 
 " You know, of course, that I spoke about it to Hus- 
 sonnet." 
 
 And, when Frederick replied that he was " a little 
 short of cash just now," the other smiled in a sinister 
 fashion. 
 
 After the liqueurs they drank beer, and after the 
 beer, grog ; then they lighted their pipes once more. 
 At last they left, at five o'clock in the evening. They 
 were walking along at each other's side without speak- 
 ing, when Dussardier broke the silence by saying 
 that Frederick had entertained them in excellent style. 
 They all agreed with him on that point. 
 
 Then Hussonnet remarked that his luncheon was
 
 180 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 too heavy. Senecal complained of the trivial char- 
 acter of his household arrangements. Cisy took the 
 same view. It was absolutely devoid of the " proper 
 stamp." 
 
 " For my part, I think," said Pellerin, " he might 
 have had the grace to give me an order for a picture?' 
 
 Deslauriers held his tongue, as he had the bank- 
 notes that had been given to him in his breeches' pocket. 
 
 Frederick was left by himself. He thought about his 
 friends, and it seemed to him as if a huge, dark ditch 
 separated him from them. He had held out his hand 
 to them, and they had not responded to the sincerity of 
 his heart. 
 
 He recalled what Pellerin and Dussardier had said 
 about Arnoux. Surely it must be an invention, a cal- 
 umny? But why? And he had a vision of Madame 
 Arnoux, ruined, weeping, selling her furniture. This 
 idea tormented him all night long. Next day he pre- 
 sented himself at her house. 
 
 At a loss to find any way of telling her what he had 
 heard, he asked, as if in casual conversation, whether 
 Arnoux still held possession of his building grounds 
 at Belleville. 
 
 " Yes, he has them still." 
 
 " He is now, I believe, a shareholder in a kaolin 
 company in Brittany." 
 
 " That is so." 
 
 " His earthenware-works are going on very well, 
 are they not ? " 
 
 " Well I suppose so 
 
 And, as he hesitated : 
 
 " What is the matter ? You alarm me ! " 
 
 He told her the story about the renewals. She hung 
 down her head, and said : 
 
 " I thought so ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 181 
 
 In fact, Arnoux, thinking them a good speculation, 
 had refused to sell his grounds, had borrowed money 
 extensively on them, and finding no purchasers, had 
 thought of rehabilitating himself by establishing the 
 earthenware manufactory. The expense of this had 
 exceeded his calculations. She knew nothing more. 
 He evaded all her questions, and declared repeatedly 
 that everything was going on very well. 
 
 Frederick tried to reassure her. These in all prob- 
 ability were mere temporary embarrassments. How- 
 ever, if he got any information, he would impart it to 
 her. 
 
 " Oh ! yes, will you not ? " said she, clasping her two 
 hands with an air of charming supplication. 
 
 So thus he had it in his power to be useful to her. 
 He was now entering into her existence occupying a 
 place in her heart 
 
 Arnoux appeared. 
 
 " Ha ! how nice of you to come to take me out to 
 dine ! " 
 
 Frederick was silent. 
 
 Arnoux spoke about general topics, then informed 
 his wife that he would be home very late, as he had an 
 appointment with Monsieur Oudry. 
 
 "At his house?" 
 
 " Why, certainly, at his house." 
 
 As they went down the stairs, he confessed that, as 
 the Marechale had no engagement at home, they were 
 going on a secret pleasure-party to the Moulin Rouge ; 
 and, as he always needed somebody to be the recipient 
 of his outpourings, he got Frederick to drive him to 
 the door. 
 
 Instead of entering, he walked about on the footpath, 
 looking up at the windows on the second floor. Sud- 
 denly the curtains parted.
 
 182 GU STAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Ha ! bravo ! Oudry is gone ! Good evening ! " 
 
 Frederick did not know what to think. 
 
 From this day forth, Arnoux was still more cordial 
 than before ; he invited the young man to dine with 
 his mistress ; and ere long Frederick frequented both 
 houses. 
 
 Rosanette's residence furnished him with amusement. 
 He used to call there of an evening on his way back 
 from the club or the play. He would take a cup of 
 tea, or play a game of loto. On Sundays they played 
 charades; Rosanette, more noisy than the rest, made 
 herself conspicuous by funny tricks, such as running 
 on all-fours or muffling her head in a cotton cap, so 
 that she might watch the passers-by through the win- 
 dow, she had a hat of waxed leather ; she smoked chi- 
 bouks and sang Tyrolese airs. In the afternoon, to 
 kill time, she cut out flowers in a piece of chintz and 
 pasted them against the window-panes, smeared her 
 two little dogs with varnish, burned pastilles, or drew 
 cards to tell her fortune. Incapable of resisting a de- 
 sire, she became infatuated about some trinket which 
 she happened to see, and could not sleep till she had 
 bought it, then bartered it for another, sold costly 
 dresses for little or nothing, lost her jewellery, wasted 
 money, and would have sold her chemise for a stage- 
 box at the theatre. Often she asked Frederick to ex- 
 plain to her some word she came across when reading 
 a book, but paid no attention to his answer ; she jumped 
 quickly to another idea, while heaping questions on top 
 of each other. After periods of gaiety came childish 
 outbursts of rage, or sometimes she sat on the ground 
 dreaming before the fire with her head bent and her 
 hands clasping her knees, more inert than a torpid 
 adder. Quite indifferently, she made her toilet in his 
 presence, drew on her silk stockings, then washed her
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 183 
 
 face with great splashes of water, throwing back her 
 figure as if she were a shivering naiad ; her laughing 
 white teeth, her sparkling eyes, her beauty, her gaiety, 
 dazzled Frederick, and made his nerves tingle under 
 the lash of desire. 
 
 Usually he found Madame Arnoux teaching her lit- 
 tle boy to read, or standing behind Marthe's chair while 
 she played her scales on the piano. When she was 
 sewing, it was a great source of delight to him to pick 
 up her scissors now and then. In all her movements 
 there was a tranquil majesty. Her little hands seemed 
 made to scatter alms and to wipe away tears, and her 
 voice, naturally rather hollow, had caressing intona- 
 tions and a sort of breezy lightness. 
 
 She was not very enthusiastic about literature ; but 
 her intelligence exercised a charm by the use of a few 
 simple and penetrating words. She loved travelling, 
 the sound of the wind in the woods, and to walk with 
 uncovered head under the rain. 
 
 Frederick listened to these confidences with rapture, 
 fancying that he saw in them the beginning of a cer- 
 tain self-abandonment on her part. 
 
 His association with these two women made, as it 
 were, two different strains of music in his life, the one 
 playful, passionate, diverting, the other grave and al- 
 most religious, and vibrating both at the same time, 
 they increased in volume and gradually blended with 
 one another; for if Madame Arnoux happened merely 
 to touch him with her ringer, the image of the other 
 immediately presented itself to him as an object of 
 desire, because from that quarter a better opportunity 
 was thrown in his way, and when his heart happened to 
 be touched by Rosanette, he was immediately reminded 
 of the woman for whom he felt such a consuming 
 passion.
 
 184 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 This confusion was occasioned, in some measure, by 
 a similarity which existed between the interiors of the 
 two houses. One of the cabinets which was formerly 
 in the Boulevard Montmartre now adorned Rosanette's 
 dining-room. The same courses were served up for 
 dinner in both places, and even the same velvet cap 
 was to be found trailing over the easy-chairs ; then, a 
 heap of little presents screens, boxes, fans went to 
 the mistress's house from the wife's and returned 
 again, for Arnoux, without the slightest embarrass- 
 ment, often took from the one some thing he had given 
 her in order to make a present of it to the other. 
 
 The Marechale laughed with Frederick at the utter 
 lack of propriety which his habits exhibited. One Sun- 
 day, after dinner, she led him behind the door, and 
 showed him in Arnoux's overcoat a bag of cakes which 
 he had just pilfered from the table, in order, no doubt, 
 to regale his little family at home. Monsieur Arnoux 
 lent himself to some rogueries which bordered on vile- 
 ness. It seemed to him a duty to practise fraud with 
 regard to the city dues ; he never paid when he went to 
 the theatre, or if he took a ticket for the second seats 
 always tried to make his way into the first; and he 
 used to tell, as an excellent joke, that it was his custom 
 at the cold baths to put into the waiters' collection-box 
 a breeches' button instead of a ten-sous piece and 
 this did not prevent the Marechale from loving him. 
 
 One day, however, she said, while talking about him : 
 
 " Ah ! he's becoming a nuisance to me, at last ! I've 
 had enough of him! Faith, so much the better I'll 
 find some one else instead ! " 
 
 Frederick believed that the other had already been 
 found, and that his name was Monsieur Oudry. 
 
 " Well," said Rosanette, " what does that signify ? " 
 
 Then, in a voice choked with rising tears :
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 185 
 
 " I ask him for very little, however, and he won't 
 give me that." 
 
 He had even promised a fourth of his profits in the 
 famous kaolin mines. No profit made its appearance 
 any more than the cashmere with which he had been 
 luring her on for the last six months. 
 
 Frederick thought of making her a present himself. 
 Arnoux might regard it as a reproof, and be annoyed 
 at it. 
 
 For all that, he was good-natured, his wife herself 
 said so, but so foolish ! Instead of bringing people to 
 dine every day at his house, he now entertained at a 
 restaurant. He bought things that were utterly use- 
 less, such as gold chains, timepieces, and household 
 articles. Madame Arnoux even pointed out to Fred- 
 erick in the lobby an enormous number of tea-kettles, 
 foot-warmers, and samovars. Finally, she one day 
 confessed that a certain matter caused her much anxi- 
 ety. Arnoux had made her sign a promissory note 
 payable to Monsieur Dambreuse. 
 
 Meanwhile Frederick still cherished his literary 
 projects as if it were a point of honour with himself 
 to do so. He wished to write a history of aesthetics, a 
 result of his conversations with Pellerin ; next, to write 
 dramas dealing with different epochs of the French 
 Revolution, and to compose a great comedy, an idea 
 resulting from the indirect influence of Deslauriers and 
 Hussonnet. In the midst of his work her face or that 
 of the other passed before his mental vision. He corn- 
 batted the longing to see her, but always yielded to it ; 
 and he felt sadder as he returned from Madame Ar- 
 noux's house. 
 
 On morning, while he was brooding over his melan- 
 choly thoughts by the fireside, Deslauriers came in. 
 The incendiary speeches of Senecal had filled his mas-
 
 186 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ter with uneasiness, and once more he was without 
 resources. 
 
 " What do you want me to do ? " said Frederick. 
 
 " Nothing ! I know you have no money. But it 
 will be no trouble for you to get him a post either 
 through Monsieur Dambreuse or else through Arnoux. 
 The latter is sure to have need of engineers in his es- 
 tablishment." 
 
 Frederick had an inspiration. Senecal would let him 
 know when the husband was away, carry letters for 
 him and assist him on a thousand occasions when op- 
 portunities presented themselves. Services of this sort 
 are always rendered between man and man. Besides, 
 he would find means of using him without arousing any 
 suspicion on his part. Chance offered him an auxili- 
 ary ; it was a circumstance that omened well for the 
 future, and he hastened to take advantage of it ; with 
 an affectation of indifference, he replied that the thing 
 was feasible perhaps, and that he would attend to it. 
 
 And he did so at once. Arnoux devoted a great deal 
 of time to his earthenware works. He was endeavour- 
 ing to discover the copper-red of the Chinese, but his 
 colours evaporated in the process of baking. In order 
 to prevent cracks in his ware, he mixed lime with his 
 potter's clay; but the articles got broken for the most 
 part; the enamel of his paintings on the raw material 
 boiled away ; his large plates became bulged ; and, at- 
 tributing these mischances to the inferior plant of his 
 manufactory, he was anxious to start other grinding- 
 mills and other drying-rooms. Frederick recalled some 
 of these things to mind, and, when he met Arnoux, 
 said that he knew a very able man, who would be cap- 
 able of finding his famous red. Arnoux gave a jump; 
 then, having listened to what the young man had to tell 
 him, replied that he wanted assistance from nobody.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 187 
 
 Frederick spoke in a very laudatory style about 
 Senecal's prodigious attainments, pointing out that he 
 was at the same time an engineer, a chemist, and an 
 accountant, being a mathematician of the first rank. 
 
 The earthenware-dealer agreed to see him. 
 
 But they squabbled over the emoluments. Frederick 
 interposed, and, at the end of a week, succeeded in get- 
 ting them to come to terms. 
 
 But as the works were situated at Creil, Senecal 
 could not assist him in any way. This thought alone 
 was enough to make his courage flag, as if he had 
 met with some misfortune. His idea was that the more 
 Arnoux could be kept apart from his wife the better 
 would be his own chance with her. Then he proceeded 
 to make repeated apologies for Rosanette. He re- 
 ferred to all the wrongs she had sustained at the other's 
 hands, referred to the vague threats which she had ut- 
 tered a few days before, and even mentioned the cash- 
 mere without concealing the fact that she had accused 
 Arnoux of avarice. 
 
 Arnoux, nettled at the word (and, furthermore, feel- 
 ing some uneasiness), brought Rosanette the cashmere, 
 but scolded her for having complained to Frederick. 
 When she told him that she had reminded him a hun- 
 dred times of his promise, he pretended that, owing to 
 pressure of business, he had forgotten all about it. 
 
 The next day Frederick presented himself at her 
 abode, and found the Marechale still in bed, though it 
 was two o'clock, with Delmar beside her finishing a 
 pate de foie gras at a little round table. She broke out 
 into a cry of delight, saying : " I have him ! I have 
 him ! " Then she seized him by the ears, kissed him 
 on the forehead, thanked him effusively, " thee'd " and 
 " thou'd " him, and even wanted him to sit down on the 
 bed. Her fine eyes, full of tender emotion, were
 
 188 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 sparkling with pleasure. There was a smile on her 
 humid mouth. Her two round arms emerged through 
 the sleeveless opening of her night-dress, and, from 
 time to time, he could feel through the cambric the 
 well-rounded outlines of her form. 
 
 All this time Delmar kept rolling his eyeballs. 
 
 " But really, my dear, my own pet . . ." 
 
 It was the same way on the occasion when he saw 
 her next. As soon as Frederick entered, she sat up 
 on a cushion in order to embrace him with more ease, 
 called him a darling, a " dearie," put a flower in his 
 button-hole, and settled his cravat. These attentions 
 were redoubled when Delmar happened to be there. 
 Were they advances on her part? So it seemed to 
 Frederick. 
 
 As for deceiving a friend, Arnoux, in his place, 
 would have had no scruples on that score, and he could 
 not be expected to adhere to rigidly virtuous principles 
 with regard to this man's mistress, seeing that his re- 
 lations with the wife had been strictly honourable, for 
 so he thought or rather he would have liked Arnoux 
 to think so, in any event, as a sort of justification of 
 his own prodigious cowardice. Nevertheless he felt 
 somewhat bewildered ; presently he made up his mind 
 to lay siege boldly to the Marechale. 
 
 So one afternoon, just as she was stooping down in 
 front of her chest of drawers, he went across to her, 
 and repeated his overtures without a pause. 
 
 Thereupon she began to cry, saying that she was 
 very unfortunate, but that she should not be despised 
 on that account. 
 
 He only made fresh advances. She now adopted a 
 different plan, namely, to laugh at his attempts without 
 stopping. He thought it a clever thing to answer her 
 sarcasms with repartees in the same strain, in which
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 189 
 
 there was even a touch of exaggeration. But he made 
 too great a display of gaiety to convince her that he 
 was in earnest ; and their comradeship was an impedi- 
 ment to any expression of serious feeling. At last, 
 when she said one day, in reply to his amorous whis- 
 pers, that she would not take another woman's leav- 
 ings, he answered. 
 
 " What other woman ? " 
 
 " Ah ! yes, go and meet Madame Arnoux again ! " 
 
 For Frederick used to talk about her continually. 
 Arnoux, on his side, had the same mania. At last she 
 lost patience at always hearing this woman's praises 
 sung, and her insinuation was a kind of revenge. 
 
 Frederick resented it. However, Rosanette was be- 
 ginning to excite his love to an unusual degree. Some- 
 times, pretending to be a woman of experience, she 
 spoke lightly of love with a sceptical smile that made 
 him feel inclined to box her ears. A quarter of an 
 hour afterward, it was the only thing that mattered in 
 the world, and, with her arms crossed over her breast, 
 as if she were clasping some one close to her : " Oh, 
 yes, 'tis good ! 'tis good ! " and her eyelids would 
 quiver in a kind of rapturous swoon. It was impos- 
 sible to understand her, to know, for instance, whether 
 she loved Arnoux, for she ridiculed him, and yet 
 seemed jealous of him. So likewise with the Vatnaz, 
 whom she would sometimes call a wretch, and at other 
 times her best friend. In short, there was about her 
 entire person, even to the arrangement of her chignon 
 upon her head an inexpressible something which 
 seemed like a challenge ; and he desired her for the 
 satisfaction, above all, of conquering her and being her 
 master. 
 
 How was he to accomplish this? for she often dis- 
 missed him unceremoniously, appearing only for a mo-
 
 190 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ment between two doors in order to say in a subdued 
 voice, " I'm engaged for the evening ; " or else he 
 found her surrounded by a dozen persons; and when 
 they were alone, so many impediments presented them- 
 selves one after the other, that one would have sworn 
 there was a bet to keep matters from going any further. 
 He invited her to dinner ; as a rule, she declined the in- 
 vitation. On one occasion, she accepted it, but did not 
 come. 
 
 A Machiavellian idea arose in his mind. 
 
 Having heard from Dussardier about Pellerin's com- 
 plaints against himself, he thought of giving the artist 
 an order to paint the Marechale's portrait, a life-sized 
 portrait, which would necessitate a number of sittings. 
 He would be present at all of them. The habitual in- 
 correctness of the painter would facilitate their private 
 conversations. So then he would urge Rosanette to get 
 the picture executed in order to make a present of her 
 face to her dear Arnoux. She consented, for she saw 
 herself in the midst of the Grand Salon in the most 
 prominent position with a crowd of people staring at 
 her picture, and the newspapers would all talk about 
 it, which at once would set her afloat. 
 
 As for Pellerin, he eagerly snatched at the offer. 
 This portrait might be the making of him ; it ought to 
 be a masterpiece. He reviewed in his memory all the 
 portraits by great masters with which he was ac- 
 quainted, and decided finally in favour of a Titian, 
 which would be set off with ornaments in the style of 
 Veronese. Therefore, he would carry out his design 
 without artificial backgrounds in a bold light, which 
 would illuminate the flesh-tints with a single tone, and 
 make the accessories glitter. 
 
 " Suppose I were to put on her," he thought, " a 
 pink silk dress with an Oriental bournous? Oh, no!
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 191 
 
 the bournous is only a cheap thing! Or suppose, 
 rather, I were to make her wear blue velvet with a grey 
 background, richly coloured ? We might likewise give 
 her a white guipure collar with a black fan and a scar- 
 let curtain behind." And thus, seeking for ideas, his 
 conception grew ,and he regarded it with great admira- 
 tion. 
 
 He felt his heart beating when Rosanette, accom- 
 panied by Frederick, arrived at his house for the first 
 sitting. He placed her standing up on a sort of plat- 
 form in the centre of the apartment, and, finding fault 
 with the light and expressing regret at the loss of his 
 former studio, he first made her lean on her elbow 
 against a pedestal, then sit down in an armchair, and, 
 drawing away from her and coming near her again 
 by turns in order to adjust with a fillip the folds of her 
 dress, he observed her with eyes half-closed, and ap- 
 pealed to Frederick's taste with a passing word. 
 
 " Well, no," he exclaimed ; " I return to my own 
 idea. I will paint you in the Venetian style." 
 
 She would have a poppy-coloured velvet gown with 
 a jewelled girdle ; and her wide sleeve lined with er- 
 mine would afford a glimpse of her bare arm, which 
 was to touch the balustrade of a staircase rising behind 
 her. At her left, a large column would rise to the top 
 of the canvas to meet certain structures so as to form 
 an arch. Underneath would vaguely be distinguishable 
 groups of orange-trees almost black, through which 
 the blue sky, with its streaks of white cloud, would 
 seem cut into fragments. On the baluster, covered 
 with a carpet, there would be, on a silver dish, a bou- 
 quet of flowers, a chaplet of amber, a poniard, and a 
 little chest of antique ivory, rather yellow with age, 
 which would appear to be disgorging gold sequins. 
 Some of them, falling on the ground here and there,
 
 192 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 would form brilliant splashes, as it were, in -such a 
 way as to direct one's glance toward the tip of her foot, 
 for she would be standing on the last step but one in 
 a natural position, as if in the act of moving under the 
 glow of the broad sunlight. 
 
 He went to look for a picture-case, which he had laid 
 on the platform to represent the step. Then he ar- 
 ranged as accessories, on a stool by way of balustrade, 
 his pea-jacket, a buckler, a sardine-box, a bundle of 
 pens, and a knife; and when he had flung in front of 
 Rosanette a dozen big sous, he got her to assume the 
 attitude he required. 
 
 " Just imagine that these things are riches, mag- 
 nificent presents. The head a little on one side ! Per- 
 fect ! and don't stir! This majestic pose exactly suits 
 your style of beauty." 
 
 She wore a plaid dress and carried a big muff, and 
 only kept from laughing outright by an effort. 
 
 " As regards the headdress, we will mingle with it a 
 circle of pearls. It always produces a striking effect 
 with red hair." 
 
 The Marechale burst out into an exclamation, deny- 
 ing that she had red hair. 
 
 " Nonsense ! The red of painters is not that of or- 
 dinary people." 
 
 He began to sketch the position of the masses; and 
 he was so much preoccupied with the great artists of 
 the Renaissance that he kept talking about them per- 
 sistently. 
 
 " You were made to live in those days. A creature 
 of your calibre would have deserved a monseigneur." 
 
 Rosanette thought the compliments he paid her very 
 pretty. The day was fixed for the next sitting. Fred- 
 erick took it on himself to bring the accessories. 
 
 As the heat of the stove had stupefied her a little,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 193 
 
 they returned home on foot through the Rue du Bac, 
 and reached the Pont Royal. 
 
 It was fine weather, piercingly bright and warm. 
 The windows of some houses in the city shone in the 
 distance, like plates of gold, whilst behind them at the 
 right the turrets of Notre Dame showed their outlines 
 in black against the blue sky, softly bathed at the hori- 
 zon in grey vapours. 
 
 The wind began to swell ; and Rosanette, having de- 
 clared that she felt hungry, they entered the " Patis- 
 serie Anglaise." 
 
 Young women with their children stood eating in 
 front of the marble buffet, where plates of little cakes 
 were under glass covers. Rosanette ate two cream- 
 tarts. The powdered sugar formed moustaches at the 
 sides of her mouth. From time to time she drew out 
 her handkerchief from her muff, and her face, under 
 her green silk hood, looked like a full-blown rose in 
 the midst of its leaves. " 
 
 They resumed their walk. In the Rue de la Paix 
 she paused before a goldsmith's shop to look at a brace- 
 let. Frederick immediately wished to make her a pres- 
 ent of it. 
 
 " No ! " said she ; " keep your money ! " 
 
 He was hurt by these words. 
 
 " What's the matter now with the ducky ? We are 
 melancholy ? " 
 
 And, the conversation having been renewed, he re- 
 peated the same protestations of love to her as usual. 
 
 " You know well 'tis impossible ! " 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Ah ! because 
 
 They went on, she leaning on his arm, and the 
 flounces of her gown kept flapping against his legs. 
 Then, he recalled to mind one winter twilight when on
 
 194 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the same footpath Madame Arnoux walked thus by 
 his side, and he became so much absorbed in this recol- 
 lection that he no longer noticed Rosanette, and did not 
 bestow a thought upon her. 
 
 She looked straight before her in a careless fashion, 
 lagging a little, like a lazy child. It was the hour when 
 people were returning from their promenade, and 
 equipages were making their way at a quick trot over 
 the hard pavement. 
 
 Pellerin's flatteries having probably recurred to her 
 mind, she heaved a sigh. 
 
 " Ah ! there are some lucky women in the world. 
 Decidedly, I was made for a rich man ! " 
 
 He replied, with a certain brutality in his tone : 
 
 " Well, you have one ! " for Monsieur Oudry was 
 looked upon as a man that could count a million three 
 times over. 
 
 She wished nothing better than to get free from 
 him. 
 
 " What prevents you from doing so ? " And he gave 
 utterance to bitter jests about this old bewigged citi- 
 zen, pointing out to her that such an intrigue was un- 
 worthy of her, and that she ought to break it off. 
 
 " Yes," replied the Marechale, as if talking to her- 
 self. " Tis what I shall end by doing, no doubt ! " 
 
 Frederick was charmed by this disinterestedness. 
 She slackened her pace, and he suggested that she was 
 fatigued. She obstinately refused to let him take a 
 cab, and she parted with him at her door, sending him 
 a kiss with her finger-tips. 
 
 " Ah ! what a pity ! and to think that imbeciles take 
 me for a man of wealth ! " 
 
 He reached home in a gloomy frame of. mind. 
 
 Hussonnet and Deslauriers were awaiting him. 
 The Bohemian, seated before the table, made sketches
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 195 
 
 of Turks' heads ; and the advocate, in dirty boots, lay 
 asleep on the sofa. 
 
 " Ha ! at last," he exclaimed. " But how solemn you 
 look ! Listen to me ! " 
 
 His vogue as a tutor had fallen off, for he crammed 
 his pupils with theories unfavourable for their exam- 
 inations. He had appeared in two or three unsuccess- 
 ful cases, and each new disappointment flung him back 
 with greater force on the dream of his earlier days 
 a journal in which he could display himself, avenge 
 himself, and spit forth his bile and his opinions. For- 
 tune and reputation, moreover, would follow as a nec- 
 essary consequence. It was in this hope that he had 
 won over the Bohemian, Hussonnet happening to be 
 the possessor of a press. 
 
 At present, he printed it on pink paper. He in- 
 vented hoaxes, composed rebuses, tried to engage in 
 polemics, and even intended, in spite of the location of 
 the premises, to get up concerts. A year's subscription 
 was to include admittance to a place in the orchestra in 
 one of the principal theatres of Paris. Besides, the 
 board of management took on itself to furnish foreign- 
 ers with all necessary ability, artistic and otherwise. 
 But the printer gave vent to threats ; there were three 
 quarters' rent due to the landlord. All sorts of em- 
 barrassments arose; and Hussonnet would have al- 
 lowed L'Art to perish, were it not for the exhortations 
 of the advocate, who kept every day exciting his mind. 
 He had brought the other with him, in order to give 
 more weight to the proposition he was now making. 
 
 " We've come about the journal," said he. 
 
 " What ! are you still thinking about that ? " said 
 Frederick, in an absent tone. 
 
 " Certainly, I am thinking about it ! " 
 
 And he explained his plan anew. By means of the
 
 196 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Bourse returns, they would get into communication 
 with financiers, and would thus obtain the hundred 
 thousand francs indispensable as security. But, in or- 
 der that the print might be transformed into a political 
 journal, it was necessary beforehand to have a large 
 clientele, and for that purpose to make up their minds 
 to go to some expense so much for the cost of paper 
 and printing, and for outlay at the office ; in short, a 
 sum of about fifteen thousand francs. 
 
 " I have no funds," said Frederick. 
 
 " Then what are we to do? " said Deslauriers, fold- 
 ing his arms. 
 
 Frederick, hurt by the attitude which Deslauriers 
 was assuming, replied : 
 
 "Is it my fault?" 
 
 " Ah ! very fine. A man has wood in his fire, truffles 
 on his table, a good bed, a library, a carriage, every 
 kind of comfort. But let another man shiver under 
 the slates, dine at twenty sous, work like a convict, 
 and sprawl through want in the mire is it the rich 
 man's fault ? " 
 
 And he repeated, " Is it the rich man's fault ? " with 
 a Ciceronian irony which smacked of the law-courts. 
 
 Frederick tried to speak. 
 
 " Certainly, I understand one has certain wants 
 aristocratic wants; for, no doubt, some woman " 
 
 " Well, even if that were so? Am I not free ? " 
 
 " Oh ! quite free ! " 
 
 And, after a minute's silence : 
 
 " Promises are so convenient ! " 
 
 " Good God ! I don't deny that I gave them ! " said 
 Frederick. 
 
 The advocate went on : 
 
 " At college we take oaths ; we are going to set up a 
 phalanx ; we are going to be as Balzac's Thirteen.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 19? 
 
 Then, on meeting a friend after a separation : ' Good 
 night, old fellow ! go about your business ! ' For the 
 one who might help the other carefully 'keeps every- 
 thing for himself alone." 
 
 " How is that? " 
 
 " Yes, you have not even given one an introduction 
 to the Dambreuses." 
 
 Frederick cast a scrutinising glance at him. With 
 his shabby frock-coat, his spectacles of rough glass, 
 and his sallow face, the advocate seemed to him such 
 a typical specimen of the penniless pedant that he 
 could not prevent his lips from curling with a disdain- 
 ful smile. 
 
 Deslauriers saw this, and reddened. 
 
 He had already taken his hat to leave. Hussonnet, 
 filled with uneasiness, tried to mollify him with ap- 
 pealing looks, and, as Frederick was turning his back 
 on him : 
 
 " Look here, my boy, become my Maecenas ! Pro- 
 tect the arts ! " 
 
 Frederick, with an abrupt movement of resignation, 
 took a sheet of paper, and, having scrawled some lines 
 on it, handed it to him. The Bohemian's face lighted 
 up. 
 
 Then, handing the sheet of paper to Deslauriers: 
 
 " Apologise, my fine fellow ! " 
 
 Their friend requested his notary to send him fifteen 
 thousand francs as quickly as possible. 
 
 " Ah ! I recognise you in that," said Deslauriers. 
 
 " On the faith of a gentleman," added the Bohemian, 
 " you are a noble fellow, you deserve a place in the 
 gallery of useful men ! " 
 
 The advocate remarked : 
 
 " You'll lose nothing by it, 'tis an excellent specu- 
 lation."
 
 198 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Faith," exclaimed Hussonnet, " I'd stake my head 
 at the scaffold on its success ! " 
 
 And he talked so foolishly, and promised so many 
 extravagant things, in which perhaps he believed, that 
 Frederick did not know whether he did this in order 
 to laugh at others or at him. 
 
 The same evening he received a letter from his 
 mother. She expressed astonishment at not seeing him 
 yet a minister, while indulging in a little banter at his 
 expense. Then she spoke of her health, and informed 
 him that Monsieur Roque had now become one of her 
 visitors. 
 
 " Since he is a widower, I thought there would be 
 no objection to inviting him to the house. Louise is 
 greatly changed for the better." And in a postscript : 
 " You have written me nothing about your fine ac- 
 quaintance, Monsieur Dambreuse ; if I were you, I 
 would make use of him." 
 
 Why not? His intellectual ambitions had left him, 
 and his fortune (he saw it clearly) was insufficient, for 
 when his debts had been paid, and the sum agreed on 
 remitted to the others, his income would be diminished 
 by four thousand at least! Moreover, he felt that he 
 must give up this sort of life, and attach himself to 
 some pursuit. So next day, when dining at Madame 
 Arnoux's, he said that his mother was tormenting him 
 to take up a profession. 
 
 " But I understood," she said, " that Monsieur Dam- 
 breuse was going to get you into the Council of State ? 
 That would suit you very well." 
 
 So, then, she desired him to take this course. He 
 regarded her wish as a command. 
 
 The banker, as on the first occasion, was seated at 
 his desk, and, with a gesture, intimated that Frederick 
 was to wait a few minutes ; for a gentleman who was
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 199 
 
 standing at the door with his back turned had been dis- 
 cussing some serious topic with him. 
 
 The subject of their conversation was the proposed 
 amalgamation of the different coal-mining companies. 
 
 Frederick noticed particularly two chests of pro- 
 digious size which stood in the corners. He wondered 
 how many millions they might contain. The banker 
 unlocked one of them, and as the iron plate swung 
 back, it disclosed to view nothing inside but blue 
 paper books full of entries. 
 
 At last, the person who had been talking to Monsieur 
 Dambreuse passed in front of Frederick. It was Pere 
 Oudry. They saluted each other, their faces colour- 
 ing a circumstance which surprised Monsieur Dam- 
 breuse. However, he exhibited the utmost affability, 
 observing that nothing would be easier than to recom- 
 mend the young man to the Keeper of the Seals. They 
 would be delighted to have him, he added, concluding 
 his polite attentions by inviting him to an evening 
 party which he would be giving in a few days. 
 
 Frederick was stepping into a brougham on his way 
 to this party when a note from the Marechale reached 
 him. By the light of the carriage-lamps he read : 
 
 " Darling, I have followed your advice: I have just 
 expelled my savage. After to-morrow evening, liberty ! 
 Say whether I have not courage ! " 
 
 Nothing more. But it was clearly an invitation to 
 him to take the vacant place. He uttered an exclama- 
 tion, squeezed the note into his pocket, and set forth 
 at once. 
 
 Two municipal guards on horseback were stationed 
 in the street. A row of lamps burned on the two front 
 gates, and servants were calling out in the courtyard 
 for the carriages to come up to the end of the steps be- 
 fore the house under the marquee.
 
 200 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Then suddenly the noise in the handsome vestibule 
 ceased. 
 
 Large trees filled up the space in front of the stair- 
 case. The porcelain globes shed a light which waved 
 like white moire satin on the walls. 
 
 Frederick ascended the steps in a joyous frame of 
 mind. An usher announced his name. Monsieur Dam- 
 breuse extended his hand. Almost at the very same 
 moment, Madame Dambreuse appeared. She wore a 
 mauve dress trimmed with lace. The ringlets of her 
 hair were more abundant than usual, and she wore 
 not a single jewel. 
 
 She complained of his coming so seldom to visit 
 them, and seized the opportunity to exchange a few 
 confidential words with him. 
 
 The guests began to arrive. When they bowed they 
 twisted their bodies on one side or bent in two, or 
 merely lowered their heads a little. 
 
 The crowd of men who were standing with their 
 hats in their hands seemed, at some distance, like one 
 black mass, into which the ribbons in the button-holes 
 introduced red points here and there, and rendered all 
 the duller the monotonous whiteness of their cravats. 
 With the exception of the very young men with the 
 down on their faces, all appeared to be bored. 
 
 A large number of men-servants, with fine gold- 
 laced livery, kept moving about on every side. The 
 large branched candlesticks, like bouquets of flame, 
 threw a glow over the hangings. They were reflected 
 in the mirrors ; and at the bottom of the dining-room, 
 which was adorned with trailing jessamine, the side- 
 board resembled the high altar of a cathedral or an 
 exhibition of jewellery, there were so many dishes, 
 bells, knives and forks, silver and silver-gilt spoons. 
 
 The three other reception-rooms overflowed with
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 201 
 
 artistic objects landscapes by great masters on the 
 walls, ivory and porcelain at the sides of the tables, 
 and Chinese ornaments on the brackets. Lacquered 
 screens were displayed in front of the windows, clus- 
 ters of camelias rose above the mantel-shelves, and 
 music could be heard in the distance, like the humming 
 of bees. 
 
 There were few quadrilles, and the dancers, judging 
 by the indifferent fashion in which they dragged their 
 pumps after them, seemed to be going through the 
 performance of a duty. 
 
 Behind Frederick, three greybeards, who had placed 
 themselves in the recess of a window, were whisper- 
 ing some risque remarks. A sportsman told a hunt- 
 ing story, while a Legitimist carried on an argument 
 with an Orleanist. And, wandering about from one 
 group to another, he reached the card-room, where, 
 in the midst of grave-looking men gathered in a 
 circle, he recognised Martinon, now attached to the 
 Bar of the capital. 
 
 His big face with its waxen complexion, filled up 
 the space encircled by his collar-like beard, which was 
 a marvel with its even surface of black hair ; and, ob- 
 serving the golden mean between the elegance which 
 his age might yearn for and the dignity which his 
 profession exacted from him, he kept his thumbs 
 stuck under the armpits, according to the custom of 
 beaux, and then put his hands into his waistcoat 
 pockets after the manner of learned personages. 
 Though his boots were polished to excess, he kept 
 his temples shaved in order to have the forehead of 
 a thinker. 
 
 After he had addressed a few chilling words to 
 Frederick, he turned once more toward those who 
 were chatting around him. A landowner was say-
 
 202 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ing: "This is a class of men that dreams of upset- 
 ting society." 
 
 " They are calling for the organisation of labour," 
 said another : " Can this be conceived ? " 
 
 " What could you expect," said a third, " when 
 we see M. de Genoude giving his assistance to the 
 Siecle? " 
 
 " And even Conservatives style themselves Pro- 
 gressives. To lead us to what ? To the Republic ! 
 as if such a thing were possible in France ! " 
 
 Everyone declared that the Republic was impos- 
 sible in France. 
 
 " No matter ! " remarked one gentleman in a loud 
 tone. " People take too much interest in the Revolu- 
 tion. A heap of histories, of different kinds of works, 
 are published concerning it ! " 
 
 " Without taking into account," said Martinon, 
 " that there are probably subjects of far more im- 
 portance which might be studied." 
 
 A gentleman occupying a minsterial office laid the 
 blame on the scandals associated with the stage: 
 
 '' Thus, for instance, this new drama of La Reinc 
 Margot really goes beyond the proper limits. What 
 need was there for telling us about the Valois? All 
 this exhibits loyalty in an unfavourable light. 'Tis 
 just like your press ! There is no use in talking, the 
 September laws are altogether too mild. For my 
 part, I would like to have court-martials, to gag the 
 journalists! At the slightest display of insolence, 
 drag them before a council of war, and then make an 
 end of the business!" 
 
 " Oh, take care, Monsieur ! take care ! " said a pro- 
 fessor. " Don't attack the precious boons we gained 
 in 1830 ! Respect our liberties ! " It would be better 
 he contended, to adopt a policy of decentralisation,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 203 
 
 and to distribute the surplus populations of the towns 
 through the country districts. 
 
 " But they are gangrened ! " exclaimed a Catholic. 
 " Let religion be more firmly established ! " 
 
 Martinon hastened to observe: 
 
 " As a matter of fact, it is a restraining force." 
 
 All the evil lay in this modern longing to rise above 
 one's class and to possess luxuries. 
 
 " However," urged a manufacturer, " luxury aids 
 commerce. Therefore, I approve of the Due de Ne- 
 mours' action in insisting on having short breeches at 
 his evening parties." 
 
 " M. Thiers came to one of them in a pair of trou- 
 sers. You know his joke on the subject?" 
 
 " Yes ; charming ! But he turned round to the 
 demagogues, and his speech on the question of in- 
 compatibilities was not without its influence in bring- 
 ing about the attempt of the twelfth of May." 
 
 " Oh, pooh ! " 
 
 "Ay, ay!" 
 
 The circle had to make a little opening to give a 
 passage to a man-servant carrying a tray, who was 
 trying to make his way into the card-room. 
 
 Under the green shades of the wax-lights the tables 
 were covered with two rows of cards and gold coins. 
 Frederick stopped at one corner of the table, lost the 
 fifteen napoleons which he had in his pocket, whirled 
 lightly about, and found himself on the threshold of 
 the boudoir in which Madame Dambreuse happened to 
 be at the moment. 
 
 It was filled with women sitting close to one another 
 in little groups on seats without backs. Their long 
 skirts, swelling round them, seemed like waves, from 
 which their waists emerged ; and their breasts were 
 clearly outlined by the slope of their corsages. Nearly
 
 204 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 every one had a bouquet of violets in her hand. The 
 dull shades of their gloves showed off the whiteness 
 of their arms, which formed a contrast with the human 
 flesh tints. Over the shoulders of some of them hung 
 fringe or mourning-weeds, and, every now and then, 
 as they quivered with emotion, it seemed as if their 
 bodices were about to fall down. 
 
 But the decorum of their countenances tempered the 
 exciting effect of their costumes. Several had a placid- 
 ity almost like that of animals ; and this resemblance 
 to the brute creation in these half-nude women made 
 him think of the interior of a harem indeed, a grosser 
 comparison suggested itself to the young man's mind. 
 
 Every variety of beauty was to be found there 
 some English ladies with the profile familiar in 
 " keepsakes " ; an Italian, whose .black eyes shot forth 
 lava-like flashes, like a Vesuvius ; three sisters, dressed 
 in blue ; three Normans, fresh as April apples ; a tall 
 red-haired girl, with a set of amethysts. And the 
 bright scintillation of diamonds, which trembled in 
 aigrettes worn over their hair, the luminous spots of 
 precious stones laid over their breasts, and the de- 
 lightful radiance of pearls which adorned their fore- 
 heads, mingled with the glitter of gold rings, as well 
 as with the lace, powder, feathers, the vermilion of 
 dainty mouths, and the mother-of-pearl hue of teeth. 
 The ceiling, rounded like a cupola, gave to the 
 boudoir the form of a flower-basket, and a current of 
 perfumed air circulated under the flapping of frns. 
 
 Frederick, standing behind them, put up his eye- 
 glass and scanned their shoulders, not all of which did 
 he consider irreproachable. He thought about the Ma- 
 rechale, and this dispelled the temptations that beset 
 him or consoled him for not yielding to them. 
 
 He gazed long, however, at Madame Dambreuse,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 205 
 
 and he considered her charming, in spite of her mouth 
 being rather large and her nostrils too dilated. But 
 she was remarkably graceful in appearance. There 
 was, as it were, an expression of passionate languor in 
 the ringlets of her hair, and her forehead, which was 
 like agate, seemed to cover a great deal, and to indi- 
 cate a masterful intelligence. 
 
 She had placed beside her her husband's niece, a 
 rather plain-looking young person. From time to 
 time she left her seat to receive those who had just 
 arrived ; and the murmur of feminine voices, made, as 
 it were, a cackling like that of birds. 
 
 They were talking about the Tunisian ambassadors 
 and their costumes. One lady had been present at 
 the last reception of the Academy. Another referred 
 to the Don Juan of Moliere, which had recently been 
 performed at the Theatre Frangais. 
 
 But with a significant glance toward her niece, Ma- 
 dame Dambreuse laid a finger on her lips, while her 
 smile contradicted this display of austerity. 
 
 Suddenly, Martinon, who was now attached to the 
 Bar of the Capital, appeared at the door directly in 
 front of her. She arose at once. He offered her his 
 arm. Frederick, in order to watch the progress of 
 these gallantries on Martinon's part, walked past the 
 card-table, and came up with them in the large draw- 
 ing-room. Madame Dambreuse very soon left her 
 cavalier, and began chatting with Frederick himself 
 in a very familiar tone. 
 
 She understood that he did not play cards, and did 
 not dance. 
 
 " Young people are apt to be melancholy ! " Then, 
 with a single comprehensive glance around : 
 
 " Besides, this sort of thing is not amusing at 
 least to certain natures ! "
 
 206 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 And she drew up in front of the row of armchairs, 
 uttering a few polite remarks here and there, while 
 some old men with double eyeglasses came to pay court 
 to her. She introduced Frederick to some of them. 
 M. Dambreuse touched him lightly on the elbow, and 
 led him out on the terrace. 
 
 He had seen the Minister. The thing was not easy 
 to manage. Before he could be qualified for the post 
 of auditor to the Council of State, he would have to 
 pass an examination. Frederick, seized with an unac- 
 countable self-confidence, replied that he had a knowl- 
 edge of the subjects prescribed for it. 
 
 The financier was not surprised at this, after all the 
 eulogies M. Roque had pronounced on his abilities. 
 
 At the mention of this name, a vision of little Louise, 
 her house and her room, passed through his mind, and 
 he remembered how he had on nights like this stood at 
 her window listening to the waggoners driving past. 
 This recollection of his griefs brought back the thought 
 of Madame Arnoux, and he relapsed into silence as 
 he paced up and down the terrace. The windows 
 blazed amid the darkness like slabs of flame. The buzz 
 of the ball gradually grew fainter; the carriages were 
 beginning to leave. 
 
 " Why in the world," M. Dambreuse went on, " are 
 you so extremely anxious to be attached to the Council 
 of State?" 
 
 And he declared in the tone of a man of broad views, 
 that the public functions led nowhere he could speak 
 with some authority on that point business was much 
 preferable. 
 
 Frederick urged as an objection the difficulty of 
 grappling with all the details of business. 
 
 " Pooh ! I could post you up well in them in a very 
 short time."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 207 
 
 Would he care to be a partner in any of his own 
 undertakings ? 
 
 The young man saw, as by a lightning-flash, an enor- 
 mous fortune coming into his hands. 
 
 " Let us go in again," said the banker. " You are 
 remaining for supper with us, are you not ? " 
 
 It was three o'clock. They left the terrace. 
 
 In the dining-room, a table at which supper was 
 served up awaited the guests. 
 
 M. Dambreuse perceived Martinon, and, drawing 
 near his wife, in a low tone : 
 
 " Did you invite him ? " 
 
 She answered dryly : 
 
 " Yes, of course." 
 
 The niece was not present. 
 
 The guests drank a quantity of wine, and laughed 
 very loudly ; risky jokes did not give any offence, all 
 present experiencing that sense of relief which follows 
 a somewhat prolonged period of constraint. 
 
 Martinon alone displayed anything like gravity. 
 Thinking it good form, he refused to drink champagne, 
 and, moreover, assumed an air of tact and politeness, 
 for when M. Dambreuse, who had a contracted chest, 
 complained of an oppression, he made repeated en- 
 quiries about that gentleman's health, and then let his 
 blue eyes wander in the direction of Madame Dam- 
 breuse. 
 
 She questioned Frederick in order to find out which 
 of the young ladies he liked best. He had noticed none 
 of them in particular, and besides, he preferred the 
 women of thirty. 
 
 " There, perhaps, you show good sense," she re- 
 turned. 
 
 Then, as they were putting on their pelisses and 
 paletots, M. Dambreuse said to him :
 
 208 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Come and see me one of these mornings and we'll 
 have a chat." 
 
 Martinon, at the foot of the stairs, was lighting a 
 cigar, and, as he puffed it, he presented such a heavy 
 profile that his companion could not help remarking: 
 
 " Upon my word, you have a fine head ! " 
 
 " It has turned a few other heads," replied the young 
 magistrate, with an air of mingled self-complacency 
 and annoyance. 
 
 As soon as Frederick was in bed, he summed up 
 the main features of the evening party. In the first 
 place, his own toilet (he had looked at himself several 
 times in the mirrors), from the cut of his coat to the 
 knot of his pumps left nothing to be desired. He had 
 spoken to influential men, and seen wealthy ladies at 
 close quarters. M. Dambreuse had proved himself 
 to be an admirable type of man, and Madame Dam- 
 breuse an almost bewitching type of woman. He 
 weighed one by one her slightest words, her looks, a 
 thousand things incapable of being analysed. It would 
 be a splendid thing to have such a mistress. And, 
 after all, why not? He would have as good a chance 
 with her as any other man. Perhaps she was not so 
 difficult to win? Then Martinon came back to his 
 recollection ; and, as he fell asleep, he smiled with pity 
 for this worthy fellow. 
 
 He woke up with the thought of the Marechale in 
 his mind. Those words of her note, " After to-morrow 
 evening," were without doubt an appointment for the 
 very same day. 
 
 He waited until nine o'clock, and then hurried to 
 her house. 
 
 Some one, going up the stairs before him, shut the 
 door. He rang the bell ; Delphine came and told him 
 that " Madame " was not there.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 209 
 
 Frederick persisted, begging of her to admit him. 
 lie had something of a very serious nature to com- 
 municate to her ; only a word would suffice. At length, 
 the hundred-sous-piece argument proved successful, 
 and the maid let him into the anteroom. 
 
 Rosanette appeared. She was in a negligee, with 
 her hair loose, and, shaking her head, she waved her 
 arms when she was some paces away from him to 
 indicate that she could not receive him then. 
 
 Frederick descended the stairs slowly. This ca- 
 price was worse than any of the others she had in- 
 dulged in. He could not understand the situation at 
 all. 
 
 In front of the porter's lodge Mademoiselle Vatnaz 
 stopped him. 
 
 " Has she received you? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " You've been put out? " 
 
 " How do you know that ? " 
 
 " Tis quite plain. But come ; let us go away. I am 
 suffocating ! " 
 
 She made him accompany her along the street; she 
 panted for breath ; he could feel her thin arm trem- 
 bling on his own. Suddenly, she broke out : 
 
 " Ah ! the wretch ! " 
 
 " Who, pray ? " 
 
 " Why, he he Delmar ! " 
 
 This revelation humiliated Frederick. He next 
 asked : 
 
 " Are you quite sure of it? " 
 
 " Why, I tell you I followed him ! " exclaimed the 
 Vatnaz. " I saw him enter! Now do you understand? 
 I ought to have expected it for that matter 'twas I, 
 in my stupidity, that introduced him to her. And if 
 you only knew all my God ! Why, I picked him up,
 
 210 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 supported him, clothed him ! And then all the para- 
 graphs I got into the newspapers about him! I loved 
 him like a mother ! " 
 
 Then, with a sneer: 
 
 " Ha ! Monsieur craves velvet robes ! You may 
 be sure 'tis a speculation on his part. And as for her ! 
 to think that I knew her when she earned her liv- 
 ing as a seamstress ! If it were not for me, she would 
 have fallen into the mire twenty times over? But I 
 will plunge her into it yet ! I'll see her dying "in a 
 hospital and everything about her will be known ! " 
 
 And, like a torrent of dirty water from a vessel full 
 of refuse, her rage poured out in a tumultuous fashion 
 into Frederick's ear the recital of her rival's disgrace- 
 ful acts. 
 
 " She lived with Jumillac, with Flacourt, with little 
 Allard, with Bertinaux, with Saint- Valery, the pock- 
 marked fellow ! No, 'twas the other ! They are two 
 brothers it makes no difference. And when she was 
 in difficulties, I settled everything. She is avaricious ! 
 And then, you will agree with me, 'twas generous of 
 me to visit her, for we are not persons of the same 
 grade! Am I a fast woman I? Do I sell myself? 
 She is as stupid as a head of cabbage. She writes 
 ' category ' with a ' th.' After all, they are well met. 
 They make a precious couple, though he styles him- 
 self an artist and thinks himself a man of genius. But, 
 my God ! if he had only intelligence, he would not 
 have done such an infamous thing ! Men don't, as a 
 rule, leave a superior woman for a hussy ! What do 
 I care about him after all? He is becoming ugly. I 
 hate him ! If I met him, mind you, I'd spit in his face." 
 She spat out as she uttered the words. " Yes, that is 
 what I think about him now. And Arnoux, eh ? Isn't 
 it abominable? He has forgiven her again and again.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 211 
 
 You can't conceive the sacrifices he has made for her. 
 She ought to kiss his feet! He is so generous, so 
 good ! " 
 
 Frederick was delighted at hearing Delmar dispar- 
 aged. He had taken sides with Arnoux. This perfidy 
 on Rosanette's part seemed to him an abnormal and 
 inexcusable thing; and, infected with this elderly spin- 
 ster's emotion, he felt a sort of tenderness toward her. 
 Suddenly he found himself in front of Arnoux's door. 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz, without his having noticed it, 
 had led him down toward the Rue Poissonniere. 
 
 " Here we are ! " said she. " As for me, I can't go 
 up ; but you, surely there is nothing to prevent you ? 
 
 " From doing what ? " 
 
 " From telling him everything, of course ! " 
 
 Frederick, as if waking up with a start, saw the base- 
 ness towards which she was urging him. 
 
 " Well ? " she said after a pause. 
 
 He raised his eyes towards the second floor. Ma- 
 dame Arnoux's lamp was burning. There was, cer- 
 tainly, nothing to prevent him from going up. 
 
 " I shall wait for you here. Go on, then ! " 
 
 This direction had the effect of chilling him, and 
 he said: 
 
 " I shall be a long time ; you would do better to 
 return home. I will call on you to-morrow." 
 
 " No, no ! " replied the Vatnaz, stamping with her 
 foot. " Take him with you ! Bring him there ! Let 
 him catch them together ! " 
 
 " But Delmar will no longer be there." 
 
 She hung down her head. 
 
 " Yes ; that's true, perhaps." 
 
 And she stood without speaking, in the middle of 
 the street, with vehicles all around her; then, fixing 
 on him her wild-cat's eyes:
 
 212 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " I may rely on you, may I not? There is now a 
 sacred bond between us. Do what you say, then ; 
 we'll talk about it to-morrow." 
 
 Frederick in passing through the lobby heard two 
 voices responding to one another. 
 
 Madame Arnoux's voice was saying: 
 
 "Don't lie! don't lie, pray!" 
 
 He entered. The voices suddenly ceased. 
 
 Arnoux was walking from one end of the apart- 
 ment tc the other, and Madame was seated on the little 
 chair near the fire, extremely pale and staring straight 
 before her. Frederick stepped back, and was about 
 to retire, when Arnoux grasped his hand, glad that 
 some one had come to his rescue. 
 
 " But I fear " said Frederick. 
 
 " Stay, I beg of you ! " he whispered in his ear. 
 
 Madame remarked : 
 
 " You must make some allowance for this scene, 
 Monsieur Moreau. Such things sometimes unfor- 
 tunately occur in households." 
 
 " They do when we introduce them there ourselves," 
 said Arnoux in a jolly tone. " Women have crotchets, 
 I assure you. This, for instance, is not a bad one see ! 
 No ; quite the contrary. Well, she has been amusing 
 herself for the last hour by teasing me with a lot of 
 idle stories." 
 
 " They are true," retorted Madame Arnoux, losing 
 patience; "for, in fact, you bought it yourself." 
 
 "I?" 
 
 " Yes, you yourself, at the Persian House." 
 
 '' The cashmere," thought Frederick. 
 
 He was filled with a consciousness of guilt, and 
 got quite alarmed. 
 
 She quickly added : 
 
 " It was on Saturdav, the fourteenth."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 213 
 
 " The fourteenth," said Arnoux, looking up, as if 
 he were searching his mind for a date. 
 
 " And, furthermore, the clerk who sold it to you 
 was a fair-haired young man." 
 
 " How could you expect me to remember what sort 
 of man the clerk was? " 
 
 " And yet it was at your dictation he wrote the ad- 
 dress, 18 Rue de Laval." 
 
 " How do you know ? " said Arnoux in amazement. 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders. 
 
 " Oh ! tis very simple : I went to get my cashmere 
 altered, and the superintendent of the millinery de- 
 partment told me that they had just sent another of 
 the same sort to Madame Arnoux." 
 
 " Is it my fault if there is a Madame Arnoux in the 
 same street ? " 
 
 " Yes ; but not Jacques Arnoux," she returned. 
 
 Thereupon he began to talk incoherently, protest- 
 ing that he was innocent. It was some misapprehen- 
 sion, some accident, one of those things that happen 
 in an utterly unaccountable way. Men should not be 
 condemned on mere suspicion, vague probabilities ; and 
 he referred to the case of the unfortunate Lesurques. 
 
 " In short, I say you are wrong. Do you want me 
 to take my oath on it ? " 
 
 " 'Tis not worth while," 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 She looked him straight in the face without speak- 
 ing, then stretched out her hand, took down the little 
 silver chest from the mantelpiece, and handed him 
 a bill which was spread open. 
 
 Arnoux coloured up to his ears, and his swollen and 
 distorted features betrayed his confusion. 
 
 " But," he said in faltering tones, " what does this 
 prove ? "
 
 214 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Ah ! " she said, with a peculiar ring in her voice, 
 in which sorrow and irony were blended. " Ah ! " 
 
 Arnoux turned the bill round in his hands without 
 removing his eyes from it, as if he were going to find 
 in it the solution of a great problem. 
 
 " Ah ! yes, yes ; I remember," said he at length. 
 *' 'Twas a commission. You ought to know about that 
 matter, Frederick." Frederick remained silent. " A 
 commission that Pere Oudry entrusted to me." 
 
 " And for whom ? " 
 
 " For his mistress." 
 
 " For your own ! " exclaimed Madame Arnoux, 
 springing to her feet and standing erect before him. 
 
 " I swear to you ! " 
 
 " Don't begin again. I know all." 
 
 " Ha ! quite right. So you're spying on me ! " 
 
 She returned coldly : 
 
 " Perhaps that wounds your delicacy ? " 
 
 " Since you are in a passion," said Arnoux, look- 
 ing for his hat, " and can't be reasoned with " 
 
 Then, with a big sigh : 
 
 " Don't marry, my poor friend, don't, if you take 
 my advice ! " 
 
 And he took himself off, finding it absolutely neces- 
 sary to get into the open air. 
 
 Then there was a deep silence, and it seemed as if 
 everything in the room had become stiller than before. 
 
 Madame Arnoux had just seated herself in the arm- 
 chair at the opposite side of the chimney-piece. She 
 bit her lip and shivered. Putting her hands up to her 
 face, a sob broke from her, and she began to weep. 
 
 He sat down on the little couch, and in the soothing 
 tone in which one addresses a sick person: 
 
 " You don't suspect me of having anything to do 
 with ?"
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 215 
 
 She made no reply. But, continuing presently to 
 give utterance to her own thoughts : 
 
 " I leave him perfectly free ! There was no necessity 
 for lying ! " 
 
 " That is quite true," said Frederick. " No doubt," 
 he added, " it was the result of Arnoux's habits ; he 
 had acted thoughtlessly, but perhaps in matters of a 
 graver character " 
 
 " What do you know of, then, that can be graver? " 
 
 " Oh, nothing ! " 
 
 Frederick bent his head with a smile of acquiescence. 
 Nevertheless, he urged, Arnoux possessed certain good 
 qualities ; he was fond of his children. 
 
 " Ay, and he does all he can to ruin them ! " 
 
 Frederick urged that this was caused by an excess- 
 ively easy-going disposition, for indeed he was a good 
 fellow ? 
 
 She exclaimed : 
 
 " But what does that mean a good fellow ! " 
 
 And he proceeded to defend Arnoux in the vaguest 
 kind of language he could think of, and, while express- 
 ing his sympathy with her, he rejoiced, he was de- 
 lighted, at the bottom of his heart. Through desire 
 for retaliation or need of affection she would fly to 
 him for refuge. His love was intensified by the hope 
 which had now grown immeasurably stronger in his 
 breast. 
 
 Never had she appeared to him so captivating, so 
 absolutely, perfectly beautiful. From time to time a 
 deep breath made her bosom swell. Her eyes, gazing 
 fixedly into space, seemed dilated by a vision in the 
 depths of her consciousness, and her lips were slightly 
 parted, as if to let her soul escape through them. 
 Sometimes she pressed her handkerchief to them 
 tightly. He would have liked to be this dainty little
 
 216 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 piece of cambric moistened with her tears. In spite 
 of himself, he cast a glance at the bed at the end of 
 the alcove, picturing to himself her head lying on the 
 pillow, and so vividly did this present itself to his 
 imagination that he had to restrain himself from clasp- 
 ing her in his arms. She closed her eyelids, and be- 
 came quiescent and languid. Then he drew closer, 
 and, bending over her, he eagerly scanned her face. 
 At that moment, he heard the noise of boots in the 
 lobby outside it was the other. They heard him 
 shutting the door of his own room. Frederick made 
 a sign to Madame Arnoux to ascertain from her 
 whether he ought to go to him. 
 
 She signified " Yes," in the same voiceless fashion, 
 and this mute exchange of thoughts between them 
 was, as it were, an assent the preliminary step in 
 adultery. 
 
 Arnoux was just removing his coat to go to bed. 
 
 " Well, how is she now ? " 
 
 " Oh ! better," said Frederick ; " this will pass off.' : 
 
 But Arnoux was in an anxious state of mind. 
 
 " You don't know her ; she has got hysterical now ! 
 Idiot of a clerk ! This is what comes of being too 
 good. If I had not given that cursed shawl to Rosa- 
 nette ! " 
 
 " Don't regret having done so. Nobody could be 
 more grateful to you than she is." 
 
 " Do you really think so ? " 
 
 Frederick had not a doubt of it. The best proof 
 of it was her dismissal of Pere Oudry. 
 
 " Ah ! poor little thing ! " 
 
 And in the excess of his emotion, Arnoux wanted 
 to rush off to her at once. 
 
 ; 'Tisn't worth while. I am calling to see her. She 
 is not well."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 217 
 
 " All the more reason for my going." 
 
 He quickly put on his coat again, and took up his 
 candlestick. Frederick cursed his own stupidity, and 
 insisted that for decency's sake he ought to remain 
 this night with his wife. He could not leave her; it 
 would be very unjust. 
 
 " I tell you frankly you would be doing wrong. 
 There is no hurry over there. You will go to-morrow. 
 Come ; do this for my sake." 
 
 Arnoux put back his candlestick, and, embracing 
 him, said: 
 
 " You are a fine fellow ! "
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE. FAMILY FRIEND 
 
 FREDERICK became the parasite of the house of 
 Arnoux, and a miserable existence stretched out 
 before him. 
 
 If anyone were ill, he called several times a day to 
 know how the patient was, went to the piano-tuner's, 
 contrived to do a thousand acts of kindness; and he 
 suffered with an air of contentment Mademoiselle 
 Marthe's poutings and the caresses of little Eugene, 
 who was always running his dirty hands over the young 
 man's face. He was present at dinners at which Mon- 
 sieur and Madame, facing each other, did not exchange 
 a word, unless it happened that Arnoux provoked his 
 wife with the ridiculous remarks he made. When the 
 meal was finished, he would play about the room with 
 his son, conceal himself behind the furniture, or carry 
 the little boy on his back, walking about on all fours. 
 At last, he would go out, and she would at once plunge 
 into the eternal subject of complaint Arnoux. 
 
 It was not that his misconduct excited her indigna- 
 tion, but her pride appeared to be wounded, and she 
 made no effort to hide her repugnance toward this 
 man, who showed neither delicacy, dignity, nor honour. 
 
 " It must be that he is mad ! " she said. 
 
 Frederick artfully induced her to confide in him. 
 Ere long he knew all the details of her life. Her par- 
 ents were people of humble rank at Chartres. One 
 day, Arnoux, while sketching on the bank of the river
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 219 
 
 (at this period he believed himself to be a painter), 
 saw her leaving the church, and made her an offer 
 of marriage. On account of his wealth, he was im- 
 mediately accepted. Besides, he was desperately in 
 love with her. She added: 
 
 " Good heavens ! he loves me still, after his fashion !" 
 
 They spent the few months immediately after their 
 marriage in travelling through Italy. 
 
 Arnoux, in spite of his enthusiasm over the scenery 
 and the masterpieces, did nothing but groan over the 
 wine, and, to find some kind of amusement, organised 
 picnics along with some English people. The profit 
 which he had made by reselling some pictures tempted 
 him to take up the fine arts as a commercial specula- 
 tion. Then, he became infatuated about pottery. Just 
 now other branches of commerce attracted him ; and 
 as he became more and more vulgarised, he contracted 
 coarse and extravagant habits. It was not so much 
 for his vices she reproached him as for his entire con- 
 duct. No change could be expected in him, and her 
 unhappiness was irreparable. 
 
 Frederick declared that his own life in the same 
 way was a failure. 
 
 He was still a young man, however. Why should 
 he be melancholy? And she gave him good advice: 
 " Work and marry ! " He answered her with bitter 
 smiles ; for instead of telling the real cause of his 
 grief, he pretended that it was of a different character, 
 a sublime feeling, and he assumed the part of an 
 Antony, the man accursed by fate language which 
 did not, however, change very materially the com- 
 plexion of his thoughts. 
 
 For certain men action becomes more difficult as 
 desire becomes stronger. They are embarrassed by 
 self-distrust, and terrified by the fear of making them-
 
 220 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 selves disliked. Besides,' deep attachments resemble 
 virtuous women : they are afraid of being discovered, 
 and pass through life with downcast eyes. 
 
 Though he was now better acquainted with Madame 
 Arnoux (for that very reason perhaps), he w r as still 
 more faint-hearted than before. Each morning he 
 swore to himself that he would take a bold course. 
 He was prevented from doing so by an unconquerable 
 feeling of bashfulness ; and he had no example to 
 guide him, inasmuch as she was different from other 
 women. From the force of his imaginings, he had 
 placed her outside the ordinary pale of humanity. 
 When beside her he felt himself of less importance in 
 the world than the sprigs of silk that escaped from 
 her scissors. 
 
 Then he thought of monstrous and absurd devices, 
 such as surprises at night, with narcotics and false keys 
 anything appearing easier to him than to face her 
 disdain. 
 
 Besides, the children, the two servant-maids, and 
 the relative position of the rooms were insurmountable 
 obstacles. Then he made up his mind to possess her 
 himself alone, and to bring her to live with him far 
 away in the depths of some solitude. He even ques- 
 tioned himself what lake would be blue enough, what 
 seashore would be delightful enough for her, whether 
 it would be in Spain, Switzerland, or the East ; and ex- 
 pressly fixing on days when she seemed more irritated 
 than usual, he told her that it would be necessary for 
 her to leave the house, to find some justification for 
 such a step, and that he saw no way out of it but a 
 separation. However, for the sake of the children 
 whom she loved, she would never resort to such an 
 extreme course. So much virtue served to increase 
 his respect for her.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 221 
 
 He spent each afternoon in thinking over the visit 
 he had paid the night before, and in longing for the 
 evening to come in order that he might call again. 
 When he did not dine with them, he posted himself 
 about nine o'clock at the corner of the street, and, as 
 soon as Arnoux had slammed the hall-door behind 
 him, Frederick quickly went up the two flights of 
 stairs, and asked the servant-girl in an ingenuous 
 fashion : 
 
 " Is Monsieur in ? " 
 
 Then he would exhibit surprise at rinding that Ar- 
 noux was out. 
 
 The latter frequently came back unexpectedly. Then 
 Frederick had to accompany him to the little cafe in 
 the Rue Sainte-Anne, which Regimbart now fre- 
 quented. 
 
 The Citizen would give vent to some fresh griev- 
 ance which he had against the Crown. Then they 
 would chat, pouring out friendly abuse on each other, 
 for the earthenware manufacturer took Regimbart 
 for a thinker of a high order, and, vexed at seeing 
 him neglecting so many chances of winning distinc- 
 tion, chaffed the Citizen about his laziness. It seemed 
 to Regimbart that Arnoux was a man full of heart 
 and imagination, but of decidedly lax morals ; there- 
 fore he was quite unceremonious toward a personage 
 he respected so little, refusing even to dine at his 
 house on the ground that " such formality was a bore." 
 
 Sometimes, at the moment of parting, Arnoux would 
 be seized with hunger. He would order an omelet or 
 some roasted apples ; and, as there was never anything 
 to eat in the establishment, he sent out for something. 
 They would wait. Regimbart did not leave, and usu- 
 ally ended by consenting in a grumbling fashion to 
 have something himself. He was nevertheless gloomy,
 
 222 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 for he remained for hours seated before a half-filled 
 glass. As Providence did not regulate things in har- 
 mony with his ideas, he v/as becoming a hypochondriac, 
 no longer cared even to read the newspapers, and at 
 the mere mention of England began to bellow with 
 rage. On one occasion, referring to a waiter who 
 attended on him carelessly, he exclaimed : 
 
 " Have we not enough insults from the foreigner?" 
 
 Except at these critical periods he remained taciturn, 
 contemplating "' an infallible stroke of business that 
 would burst up the whole shop." 
 
 Whilst he was lost in these reflections, Arnoux in 
 a monotonous voice and with a mild look of intoxica- 
 tion, related incredible anecdotes of which he was al- 
 ways the hero; and Frederick (this was, no doubt, 
 due to some deep-rooted resemblances) felt more or 
 less attracted toward him. He blamed himself for this 
 weakness, believing that he ought to hate this man. 
 
 Arnoux, in Frederick's presence, complained of his 
 wife's ill-temper, her obstinacy, her unjust accusations. 
 She had never been like this in former days. 
 
 " If I were you," said Frederick, " I would make 
 her an allowance and live alone." 
 
 Arnoux made no reply ; but the next moment he 
 began to sound her praises. She was good, devoted, 
 intelligent, and virtuous ; and, passing to her personal 
 beauty, he made some revelations on the subject with 
 the thoughtlessness of people who display their treas- 
 ures at taverns. 
 
 His equilibrium was much disturbed by a catas- 
 trophe. 
 
 He had been appointed one of the Board of Super- 
 intendence in a kaolin company. But placing reliance 
 on all that he was told, he had signed inaccurate re- 
 ports and approved, without verification, of the annuaJ
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 223 
 
 inventories fraudulently prepared by the manager. The 
 company had now failed, and Arnoux, being legally 
 responsible, was, along with the others who were liable 
 under the guaranty, condemned to pay damages, mean- 
 ing a loss to him of thirty thousand francs, not to speak 
 of the costs of the judgment. 
 
 Frederick saw the report of the case in a newspaper, 
 and at once hurried off to the Rue de Paradis. 
 
 He was ushered into Madame's apartment. It was 
 breakfast-time. A round table close to the fire was 
 laden with bowls of cafe au lait. Slippers trailed over 
 the carpet, and clothes over the armchairs. Arnoux 
 was attired in trousers and a knitted vest, with his eyes 
 bloodshot and his hair in disorder. Little Eugene was 
 crying at the pain caused by an attack of mumps, while 
 nibbling at a slice of bread and butter. His sister was 
 eating quietly. Madame Arnoux, a little paler than 
 usual, was attending on all three of them. 
 
 " Well," said Arnoux, heaving a deep sigh, " you 
 know all about it ? " 
 
 And, as Frederick gave him a sympathetic look: 
 " There, you see, I have been the victim of my own 
 trustfulness ! " 
 
 Then he relapsed into silence, and so great was his 
 distress, that he pushed his breakfast away from him. 
 Madame Arnoux raised her eyes as she shrugged her 
 shoulders. He passed his hand across his forehead. 
 
 " After all, I am not guilty. I have nothing to re- 
 proach myself with. 'Tis a misfortune. It will be 
 overcome ay, and so much the worse, faith ! " 
 
 He took a piece of cake, however, in obedience to 
 his wife's entreaties. 
 
 That evening he invited her to dine with him alone 
 in a private room at the Maison d'Or. Madame Ar- 
 noux did not understand this emotional impulse, tak-
 
 224 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ing offence, in fact, at being treated as if she were a 
 light woman. Arnoux, on the contrary, meant it as 
 a proof of affection. Then, as he was beginning to 
 feel dull, he paid the Marechale a visit in order to 
 amuse himself. 
 
 Up to this time, he had been pardoned for many 
 things owing to his reputation for good-fellowship. 
 His lawsuit placed him amongst men of bad repute. 
 No one visited his house. 
 
 Frederick, however, considered that he was bound 
 in honour to go there more frequently than ever. He 
 hired a box at the Italian opera, and took them with 
 him every week. Meanwhile, the pair had reached 
 that stage in unsuitable unions when an invincible 
 lassitude springs from concessions which people get 
 into the habit of making, and which render existence 
 intolerable. Madame Arnoux restrained her pent-up 
 feelings ; Arnoux became gloomy ; and Frederick grew 
 sad at witnessing the unhappiness of these two ill- 
 fated beings. 
 
 She had imposed on him the obligation, since she 
 had given him her confidence, of making inquiries 
 into her husband's affairs. But shame prevented him 
 from doing so. It was painful to him to reflect that 
 he coveted the wife of this man, at whose dinner-table 
 he constantly sat. Nevertheless, he continued his vis- 
 its, excusing himself on the ground that he was bound 
 to protect her, and that an occasion might present 
 itself for being of service to her. 
 
 Eight days after the ball, he had paid a visit to M. 
 Dambreuse. The financier had offered him twenty 
 shares in a coal-mining speculation ; Frederick did not 
 return there again. Deslauriers had written' letters 
 to him, which he left unanswered. Pellerin had invited 
 him to go and see the portrait ; he always excused him-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 226 
 
 self. He gave way, however, to Cisy's persistent 
 appeals to be introduced to Rosanette. 
 
 She received him very kindly, but without spring- 
 ing on his neck as she used to do formerly. His com- 
 rade was delighted at being received by a woman of 
 easy virtue, and above all at having a chat with an 
 actor. Delmar was there when he called. A drama 
 in which he appeared as a peasant lecturing Louis XIV 
 and prophesying the events of '89 had made him so 
 conspicuous that similar parts were continually as- 
 signed to him ; and now his function consisted of 
 attacks on the monarchs of all nations. As an English 
 brewer, he inveighed against Charles I ; as a student 
 at Salamanca, he cursed Philip II; or, as a sensitive 
 father, he expressed indignation against the Pompa- 
 dour this was the most beautiful bit of acting! 
 
 All this had fascinated Rosanette ; and she had got 
 rid of Pere Oudry, without caring one jot about con- 
 sequences, as she was not covetous. 
 
 Arnoux, who knew her disposition, had taken ad- 
 vantage of the state of affairs for some time past to 
 spend very little money on her. M. Roque appeared 
 occasionally, and all three of them carefully avoided 
 anything like a candid explanation. Then, fancying 
 that she had got rid of the other solely on his account, 
 Arnoux increased her allowance, for she was living 
 very expensively. She had even sold her cashmere 
 in her anxiety to pay off her old debts, as she said ; and 
 he was continually giving her money, whilst she be- 
 witched him and imposed upon him pitilessly. There- 
 fore, bills and stamped paper rained all over the house. 
 Frederick felt that a crisis was approaching. 
 
 One day he called to see Madame Arnoux. She 
 was out. Monsieur was at work below stairs in the 
 shop. In fact, Arnoux, in the midst of his Japanese
 
 226 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 vases, was trying to impress a newly-married pair who 
 happened to be well-to-do people from the provinces. 
 
 When the customers had gone, he told Frederick 
 that he had that very morning been engaged in a little 
 altercation with his wife. In order to obviate any 
 remarks about expense, he had declared that the Mare- 
 chale was no longer his mistress. " I even told her 
 that she was yours." 
 
 Frederick was annoyed at this ; but to utter re- 
 proaches might only betray him. He faltered : " Ah ! 
 you were in the wrong greatly in the wrong ! " 
 
 " What does that matter? " said Arnoux. " Where 
 is the disgrace of passing for her lover? I am really 
 so myself. Would you not be flattered at being in such 
 a position? " 
 
 Had she spoken ? Was this a hint ? Frederick has- 
 tened to reply : 
 
 " No ! not at all ! on the contrary ! " 
 
 " Well, what then ? " 
 
 " Yes, 'tis true ; it makes no difference so far as 
 that's concerned." 
 
 Arnoux next asked : " And why don't you call there 
 oftener ? " 
 
 Frederick promised that he would do so. 
 
 " Ah ! I forgot ! you ought, when talking about 
 Rosanette, to admit in some way to my wife that you 
 are her lover. I can't suggest how you can best do 
 this, but you'll find that out. I ask this of you as a 
 special favour eh ? " 
 
 The young man's only answer was an equivocal 
 grimace. This calumny had undone him. He called 
 on her that evening, and swore that Arnoux's accusa- 
 tion was false. 
 
 "Is that really so?" 
 
 He appeared to be speaking sincerely, and, when
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 227 
 
 she had taken a long breath of relief, she said to him : 
 
 " I believe you/' with a beautiful smile. Then, with 
 bent head, and, without looking at him : 
 
 " Besides, nobody has any claim on you! " 
 
 So then she had divined nothing; and she despised 
 him, seeing that she did not think he could love her 
 well enough to remain faithful to her ! Frederick, for- 
 getting his overtures while with the other, looked on 
 the permission accorded to him as an insult. 
 
 After this she suggested that he ought now and then 
 to visit Rosanette, to get a little glimpse of what she 
 was like. 
 
 Arnoux presently made his appearance, and, five 
 minutes later, wished to carry him off to Rosanette's. 
 
 The situation was becoming intolerable. 
 
 His attention was diverted by a letter from the 
 notary, announcing that he would send him fifteen 
 thousand francs the following day ; and, in order to 
 make up for his neglect of Deslauriers, he went forth- 
 with to tell him this good news. 
 
 The advocate was lodging in the Rue des Trois- 
 Maries, on the fifth floor, over a courtyard. His study, 
 a little tiled apartment, chilly, and with a grey paper 
 on the walls, had as its principal decoration a gold 
 medal, the prize awarded him when he took his degree 
 as a Doctor of Laws. It was his consultation-hour, and 
 the advocate had on a white cravat. 
 
 The news as to the fifteen thousand francs (he had, 
 no doubt, given up all hope of getting the amount) 
 made him chuckle with delight. 
 
 " That's right, old fellow, that's right that's quite 
 right ! " 
 
 He threw some wood into the fire, sat down again, 
 and immediately began talking about the journal. The 
 first thing to do was to get rid of Hussonnet.
 
 228 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " I'm tired of that idiot ! As for officially professing 
 opinions, my own idea is that the most equitable and 
 forcible position is to have no opinions at all." 
 
 Frederick appeared astonished. 
 
 " Why, the thing is perfectly plain. It is time that 
 politics should be dealt with scientifically. The old 
 men of the eighteenth century began it when Rousseau 
 and the men of letters introduced into the political 
 sphere philanthropy, poetry, and other fudge, to the 
 great delight of the Catholics a natural alliance, how- 
 ever, since the modern reformers (I can prove it) all 
 believe in Revelations. But, if you sing high masses for 
 Poland, if, in place of the God of the Dominicans, who 
 was an executioner, you take the God of the Romanti- 
 cists, w-ho is an upholsterer, if, in fact, you have not 
 a wider conception of the Absolute than your ancestors, 
 Monarchy will penetrate underneath your Republican 
 forms, and your red cap will never be other than the 
 headpiece of a priest. The only difference will be that 
 the cell system will take the place of torture, the out- 
 rageous treatment of Religion that of sacrilege, and 
 the European Concert that of the Holy Alliance ; and 
 in this beautiful order which we admire, composed of 
 the wreckage of the followers of Louis XIV, the rem- 
 nants of the Voltaireans, with some Imperial white- 
 wash on top, and some fragments of the British Con- 
 stitution, you will see the municipal councils trying to 
 give trouble to the Mayor, the general councils to their 
 Prefect, the Chambers to the King, the Press to Power, 
 and the Administration to everybody. But simple- 
 minded people get enthusiastic about the Civil Code, a 
 work fabricated let them say what they like in a 
 mean and tyrannical spirit, for the legislator, instead of 
 doing his duty to the State, which simply means to 
 observe customs in a regular fashion, claims to model
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 229 
 
 society like another Lycurgus. Why does the law im- 
 pede fathers of families with regard to the making of 
 wills? Why does it place shackles on the compulsory 
 sale of real estate? Why does it punish as a misde- 
 meanour vagrancy, which ought not even to be re- 
 garded as a technical contravention of the Code. And 
 there are other things ! I know all about them ! and 
 so I am going to write a little novel, entitled The His- 
 tory of the Idea of Justice, which will be amusing. 
 But I am infernally thirsty! And you?" 
 
 He leaned out of the window, and called to the por- 
 ter to bring them two glasses of grog from the public- 
 house over the way. 
 
 " To sum up, I see three parties no ! three groups 
 in none of which do I take the slightest interest: 
 those who have, those who have nothing, and those 
 who are trying to have. All agree in their idiotic 
 worship of Authority ! For example, Mably recom- 
 mends that philosophers should be prevented from pub- 
 lishing their doctrines ; M. Wronsky, the geometrician, 
 describes the censorship as the ' critical expression of 
 speculative spontaneity ' ; Pere Enfantin gives his bles- 
 sing to the Hapsburgs for having passed a hand across 
 the Alps to keep Italy down ; Pierre Leroux wishes peo- 
 ple to be compelled to listen to an orator; and Loui? 
 Blanc inclines toward a State religion so much ragp 
 for government have these vassals whom we call the 
 people ! Nevertheless, there is not a single legitimate 
 government, in spite of their sempiternal principles, 
 ' Principle ' signifies ' origin.' It is always necessary 
 to go back to a revolution, to an act of violence, to a 
 transitory fact. Thus, our principle is the national 
 sovereignty embodied in the Parliamentary form, 
 though the Parliament does not agree to this ! But in 
 what way could the sovereignty of the people be more
 
 230 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 sacred than the Divine Right ? They are both fictions. 
 Enough of metaphysics ; no more phantoms ! Dogmas 
 are not required in order to get the streets swept! It 
 may be said that I am turning society upside down. 
 Well, after all, where would be the harm of that? It 
 is, indeed, a nice thing this society of yours." 
 
 Frederick could have said much. But, seeing that 
 his theories were far less advanced than those of Sene- 
 cal, he was full of indulgence toward Deslauriers. He 
 contented himself with arguing that such a system 
 would make them generally hated. 
 
 " On the contrary, as we should have given to each 
 party a pledge of hatred against his neighbour, all will 
 reckon on us. You are about to come into it yourself, 
 and to furnish us with some transcendent criticism ! " 
 
 It was necessary to attack accepted ideas the 
 Academy, the Normal School, the Conservatoire, the 
 Comedie Franchise, everything that resembled an insti- 
 tution. It was in that way that they would give con- 
 sistency to the doctrines taught in their review. Then, 
 as soon as it had been thoroughly well-established, it 
 would suddenly be converted into a daily publication. 
 Upon which they could find fault with individuals. 
 
 " And they will respect us, you may be sure ! " 
 
 Deslauriers referred to that old dream of his the 
 position of editor-in-chief, so that he might have the 
 unutterable happiness of directing others, of cutting 
 down their articles, of ordering them to be written or 
 declining them. His eyes twinkled under his goggles ; 
 he worked himself into a state of excitement, and 
 drank a few glasses of brandy, one after the other, in 
 an automatic fashion. 
 
 " You'll have to stand me a dinner once a week. 
 That's indispensable, even though you should have to 
 squander half your income on it. People would feel
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 231 
 
 pleasure in going to it ; it would be a centre for the 
 others, a lever for yourself ; and by manipulating pub- 
 lic opinion at its two ends literature and politics you 
 will see how, before six months have passed, we shall 
 occupy the first rank in Paris." 
 
 Frederick, as he listened to Deslauriers, experienced 
 a sensation of rejuvenescence, like a man who, after 
 having been confined in a room for a long time, is sud- 
 denly taken into the open air. The enthusiasm of his 
 friend was contagious. 
 
 " Yes, I have been an idler, an idiot you are right ! " 
 
 " All in good time," said Deslauriers. " I have 
 found my Frederick again ! " 
 
 And, holding up his jaw with closed fingers : 
 
 " Ah ! you have made me suffer ! Never mind, I 
 love you all the same." 
 
 They stood gazing into each other's faces, both 
 deeply affected, and were on the point of embracing 
 each other. 
 
 A woman's cap appeared on the threshold of the 
 anteroom. 
 
 "What do you want?" said Deslauriers. 
 
 It was Mademoiselle Clemence, his mistress. 
 
 She replied that, as she happened to be passing, she 
 could not resist the desire to come in to see him, and 
 in order that they might have a little repast together, 
 she had brought some cakes, which she laid on the 
 table. 
 
 " Take care of my papers ! " said the advocate, 
 sharply. " Besides, this is the third time that I have 
 forbidden you to come at my consultation-hours." 
 
 She wished to embrace him. 
 
 " Very well ! Now be off ! " 
 
 He repelled her; she sighed heavily. 
 
 " Ah ! you are plaguing me again ! "
 
 232 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " 'Tis because I love you ! " 
 
 " I don't want you to love me, but to oblige me ! " 
 
 This harsh remark stopped Clemence's tears. She 
 went over to the window, and remained there motion- 
 less, with her forehead against the pane. 
 
 Her attitude and her silence irritated Deslauriers. 
 
 " When you have quite finished, you will order your 
 carriage, will you not ? " 
 
 She turned round with a start. 
 
 " You are sending me away ? " 
 
 " Exactly." 
 
 She fixed on him her large blue eyes, no doubt as a 
 last appeal, then drew the two ends of her tartan across 
 each other, lingered for a minute, then went away. 
 
 " You ought to call her back," said Frederick. 
 
 " Come, now ! " 
 
 And, as he wished to go out, Deslauriers went into 
 the kitchen, which also served as his dressing-room. 
 On the stone floor, beside a pair of boots, were to be 
 seen the remains of a meagre breakfast, and a mattress 
 with a coverlid was rolled up on the floor in a corner. 
 ' This will show you," said he, " that I receive few 
 marchionesses. 'Tis easy to get enough of them, ay, 
 faith ! and others, too ! Those who cost nothing take 
 up your time 'tis money under another form. Now, 
 I'm not rich ! And then they are all so silly, so silly ! 
 Can you converse with a woman yourself ? " 
 
 As they parted, at the corner of the Pont Neuf, Des- 
 lauriers said : " It's settled, then ; you'll bring the thing 
 to me to-morrow as soon as you have it ! " 
 
 " Agreed ! " said Frederick. 
 
 When he awoke next morning, he received through 
 the post a cheque on the bank for fifteen thousand 
 francs. 
 
 This scrap of paper represented to him fifteen large
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 233 
 
 bags of money; and he thought to himself that, with 
 such a sum he could, first of all, keep his carriage for 
 three years instead of selling it, as he would soon be 
 forced to do, or buy for himself two beautiful damas- 
 keened pieces of armour, which he had seen on the 
 Ouai Voltaire, then a quantity of other things, pictures, 
 books and what numerous bouquets of flowers, presents 
 for Madame Arnoux! anything, in short, was prefer- 
 able to risking losing all in that journal! Deslauriers 
 seemed to him presumptuous, his insensibility on the 
 night before had chilled Frederick's affection for him ; 
 the young man was indulging in these feelings of re- 
 gret, when he was surprised by the sudden appear- 
 ance of Arnoux, who sat down heavily on the side of 
 the bed, like a man overwhelmed with trouble. 
 
 " What is the matter now? " 
 
 " I am ruined ! " 
 
 He had to deposit that very day at the office of 
 Maitre Beaumont, notary, in the Rue Saint-Anne, 
 eighteen thousand francs lent him by one Vanneroy. 
 
 " Tis an unaccountable disaster. I have given him 
 a mortgage, which ought to keep him quiet. But he 
 threatens me with a writ if it is not paid this after- 
 noon promptly." 
 
 " And what next ? " 
 
 " Oh ! the next step is easy enough ; he will take pos- 
 session of my real estate. Once the thing is publicly 
 announced, it means ruin to me that's all ! Ah ! if I 
 could find anyone to advance me this cursed sum, he 
 might take Vanneroy's place, and I should be saved! 
 You don't happen to have it yourself ? " 
 
 The cheque was still on the night-table near a book. 
 Frederick picked up a volume, and placed it on the 
 cheque, while he replied : 
 
 " Good heavens, my dear friend, no ! "
 
 234 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 But it was painful to him to say " no " to Arnoux. 
 
 " Don't you know anyone who would ? " 
 
 " Nobody ! and to think that in eight days I should 
 be getting in money ! There is owing to me probably 
 fifty thousand francs at the end of the month ! " 
 
 " Couldn't you ask some of the persons in your debt 
 to make you an advance ? " 
 
 " Ah ! well, so I did ! " 
 
 " But have you any bills or promissory notes ? " 
 
 " Not one ! " 
 
 " What is to be done ? " said Frederick. 
 ' That's \vhat I'm asking myself," said Arnoux. 
 " 'Tisn't for myself, my God ! but for my children and 
 my poor wife! " 
 
 Then, each phrase falling from his lips in a broken 
 fashion : 
 
 " In fact I could rough it I could pack off all I 
 have and go and seek my fortune I don't know 
 where ! " 
 
 " Impossible ! " exclaimed Frederick. 
 
 Arnoux replied with an air of calmness : 
 
 " How do you think I could remain in Paris now ? " 
 
 There was a long silence. Frederick broke it by say- 
 ing: 
 
 " When could you pay back this money? " 
 
 Not that he himself had it ; quite the contrary ! But 
 there was nothing to prevent him from seeing some 
 friends, and making an application to them. 
 
 And he rang for his servant to get himself dressed. 
 
 Arnoux thanked him. 
 
 ' The amount you need is eighteen thousand francs 
 isn't it?" 
 
 " Oh ! I could manage with sixteen thousand ! For 
 I could make two thousand five hundred out of it, or 
 get three thousand on my silver plate, if Vanneroy
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 235 
 
 meanwhile would give me till to-morrow ; and, I re- 
 peat to you, you may inform the lender, give him a 
 solemn promise, that in eight days, perhaps even in 
 five or six, the money will be returned. Besides, the 
 mortgage will be security for it. So there is no risk, 
 you understand ? " 
 
 Frederick assured him that he thoroughly under- 
 stood the state of affairs, and added that he was going 
 out immediately. 
 
 He would be sure on his return to bestow hearty 
 maledictions on Deslauriers, for he wished to keep his 
 word, and in the meantime, to oblige Arnoux. 
 
 " Suppose I applied to Monsieur Dambreuse ? But 
 on what pretext could I ask for money ? 'Tis I, on the 
 contrary, that owe him some for the shares I took in 
 his coal-mining company. Ah! let him go hang him- 
 self his shares! After all, I am not actually liable 
 for them ! " 
 
 And Frederick approved himself for his own inde- 
 pendence, as if he had refused to do some service for 
 M. Dambreuse. 
 
 " Ah, well," said he to himself afterward, " since I'm 
 going to meet with a loss in this way for with fifteen 
 thousand francs I might gain a hundred thousand! 
 such things happen on the Bourse well, then, since I 
 am breaking my promise to one of them, am I not free ? 
 Besides, Deslauriers might wait? No, no; that's 
 wrong; let us go there." 
 
 He looked at his watch. 
 
 " Ah ! there's no hurry. The bank does not close 
 till five o'clock." 
 
 And, at half-past four, when he had cashed the 
 cheque : 
 
 ' 'Tis useless now ; he would not be in. I'll go this 
 evening." Thus giving himself the opportunity of
 
 236 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 changing his mind, for there always remain in the con- 
 science some of those sophistries which we pour into 
 it ourselves. It preserves the after-taste of them, like 
 unwholesome liquor. 
 
 He walked along the boulevards, and dined alone at 
 a restaurant. Then he listened to one act of a play at 
 the Vaudeville, in order to divert his thoughts. But 
 his bank-notes caused him as much uneasiness as if he 
 had stolen them. He would not have been very sorry 
 if he had lost them. 
 
 When he reached home he found a letter containing 
 these words : 
 
 "What news? My wife joins me, dear friend, in 
 the hope, etc. Yours." 
 
 And then there was a flourish after his signature. 
 
 " His wife ! She appeals to me ! " 
 
 At the same moment Arnoux appeared, anxious to 
 know whether he had been able to obtain the sum so 
 sorely needed. 
 
 " Wait a moment ; here it is," said Frederick. 
 
 And, twenty-four hours later, he gave this reply to 
 Deslauriers : 
 
 " I have no money." 
 
 The advocate called three days, one after the other, 
 and urged Frederick to write to the notary. He even 
 offered to take a trip to Havre himself in connection 
 with the matter. 
 
 At the end of the week, Frederick nervously asked 
 the worthy Arnoux for his fifteen thousand francs. 
 Arnoux put it off till the following day, and then till 
 the day after. Frederick ventured out late at night, 
 fearing lest Deslauriers might come on him by sur- 
 prise. 
 
 One evening, somebody ran against him at the corner 
 of the Madeleine. It was he.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 237 
 
 And Deslauriers accompanied Frederick as far as 
 the door of a house in the Faubourg Poissonniere. 
 
 " Wait for me ! " 
 
 He waited. At last, after three quarters of an hour, 
 Frederick came out, accompanied by Arnoux, and 
 made signs to him to have patience a little longer. 
 The two men went up the Rue de Hauteville arm-in- 
 arm, and presently they turned down the Rue de Cha- 
 brol. 
 
 The night was dark, with gusts of tepid wind. Ar- 
 noux walked on slowly, talking about the Galleries of 
 Commerce a succession of covered passages leading 
 from the Boulevard Saint-Denis to the Chatelet, a mar- 
 vellous speculation, into which he was very anxious to 
 enter. 
 
 Frederick could hear Deslauriers' steps behind him 
 like reproachful blows falling on his conscience. But 
 he did not venture to claim his money, through a 
 feeling of bashfulness, and also through a fear that it 
 would be useless. The other was drawing nearer. 
 He made up his mind to ask. 
 
 Arnoux, in a very flippant tone, said that, as he 
 had not got in his outstanding debts, he was really 
 unable to pay back the fifteen thousand francs. 
 
 " You have no need of money, I fancy ? " 
 
 At that moment Deslauriers came up to Frederick, 
 and, taking him aside : 
 
 " Be honest. Have you got the amount ? Yes or 
 no?" 
 
 " Well, then, no," said Frederick ; " I've lost it." 
 
 " Ah ! and in what way ? " 
 
 " At play." 
 
 Deslauriers, without saying another word, made a 
 very low bow, and went away. Arnoux had taken ad- 
 vantage of the opportunity to light a cigar in a tobac-
 
 238 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 conist's shop. When he came back, he inquired, " Who 
 was that young man ? " 
 
 "Oh! nobody a friend." 
 
 Then, three minutes later, in front of Rosanette's 
 door: 
 
 " Come on up," said Arnoux ; " she'll be pleased to 
 see you. What a savage you are just now ! " 
 
 A gas-lamp, which \vas directly opposite, <~hrew its 
 light on him ; and, with his cigar between his white 
 teeth and his air of contentment, there was something 
 intolerable about him. . 
 
 " Ha ! now that I think of it, my notary has been at 
 your place this morning about that mortgage-registry 
 matter. My wife reminded me about it." 
 
 " A wife with brains ! " returned Frederick auto- 
 matically. 
 
 " I believe you." 
 
 And once more Arnoux began to sing his wife's 
 praises. There was no one like her for spirit, tender- 
 ness, and thrift; he added in a low tone, rolling his 
 eyes about : " And a woman with so many charms, 
 too!" 
 
 " Good-bye ! " said Frederick. 
 
 Arnoux made a step closer to him. 
 
 "Hold on! Why are you going?" And, with his 
 hand half-stretched out toward Frederick, he stared at 
 the young man, quite abashed by the look of anger in 
 his face. 
 
 Frederick repeated in a dry tone, " Good-bye ! " 
 
 He hurried down the Rue de Breda like a stone 
 rolling headlong, raging against Arnoux, swearing in 
 his own mind that he would never see him again, nor 
 her either, so broken-hearted and desolate did he feel. 
 
 Deslauriers descended the Rue des Martyrs, swear- 
 ing aloud in his indignation ; for his project, like an
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 239 
 
 obelisk that has fallen, now assumed extraordinary pro- 
 portions. He considered himself robbed, and felt as 
 if he had suffered a great loss. His affection for Fred- 
 erick was dead, and he experienced a feeling of joy 
 at it it was a sort of compensation to him ! A hatred 
 of all rich people took possession of him. He leaned 
 toward Senecal's opinions, and resolved to make every 
 effort to propagate them. 
 
 All this time, Arnoux was comfortably seated in an 
 easy-chair near the fire, sipping his cup of tea, with 
 the Marechale on his knee. 
 
 Frederick did not go back there ; and, in order to dis- 
 tract his attention from his unhappy passion, he de- 
 termined to write a History of the Renaissance. He 
 piled up confusedly on his table the humanists, the phi- 
 losophers, and the poets, and he went to inspect some 
 engravings of Mark Antony, and tried to study Mach- 
 iavelli. Gradually, the serenity of intellectual work had 
 a soothing effect upon him. While his mind was 
 steeped in the personality of others, he lost sight of 
 his own which is the only way, perhaps, to get rid 
 of suffering. 
 
 One day, while he was quietly taking notes, the door 
 opened, and the man-servant announced Madame Ar- 
 noux. 
 
 It was she, indeed ! and alone ? But, no ! for she 
 was holding little Eugene by the hand, followed by a 
 nurse in a white apron. She sat down, and after a 
 preliminary cough : 
 
 " It is a long time since you came to see us." 
 
 As Frederick could think of no excuse at the mo- 
 ment, she added: 
 
 " It was delicacy on your part ! " 
 
 He asked in return : 
 
 " Delicacv about what ? "
 
 240 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " About all you have done for Arnoux ! " said she. 
 
 Frederick made a significant gesture. " What do I 
 care about him, indeed? It was for your sake I did 
 it!" 
 
 She sent off the child to play with his nurse in the 
 drawing-room. Two or three words passed between 
 them as to their state of health ; then the conversation 
 hung fire. 
 
 She wore a brown silk gown, the colour of Spanish 
 wine, with a paletot of black velvet bordered with 
 sable. He yearned to pass his hand over the fur ; and 
 her headbands, so long and so exquisitely smooth, 
 seemed to draw his lips toward them. But he was 
 agitated by emotion, and, turning his eyes toward the 
 door: 
 
 " It is rather warm here ! " 
 
 Frederick understood what her discreet glance 
 meant. 
 
 " Ah ! excuse me ! the two leaves of the door are 
 merely drawn together." 
 
 " Yes, that's true ! " 
 
 And she smiled, as much as to say : 
 
 " I'm not the least afraid ! " 
 
 He asked her presently what was the object of her 
 visit. 
 
 " My husband," she replied with an effort, " has 
 urged me to call on you, not venturing to do so him- 
 self!" 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 "You know Monsieur Dambreuse, don't you?" 
 
 " Yes, slightly." 
 
 "Ah! slightly." 
 
 She relapsed into silence. 
 
 " No matter ! finish what you were about to say." 
 
 Thereupon she told him that, two days before, Ar-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 241 
 
 noux had found himself unable to meet four bills of 
 a thousand francs, made payable at the banker's order 
 and with his signature attached to them. She felt 
 sorry for having compromised her children's fortune. 
 But anything was preferable to dishonour; and, if 
 Monsieur Dambreuse stopped the proceedings, they 
 would certainly pay him soon, for she was going to sell 
 a little house which she had at Chartres. 
 
 " Poor woman ! " murmured Frederick. " I will 
 surely go. Rely on me ! " 
 
 "Thanks!" 
 
 And she arose to leave. 
 
 " Oh ! do not hurry away." 
 
 She remained standing, examining the trophy of 
 Mongolian arrows suspended from the ceiling, the 
 bookcase, the bindings, all the utensils for writing. 
 She lifted up the bronze bowl which held his pens. 
 Her feet rested on different portions of the carpet. 
 She had visited Frederick several times, but always 
 accompanied by Arnoux. They were now alone to- 
 gether alone in his own house. It was a wonderful 
 event almost a successful issue of his love. 
 
 She wished to see his little garden. He offered her 
 his arm to show her his property thirty feet of ground 
 enclosed by some houses, adorned with shrubs at the 
 corners and flower-borders in the middle. The early 
 days of April had arrived. The leaves of the lilacs 
 were already showing their borders of green. A breath 
 of pure air was diffused around, and the little birds 
 chirped, their song alternating with the distant sounds 
 that came from a coachmaker's forge. 
 
 Frederick procured a fire-shovel; and, while they 
 walked on side by side, the child made sand-pies on the 
 walk. 
 
 Madame Arnoux did not think that, as he grew
 
 242 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 older, he would have a great imagination ; but he had 
 a winning disposition. His sister, on the other hand, 
 possessed a caustic humour that sometimes wounded 
 her. 
 
 " That will change/' said Frederick. " We must 
 never despair." 
 
 She returned : 
 
 " We must never despair ! " 
 
 This automatic repetition of the phrase he had used 
 appeared to him a sort of encouragement; he plucked 
 a rose, the only one in the garden. 
 
 " Do you remember a certain bouquet of roses one 
 evening, in a carriage ? " 
 
 She coloured a little ; and, with an air of bantering 
 pity : 
 
 " Ah, but I was very young then ! " 
 
 " And this one," continued Frederick, in a low tone, 
 " will it be treated the same way ? " 
 
 She replied, while turning about the stem between 
 her fingers, like the thread of a spindle : 
 
 " No, I will preserve it." 
 
 She called the nurse, who took the child in her arms ; 
 then, on the threshold of the door in the street, Madame 
 Arnoux inhaled the odour of the rose, leaning her head 
 on her shoulder with a look as sweet as a kiss. 
 
 When he returned to his study, he gazed at the arm- 
 chair in which she had sat, and every object which she 
 had touched. Some portion of her was diffused around 
 him. The sweet caress of her presence lingered there 
 still. 
 
 " So, then, she has been here," said he to himself. 
 
 And his soul was bathed in waves of infinite tender- 
 ness. 
 
 Next morning, at eleven o'clock, he presented him- 
 self at M. Dambreuse's house. He was received in the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 243 
 
 dining-room. The banker was seated opposite his wife 
 at breakfast. Beside her sat his niece, and at the other 
 side of the table was the governess, an English woman, 
 strongly pitted with smallpox. 
 
 M. Dambreuse invited Frederick to take his place 
 amongst them, and when he declined : 
 
 " What can I do for you ? I am all attention." 
 
 Frederick confessed, while affecting indifference, 
 that he had come to make a request in behalf of one 
 Arnoux. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! the ex-picture-dealer," said the banker, 
 with a noiseless laugh which exposed his gums. 
 " Oudry formerly gave security for him ; he has given 
 a lot of trouble." 
 
 And he proceeded to read the letters and newspapers 
 which lay beside him on the table. 
 
 Madame noticed that Frederick was embarrassed. 
 
 " Do you sometimes see our friend Martinon ? " 
 
 " He will be here this evening," said the young girl 
 in a lively tone. 
 
 " Ha ! so you know him ? " said her aunt, turning on 
 her a freezing look. 
 
 At that moment one of the men-servants, bending 
 forward, whispered in her ear. 
 
 " Your dressmaker, Mademoiselle Miss John ! " 
 
 And the governess, in obedience to this summons, 
 left the room with her pupil. 
 
 M. Dambreuse, annoyed at the disarrangement of 
 the chairs by this movement, asked what was the mat- 
 ter. 
 
 " It is Madame Regimbart." 
 
 " Wait a moment ! Regimbart ! I know that name. 
 I have seen his signature." 
 
 Frederick at length broached the question. Arnoux 
 deserved some consideration ; he was even going, for
 
 244 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the sole purpose of fulfilling his engagements, to sell a 
 house belonging to his wife. 
 
 " She is thought very pretty," said Madame Dam- 
 breuse. 
 
 The banker added, with a display of good-nature : 
 
 " Are you on friendly terms with them on intimate 
 terms ? " 
 
 Frederick, without giving an explicit reply, said that 
 he would appreciate it if he would consider the matter. 
 
 " Well, since it pleases you, be it so ; we will wait. 
 I have some time to spare yet ; suppose we go down to 
 my office. Would you mind ? " 
 
 They had finished breakfast. Madame Dambreuse 
 bowed slightly toward Frederick, smiling in a singular 
 fashion, with a mingling of politeness and irony. 
 Frederick had no time to reflect about it, for M. Dam- 
 breuse, as soon as they were alone : 
 
 " You did not come for your shares ? " 
 
 And, without permitting him to make any excuses : 
 
 " Well ! well ! 'tis right that you should know a lit- 
 tle more about the business." 
 
 He offered Frederick a cigarette, and began his 
 statement. 
 
 The General Union of French Coal Mines had been 
 constituted. All that they were waiting for was the 
 order for its incorporation. The mere fact of the 
 amalgamation had lessened the cost of superintendence, 
 and of manual labour, and increased the profits. Be- 
 sides, the company had conceived a new idea, which 
 was to interest the workmen in its undertaking. It 
 would erect houses for them, healthful dwellings; fi- 
 nally, it would constitute itself the purveyor of its 
 employes, and would have everything supplied to them 
 at net prices. 
 
 " And they will be the gainers by it, Monsieur :
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 245 
 
 that's true progress! that's the way to answer effec- 
 tively certain Republican brawlings. We have on our 
 Board " he showed the prospectus " a peer of 
 France, a scholar who is a member of the Institute, a 
 retired field-officer of genius. Such elements reassure 
 the timid, and appeal to intelligent capitalists ! " 
 
 The company would have in its favour the sanction 
 of the State, then the railways, the steam service, the 
 metallurgical establishments, the gas companies, and 
 ordinary households. 
 
 " Thus we heat, we light, we penetrate to the very 
 hearth of the humblest home. But how, you will ask, 
 can we be sure of selling? By the aid of protective 
 laws, dear Monsieur, and we shall get them! that is 
 a matter that concerns us ! For my part, however, I 
 am a downright prohibitionist! The country before 
 anything ! " 
 
 He had been appointed a director; but he had not 
 the time to occupy himself with certain details, amongst 
 other things with the editing of their publications. 
 
 " I find myself rather muddled with my authors. I 
 have forgotten my Greek. I should need some one to 
 put my ideas into shape." 
 
 And suddenly : " Will you be the man to perform 
 those duties, with the title of general secretary ? " 
 
 Frederick did not know what to say. 
 
 " Well, what is there to prevent you ? " 
 
 His functions would be confined to writing a report 
 every year for the shareholders. He would be day 
 by day in communication with the most notable men in 
 Paris. Representing the company with the workmen, 
 he would ere long be worshipped by them as a natural 
 consequence, and by this means he would be able, later, 
 to push his way into the General Council, and into the 
 position of a deputy.
 
 246 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Frederick's ears tingled. Whence came this good- 
 will? He became confused in returning thanks. It 
 was not necessary, the banker said, that he should be 
 dependent on anyone. The best course was to take 
 some shares, " a splendid investment besides, for your 
 capital guarantees your position, as your position does 
 your capital." 
 
 " About how much should it amount to? " said Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 " Oh, well ! whatever you please from forty to 
 sixty thousand francs, I suppose." 
 
 This sum was so trifling in M. Dambreuse's eyes, 
 and his authority was so great, that the young man de- 
 termined immediately to sell a farm. 
 
 He accepted the offer. M. Dambreuse was to select 
 one of his disengaged days for an appointment when 
 they might finish their arrangements. 
 
 " So I can say to Jacques Arnoux ? " 
 
 " Anything you like the poor chap anything you 
 like ! " 
 
 Frederick wrote to the Arnoux to make their minds 
 easy, and he despatched the letter by a man-servant, 
 who brought back the answer : " All right ! " His 
 action in the matter deserved fuller recognition. He 
 expected a visit, or, at least, a letter. He did not re- 
 ceive either. 
 
 Was it thoughtlessness on their part, or was it inten- 
 tional? Since Madame Arnoux had come once, what 
 was to prevent her from coming again ? The species of 
 confidence, of avowal, of which she had made him the 
 recipient on that occasion, was nothing better, then, 
 than a manoeuvre, executed through interested motives. 
 
 " Are they playing on me ? and is she an accomplice 
 of her husband ? " A sort of shame, in spite of his 
 desire, prevented him from going to their house.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 247 
 
 One morning (three weeks after their interview), 
 M. Dambreuse wrote to him, saying that he would ex- 
 pect him the same day in an hour's time. 
 
 On the way, the thought of Arnoux oppressed him 
 once more, and, not having been able to discover any 
 reason for his conduct, he was seized with a feeling of 
 wretchedness, a melancholy presentiment. In order 
 to get rid of it, he hailed a cab, and drove to the Rue 
 de Paradis. 
 
 Arnoux was away travelling. 
 
 " And Madame ?" 
 
 " In the country, at the works." 
 
 " When is Monsieur expected back ? " 
 
 " To-morrow, without fail." 
 
 He would find her alone ; this was the opportune 
 moment. Something imperious seemed to cry out in 
 the depths of his consciousness : " Go, then, and see 
 her!" 
 
 But M. Dambreuse ? " Ah ! well, so much the worse. 
 I'll say that I was ill." 
 
 He rushed to the railway-station, and, as soon as he 
 was in the carriage : 
 
 " Perhaps I have done wrong. Pshaw ! what does 
 it matter ? " 
 
 Frederick, through sheer weariness, was lost in that 
 languor which is produced by the very excess of im- 
 patience. Cranes and warehouses presently appeared. 
 They had reached Creil. 
 
 After crossing the bridge, he found himself in an 
 avenue, on his right the ruins of an abbey. A mill with 
 its wheels revolving barred up the entire width of 
 the second arm of the Oise, over which the factory 
 projected. Frederick was greatly surprised by the im- 
 posing character of this structure. He felt more re- 
 spect for Arnoux on account of it. Three paces further
 
 248 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 on, he turned up an alley, which had a grating at its 
 lower end. 
 
 He went in. The doorkeeper called him back, ask- 
 ing: 
 
 " Have you a permit? " 
 
 " For what purpose ? " 
 
 " For the purpose of visiting the establishment." 
 
 Frederick said in a rather curt tone that he had 
 come to see M. Arnoux. 
 
 " Who is Monsieur Arnoux ? " 
 
 " Why, the chief, the master, the proprietor, in 
 fact!" 
 
 " No, Monsieur ! These are Messieurs Lebceuf and 
 Milliet's works ! " 
 
 Frederick left the premises, staggering like a 
 drunken man; and he had such a look of perplexity, 
 that on the Pont de la Boucherie an inhabitant of the 
 town, who was smoking his pipe, asked whether he was 
 looking for anything. This man knew where Arnoux's 
 factory was. It was situated at Montataire. 
 
 Frederick asked whether a vehicle was to be got. 
 He was told that the only place where he could find 
 one was at the station. He went back there. A shaky- 
 looking calash, to which was yoked an old horse, with 
 torn harness hanging over the shafts, stood in front of 
 the luggage office. An urchin who was looking on of- 
 fered to go and find Pere Pilon. In ten minutes' time 
 he came back, and announced that Pere Pilon was at 
 his breakfast. Frederick, unable to bear this any 
 longer, walked away. But the gates of the thorough- 
 fare across the line were closed. He would have to 
 wait till two trains had passed. At last, he made a 
 dash into the open country. 
 
 The monotonous greenery made it look like the cover 
 of an immense billiard-table. A little further on, some
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 249 
 
 factory chimneys were smoking close beside each other. 
 Long walls formed irregular lines past the trees ; and, 
 further down, the houses of the village could be seen. 
 
 They had only a single story, with staircases con- 
 sisting of three steps made of uncemented blocks. 
 
 Frederick pursued his way along the middle of the 
 street. Then, he saw on his left, at the opening of a 
 pathway, a large wooden arch, whereon was traced, in 
 letters of gold, the word, " Faiences." 
 
 It was not without an object that Jacques Arnoux 
 had selected the vicinity of Creil. By locating his 
 works as close as possible to the other works (which 
 had long borne a high reputation), he had created a 
 certain confusion in the public mind, with a favour- 
 able result so far as his own interests were concerned. 
 
 Heaps of white clay were drying under sheds. There 
 were others in the open air ; and in the midst of the 
 yard stood Senecal with his everlasting blue paletot 
 lined with red. 
 
 The ex-tutor extended toward Frederick his cold 
 hand. 
 
 " You've come to see the master ? He's not here." 
 
 Frederick, nonplussed, replied in a stupefied fashion : 
 
 " I know it." But the next moment correcting him- 
 self : . 
 
 " It is about a matter that concerns Madame Arnoux. 
 Can she see me ? " 
 
 " Ha ! I have not seen her for the last three days," 
 said Senecal. 
 
 And he broke into a long string of complaints. 
 When he accepted the post of manager, he understood 
 that he would have been able to reside in Paris, and 
 not be forced to bury himself in this country district, 
 far from his friends, deprived of newspapers. No 
 matter! he had overlooked all that. But Arnoux did
 
 250 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 not recognise his merits. He was, moreover, shallow 
 and retrograde no one could be more ignorant. In- 
 stead of seeking for artistic improvements, it would 
 have been better to introduce firewood instead of coal 
 and gas. The shopkeeping spirit thrust itself in Sen- 
 ecal laid stress on the last words. In short, he disliked 
 his present occupation, and he all but appealed to 
 Frederick to say a word in his behalf that he might get 
 an increase of salary. 
 
 " Make your mind easy," said the other. 
 
 He met nobody on the staircase. On the first floor, 
 he pushed his way into an empty room. It was the 
 drawing-room. He called out at the top of his voice. 
 There was no reply. No doubt, the cook had gone 
 out, and so had the housemaid. At length, having 
 reached the second floor, he pushed another door open. 
 Madame Arnoux was alone in this room, before a 
 press with a mirror attached. The belt of her dressing- 
 gown hung down her hips ; one entire half of her hair 
 fell in a dark wave over her right shoulder; and she 
 had raised both arms in order to hold up her chignon 
 with one hand and to put a pin through it with the 
 other. She gave an exclamation and disappeared. 
 
 Then she came back again properly dressed. Her 
 waist, her eyes, the rustle of her dress, her entire ap- 
 pearance, charmed him. Frederick had to restrain 
 himself to keep from covering her with kisses. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said she, " but I could 
 not 
 
 He had the boldness to interrupt her with these 
 words : 
 
 " Nevertheless you looked very nice just now." 
 
 She probably thought this compliment a little coarse, 
 for her cheeks reddened. He was afraid that he might 
 have offended her. She went on:
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 251 
 
 " What lucky chance has brought you here ? " 
 
 He did not know what reply to make ; and, after a 
 slight chuckle, which gave him time for reflection : 
 
 " If I told you, would you believe me?" 
 
 " Why not ? " 
 
 Frederick said to her that he had had a frightful 
 dream a few nights before. 
 
 " I dreamt that you were seriously ill almost dy- 
 ing." 
 
 " Oh ! my husband and I are never ill." 
 
 "I dreamt only of you," said he. 
 
 She gazed at him calmly: "Dreams are not always 
 realised." 
 
 Frederick stammered, sought to find appropriate 
 words to express himself in, and then plunged into a 
 flowing period about the affinity of souls. 
 
 She listened to him with downcast face, while she 
 smiled that beautiful smile of hers. He watched her 
 out of the corner of his eye with delight, and poured 
 out his love all the more freely through the easy chan- 
 nel of a commonplace remark. 
 
 She offered to show him the works ; and, as she per- 
 sisted, he made no objection. 
 
 To divert his attention with something of an amus- 
 ing nature, she drew his attention to the species of 
 museum that decorated the staircase. The specimens, 
 hung up against the wall or laid on shelves, bore wit- 
 ness to the efforts and the successive fads of Arnoux. 
 After seeking vainly for the red of Chinese copper, he 
 had wished to manufacture majolicas, faience, Etrus- 
 can and Oriental ware, and had, in fact, attempted all 
 the improvements which were realised at a later period. 
 
 So it was that one could observe in the series big 
 vfses covered with figures of mandarins, porringers of 
 shot reddish-brown, pots adorned with Arabian in-
 
 252 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 scriptions, drinking-vessels in the style of the Renais- 
 sance, and large plates on which two personages were 
 outlined as it were on bloodstone, in a delicate, aerial 
 fashion. He now made letters for sign-boards and 
 wine-labe 1 s ; but his intelligence was not high enough 
 to attain to art, nor commonplace enough to desire 
 merely profit ; so without satisfying anyone, he had 
 ruined himself. 
 
 They were both looking at these things when Made- 
 moiselle Marthe passed. 
 
 " So, then, you do not recognise our friend?" said 
 her mother to her. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," she replied, bowing to him, while her 
 clear and sceptical glance the glance of a virgin 
 seemed to say in a whisper : " What are you coming 
 here for ? " and she ran up the steps with her head 
 slightly bent over her shoulder. 
 
 Madame Arnoux led Frederick into the yard at- 
 tached to the works, and then explained to him in a 
 grave tone how different clays were ground, cleaned, 
 and sifted. 
 
 " The most important item is the preparation of 
 pastes." 
 
 And she brought him into a hall filled with vats, 
 in which a vertical axis with horizontal arms kept 
 turning. Frederick regretted that he had not flatly de- 
 clined her offer a little while before. 
 
 " These things are merely the slobberings," said she. 
 
 He thought the word grotesque, and, in a measure, 
 unbecoming on her lips. 
 
 They left the spot, and passed close to a ruined hut, 
 which had formerly been used as a repository for gar- 
 dening implements. 
 
 " It is no longer of any use," said Madame Arnoux. 
 
 He replied in a tremulous voice :
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 253 
 
 " Happiness may have once been associated with it ! " 
 
 The clacking of the fire-pump drowned his words, 
 and they entered the workshop where rough drafts 
 were made. 
 
 Men, seated at a narrow table, placed, each in front 
 of himself on a revolving disc, a piece of paste. Then 
 each man with his left hand scooped out the insides of 
 his own piece while smoothing its surface with the 
 right ; and vases could be seen bursting into shape like 
 blossoming flowers. 
 
 Madame Arnoux had the moulds for more difficult 
 works shown to him. 
 
 In another portion of the building, the threads, the 
 necks, and the projecting lines were being formed. On 
 the floor above, they removed the seams, and stopped 
 up with plaster the little holes that had been left by 
 the preceding operations. 
 
 At every opening in the walls, in corners, in the 
 middle of the corridor, everywhere, earthenware ves- 
 sels stood side by side. 
 
 Frederick began to feel bored. 
 
 " Perhaps these things are wearisome to you ? " said 
 she. 
 
 Fearing lest this might mean the termination of his 
 visit, he affected, on the contrary, a tone of great en- 
 thusiasm. He even expressed regret at not having de- 
 voted himself to this branch of industry. 
 
 She appeared surprised. 
 
 " Certainly ! I should have been able to live near 
 you." 
 
 And as he endeavoured to catch her eye, Madame 
 Arnoux, in order to avoid him, removed off a bracket 
 little balls of paste, which had come from abortive re- 
 adjustments, flattened them out into a thin cake, and 
 pressed her hand over them.
 
 254 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Might I take these away with me? " said Frederick. 
 
 " Good heavens ! are you so childish ? " 
 
 He was about to reply when Senecal came in. 
 
 Frederick, annoyed by his presence, asked Madame 
 Arnoux in a low tone whether they would have an op- 
 portunity of seeing the kilns. They descended to the 
 ground-floor; and she was just explaining the use of 
 caskets, when Senecal, who had followed close behind, 
 placed himself between them. 
 
 He continued the explanation of his own motion, 
 expatiated on the various kinds of combustibles, the 
 process of placing in the kiln, the pyroscopes, the cylin- 
 drical furnaces ; the instruments for rounding, the 
 lustres, and the metals, making a prodigious display of 
 chemical terms, such as " chloride," " sulphuret," 
 " borax," and " carbonate." Frederick did not under- 
 stand a single word, and kept turning round every 
 minute toward Madame Arnoux. 
 
 " You are not listening," said she. " Monsieur Sene- 
 cal, however, is very clear. He understands all these 
 things much better than I." 
 
 The mathematician, flattered by this eulogy, pro- 
 posed to show the way in which colours were laid on. 
 Frederick gave Madame Arnoux an anxious, question- 
 ing look. She remained impassive, not caring to be 
 alone with him, very probably, and yet unwilling to 
 leave him. 
 
 He offered her his arm. 
 
 " No many thanks ! the staircase is too narrow ! " 
 
 And, when they had reached the top, Senecal opened 
 the door of an apartment filled with women. 
 
 They were handling brushes, phials, shells, and 
 plates of glass. Along the cornice, close to the wall, 
 extended boards with figures engraved on them ; scraps 
 of thin paper floated about, and a melting-stove emitted
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 255 
 
 fumes that made the temperature oppressive, while 
 there mingled with it the odour of turpentine. 
 
 The workwomen were nearly all poorly dressed. It 
 was noticeable, however, that one of them wore a Mad- 
 ras handkerchief and long earrings. Of slight frame, 
 and yet plump, she had large black eyes and the fleshy 
 lips of a negress. Her ample bosom projected from 
 under her chemise, which was fastened round her waist 
 by the string of her petticoat; and, with one elbow on 
 the board of the work-table and the other arm hanging 
 down, she gazed vaguely at the open country, a long 
 distance away. Beside her were a bottle of wine and 
 some pork chops. 
 
 The regulations forbade eating in the work-shops, a 
 rule intended to secure cleanliness at work and to keep 
 the hands in a healthy condition. 
 
 Senecal, through a sense of duty or a desire to ex- 
 ercise despotic authority, shouted out to her, while 
 pointing toward a framed placard : 
 
 " I say, you girl from Bordeaux over there ! read 
 out for me Article Nine ! " 
 
 " Well, what then ? " 
 
 " What then, Mademoiselle ? You'll have to pay a 
 fine of three francs." 
 
 She looked him straight in the face in an impudent 
 way. 
 
 " What does that matter to me ? The roaster will 
 take off your fine when he comes back ! I laugh at you, 
 my good man ! " 
 
 Senecal, who was walking with his hands behind his 
 back, like an usher in the study-room, contented him- 
 self with smiling. 
 
 " Article Thirteen, insubordination, ten francs ! " 
 
 The girl from Bordeaux resumed her work. Ma- 
 dame Arnoux, through a sense of propriety, said noth-
 
 256 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ing ; but her brows contracted. Frederick murmured : 
 " Ha ! you are very severe for a democrat ! " 
 The other replied in a magisterial tone : 
 " Democracy is not the unbounded license of indi- 
 vidualism. It is the equality of all belonging to the 
 same community before the law, the distribution of 
 work, order." 
 
 " You are forgetting humanity ! " said Frederick. 
 Madame Arnoux took his arm. Senecal, perhaps 
 offended by this token of silent approbation, went away. 
 Frederick felt an immense relief. Since morning he 
 had been looking for the opportunity to declare itself; 
 now it had arrived. Besides, Madame Arnoux's spon- 
 taneous movements seemed to him to contain promises ; 
 and he asked her, as if on the pretext of warming their 
 feet, to come up to her room. But, when he was seated 
 close beside her, he began once more to feel embar- 
 rassed. He was at a loss for a starting-point. Senecal, 
 luckily, suggested an idea to his mind. 
 
 " Nothing could be more stupid," said he, " than 
 this punishment ! " 
 
 Madame Arnoux replied : " There are certain severe 
 measures which are unavoidable ! " 
 
 " What ! you who are so good ! Oh ! I am mis- 
 taken, for you sometimes take pleasure in making other 
 people suffer ! " 
 
 " I don't understand riddles, my friend ! " 
 And her stern look, still more than the words she 
 used, checked him. Frederick was determined to go 
 on. A volume of De Musset chanced to be on the 
 chest of drawers ; he turned over some pages, then be- 
 gan to talk about love, about his hopes and his trans- 
 ports. 
 
 All this, according to Madame Arnoux, was criminal 
 or factitious. The young man felt wounded by this
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 257 
 
 negative attitude with regard to his passion, and, in 
 order to combat it, he cited, by way of proof, the sui- 
 cides which they read about every day in the newspa- 
 pers, extolled the great literary types, Phedre, Dido, 
 Romeo, Desgrieux. He talked as if he meant to do 
 away with himself. 
 
 He wanted to cast himself at her feet. There was a 
 creaking sound in the lobby, and he did not dare to 
 carry out his intention. 
 
 He was, moreover, restrained by a kind of religious 
 awe. That robe, mingling with the surrounding 
 shadows, appeared to him boundless, infinite, impos- 
 sible to touch ; and for this very reason his desire be- 
 came intensified. But the fear of doing too much, and, 
 again, of not doing enough, deprived him of all judg- 
 ment. 
 
 " If she dislikes me," he thought, " let her drive me 
 away ; if she cares for me, let her encourage me." 
 
 He said, with a sigh : 
 
 " So, then, you don't admit that a man may love 
 a woman ? " 
 
 Madame Arnoux replied : 
 
 " Assuming that she is at liberty to marry, he may 
 marry her ; when she belongs to another, he should 
 keep away from her." 
 
 " So happiness is impossible ? " 
 
 " No ! But it is never to be found in falsehood, 
 mental anxiety, and remorse." 
 
 " What does it matter, if one is compensated by the 
 enjoyment of supreme bliss?" 
 
 " The experience is too costly." 
 
 Then he sought to assail her with satire. 
 
 " Would not virtue in that case be merely cow- 
 ardice? " 
 
 " Say rather, clear-sightedness. Even for those
 
 258 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 women who might forget duty or religion, simple good 
 sense is sufficient. A solid foundation for wisdom may 
 be found in self-love." 
 
 " Ah, what shopkeeping maxims these are of 
 yours ! " 
 
 " But I don't pretend to be a fine lady." 
 
 At that moment the little boy rushed in. 
 
 " Mamma, are you coming to dinner ? " 
 
 " Yes, in a moment." 
 
 Frederick arose. At the same instant, Marthe made 
 her appearance. 
 
 He could not make up his mind to go away, and, 
 with a look of entreaty : 
 
 " These women you speak of are very unfeeling, 
 then ? " 
 
 " No, but deaf when it is necessary to be so." 
 
 And she stood on the threshold of her room with 
 her two children beside her. He bowed without saying 
 a word. She mutely returned his salutation. 
 
 His first feeling was an unspeakable astonishment. 
 He felt crushed by this mode of impressing on him the 
 emptiness of his hopes. It seemed to him as if he were 
 lost, like a man who has fallen to the bottom of an 
 abyss and knows that no help will come, and that he 
 must die. He walked on, however, but at random, 
 without looking before him. 
 
 The railway lamps traced on the horizon a line of 
 flames. He arrived just as the train was starting, let 
 himself be pushed into a carriage, and very soon fell 
 asleep. 
 
 An hour later on the boulevards, the gaiety of Paris 
 by night made his journey all at once recede into an 
 already far-distant past. He resolved to be strong, 
 and relieved his heart by vilifying Madame Arnoux 
 with insulting epithets.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 259 
 
 " She is an idiot, a goose, a mere animal ; let us not 
 waste another thought on her ! " 
 
 When he got home, he found in his study a letter of 
 eight pages on blue glazed paper, with the initials 
 " R. A." 
 
 It began with friendly reproaches. 
 
 " What has become of you, my dear ? I am getting 
 quite bored." 
 
 But the handwriting was so illegible that Frederick 
 was about to fling away the entire bundle of sheets, 
 when he noticed in the postscript the following words : 
 
 " I count on you to come to-morrow and drive me 
 to the races." 
 
 What was the meaning of this invitation? Was it 
 another trick of the Marechale? But a woman does 
 not make a fool of the same man twice without some 
 object; and, seized with curiosity, he read the letter 
 over again attentively. 
 
 Frederick was able to distinguish " Misunderstand- 
 ing to have taken a wrong path disillusions poor 
 children that we are ! like two rivers that join each 
 other ! " etc. 
 
 He held the sheets for a long time between his fin- 
 gers. They had the odour of orris ; and there was in 
 the form of the characters and the irregular spaces be- 
 tween the 'lines something suggestive, as it were, of a 
 disorderly toilet, that fired his blood. 
 
 "What reason have I for not going?" he said to 
 himself at length. " But if Madame Arnoux were to 
 know about it ? Well ! let her know ! So much the 
 better! and let her feel jealous over it! I shall thus be 
 avenged ! "
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A PLEASANT LITTLE DINNER 
 
 ROSANETTE was eagerly waiting for him. 
 " This is nice of you ! " she said, fixing her fine 
 eyes on his face, with an expression at once 
 tender and mirthful. 
 
 When she had fastened her bonnet-strings, she sat 
 down on the divan, and remained silent. 
 
 " Shall we go ? " said Frederick. She looked at the 
 clock on the mantelpiece. 
 
 " Not yet ! not before half-past one ! " as if she had 
 imposed this limit to her indecision. 
 
 At last, when the hour had struck : 
 
 "Ah! well, andiamo, caro inio!" And she gave a 
 final touch to her headbands, and left directions for 
 Delphine. 
 
 " Will Madame be home to dinner? " 
 
 " Why should we, indeed ? Let us dine together 
 somewhere at the Cafe Anglais, wherever you wish." 
 
 "Beit so!" 
 
 Her little dogs began yelping around her. 
 
 " We can take them with us, can't we ? " 
 
 Frederick carried them himself to the vehicle. It 
 was a hired berlin with two post-horses and a postilion. 
 His man-servant was in the back seat. The Marechale 
 appeared satisfied with his attentions. Then, as soon 
 as she had seated herself, she asked him whether he 
 had been recently at the Arnoux'. 
 
 " Not for the past month," said Frederick.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 261 
 
 " As for me, I met him the day before yesterday. 
 He would have even come to-day, but he has all sorts 
 of troubles another lawsuit I don't know what. He 
 is a queer man ! " 
 
 Frederick inquired with an air of indirference : 
 
 " Now that I think of it, do you still see what's 
 that his name is ? 'that ex-vocalist Delinar ? " 
 
 She replied dryly : 
 
 " No ; that's all over." 
 
 So it w-as evident that there had been a rupture be- 
 tween them. Frederick derived some hope from this 
 circumstance. 
 
 They descended the Quartier Breda at an easy pace. 
 Frederick let himself jog up and down with the rock- 
 ing of the carriage-straps. The Marechale turned her 
 head to the right and to the left with a smile on her 
 face. 
 
 Her straw hat of mother-of-pearl colour was 
 trimmed with black lace. The hood of her bournous 
 floated in the wind, and she sheltered herself from the 
 rays of the sun under a parasol of lilac satin pointed 
 at the top like a pagoda. 
 
 " What dear little fingers ! " said Frederick, softly 
 taking her other hand, her left being adorned with a 
 gold bracelet in the form of a curb-chain. 
 
 " I say ! that's pretty ! Where did it come from ? " 
 
 " Oh ! I have had that a very long time," said the 
 Marechale. 
 
 The young man did not challenge this hypocritical 
 answer in any way. He preferred to profit by the cir- 
 cumstance. And still holding the wrist, he pressed his 
 lips on it between the glove and the cuff. 
 
 " Stop ! People will see us ! " 
 
 " Pooh ! What does that signify ? " 
 
 After passing by the Place de la Concorde, they
 
 262 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 drove along the Quai de la Conference and the Quai 
 de Billy, where they noticed a cedar of Lebanon in a 
 garden. Rosanette believed that Lebanon was situated 
 in China ; she laughed herself at her own ignorance, 
 and asked Frederick to give her lessons in geography. 
 Then, leaving the Trocadero at the right, they crossed 
 the Pont de Jena, and drew up in the middle of the 
 Champ de Mars, near some other vehicles already in 
 the Hippodrome. 
 
 The grass hillocks were covered with working 
 people. Some spectators might be seen on the balcony 
 of the Military School ; and the two pavilions outside 
 the weighing-room, the two galleries contained within 
 its enclosure, and another in front of that of the king, 
 were filled with a fashionably dressed crowd whose de- 
 portment showed their regard for this as yet novel 
 form of amusement. 
 
 The public around the course, more select at this 
 period, had a less vulgar aspect. It was the era of 
 trouser-straps, velvet collars, and white gloves. The 
 ladies, attired in brilliant colours, displayed long- 
 waisted gowns; and seated on the tiers of the stands, 
 they formed, so to speak, immense groups of flowers, 
 spotted here and there with the black of the men's 
 costumes. But every glance was directed toward the 
 celebrated Algerian Bou-Maza, who sat, impassive, 
 between two staff officers in one of the private gal- 
 leries. That of the Jockey Club contained none but 
 grave-looking gentlemen. 
 
 On every side was a great murmur. The municipal 
 guards passed to and fro. A bell, hung from a post 
 covered with figures, began ringing. Five horses ap- 
 peared, and the spectators in the galleries resumed 
 their seats. 
 
 Meanwhile, big clouds descended with their winding
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 263 
 
 outlines on the tops of the elms opposite. Rosanette 
 was afraid that it would rain. 
 
 " I have umbrellas," said Frederick, " and every- 
 thing that we need for our diversion," he added, lifting 
 up the chest, in which there was a stock of provisions 
 in a basket. 
 
 " Bravo ! we understand each other ! " 
 
 " And we'll understand each other still better, shall 
 we not ? " 
 
 " That may be," she said, colouring. 
 
 A red flag was lowered. Then five jockeys bent over 
 the bristling manes, and off they went. At first they 
 pressed close to one another in a single mass ; this pres- 
 ently stretched out and became cut up. The jockey in 
 the yellow jacket came near falling in the middle of 
 the first round; for a long time it was uncertain 
 whether Filly or Tibi should take the lead ; then Tom 
 Thumb shot in front. But Clubstick, who had been in 
 the rear since the start, came up with the others and 
 outstripped them, reaching the winning-post first, and 
 beating Sir Charles by two lengths. It was a surprise. 
 There was a shout of applause ; the planks shook with 
 the stamping of feet. 
 
 " This is amusing," said the Marechale. " I love 
 you, darling ! " 
 
 Frederick no longer doubted that his happiness was 
 secure. Rosanette's words were a confirmation of it. 
 
 A hundred paces away from him, in a four-wheeled 
 cabriolet, a lady could be seen. She stretched her head 
 out of the carriage-door, and then quickly drew .it in 
 again. This movement was repeated several times. 
 Frederick could not distinguish her face. He had a 
 strong suspicion, however, that it was Madame Ar- 
 noux. And yet this seemed impossible! Why should 
 she be there?
 
 264 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 He stepped out of his own vehicle on the pretence 
 of strolling into the weighing-room. 
 
 " You are not very gallant ! " said Rosanette. 
 
 He paid no heed to her, and went on. The four- 
 wheeled cabriolet, turning back, broke into a trot. 
 
 Frederick at the same moment found himself but- 
 ton-holed by Cisy. 
 
 " Good-morrow, my dear boy ! how are you getting 
 on ? Hussonnet is over there ! Don't you hear me ? " 
 
 Frederick tried to shake him off in order to get up 
 with the four-wheeled cabriolet. The Marechale beck- 
 oned to him to come to her. Cisy saw her, and obsti- 
 nately persisted in wishing her good-day. 
 
 Since the termination of the regular period of 
 mourning for his grandmother, he had realised his 
 ideal, succeeded in " getting the proper stamp." A 
 Scotch plaid waistcoat, a short coat, large bows over 
 the pumps, and an entrance-card stuck in the ribbon of 
 his hat ; nothing, in fact, was wanting to produce what 
 he described as chic a chic characterised by Anglo- 
 mania and the swagger of the musketeer. Leaning 
 against the Marechale's carriage-door on one elbow, he 
 kept talking nonsense, with the handle of his walking- 
 stick in his mouth, his legs wide apart, and his back 
 stretched out. Frederick, standing beside him, smoked, 
 while endeavouring to make out what had become of 
 the cabriolet. 
 
 The bell having rung, Cisy took himself off, to the 
 great delight of Rosanette, who said he bored her to 
 death. 
 
 The second race had nothing special about it ; 
 neither had the third, save that a man was thrown 
 over the shaft of a cart while it was taking place. 
 The fourth, in which eight horses contested the City 
 Stakes, was more interesting.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 26 
 
 The spectators in the gallery had clambered to the 
 top of their seats. The others, standing up in the 
 vehicles, followed with opera-glasses in their hands 
 the movements of the jockeys. They started out like 
 red, yellow, white, or blue spots across the entire 
 space occupied by the crowd that had gathered around 
 the ring of the hippodrome. At a distance, their speed 
 did not appear to be very great; at the opposite side 
 of the Champ de Mars, they seemed even to be slack- 
 ening their pace, and to be merely slipping along in 
 such a way that the horses' bellies touched the ground 
 without their outstretched legs bending at all. But, 
 coming back at a more rapid stride, they looked 
 bigger; they cut the air in their wild gallop. The 
 sun's rays quivered ; pebbles went flying about under 
 their hoofs. The wind, blowing out the jockeys' 
 jackets, made them flutter like veils. Each of them 
 lashed the animal he rode with great blows of his 
 whip to spur him on to the goal. One swept away 
 the figures, another was hoisted off his saddle, and, in 
 the midst of a burst of applause, the victorious horse 
 dragged his feet to the weighing-room, all covered 
 with sweat, his knees stiffened, his neck and shoulders 
 bent down, while his rider, looking as if he were ex- 
 piring in his saddle, clung to the animal's flanks. 
 
 The final start was retarded by a dispute which had 
 arisen. The crowd, getting tired, began to scatter. 
 Groups of men were chatting at the lower end of each 
 gallery. The talk was of a free-and-easy description. 
 Some fashionable ladies left, scandalised by seeing fast 
 women in their immediate vicinity. 
 
 There were also some ladies who appeared at public 
 balls, some light-comedy actresses of the boulevards, 
 and it was not the best-looking that got the most ap- 
 preciation. Madame de Remoussat. who had become
 
 266 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 fashionable by means of a notorious trial in which she 
 figured, sat enthroned on the seat of a brake in com- 
 pany with some Americans ; and Therese Bachelu, with 
 her look of a Gothic virgin, filled with her dozen fur- 
 belows the interior of a trap which had, in place of an 
 apron, a flower-stand filled with roses. The Marechale 
 was jealous of these magnificent displays. In order to 
 attract attention, she began to make vehement gestures 
 and speak in a very loud voice. 
 
 Gentlemen, recognising her, bowed. She returned 
 their salutations while telling Frederick their names. 
 They were all counts, viscounts, dukes, and marquises, 
 and he carried a high head, for in all eyes he could read 
 a certain respect for his good fortune. 
 
 Cisy had a no less happy air in the midst of the 
 circle of mature men that surrounded him. Their faces 
 wore cynical smiles above their cravats, as if they were 
 laughing at him. At length he gave a tap to the hand 
 of the oldest of them, and made his way toward the 
 Marechale. 
 
 She was eating, with an affectation of gluttony, a 
 slice of pate de foie gras. Frederick, in order to please 
 her, followed her example, with a bottle of wine on 
 his knees. 
 
 The four-wheeled cabriolet reappeared. It was Ma- 
 dame Arnoux ! Her face was startlingly pale. 
 
 " Give me some champagne," said Rosanette. 
 
 And, lifting up her glass, full to the brim, as high 
 as possible, she exclaimed : 
 
 " Look over there ! See my protector's wife, one of 
 the virtuous women ! " 
 
 There was a great burst of laughter all round her; 
 and the cabriolet disappeared from view. Frederick 
 tugged impatiently at her dress, and was on the point 
 of flying into a passion. But Cisy was there, in the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 267 
 
 same attitude as before, and, with increased assurance, 
 he invited Rosanette to dine with him that very 
 evening. 
 
 " Impossible ! " she replied ; " we're going together 
 to the Cafe Anglais." 
 
 Frederick, as if he had heard nothing, kept silent; 
 and Cisy quitted the Marechale with, a look of disap- 
 pointment on his face. 
 
 While he had been talking to her at the right-hand 
 door of the carriage, Hussonnet appeared at the oppo- 
 site side, 'and, catching the words " Cafe Anglais ": 
 
 " It's a nice establishment ; suppose we have a bite 
 there, eh ? " 
 
 " Just as you like," said Frederick, who, sunk in the 
 corner of the berlin, was gazing at the horizon as the 
 four-wheeled cabriolet vanished from his sight, feel- 
 ing that an irreparable thing had happened, and his 
 great love ended. And the other woman was there 
 beside him, the gay and easy love ! But, worn out, full 
 of conflicting desires, and no longer even knowing what 
 he wanted, he was possessed by a feeling of infinite 
 sadness, a longing to die. 
 
 The crush of vehicles increased, and Hussonnet got 
 lost in it. 
 
 " Well ! so much the better ! " said Frederick. 
 
 " We like to be alone better don't we ? " said the 
 Marechale, as she placed her hand in his. 
 
 Then there swept past him with a glitter of copper 
 and steel a magnificent landau to which were yoked 
 four horses driven in the Daumont style by two jockeys 
 in velvet vests with gold fringes. Madame Dam- 
 breuse was by her husband's side, and Martinon was 
 on the seat facing them. All three gazed at Frederick 
 in astonishment. 
 
 " They have recognised me ! " said he to himself.
 
 268 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Rosanette wished to stop in order to get a better 
 view of the people driving away from the course. Ma- 
 dame Arnotix might again make her appearance ! He 
 called out to the postilion : 
 
 " Go on ! go on ! forward ! " And the berlin dashed 
 toward the Champs-Elysees in the midst of the other 
 vehicles calashes, britzkas, wurths, tandems, tilburies, 
 dog-carts, tilted carts with leather curtains, in which 
 workmen in a jovial mood were singing, or one-horse 
 chaises driven by fathers of families. 
 
 Frederick and Rosanette did not say a word to each 
 other, feeling a sort of dizziness at seeing all these 
 wheels continually revolving close to them. 
 
 At times, the rows of carriages, too closely pressed 
 together, stopped all at the same time in several lines. 
 Then they remained side by side, and their occupants 
 scanned one another. Over the sides of panels adorned 
 with coat-of-arms indifferent glances were cast on 
 the crowd. Eyes full of envy gleamed from the in- 
 teriors of hackney-coaches. Depreciatory smiles re- 
 sponded to the haughty manner in the carriage of a 
 head. Mouths gaping wide expressed idiotic admira- 
 tion ; and, here and there, some lounger, in the middle 
 of the road, jumped back with a bound, in order to 
 avoid a rider who had been galloping through the 
 midst of the vehicles, and had succeeded in getting 
 away from them. Then, everything set itself in mo- 
 tion once more; the coachmen let go the reins, and 
 lowered their long whips ; the horses, excited, shook 
 their curb-chains, and flung foam around them ; and 
 the cruppers and the harness getting moist, were 
 smoking with the watery evaporation, through which 
 struggled the rays of the sinking sun. Passing under 
 the Arc de Triomphe, there stretched out at the height 
 of a man a reddish light, which shed a glittering
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 269 
 
 lustre on the naves of the wheels, the handles of the 
 carriage-doors, the ends of the shafts, and the rings 
 of the carriage-beds ; and on the two sides of the great 
 avenue like a river in which manes, garments, and 
 human heads were undulating the trees, all glitter- 
 ing with r?in, rose up like two green walls. The blue 
 of the sky overhead, reappearing in certain places, had 
 the soft hue of satin. 
 
 Then Frederick recalled the days, already far dis- 
 tant, when he yearned for the inexpressible happiness 
 of finding himself in one of these carriages by the side 
 of one of these women. He had attained to this bliss, 
 and yet he was not thereby one jot the happier. 
 
 When they reached the Chinese Baths, as there were 
 holes in the pavement, the berlin slackened its pace. 
 A man in a hazel-coloured paletot was walking on the 
 edge of the footpath. A splash, spurting out from un- 
 der the springs, showed itself on his back. The man 
 turned round in a rage. Frederick grew pale ; it was 
 Deslauriers. 
 
 At the door of the Cafe Anglais he dismissed the 
 carriage. Rosanette had gone in before him while he 
 was paying the postilion. 
 
 He found her subsequently on the stairs chatting 
 with a gentleman. Frederick took her arm ; but in the 
 lobby a second gentleman stopped her. 
 
 " Go on," said she ; " I am at your service." 
 
 And he entered the private room alone. Through 
 the two open windows people could be seen at the case- 
 ments of the other houses opposite. Large watery 
 masses were glistening on the pavement as it began to 
 dry, and a magnolia, on the side of a balcony, shed a 
 perfume through the apartment. This fragrance and 
 freshness had a relaxing effect on his nerves. He sank 
 down on the red divan underneath the glass.
 
 270 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 The Marechale entered the room, and, kissing him 
 on the forehead : 
 
 " Poor pet ! something is annoying you ! " 
 
 " Perhaps so," was his reply. 
 
 " You are not alone ; take heart ! " which was as 
 much as to say : " Let us each forget our own troubles 
 in a bliss which we shall enjoy in common." 
 
 Then she placed the petal of a flower between her 
 lips and extended it toward him so that he might peck 
 at it. This movement, full of grace and of almost 
 voluptuous gentleness, had a softening effect on Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 " Why do you give me pain ? " said he, thinking of 
 Madame Arnoux. 
 
 " I give you pain ? " 
 
 And, standing before him, she gazed at him with her 
 lashes drawn close together and her two hands resting 
 on his shoulders. 
 
 All his virtue, all his rancour gave way before the 
 utter weakness of his will. 
 
 He continued : 
 
 " Because you won't love me," and he took her on his 
 knees. 
 
 She yielded to him. He pressed his two hands round 
 her waist. The crackling sound of her silk dress in- 
 flamed him. 
 
 " Where are they ? " said Hussonnet's voice in the 
 lobby outside. 
 
 The Marechale rose abruptly, and walked across to 
 the other side of the room, where she sat down with her 
 back to the door. 
 
 She ordered oysters, and they seated themselves at 
 table. 
 
 Hussonnet was not amusing. By dint of writing 
 every day on all sorts of subjects, reading many news-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 271 
 
 papers, listening to a great number of discussions, and 
 uttering paradoxes for the purpose of dazzling people, 
 he had in the end lost the exact idea of things, deluding 
 himself with his own feeble fireworks. The embarrass- 
 ments of a life which had formerly been frivolous, but 
 which was now full of difficulty, kept him in a state of 
 perpetual agitation ; and his impotency, which he did 
 not wish to avow, rendered him snappish and sarcastic. 
 Referring to a new ballet entitled Ozdi, he gave a thor- 
 ough blowing-up to the dancing, and then, when the 
 opera was in question, he attacked the Italians, now re- 
 placed by a company of Spanish actors. 
 
 Frederick was quite bored. In an outburst of im- 
 patience he pushed his foot under the table, and pressed 
 it on one of the little dogs. 
 
 Thereupon both animals began barking in a horrible 
 fashion. 
 
 " You ought to have them sent home ! " said he, ab- 
 ruptly. 
 
 Rosanette did not know anyone to whom she could 
 intrust them. 
 
 Then, he turned round to the Bohemian : 
 
 " Look here, Hussonnet ; sacrifice yourself ! " 
 
 " Certainly, my boy ! " 
 
 Hussonnet set off, without even requiring to have 
 an appeal made to him. 
 
 How could they repay him for his kindness ? Fred- 
 erick did not bestow a thought on it. He was begin- 
 ning to rejoice at finding himself alone with her, when 
 a waiter entered. 
 
 " Madame, somebody is asking for you! " 
 
 " What ! again ? " 
 
 " However, I must see who it is," said Rosanette. 
 
 He was thirsting for her ; he wanted her. This dis- 
 appearance seemed to him an act of prevarication, al-
 
 272 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 most a piece of rudeness. What, then, did she mean? 
 Was it not enough to have insulted Madame Arnoux ? 
 So much for the latter, all the same ! Now he hated 
 all women ; and he felt the tears choking him, for his 
 love had been misunderstood and his desire eluded. 
 
 The Marechale returned, and presented Cisy. 
 
 " I have invited Monsieur. I have done right, have 
 I not?" 
 
 " Oh ! certainly." 
 
 Frederick, with the smile of a criminal about to be 
 executed, requested the gentleman to take a seat. 
 
 The Marechale began to run her eye over the bill of 
 fare, stopping at every fantastic name. 
 
 " Suppose we eat a turban of rabbits a la Richelieu 
 and a pudding a la d 'Orleans? " 
 
 " Oh ! not Orleans, pray ! " exclaimed Cisy, who was 
 \ Legitimist, and thought of making a pun. 
 
 "Would you prefer a turbot d la Chambord?" she 
 next inquired. 
 
 Frederick was disgusted with this display of polite- 
 ness. 
 
 The Marechale finally decided to order a simple filet 
 of beef cut up into steaks, some crayfishes, truffles, a 
 pine-apple salad, and vanilla ices. 
 
 " We'll see what next. That will do for the present ! 
 Ah! I was forgetting! Bring me a sausage! not 
 with garlic !" 
 
 And she called the waiter " young man," struck her 
 glass with her knife, and flung up the crumbs of her 
 bread to the ceiling. She wished to have some Bur- 
 gundy immediately. 
 
 " It is not taken in the beginning," said Frederick. 
 
 It was sometimes done, according to the Vicomte. 
 
 " Oh ! no. Never ! " 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; I assure you ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 273 
 
 " Ha ! you see ! " 
 
 The look with which she accompanied these words 
 meant : " This is a rich man pay attention to what 
 he says ! " 
 
 Meantime, the door was opening every moment ; the 
 waiters kept shouting; and on an infernal piano in 
 the adjoining room some one was strumming a waltz. 
 The races led to a discussion about horsemanship and 
 the two rival systems. Cisy was upholding Baucher 
 and Frederick the Comte d'Aure when Rosanette 
 shrugged her shoulders : 
 
 " Enough my God ! he is a better judge of these 
 things than you are come now ! " 
 
 She kept nibbling at a pomegranate, with her elbow 
 resting on the table. The wax-candles of the candela- 
 brum in front of her flickered in the wind. This white 
 light penetrated her skin with mother-of-pearl tones, 
 gave a pink hue to her lids, and made her eyeballs glit- 
 ter. The red colour of the fruit blended with the 
 purple of her lips ; her thin nostrils dilated ; and there 
 was about her entire person an air of insolence, intoxi- 
 cation, and recklessness that exasperated Frederick, 
 and yet filled his heart with wild desires. 
 
 She asked, in a calm voice, who owned that big 
 landau with chestnut-coloured livery. 
 
 Cisy replied that it was " the Comtesse Dambreuse." 
 
 " They're very rich aren't they ? " 
 
 " Oh ! very rich ! although Madame Dambreuse, who 
 was merely a Mademoiselle Boutron and the daughter 
 of a prefect, had a very modest fortune." 
 
 Her husband, on the other hand, must have inherited 
 several estates Cisy enumerated them : as he visited 
 the Dambreuses, he knew their family history. 
 
 Frederick, in order to make himself disagreeable to 
 the other, took a uleasure in contradicting him. He
 
 274 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 maintained that Madame Dambreuse's maiden name 
 was De Boutron, which proved that she was of noble 
 family. 
 
 "No matter! I'd like to have her equipage!" said 
 the Marechale, throwing herself back on the armchair. 
 
 And the sleeve of her dress, slipping up a little, dis- 
 covered on her left wrist a bracelet adorned with three 
 opals. 
 
 Frederick noticed it. 
 
 " Look here ! why- 
 All three looked into one another's faces, and red- 
 dened. 
 
 The door was cautiously half-opened ; the brim of a 
 hat could be seen, and then Hussonnet's profile ap- 
 peared. 
 
 " Pray excuse me if I disturb the lovers ! " 
 
 Then he stopped, astonished at seeing Cisy, who had 
 taken his seat. 
 
 Another cover was brought; and, as he was very 
 hungry, he snatched up at random from what remained 
 of the dinner, some meat which was in a dish, fruit out 
 of a basket, and drank with one hand while he helped 
 himself with the other, all the time telling them the 
 result of his mission. The two bow-wows had been 
 taken home. Nothing fresh at the house. He had 
 found the cook in the company of a soldier a fictitious 
 story which he had invented on the way for the sake of 
 effect. 
 
 The Marechale took down her cloak from the win- 
 dow-screw. Frederick rushed toward the bell, calling 
 out to the waiter, who was some distance away : 
 
 " A carriage ! " 
 
 " I have one of my own," said Cisy. 
 
 " But, Monsieur ! " 
 
 " Nevertheless, Monsieur ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 275 
 
 And they looked into each other's eyes, both pale and 
 their hands trembling. 
 
 At last, the Marechale took Cisy's arm, and pointing 
 toward the Bohemian seated at the table : 
 
 " Pray mind him ! He's choking himself. I 
 wouldn't like his devotion to my pugs to be the cause 
 of his death." 
 
 The door closed behind them. 
 
 " Well ? " said Hussonnet. 
 
 "Well, what?" 
 
 " I thought 
 
 "What did you think?" 
 
 "Were you not ?" 
 
 He completed the sentence with a gesture. 
 
 " Oh ! no never in all my life ! " 
 
 Hussonnet did not press the matter further. 
 
 He had a motive in inviting himself to dinner. His 
 journal which was no longer called L'Art, but Le 
 Flambart, with this epigraph, " Gunners, to your can- 
 nons ! " not being at all in a flourishing condition, he 
 had a mind to change it into a weekly review, con- 
 ducted by himself, without any assistance from Des- 
 lauriers. He again referred to the old project and ex- 
 plained his latest plan. 
 
 Frederick, probably not understanding what he was 
 talking about, replied with some vague words. Hus- 
 sonnet snatched up several cigars from the tables, said 
 " Good-bye, old chap," and disappeared. 
 
 Frederick called for the bill. It had a long list of 
 items ; and the waiter, with his napkin under his arm, 
 was waiting to be paid, when another, a sallow-faced 
 individual, who resembled Martinon, came and said to 
 him: 
 
 " Excuse me ; they forgot at the bar to add in the 
 charge for the cab."
 
 276 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " What cab ? " 
 
 " The cab the gentleman took a short time ago for 
 the little dogs." 
 
 The waiter looked grave, as if he pitied the poor 
 young man. Frederick would have liked to box the 
 fellow's ears. He gave the waiter the twenty francs' 
 change as a pour-boirc. 
 
 The man bowed low, murmuring, " Thanks, Mon- 
 seigneur ! "
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 A DUEL 
 
 THE whole of the next day Frederick brooded over 
 his humiliation. He blamed himself for not 
 having slapped Cisy in the face. As for the 
 Marechale, he swore never to see her again. Others 
 as good-looking could be easily found ; and, as money 
 was necessary in order to possess these women, he 
 would speculate on the Bourse with the purchase- 
 money of his farm. He would get rich ; he would 
 crush the Marechale and everyone else with his wealth. 
 When the evening had come, he was surprised at not 
 having thought of Madame Arnoux. 
 
 " So much the better. What's the use of it?" 
 
 Two days later, at eight o'clock, Pellerin came to 
 pay him a visit. He began by expressing his admira- 
 tion of the furniture and talked in a wheedling tone. 
 Then, abruptly: 
 
 " You were at the races on Sunday? " 
 
 "Yes, alas!" 
 
 Thereupon the painter criticised the anatomy of 
 the English horses, and praised the horses of Gericourt 
 and the Parthenon. 
 
 " Rosanette was with you? " 
 
 And he artfully proceeded to speak in flattering 
 terms about her. 
 
 Frederick's icy manner put him a little out of coun- 
 tenance. 
 
 He did not know how to introduce the question of 
 her portrait. His first idea had been to do it in the
 
 278 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 style of Titian. But gradually the varied colouring of 
 his model had bewitched him ; he had gone on boldly 
 with the work, heaping up paste on paste and light on 
 light. Rosanette, at first, was enchanted. Her ap- 
 pointments with Delmar interrupted the sittings, and 
 left Pellerin all the time to get bedazzled. Then, as 
 his admiration began to subside, he asked himself 
 whether the picture might not be on a larger scale. 
 He had gone to have another look at the Titians, real- 
 ised how the great artist had filled in his por- 
 traits with such finish, and saw wherein his own de- 
 ficiencies lay ; and then he began to go over the out- 
 lines again in the most simple fashion. After that, he 
 sought, by scraping them off, to lose, or to mingle, all 
 the tones of the head and those of the background; 
 the face assumed consistency and the shades vigour 
 the whole work had a look of greater firmness. At 
 length the Marechale came back again. She indulged 
 in some hostile criticisms. The painter naturally per- 
 severed in his own course. After getting into a violent 
 passion at her silliness, he thought to himself that, 
 after all, perhaps she was right. Then began an era 
 of doubts, twinges of reflection which brought about 
 cramps in the stomach, insomnia, feverishness and dis- 
 gust with himself. He had the courage to make some 
 retouchings, but without much heart, and with a feel- 
 ing that his work was bad. 
 
 He complained merely of having been refused a 
 place in the Salon; then he reproached Frederick for 
 not having come to see the Marechale's portrait. 
 
 " What do I care about the Marechale ? " 
 
 Such an expression of indifference emboldened the 
 artist. 
 
 " Would you believe that this brute has no interest 
 in the thing any longer ? "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 279 
 
 What he did not mention was that he had asked 
 her for a thousand crowns. Now the Marechale did 
 not bother herself about ascertaining who was going 
 to pay, and, preferring to screw money out of Arnoux 
 for more urgent requirements, she had not even 
 spoken to him on the subject. 
 
 "Well, and Arnoux?" 
 
 She had thrown it on him. The ex-picture-dealer 
 wished to have nothing to do with the portrait. 
 
 " He maintains that it belongs to Rosanette." 
 
 " In fact, it is hers." 
 
 " How is that? Tis she that sent me to you," was 
 Pellerin's answer. 
 
 If he had been thinking of the excellence of his 
 work, he would not have dreamed perhaps of making 
 capital out of it. But a sum and a big sum would 
 be an effective reply to the critics, and would 
 strengthen his own position. Finally, to get rid of his 
 importunities, Frederick courteously inquired his 
 terms. 
 
 The extravagant figure named by Pellerin quite took 
 away his breath, and he replied : 
 
 "Oh! no no!" 
 
 " You, however, are her lover you gave me the 
 order ! " 
 
 " Excuse me, I was only an agent." 
 
 " But I can't remain with this on my hands ! " 
 
 The artist lost his temper. 
 
 " Ha ! I didn't know you were so covetous ! " 
 
 " Nor I that you were so stingy ! I wish you good 
 morning ! " 
 
 He had just gone when Senecal made his appear- 
 ance. 
 
 Frederick was in a state of great agitation. 
 
 "What's the matter?"
 
 280 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Senecal told this story : 
 
 " On Saturday, at nine o'clock, Madame Arnoux 
 received a letter which summoned her back to Paris. 
 As there happened to be nobody in the place at the 
 time to go to Creil for a vehicle, she asked me to at- 
 tend to it. I refused, for this was no part of my 
 duties. She left, and came back on Sunday evening. 
 Yesterday morning, Arnoux came down to the works. 
 The girl from Bordeaux made a complaint to him. 
 I don't know what passed between them ; but he took 
 off, before everyone, the fine I had imposed on her. 
 Some sharp words passed between us. In short, he 
 closed accounts with me, and here I am ! " 
 
 Then, with a pause between every word : 
 
 " Furthermore, I am not sorry. I have done my 
 duty. No matter you were the cause of it." 
 
 " In what way ? " exclaimed Frederick, alarmed 
 lest Senecal might have guessed his secret. 
 
 Senecal had not, however, guessed anything about 
 it, for he replied : 
 
 " I mean that but for you I might have done bet- 
 ter." 
 
 Frederick was seized with a kind of remorse. 
 
 " In what way can I help you now ? " 
 
 Senecal wanted some employment, a situation. 
 
 " That is an easy thing for you to manage. You 
 know many people of good position, Monsieur Dam- 
 breuse amongst others ; at least, so Deslauriers told 
 me." 
 
 This allusion to Deslauriers was by no means agree- 
 able to his friend. He scarcely cared to call on the 
 Dambreuses again after his unfortunate meeting with 
 them in the Champ de Mars. 
 
 " I am not on sufficiently intimate terms with them 
 to recommend anyone."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 281 
 
 The democrat bore this refusal stoically, and after a 
 minute's silence: 
 
 " All this, I am sure, is due to the girl from Bor- 
 deaux, and to your Madame Arnoux." 
 
 This " your " had the effect of killing the slight 
 modicum of regard he entertained for Senecal. 
 Nevertheless, he stretched out his hand toward the 
 key of his escritoire through delicacy. 
 
 Senecal anticipated him : 
 
 " Thanks ! " 
 
 Then, forgetting his own troubles, he talked about 
 the affairs of the nation, the crosses of the Legion of 
 Honour wasted at the Royal Fete, the rumour of a 
 change of ministry, the Drouillard case and the Be- 
 nier case scandals of the day declaimed against the 
 middle class, and predicted a revolution. 
 
 His eyes were attracted by a Japanese dagger hang- 
 ing on the wall. He took hold of it ; then he flung it 
 on the sofa with an air of disgust. 
 
 " Well, then ! good-bye ! I must go to Notre Dame 
 de Lorette." 
 
 "Hold on! Why?" 
 
 " The anniversary service for Godefroy Cavaignac 
 is taking place there to-day. He died at work that 
 man ! But all is not over. Who knows ? " 
 
 And Senecal, with a show of fortitude, put out his 
 hand: 
 
 " Perhaps we shall never meet again ! Good-bye ! " 
 
 This " good-bye," repeated several times, his knitted 
 brows as he gazed at the dagger, his resignation, and 
 the solemnity of his manner, above, all, plunged Fred- 
 erick into a thoughtful mood, but very soon he forgot 
 about Senecal. 
 
 During the same week, his notary at Havre sent him 
 the sum realised by the sale of his farm one hun-
 
 282 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 dred and seventy-four thousand francs. He divided 
 it into two portions, invested half in the Funds, and 
 brought the second half to a stock-broker to take his 
 chance of making money by it on the Bourse. 
 
 He dined at fashionable taverns, went to the thea- 
 tres, and was trying to amuse himself as best he could, 
 when Hussonnet addressed a letter to him announcing 
 in a gay fashion that the Marechale had got rid of 
 Cisy the very day after the races. Frederick was de- 
 lighted at this intelligence, without troubling to as- 
 certain what the Bohemian's motive was in giving him 
 the information. 
 
 It so happened that he met Cisy, three days later. 
 That aristocratic young gentleman kept his counte- 
 nance, and even invited Frederick to dine on the fol- 
 lowing Wednesday. 
 
 On the morning of that day, the latter received a 
 notification from a process-server, in which M. 
 Charles Jean Baptiste Oudry informed him that by the 
 terms of a legal judgment he had become the pur- 
 chaser of a property situated at Belleville, belonging 
 to M. Jacques Arnoux, and that he was ready to pay 
 the two hundred and twenty-three thousand for which 
 it had been sold. But, as it appeared by the same de- 
 cree that the amount of the mortgages with which the 
 estate was encumbered exceeded the purchase-money, 
 Frederick's claim would in consequence be completely 
 forfeited. 
 
 The entire mischief arose from not having renewed 
 the registration of the mortgage within the proper 
 time. Arnoux had undertaken to attend to this mat- 
 ter himself, and had then forgotten all about it. 
 Frederick was furious, and when the young man's an- 
 ger had passed off, he said to himself: 
 
 "Well, afterward what? If this can save him, so
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 283 
 
 much the better. It won't kill me ! Let us think no 
 more about it ! " 
 
 But, while moving about his papers on the table, 
 he came across Hussonnet's letter, and saw the post- 
 script, which he had not at first noticed. The Bohe- 
 mian wanted just five thousand francs to give the jour- 
 nal a start. 
 
 " Ah ! this fellow is worrying me to death ! " 
 
 And he sent a curt answer, unceremoniously refus- 
 ing the application. After that, he dressed him- 
 self and went to the Maison d'Or. 
 
 Cisy introduced his guests, beginning with the most 
 important of them, a big, white-haired gentleman. 
 
 " The Marquis Gilbert des Aulnays, my godfather. 
 Monsieur Anselme de Forchambeaux," he said next 
 (a thin, fair-haired young man, already bald) ; then, 
 pointing toward a simple-mannered man of forty : 
 " Joseph Boffreu, my cousin ; and here is my old tutor, 
 Monsieur Vezou " a person who seemed a mixture of 
 a ploughman and a seminarist, with large whiskers 
 and a long frock-coat fastened at the end by a single 
 button, so that it fell over his chest like a shawl. 
 
 Cisy was awaiting some one else the Baron de 
 Comaing, who " might perhaps come, but it was not 
 certain." He left the room every minute, and appeared 
 to be in a restless frame of mind. Finally, at eight 
 o'clock, they proceeded toward an apartment splendidly 
 lighted up and much more spacious than the num- 
 ber of guests required. Cisy had selected it so as to 
 make a display. 
 
 A vermilion epergne laden with flowers and fruit 
 occupied the centre of the table, which was covered 
 with silver dishes, after the old French fashion ; glass 
 bowls full of salt meats and spices formed a border 
 all around. Jars of iced red wine stood at regular
 
 284 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 distances from one another. Five glasses of different 
 sizes were before each plate, with other things of 
 which the use could not be divined a thousand din- 
 ner utensils of an ingenious description. For the first 
 course alone, there was a sturgeon's jowl moistened 
 with champagne, a Yorkshire ham with tokay, 
 thrushes with sauce, roast quail, a bechamel vol-au- 
 vent, a stew of red-legged partridges ; at both ends of 
 all this were fringes of potatoes mingled with 
 truffles. The apartment was illuminated by a lustre 
 and some girandoles, and it was hung with red dam- 
 ask curtains. 
 
 Four men-servants in black coats stood behind the 
 armchairs, which were upholstered in morocco. At 
 this sight the guests uttered an exclamation the 
 tutor more emphatically than the rest. 
 
 " Upon my word, our host has indulged in a fool- 
 ishly lavish display of luxury. It is altogether too 
 beautiful ! " 
 
 " Is that so ? " said the Vicomte de Cisy ; " Come on, 
 then ! " 
 
 And, as they were swallowing the first spoonful : 
 
 " Well, my dear old friend Aulnays, have you been 
 to the Palais-Royal to see Pcre et Portier? " 
 
 " You know well that I have no time to go ! " re- 
 plied the Marquis. 
 
 His mornings were occupied with a course of ar- 
 boriculture, his evenings were spent at the Agricul- 
 tural Club, and all his afternoons were engaged by a 
 study of the implements of husbandry in manufacto- 
 ries. As he resided at Saintonge for three fourths of 
 the year, he took advantage of his visits to the capital 
 to get new information; and his large-brimmed hat, 
 which lay on a side-table, was crammed with pamph- 
 lets.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 285 
 
 But Cisy, observing that M. de Forchambeaux re- 
 fused wine : 
 
 " Go on, damn it, drink ! You're not in good form 
 for your last bachelor's meal ! " 
 
 At this remark all bowed and congratulated him. 
 
 " And the young lady," said the tutor, " is doubt- 
 less charming ? " 
 
 " Faith, she is ! " exclaimed Cisy. " No matter, he 
 is making a great mistake ; marriage is such a stupid 
 thing ! " 
 
 " You talk in a thoughtless fashion, my friend ! " 
 returned Monsieur des Aulnays, while tears gathered 
 in his eyes at the recollection of his own dead wife. 
 
 And Forchambeaux repeated several times in suc- 
 cession : 
 
 " It will sometime be your own case it will be 
 your own case ! " 
 
 Cisy protested. He preferred to enjoy himself to 
 " live in the free-and-easy style of the Regency days." 
 He hoped to learn the shoe-trick, in order to visit the 
 thieves' taverns of the city, like Rodolphe in the Mys- 
 teries of Paris; he drew out of his pocket a dirty clay 
 pipe, abused the servants, and drank freely ; then, in 
 order to create a good impression, he disparaged all 
 the dishes. He even sent away the truffles ; and the 
 tutor, who was exceedingly fond of them, said through 
 servility ; 
 
 " These are not as good as your grandmother's 
 snow-white eggs." 
 
 Then he began to chat with the person sitting next 
 to him, the agriculturist, who found many advan- 
 tages from his sojourn in the country, if it were only 
 to be able to bring up his daughters with simple tastes. 
 The tutor approved of his ideas and toadied to him, 
 supposing that this gentleman possessed influence over
 
 286 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 his former pupil, whose man of business he was anx- 
 ious to become. 
 
 Frederick had come rilled with hostility to Cisy ; 
 but the young aristocrat's idiocy disarmed him. How- 
 ever, as the other's gestures, face, and entire person 
 brought back to his mind the dinner at the Cafe An- 
 glais, he got more and more irritated ; and he lent his 
 ears to the complimentary remarks made in a low tone 
 by Joseph, the cousin, a fine young fellow without any 
 money, who was a lover of the chase and a University 
 prizeman. Cisy, for the sake of a laugh, called him 
 a " catcher " * several times ; then suddenly : 
 
 " Ha ! here comes the Baron ! " 
 
 At that moment, there entered a jovial blade of 
 thirty, with somewhat rough-looking features and 
 active limbs, wearing his hat over his ear and display- 
 ing a flower in his button-hole. He was the Vicomte's 
 ideal. The young aristocrat was delighted to see him ; 
 and stimulated by his presence, he even attempted a 
 pun ; for he said, as they passed a fine, roasted heath- 
 cock : 
 
 " There's the best of La Bruyere's characters ! " f 
 
 After that, he put a number of questions to M. de 
 Comaing about persons unknown to society ; then, as 
 if an idea had suddenly seized him : 
 
 "Tell me, pray! have you thought about me?" 
 
 The other shrugged his shoulders : 
 
 " You are not old enough, my little man. It is im- 
 possible ! " 
 
 Cisy had begged of the Baron to get him admitted 
 into his club. But the other having, no doubt, taken 
 pity on his vanity : 
 
 * Voleur. May be translated as "hunter" or "thief," hence the 
 joke. TRANSLATOR. 
 
 f Coq de bruyere means a heath-cock or grouse; hence the pun on 
 the name of La Bruyere, author of Caracteres. EDITOR.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 287 
 
 " Ha ! I was forgetting ! A thousand congratula- 
 tions on having won your bet, my dear fellow ! " 
 
 "What bet?" 
 
 " The bet you made at the races to effect an en- 
 trance the same evening into that lady's house." 
 
 Frederick felt as if he had had a lash with a whip. 
 He was speedily appeased by the expression of utter 
 confusion in Cisy's face. 
 
 In fact, the Marechale, next morning, was filled 
 with regret when Arnoux, her first lover, her good 
 friend, presented himself that very day. Both gave 
 the Vicomte to understand that he was in the way, and 
 kicked him out without much ceremony. 
 
 He pretended not to have heard the remark. 
 
 The Baron went on : 
 
 "What has become of her, this fine Rose? Is she 
 as charming as ever?" showing by his manner that 
 he had been on terms of intimacy with her. 
 
 Frederick was chagrined by the discovery. 
 
 " There's nothing to blush at," said the Baron, pur- 
 suing the topic, " 'tis a good thing ! " 
 
 Cisy smacked his tongue. 
 
 " Whew ! not so good ! " 
 
 " Ha ! " 
 
 " Oh, dear, yes ! In the first place, I found her 
 nothing extraordinary, and then, you pick up that 
 sort as often as you please ; in fact, she is for sale ! " 
 
 " Not for everyone ! " remarked Frederick, with 
 some bitterness. 
 
 " He thinks that he is different from the others," 
 was Cisy's comment. " What a good joke ! " 
 
 And a laugh ran round the table. 
 
 Frederick felt as if the palpitations of his heart 
 would suffocate him. He swallowed two glasses of 
 water one after the other.
 
 288 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 But the Baron had preserved a lively recollection of 
 Rosanette. 
 
 " Is she still interested in a fellow in trade named 
 Arnoux ? " 
 
 "I haven't the faintest idea," said Cisy, " I don't 
 know the gentleman ! " 
 
 Nevertheless, he suggested that he believed Arnoux 
 was a sort of swindler. 
 
 " A moment ! " exclaimed Frederick. 
 
 " Oh, there is no doubt about it ! Legal proceed- 
 ings have been taken against him." 
 
 " That is not true ! " 
 
 Frederick began to defend Arnoux, vouched for his 
 honesty, ended by convincing himself of it, and con- 
 cocted figures and proofs. The Vicomte, full of spite, 
 and tipsy in addition, persisted in his assertions, so 
 that Frederick said to him gravely : 
 
 " Is the object of this to give offence to me, Mon- 
 sieur? " 
 
 And he looked Cisy full in the face, with eyeballs 
 as red as his cigar. 
 
 " Oh ! not at all. I acknowledge that he possesses 
 something very nice his wife." 
 
 " Do you know her ? " 
 
 " Faith, I do ! Sophie Arnoux ; everyone knows 
 her." 
 
 " You mean to tell me that ? " 
 
 Cisy, who had staggered to his feet, hiccoughed: 
 
 " Everyone knows her." 
 
 " Hold your tongue. It is not with women of her 
 class you keep company ! " 
 
 " I flatter myself it is." 
 
 Frederick flung a plate at his face. It passed like 
 a flash of lightning over the table, knocked down two 
 bottles, demolished a fruit-dish, and breaking into
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 289 
 
 three pieces, by knocking against the epergne, hit the 
 Vicomte in the stomach. 
 
 All the other guests arose to hold him back. He 
 struggled and shrieked, possessed by a kind of frenzy. 
 
 M. des Aulnays kept repeating: 
 
 " Come, be calm, my dear boy ! " 
 
 " Why, this is awful ! " shouted the tutor. 
 
 Forchambeaux, livid as a plum, was trembling. 
 Joseph indulged in repeated outbursts of laughter. 
 The attendants sponged out the traces of the wine, 
 and gathered up the remains of the dinner from the 
 floor; and the Baron shut the window, for the up- 
 roar, in spite of the noise of carriage-wheels, could be 
 heard on the boulevard. 
 
 As all present at the moment the plate had been 
 flung had been talking at the same time, it was im- 
 possible to discover the cause of the attack whether 
 it was on account of Arnoux, Madame Arnoux, Ro- 
 sanette, or somebody else. One thing only they were 
 certain of, that Frederick had acted with indescrib- 
 able brutality. On his part, he refused positively to 
 express the slightest regret for what he had done. 
 
 M. des Aulnays tried to soften him. Cousin Jo- 
 seph, the tutor, and Forchambeaux himself joined in 
 the effort. The Baron, all this time, was encouraging 
 Cisy, who, yielding to nervous weakness, began to 
 shed tears. 
 
 Frederick, on the contrary, was getting more and 
 more angry, and they would have remained there till 
 daybreak if the Baron had not said : 
 
 " The Vicomte, Monsieur, will send his seconds to 
 call on you to-morrow." 
 
 "Your hour?" 
 
 " Twelve, if it suits you." 
 
 " Perfectly, Monsieur."
 
 290 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Frederick, as soon as he was in the open air, drew 
 a deep breath. He had been keeping his feelings too 
 long under restraint ; he had satisfied them at last. 
 He felt, so to speak, the pride of virility, a super- 
 abundance of energy within him which intoxicated 
 him. He required two seconds. The first person he 
 thought of for the purpose was Regimbart, and he 
 immediately directed his steps toward the Rue Saint- 
 Denis. The shop-front was closed, but a light shone 
 through a pane of glass over the door. It opened and 
 he went in, stooping very low as he passed under the 
 penthouse. 
 
 A candle at the side of the bar lighted up the de- 
 serted smoking-room. All the stools, with their feet 
 in the air, were piled on the table. The master and 
 mistress, with their waiter, were at supper in a cor- 
 ner near the kitchen ; and Regimbart, with his hat on 
 his head, was sharing their meal, and even disturbed 
 the waiter, w r ho was compelled every moment to turn 
 aside a little. Frederick, having briefly explained the 
 matter, asked Regimbart to assist him. The Citizen 
 at first made no reply. He rolled his eyes about, 
 looked as if he were plunged in reflection, took several 
 strides around the room, and at last said: 
 
 " Yes, by all means ! " and a homicidal smile 
 smoothed his brow when he learned that the adversary 
 was a nobleman. 
 
 " Make your mind easy ; we'll rout him with flying 
 colours ! In the first place, with the sword " 
 
 " But perhaps," broke in Frederick, " I have not the 
 right." 
 
 " I tell you 'tis necessary to take the sword," the 
 Citizen replied roughly. " Do you know how to make 
 passes ? " 
 
 " A little."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 291 
 
 " Oh ! a little. That is the way with you all ; and 
 yet you have a mania for committing assaults. What 
 does the fencing-school teach? Listen to me: keep a 
 good distance off, always confining yourself in circles, 
 and parry parry as you retire ; that is permitted. 
 Tire him out. Then boldly make a lunge on him ! and, 
 above all, no malice, no strokes of the La Fougere 
 kind. No ! a simple one-two, and some disengage- 
 ments. Look here ! do you see ? while you turn your 
 wrist as if opening a lock. Pere Vauthier, give me 
 your cane. Ha ! that will do. Now, my friends, ob- 
 serve me carefully." 
 
 He grasped the rod which was used for lighting 
 the gas, rounded his left arm, bent his right, and be- 
 gan to make thrusts against the partition. He 
 stamped with his foot, got animated, and pretended 
 to be encountering difficulties, while he exclaimed: 
 "Are you there? Is that it? Are you there?" and 
 his enormous silhouette projected itself on the wall 
 while his hat apparently touched the ceiling. The 
 owner of the cafe shouted from time to time : " Bravo ! 
 very good ! " His wife, though a little unnerved, was 
 likewise filled with admiration ; and Theodore, who 
 had been in the army, remained riveted to the spot 
 with amazement, the fact being that he regarded M. 
 Regimbart with an enthusiastic degree of hero-wor- 
 ship. 
 
 Next morning, at an early hour, Frederick hurried 
 to the establishment in which Dussardier was em- 
 ployed. After having passed through a succession of 
 departments all full of clothing-materials, either piled 
 on the shelves or lying on tables, while here and there 
 shawls were fixed on wooden racks shaped like toad- 
 stools, he saw the young man, in a sort of railed 
 cage, surrounded by account-books, and standing in
 
 292 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 front of a desk at which he was writing. The honest 
 fellow left his work. 
 
 The seconds arrived before twelve o'clock. 
 
 Frederick, as a matter of good taste, was absent at 
 the conference. 
 
 The Baron and M. Joseph declared that they would 
 be satisfied with the simplest apology. But Regim- 
 bart's principle being never to yield, and his conten- 
 tion being that Arnoux's honour should be vindicated 
 (Frederick had not spoken to him about anything 
 else), he asked that the Vicomte should apologise. M. 
 de Comaing was indignant at this presumption. The 
 Citizen would not give way an inch. As all concilia- 
 tion proved impracticable, there was nothing for it 
 but to fight. 
 
 Other difficulties arose, for the choice of weapons 
 lay with Cisy, as the person to whom the insult had 
 been offered. But Regimbart maintained that by send- 
 ing the challenge he had constituted himself the offend- 
 ing party. His seconds loudly protested that a buffet 
 was the most cruel of offences. The Citizen carped 
 at the words, pointing out that a buffet was not a 
 blow. Finally, they decided to take the advice of a 
 military man ; and the four seconds went off to con- 
 sult the officers in some of the barracks. 
 
 They drew up at the barracks on the Ouai d'Orsay. 
 M. de Comaing, having accosted two captains, ex- 
 plained to them the question in dispute. 
 
 The captains did not understand a word of what 
 he was saying, owing to the confusion caused by the 
 Citizen's incidental remarks. In short, they advised 
 the gentlemen who consulted them to draw up a 
 minute of the proceedings ; after which they would 
 give their decision. Thereupon, they repaired to a 
 cafe; where they, in order to do things with more
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 293 
 
 circumspection, referred to Cisy as H, and to Freder- 
 ick as K. 
 
 Then they returned to the barracks. The officers 
 were out. They reappeared, and declared that the 
 choice of arms manifestly belonged to H. 
 
 They all returned to Cisy's abode. Regimbart and 
 Dussardier remained on the footpath outside. 
 
 The Vicomte, when he was informed of the solu- 
 tion of the case, was seized with such extreme agi- 
 tation that they had to repeat for him several times the 
 decision of the officers; and, when M. de Comaing 
 came to deal with Regimbart's contention, he mur- 
 mured "Nevertheless," not being very reluctant him- 
 self to yield to it. Then he sank into an armchair, and 
 declared that he would not fight. 
 
 "Eh? What?" said the Baron. Then Cisy in- 
 dulged in a confused flood of mouthings. He wished 
 to fight with firearms to discharge a single pistol at 
 close quarters. 
 
 " Or else we will put arsenic into a glass, and draw 
 lots to see who must drink it. That's sometimes done." 
 
 The Baron, naturally rather impatient, addressed 
 him harshly: 
 
 " These gentlemen are waiting for your answer. 
 This is indecent, to put it shortly.- What weapons do 
 you prefer ? Come ! is it the sword ? " 
 
 The Vicomte gave an affirmative reply by merely 
 nodding his head ; and it was arranged that the meet- 
 ing should take place next morning at seven o'clock 
 sharp at the Maillot gate. 
 
 Dussardier, having to go back to his business, 
 Regimbart went to inform Frederick of the arrange- 
 ment. He had been left all day without any news, 
 and his impatience was becoming intolerable. 
 
 " So much the better ! " he exclaimed.
 
 294 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 The Citizen was satisfied with his courageous de- 
 portment. 
 
 " Would you believe it ? They wanted an apology 
 from us. It was nothing a mere word ! But I 
 knocked them off their beam-ends nicely. The right 
 thing to do, wasn't it? " 
 
 " Undoubtedly," said Frederick, thinking that it 
 might have been better to choose another second. 
 
 Then, when he was alone, he repeated several times 
 in a very loud tone : 
 
 " I am going to fight ! Hold on, I am going to 
 fight ! Tis funny ! " 
 
 And, as he walked up and down his room, while 
 passing in front of the mirror, he noticed that he was 
 pale. 
 
 " Have I any reason to be afraid ? " 
 
 He was seized with a feeling of intolerable misery 
 at the prospect of exhibiting fear on the ground. 
 
 " And yet, suppose I am killed ? My father met 
 his death thus. Yes, I shall probably be killed ! " 
 
 And, suddenly, his mother rose up before him in 
 a black dress ; incoherent images floated before his 
 mind. His own cowardice exasperated him. A par- 
 oxysm of courage, a thirst for human blood, took 
 possession of him. A battalion could not have made 
 him retreat. When this feverish excitement had 
 cooled down, he was overjoyed to feel that his nerves 
 were perfectly steady. To divert his thoughts, he went 
 to the opera, where a ballet was being performed. He 
 listened to the music, looked at the danseuscs through 
 his opera-glass, and drank a glass of punch between 
 the acts. But when he got home again, the sight of 
 his study, of his furniture, in the midst of which he 
 found himself for the last time, made him feel ready 
 to swoon.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 295 
 
 He went down to the garden. The stars were shin- 
 ing ; he gazed up at them. The idea of fighting about a 
 woman gave him a greater importance in his own eyes, 
 and surrounded him with a halo of nobility. He re- 
 tired in a tranquil frame of mind. 
 
 It was otherwise with Cisy. After the Baron's de- 
 parture, Joseph had tried to revive his drooping spirits, 
 and, as the Vicomte remained in the same dull mood : 
 
 " However, old boy, if you prefer to remain at 
 home, I'll go and say so." 
 
 Cisy durst not answer " Certainly ; " but he would 
 have liked his cousin to do him this service without 
 speaking to him about it. 
 
 He wished that Frederick would die during the 
 night of an attack of apoplexy, or that a riot would 
 break out so that next morning all the approaches to 
 the Bois de Boulogne would be barricaded, or that 
 some emergency might prevent one of the seconds 
 from being present, for in the absence of seconds the 
 duel would fall through. He felt a longing to save 
 himself by taking an express train no matter where. 
 He regretted that he did not understand medicine so 
 as to be able to take something which, without en- 
 dangering his life, would cause it to be believed that 
 he was dead. He finally wished to be ill in earnest. 
 
 In order to get advice and assistance from some- 
 one, he sent for M. des Aulnays. That worthy man 
 had gone back to Saintonge on receiving a letter ad- 
 vising him of the illness of one of his daughters. This 
 appeared an ominous circumstance to Cisy. Luckily, 
 M. Vezou, his tutor, came to see him. Then he un- 
 bosomed himself. 
 
 " What am I to do ? my God ! what am I to do ? " 
 he wailed. 
 
 " If I were in your place, Monsieur, I should pay
 
 296 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 some strapping fellow from the market-place to go 
 and give him a drubbing." 
 
 " He would still know who was responsible for it," 
 replied Cisy. 
 
 And from time to time he uttered a groan; then: 
 " But is a man bound to fight a duel ? " 
 " Tis a relic of barbarism ! What is a gentleman 
 to do?" 
 
 Out of complaisance the pedagogue invited himself 
 to dinner. His pupil did not eat anything, but, after 
 the meal, took a short walk. 
 
 As they were passing a church, he said : 
 " Suppose we go in for a little while to look? " 
 M. Vezou asked nothing better, and even offered 
 him holy water. 
 
 It was the month of May. The altar was a mass 
 of flowers; voices were chanting; the organ was re- 
 sounding through the church. But he found it im- 
 possible to pray, as the pomps of religion inspired 
 him merely with thoughts of funerals. He fancied 
 that he could hear the murmurs of the De Profundis. 
 " Let us go away. I don't feel well." 
 They passed the whole night playing cards. The 
 Vicomte endeavoured to lose in order to exorcise ill- 
 luck, a thing which M. Vezou turned to his own ad- 
 vantage. At last, at the first streak of dawn, Cisy, 
 who could bear up no longer, sank down on the green 
 cloth, and was soon plunged in a sleep which was 
 disturbed by unpleasant dreams. 
 
 If courage, however, consists in wishing to get 
 the better of one's own weakness, the Vicomte was 
 courageous, for in the presence of his seconds, who 
 came to seek him, he stiffened himself up with all 
 the strength he could command, vanity making him 
 realise that to attempt to draw back now would
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 297 
 
 ruin him. M. de Comaing congratulated him on 
 his good appearance. 
 
 But the jolting of the cab and the heat of the 
 morning sun made him languish. His energy 
 weakened again. He could not even distinguish any 
 longer where they were. The Baron amused him- 
 self by increasing his terror, talking about the 
 " corpse," and of the way they intended to get back 
 clandestinely to the city. Joseph gave the rejoin- 
 der; both, considering the affair ridiculous, were 
 certain that it would be settled. 
 
 Cisy kept his head on his breast ; he lifted it up 
 slowly, and drew attention to the fact that they had 
 not taken a doctor with them. 
 
 " Tis unnecessary," said the Baron. 
 
 "Then there's no danger?" 
 
 Joseph answered in a grave tone : 
 
 " Let us hope so! " 
 
 And nobody in the carriage made any further 
 remark. 
 
 At ten minutes past seven they arrived in front 
 of the Maillot gate. Frederick and his seconds were 
 there, the entire group being dressed in black. 
 Regimbart, instead of a cravat, wore a stiff horse- 
 hair collar, like a trooper; and he carried a long 
 violin-case adapted for adventures of this kind. 
 They exchanged frigid bows. Then they all 
 plunged into the Bois de Boulogne, taking the Ma- 
 drid road, in order to find a suitable place. 
 
 Regimbart said to Frederick, who was walking 
 between him and Dussardier: 
 
 "Well, and this scare what does that matter? 
 If you want anything, don't annoy yourself about 
 it ; I know what to do. Fear is natural to man ! " 
 
 Then, in a low tone :
 
 298 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Don't smoke any more; it has a weakening ef- 
 fect." 
 
 Frederick threw away his cigar, which was only 
 disturbing his brain, and went on with a firm step. 
 The Vicomte advanced behind, leaning on the 
 arms of his two seconds. Occasional wayfarers 
 crossed their path. The sky was blue, and from 
 time to time they heard rabbits skipping about. At 
 the turn of a path, a woman in a Madras handker- 
 chief was chatting with a man in a blouse ; and in 
 the large avenue under the chestnut-trees some 
 grooms in vests of linen-cloth were walking horses 
 up and down. 
 
 Cisy recalled the happy days when, mounted on 
 his own chestnut horse, and with his glass stuck in 
 his eye, he rode up to carriage-doors. These recol- 
 lections intensified his wretchedness. An intoler- 
 able thirst parched his throat. The buzzing of 
 flies mingled with the throbbing of his arteries. 
 His feet sank into the sand. It seemed to him as 
 if he had been walking during a period which had 
 neither beginning nor end. 
 
 The seconds examined with keen glances each 
 side of the path they were traversing. They hesi- 
 tated as to whether they would go to the Catelan 
 Cross or under the walls of the Bagatelle. At last 
 they took a turn to the right, drawing up in a kind 
 of quincunx in the midst of the pine-trees. 
 
 The spot was chosen in such a way that the level 
 ground was cut equally into two divisions. The 
 places at which the principals in the duel were to 
 take their stand were marked out. Then Regimbart 
 opened his case. It was lined with red sheep's 
 leather, and contained four charming swords hol- 
 lowed in the centre, with highly ornamented han-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 299 
 
 dies, which were adorned with filigree. A ray of 
 light, passing through the leaves, fell on them, and 
 they appeared to Cisy to glitter like silver vipers 
 on a sea of blood. 
 
 The Citizen showed that they were of equal 
 length. He took one himself, in order to separate 
 the combatants in case of necessity. M. de Coma- 
 ing held a walking-stick. There was an interval of 
 silence. They looked at each other. All the faces 
 appeared either fierce or cruel. 
 
 Frederick had taken off his coat and his waist- 
 coat. Joseph aided Cisy to do the same. When his 
 cravat was removed a blessed medal could be seen 
 on his neck. This made Regimbart smile con- 
 temptuously. 
 
 Then M. de Comaing (in order to allow Frederick 
 another moment for reflection) tried to raise some 
 quibbles. He demanded the right to put on a glove, 
 and to catch hold of his adversary's sword with the 
 left hand. Regimbart, who was in a hurry, made no 
 objection to this. At last the Baron, addressing 
 Frederick : 
 
 " Everything depends on you, Monsieur ! There 
 is never any dishonour in acknowledging one's 
 mistakes." 
 
 Dussardier made a gesture of approval. The 
 Citizen gave vent to his indignation : 
 
 " Do you think we came here as a mere sham, 
 damn it! Be on your guard, each of you! " 
 
 The combatants were facing each other, with 
 their seconds by their sides. 
 
 He uttered the single word : " Come ! " 
 
 Cisy became dreadfully pale. The end of his 
 blade was quivering like a horsewhip. His head 
 fell back, his hands dropped helplessly, and he sank
 
 300 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 unconscious on the ground. Joseph raised him up 
 and while holding a scent-bottle to his nose, gave 
 him a good shaking. 
 
 The Vicomte reopened his eyes, then suddenly 
 grasped at his sword like a madman. Frederick 
 had held his in readiness, and now awaited him 
 with steady eye and uplifted hand. 
 
 " Stop ! stop ! " cried a voice, which came from 
 the road simultaneously with the sound of a horse 
 at full gallop, and the hood of a cab broke the 
 branches. A man bending out his head waved a 
 handkerchief, still shouting: 
 
 "Stop! stop!" 
 
 M. de Comaing, believing that this meant the in- 
 tervention of the police, lifted up his walking-stick. 
 
 "Make an end of it. The Vicomte is bleeding!" 
 
 "I?" said Cisy. 
 
 In fact, he had in his fall taken the skin off his 
 left thumb. 
 
 " But this was done by falling," observed the Cit- 
 izen. 
 
 The Baron pretended not to understand. 
 
 Arnoux jumped out of the cab. 
 
 " I have arrived too late ? No ! Thanks be to 
 God ! " 
 
 H'e threw his arms around Frederick, felt him, 
 and covered his face with kisses. 
 
 " I am the cause of it. You were defending your 
 old friend ! That's right that's right ! Never shall 
 I forget it ! How good you are ! Ah ! my own dear 
 boy ! " 
 
 He gazed at Frederick and shed tears, while he 
 chuckled with delight. The Baron turned toward 
 Joseph : 
 
 " I believe we are in the way at this little family
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 301 
 
 party. It is over, Messieurs, is it not? Vicomte, 
 put your arm into a sling. Hold on! here is my 
 silk handkerchief." 
 
 Then, with an imperious gesture: "Come! no 
 spite ! This is as it should be ! " 
 
 The two adversaries shook hands in a very luke- 
 warm fashion. The Vicomte, M. de Comaing, and 
 Joseph went off in one direction, and Frederick left 
 with his friends in the opposite direction. 
 
 As the Madrid Restaurant was not far off, Arnoux 
 proposed that they should go and drink a glass of 
 beer there. 
 
 " We might even have breakfast." 
 
 But, as Dussardier had no time to lose, they con- 
 fined themselves to taking some refreshment in the 
 garden. 
 
 They all felt that sense of satisfaction which fol- 
 lows happy denouements. The Citizen, neverthe- 
 less, was annoyed at the duel having been inter- 
 rupted at the most critical stage. 
 
 Arnoux had been apprised of it by a person 
 named Compain, a friend of Regimbart; and with 
 an irrepressible outburst of emotion he had rushed 
 to the spot to prevent it, under the impression that 
 he was the occasion of it. He begged Frederick to 
 furnish him wtih the details. Frederick, touched 
 by these proofs of affection, felt some scruples at 
 the idea of increasing his misapprehension of the 
 facts. 
 
 " For mercy's sake, don't say any more about it ! " 
 
 Arnoux thought that this reserve showed great 
 delicacy. Then, with his habitual levity, he passed 
 on to another subject. 
 
 "What news, Citizen?" 
 
 And they began talking about banking transac-
 
 302 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 tions, and the number of bills that were falling due. 
 In order to be more private, they went to another 
 table, where they exchanged whispered confidences. 
 
 Frederick could overhear the following words : 
 " You are going to back me up with your signa- 
 ture,." " Yes, but you, mind ! " " I have negotiated 
 it for three hundred ! " " A nice commission, faith ! " 
 
 In short, it was evident that Arnoux was mixed 
 up in a great many shady transactions with the 
 Citizen. 
 
 Frederick thought of mentioning the fifteen thou- 
 sand francs. But his last step forbade the utterance 
 of any reproachful words even of the mildest de- 
 scription. Besides, he felt tired himself, and this 
 was not a convenient place for talking about such 
 a thing. He put it off till some future day. 
 
 Arnoux, seated in the shade of an evergreen, was 
 smoking, and with a look of joviality in his face. He 
 raised his eyes toward the doors of private rooms 
 that looked out on the garden, remarking that he 
 had often paid visits to the house in former days. 
 
 "Probably not alone?" returned the Citizen. 
 
 " Faith, you're right there ! " 
 
 " What blackguardism you do indulge in I you, 
 a married man ! " 
 
 "Well, and what about yourself?" retorted Ar- 
 noux ; and, with an indulgent smile : " I am sure 
 that even this rascal here has a room of his own 
 somewhere into which he takes his friends." 
 
 The Citizen acknowledged this by simply shrug- 
 ging his shoulders. Then these two gentlemen 
 compared their respective tastes with regard to 
 the sex : Arnoux now preferred youth, work-girls ; 
 Regimbart hated affected women, and went in for 
 the genuine article before anything else. The
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 303 
 
 opinion which the earthenware-dealer expressed at the 
 close of this discussion was that women were not to 
 be taken seriously. 
 
 " Nevertheless, he is fond of his own wife," thought 
 Frederick, as he made his way home ; and he looked 
 on Arnoux as a coarse-grained man. He had a 
 grudge against him on account of the duel, as if it 
 had been for his sake that he had risked his life a lit- 
 tle while before. 
 
 But he felt grateful to Dussardier for his devotion. 
 Ere long the book-keeper came at his invitation to pay 
 him a visit every day. 
 
 Frederick lent him books Thiers, Dulaure, Ba- 
 rante, and Lamartine's Girondins. 
 
 The honest fellow listened to everything the other 
 said with a thoughtful air, and accepted his opinions 
 as those of a master. 
 
 One evening he arrived looking quite alarmed. 
 
 That morning, on the boulevard, a man who was 
 running so quickly that he was almost breathless, had 
 jostled against him, and having recognised him as a 
 friend of Senecal, had said to him: 
 
 " He has just been arrested ! I am making my es- 
 cape ! " 
 
 There was no doubt about it. Dussardier had 
 spent the day making inquiries. Senecal was in jail 
 charged with an attempted crime of a political nature. 
 
 The son of an overseer, he was born at Lyons, and 
 having had as his teacher a former disciple of Chalier, 
 he had, on his arrival in Paris, obtained admission into 
 the " Society of Families." His ways were known, 
 and the police kept a watch on him. He was one of 
 those who fought in the outbreak of May, 1839, and 
 since then he had remained in the background ; but, his 
 self-importance increasing, he became a fanatical fol-
 
 304 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 lower of Alibaud, mixing up his own grievances 
 against society with those of the people against mon- 
 archy, and waking up every morning in the hope of a 
 revolution which in a fortnight or a month would 
 turn the world upside down. At last, discouraged at 
 the inactivity of his brethren, enraged at the obstacles 
 that retarded the realisation of his dreams, and de- 
 spairing of the country, he entered in his capacity of 
 chemist into a conspiracy for the use of incendiary 
 bombs ; and he had been caught carrying gunpowder, 
 of which he was going to make a trial at Montmartre 
 a supreme effort to establish the Republic. 
 
 Dussardier was no less attached to the Republican 
 idea, for, from his point of view, it meant enfranchise- 
 ment and universal happiness. One day at the age 
 of fifteen in the Rue Transonain, in front of a gro- 
 cer's shop, he had seen soldiers' bayonets reddened 
 with blood and they showed human hairs pasted to 
 the butt-ends of their guns. Since that time, the Gov- 
 ernment had filled him with rage as the very incarna- 
 tion of injustice. He frequently confused the assas- 
 sins with the gendarmes ; and in his eyes a police-spy 
 was just as bad as a parricide. All the evil scattered 
 over the earth he ingeniously attributed to Power; 
 and he hated it with a deep-rooted, undying hatred 
 that held possession of his heart and made his sensi- 
 bility all the more acute. He had been dazzled by 
 Senecal's declamations. It was irrelevant whether he 
 happened to be guilty or not, or whether the attempt 
 with which he was charged could be characterised as 
 an odious proceeding! Since he was the victim of 
 Authority, it was only right to support him. 
 
 11 The Peers will condemn him, certainly ! Then 
 he will be conveyed in a prison-van, like a convict, to 
 Mont Saint-Michel, where the Government lets people
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 305 
 
 die ! Austen went mad ! Steuben killed himself ! In 
 order to transfer Barbes to a dungeon, soldiers had 
 dragged him by the legs and by the hair. They tram- 
 pled on his body, and his head rebounded along the 
 staircase at every step they took. How abominable ! " 
 
 He was choking with angry sobs, and he walked 
 about the apartment excitedly. 
 
 " In the meantime, something must be done ! For 
 my part, I don't know what to do ! Suppose we tried 
 to rescue him, eh? While they are bringing him to 
 the Luxembourg, we could throw ourselves on the es- 
 cort in the passage ! A dozen resolute men that some- 
 times is enough to accomplish it ! " 
 
 There was so much fire in his eyes that Frederick 
 was startled. He recalled Senecal's sufferings and his 
 austere life. Without feeling the same enthusiasm 
 about him as Dussardier, he experienced nevertheless 
 that admiration which is inspired by every man who 
 sacrifices himself for an idea. He felt that, if he had 
 helped this man, he would not be in his present posi- 
 tion ; and the two friends anxiously sought to devise 
 some plan whereby they could set him free. 
 
 It was impossible for them to get access to him. 
 
 Frederick read the newspapers to try to find out 
 what had become of him, and for three weeks he was 
 a constant visitor at the reading-rooms. 
 
 One day several numbers of the Flambard fell into 
 his hands. The leading article was invariably de- 
 voted to cutting up some distinguished man. After 
 that came some society gossip and scandals. Then 
 there were some chaffing observations about the 
 Odeon Carpentras, pisciculture, and prisoners under 
 sentence of death, when there happened to be any. 
 The disappearance of a packet-boat furnished mate- 
 rial for a whole year's jokes. In the third column a
 
 306 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 picture-canvasser, under the form of anecdotes or ad- 
 vice, gave some tailors' announcements, together with 
 accounts of evening parties, advertisements as to auc- 
 tions, and analysis of artistic productions, writing in 
 the same strain about a volume of verse and a pair 
 of boots. The only serious portion of it was the criti- 
 cism of the small theatres, in which fierce attacks were 
 made on two or three managers ; and the interests of 
 art were invoked on the subjects of the decorations of 
 the Rope-dancers' Gymnasium and of the actress who 
 played the part of the heroine at the Delassements. 
 
 Frederick was glancing over all these items when 
 his eyes alighted on an article entitled A Lass between 
 three Lads. It was the story of his duel related in a 
 lively Gallic style. He had no difficulty in recognising 
 himself, for he was constantly referred to as : "A 
 young man from the College of Sens who has no 
 sense." He was even represented as a poor devil 
 from the provinces, an obscure booby trying to rub 
 against persons of high rank. As for the Vicomte, he 
 was made to play a fascinating part, first by having 
 forced his way into the supper-room, then by having 
 carried off the lady, and, finally, by having behaved 
 throughout like a perfect gentleman. 
 
 Frederick's courage was not denied exactly, but it 
 was pointed out that an intermediary the protector 
 himself had arrived on the scene just in the nick of 
 time. The article concluded with this phrase, preg- 
 nant perhaps with sinister meaning: 
 
 " What is the cause of their affection ? A problem ! 
 and, as Bazile says, who the deuce is it that is de- 
 ceived here ? " 
 
 This was, beyond all doubt, Hussonnet's revenge 
 against Frederick for having refused him five thou- 
 sand francs.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 307 
 
 What was he to do? If he demanded an explana- 
 tion, the Bohemian would protest that he was inno- 
 cent, and nothing would be gained. The best course 
 was to swallow the affront in silence. Nobody, after 
 all, read the Flambard. 
 
 As he left the reading-room, he saw some people 
 standing in front of a picture-dealer's shop. They 
 were looking at the portrait of a woman, with this 
 line traced underneath in black 4etters : " Mademoi- 
 selle Rosanette Bron, belonging to Monsieur Frederick 
 Moreau of Nogent." 
 
 It was indeed she or at least, like her her full 
 face displayed, her bosom uncovered, her hair hang- 
 ing loose, and a purse of red velvet in her hand, while 
 behind her a peacock leaned his beak over her shoul- 
 der, covering the wall with his immense plumage in 
 the shape of a fan. 
 
 Pellerin had got up this exhibition in order to com- 
 pel Frederick to pay, persuaded that he was a celeb- 
 rity, and that all Paris, roused to take his part, would 
 be interested in this wretched piece of work. 
 
 Was this a conspiracy? Had the painter and the 
 journalist maliciously agreed to attack him at the same 
 time? 
 
 His duel had not put a stop to anything. He had 
 become an object of ridicule, and everyone had been 
 laughing at him. 
 
 Three days afterward, at the end of June, the North- 
 ern shares having risen fifteen francs, and he having 
 bought two thousand of them within the past month, 
 he found that he had made thirty thousand francs. 
 This caress of fortune gave him renewed self-confi- 
 dence. He said to himself that he needed nobody's 
 help, and that all his embarrassments were the result 
 of his timidity and indecision. He ought to have be-
 
 308 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 gun his intrigue with the Marechale with brutal di- 
 rectness and refused Hussonnet the very first day. 
 He should not have compromised himself with Pelle- 
 rin. And, in order to show that he was not at all 
 embarrassed, he presented himself at one of Madame 
 Dambreuse's ordinary evening parties. 
 
 In the middle of the anteroom, Martinon, who had 
 arrived at the same time, turned round : 
 
 " What ! you are* visiting here ? " with a look of 
 surprise and displeasure. 
 
 "Why not?" 
 
 And, while wondering what could be the cause of 
 such a display of hostility on Martinon's part, Fred- 
 erick made his way into the drawing-room. 
 
 The light was dim, in spite of the lamps placed in 
 the corners, for the three windows, which were wide 
 open, made three squares of black shadows parallel 
 with each other. Under the pictures, flower-stands 
 occupied, at a man's height, the spaces on the walls, 
 and a silver teapot with a samovar cast their reflec- 
 tions in a mirror on the background. There was a 
 murmur of hushed voices. Pumps could be heard 
 creaking on the carpet. He could distinguish a num- 
 ber of black coats, then a round table lighted up by 
 a large shaded lamp, seven or eight ladies in summer 
 toilets, and at some little distance Madame Dam- 
 breuse in a rocking armchair. Her dress of lilac taf- 
 feta had slashed sleeves, from which fell muslin puffs, 
 the charming tint of the material harmonising with 
 the shade of her hair; and she sat slightly back with 
 the tip of her foot on a cushion. 
 
 M. Dambreuse and an old gentleman with a white 
 head were walking from one end of the drawing-room 
 to the other. Some of the guests chatted here and 
 there, sitting on the edges of little sofas, while others,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 309 
 
 standing up, formed a circle in the centre of the apart- 
 ment. 
 
 They were talking- about votes, amendments, coun- 
 ter-amendments, M. Grandin's speech, and M. Be- 
 noist's reply. The third party had decidedly gone too 
 far. The Left Centre ought to have had a better rec- 
 ollection of its origin. Serious attacks had been made 
 on the ministry. It must be reassuring, however, to 
 see that it had no successor. In short, the situation 
 was completely analogous to that of 1834. 
 
 As these things bored Frederick, he drew near the 
 ladies. Martinon was with them, standing up, with 
 his hat under his arm, showing himself in three-quar- 
 ter profile, and looking so neat that he resembled a 
 piece of Sevres porcelain. He took up a copy of the 
 Revue des Deux Mondes which was lying on the 
 table between an Imitation and an Almanack de Gotha, 
 and spoke of a distinguished poet in a contemptuous 
 tone, remarked he was going to the " conferences of 
 Saint-Francis," complained of his larynx, swallowed 
 from time to time a pellet of gummatum, and in the 
 meantime kept talking about music, and played the 
 part of the elegant trifler. Mademoiselle Cecile, M. 
 Dambreuse's niece, who happened to be embroidering 
 a pair of ruffles, gazed at him with her pale blue eyes ; 
 and Miss John, the governess, who had a flat nose, 
 laid aside her tapestry on his account. Both of them 
 appeared to be exclaiming internally: 
 
 " How handsome he is ! " 
 
 Madame Dambreuse turned toward him. 
 
 " Please give me my fan ; it is on that pier-table 
 over there. You are taking the wrong- one! the 
 other ! " 
 
 She rose, and as he came across to her, they met in 
 the middle of the drawing-room face to face. She
 
 310 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 addressed a few sharp words to him, no doubt of a 
 reproachful character, judging by the haughty ex- 
 pression of her face. Martinon tried to smile ; then 
 he joined the circle in which grave men were holding 
 discussions. Madame Dambreuse resumed her seat, 
 and, bending over the arm of her chair, said to Fred- 
 erick : 
 
 " I saw somebody the day before yesterday who 
 was speaking about you Monsieur de Cisy. You 
 know him, don't you?" 
 
 " Yes, slightly." 
 
 Suddenly Madame Dambreuse uttered an exclama- 
 tion : 
 
 " Oh ! Duchesse, what a pleasure to see you ! " 
 
 And she advanced toward the door to meet a little 
 old lady in a Carmelite taffeta gown and a cap of gui- 
 pure with long borders. The daughter of a compan- 
 ion in exile of the Comte d'Artois, and the widow 
 of a marshal of the Empire, who had been created a 
 peer of France in 1830, she adhered to the court of a 
 former generation as well as to the new court, and 
 possessed sufficient influence to procure many things. 
 Those who stood talking stepped aside, and then re- 
 sumed their conversation. 
 
 It had now turned on pauperism, of which, accord- 
 ing to these gentlemen, all the descriptions that had 
 been given were grossly exaggerated. 
 
 " However," urged Martinon, " let us confess that 
 there is such a thing as poverty ! But the remedy de- 
 pends neither on science nor on power. It is purely 
 an individual question. When the lower classes are 
 willing to give up their vices, they will free them- 
 selves from their necessities. Let the people be more 
 moral, and they will be less poor ! " 
 
 According to M. Dambreuse, nothing could be at-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 31 1 
 
 tainecl without a superabundance of capital. There- 
 fore, the only practicable method was to intrust, " as 
 the Saint- Simonians, however, proposed (good heav- 
 ens ! there was some merit in their views let us be 
 just to everybody) to intrust, I say, the cause of 
 progress to those who can increase the public wealth." 
 By degrees they began to touch on great industrial 
 undertakings the railways, the coal-mines. And M. 
 Dambreuse, addressing Frederick, said to him in a 
 low whisper: 
 
 " You have not called to see me about that busi- 
 ness of ours? " 
 
 Frederick pleaded illness ; but, feeling that this ex- 
 cuse was too absurd, added: 
 
 " Besides, I need my ready money." 
 
 "Is it to buy a carriage?" asked Madame Dam- 
 breuse, who was brushing past him with a cup of tea 
 in her hand, and for a minute she looked him in the 
 face with her head inclined slightly over her shoul- 
 der. 
 
 She believed that he was Rosanette's lover the 
 allusion was obvious. It seemed to Frederick that all 
 the ladies were staring at him and whispering to one 
 another. 
 
 In order to get a better idea as to what they were 
 thinking, he once more approached them. On the 
 opposite side of the table, Martinon, seated near Ma- 
 demoiselle Cecile, was turning over the leaves of an 
 album. It contained lithographs representing Span- 
 ish costumes. He read the descriptive titles aloud : 
 A Lady of Seville, A Valencia Gardener, An Andalu- 
 sian Picador ; and once, when he had reached the bot- 
 tom of the page, he continued all in one breath : 
 
 " Jacques Arnoux, publisher. One of your friends, 
 no doubt ? "
 
 312 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " That is so," said Frederick, hurt by the tone he 
 had assumed. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse again interposed: 
 
 " In fact, you called here one morning about a 
 house, I believe a house belonging to his wife." 
 (This meant: "She is your mistress.") 
 
 He blushed up to his ears ; and M. Dambreuse, who 
 joined them at the same moment, made this additional 
 remark : 
 
 " You appear to be deeply interested in them." 
 
 These last words had the effect of putting Fred- 
 erick entirely out of countenance. His confusion, 
 which, he could not help feeling, was evident to them, 
 and was on the point of confirming their suspicions, 
 when M. Dambreuse drew close to him, and, in a tone 
 of great seriousness, said : 
 
 " I suppose you don't do business together? " 
 
 He protested by repeated shakes of the head, with- 
 out realising the exact meaning of the capitalist, who 
 wished to give him advice. 
 
 He felt a desire to leave ; a servant removed the 
 teacups. Madame Dambreuse was talking to a diplo- 
 matist in a blue coat. Two young girls, putting their 
 heads close together, showed each other their jewellery. 
 The others, seated in a semicircle on armchairs, kept 
 gently moving their white faces crowned with black 
 or fair hair. Nobody, in fact, minded them. Freder- 
 ick turned ; and, by a succession of long zigzags, had 
 almost reached the door, when, passing close to a 
 bracket, he remarked on the top of it a journal folded 
 in two. He drew it out a little, and read these words 
 The Flambard. 
 
 Who had brought it there? Cisy. Obviously no 
 one else. What did it matter, however? They would 
 believe already, perhaps, everyone believed in the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 313 
 
 article. What was the cause of this bitterness? He 
 wrapped himself up in ironical silence. He felt as if 
 lost in a desert. Suddenly he heard Martinon's voice : 
 ' Talking of Arnoux, I saw in the newspapers, 
 amongst the names of those accused of preparing in- 
 cendiary bombs, that of one of his employes, Senecal. 
 Is that our Senecal ? " 
 
 " The very same ! " 
 
 Martinon repeated several times very loudly: 
 
 " What ? our Senecal ! our Senecal ! " 
 
 Then questions were asked him about the conspir- 
 acy. It was assumed that his connection with the 
 prosecutor's office ought to enable him to give some 
 information on the subject. 
 
 He declared that he knew nothing. He had seen 
 him only two or three times. He positively regarded 
 him as a very ill-conditioned fellow. Frederick ex- 
 claimed indignantly: 
 
 " Not at all ! he is a very honest fellow." 
 
 " All the same, Monsieur," said a landowner, " no 
 conspirator can be an honest man." 
 
 Most of the men present had served at least four 
 governments ; and they would have sold France or 
 the human race in order to preserve their own incomes, 
 to save themselves from any discomfort or embarrass- 
 ment, or even through sheer baseness, through wor- 
 ship of force. They all insisted that political crimes 
 were inexcusable. It would be less harmful to pardon 
 those which were provoked by want. And they did 
 not fail to put forward the eternal illustration of the 
 father of a family stealing the eternal loaf of bread 
 from the eternal baker. 
 
 A gentleman occupying an administrative office even 
 went so far as to exclaim : 
 
 " For my part, Monsieur, if I were told that my
 
 314 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 own brother were a conspirator I would denounce 
 him ! " 
 
 Frederick invoked the right of resistance, and re- 
 calling some phrases that Deslatiriers had used in 
 their conversations, he referred to Delosmes, Black- 
 stone, the English Bill of Rights, and Article 2 of 
 the Constitution of '91. It was by virtue of this law 
 that the fall of Napoleon had been proclaimed. It 
 had been recognised in 1830, and inscribed at the head 
 of the Charter. Besides, when the sovereign fails to 
 fulfil his contract, justice requires that he should be 
 overthrown. 
 
 "Why, this is abominable ! " exclaimed a prefect's 
 wife. 
 
 The others remained silent, filled with vague ter- 
 ror, as if they had heard the noise of bullets. Madame 
 Dambreuse rocked herself in her chair, and smilingly 
 listened to him. 
 
 A manufacturer, who had formerly been a member 
 of the Carbonari, tried to show that the Orleans fam- 
 ily possessed good qualities. No doubt there were 
 some abuses. 
 
 "Well, what then?" 
 
 " But we should not talk abort them, my dear Mon- 
 sieur ! If you knew how all these clamourings of 
 the Opposition injure business ! " 
 
 " What do I care about business ? " said Frederick. 
 
 Frederick was exasperated by the rottenness of these 
 old men ; and, carried away by the recklessness which 
 sometimes takes possession of even the most timid, 
 he attacked the financiers, the deputies, the govern- 
 ment, the king, defended the Arabs, and gave vent to 
 a great deal of abusive language. A few of those 
 around him encouraged him in a spirit of irony: 
 
 " Go on, pray ! continue ! " whilst others muttered :
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 315 
 
 ' The deuce ! what enthusiasm ! " At last he thought 
 it was time to retire ; and, as he was going away, M. 
 Dambreuse said to him, alluding to the post of secre- 
 tary : 
 
 " Xo definite arrangement has been yet arrived at ; 
 but make haste ! " 
 
 And Madame Dambreuse : 
 
 "You'll call again soon, will you not?" 
 
 Frederick considered their parting words a last 
 mockery. He had resolved never to come back to this 
 house, or to visit any of these people again. He imag- 
 ined that he had offended them, not realising what 
 vast funds of indifference society possesses. These 
 women especially excited his indignation. Not a sin- 
 gle one of them had supported him even with a look 
 of sympathy. He felt angry with them for not having 
 been moved by his words. As for Madame Dam- 
 breuse, he found in her something at the same time 
 languid and cold, which prevented him from defining 
 her character by a phrase. Had she a lover? and, if 
 so, who was her lover? Was it the diplomatist or 
 some other ? Perhaps it was Martinon ? Impossible ! 
 Nevertheless, he experienced a sort of jealousy against 
 Martinon, and an unaccountable ill-feeling against her. 
 
 Dussardier, having called this evening as usual, was 
 awaiting him. Frederick's heart was swelling with 
 bitterness ; he unburdened it, and his grievances, 
 though vague and hard to understand, saddened the 
 honest shop -assistant. He even complained of his 
 isolation. Dussardier, after some hesitation, suggested 
 that they might call on Deslauriers. 
 
 Frederick, at the mention of the advocate's name, 
 was seized with a longing to see him again. He was 
 now living in the midst of profound intellectual soli- 
 tude, and found Dussardier's company insufficient. In
 
 316 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 reply to the latter's question, Frederick told him to 
 arrange matters any way he liked. 
 
 Deslauriers had likewise, since their quarrel, felt a 
 void in his life. He yielded without much reluctance 
 to the cordial advances which were made to him. The 
 pair embraced each other, then began chatting about 
 matters of no consequence. 
 
 Frederick's heart was touched by Deslauriers' re- 
 serve, and in order to make him a sort of reparation, 
 he told the other next day how he had lost the fifteen 
 thousand francs, without mentioning that these fif- 
 teen thousand francs had been originally intended for 
 him. The advocate, nevertheless, had a shrewd sus- 
 picion of the truth; and this misadventure, which jus- 
 tified, in his own mind, his prejudices against Arnoux, 
 entirely disarmed his rancour ; and he did not again 
 refer to the promise made by his friend on a former 
 occasion. 
 
 Frederick, misled by his silence, thought he had 
 forgotten all about it. A few days later, he asked Des- 
 lauriers whether there was any way in which he couid 
 get back his money. 
 
 They might raise the point that the prior mortgage 
 was fraudulent, and might take proceedings against 
 the wife personally. 
 
 " No ! no ! not against her ! " exclaimed Frederick, 
 and, yielding to the ex-law clerk's questions, he con- 
 fessed the truth. Deslauriers was convinced that 
 Frederick had not told him everything, no doubt 
 through a feeling of delicacy. He was hurt by this 
 want of confidence. 
 
 They were, however, on the same intimate terms 
 as before, and they found so much pleasure in each 
 other's society that Dussardier's presence was an ob- 
 stacle to their free intercourse. Under the pretence
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 317 
 
 that they had appointments, they gradually got rid 
 of him. 
 
 There are some men whose only mission amongst 
 their fellow-men is to serve as go-betweens; people 
 use them as if they were bridges, by stepping over 
 them and going on farther. 
 
 Frederick concealed nothing from his old friend. 
 He told him about the coal-mine speculation and M. 
 Dambreuse's proposal. The advocate grew somewhat 
 thoughtful. 
 
 " That's queer ! For such a post a man with a thor- 
 ough knowledge of law would be required ! " 
 
 " But you could assist me," returned Frederick. 
 
 " Yes ! hold on ! faith, yes ! certainly." 
 
 During the same week Frederick showed Deslau- 
 riers a letter from his mother. 
 
 Madame Moreau accused herself of having mis- 
 judged M. Roque, who had given a satisfactory ex- 
 planation of his conduct. Then she spoke of his 
 wealth, and of the possibility, later, of a marriage 
 with Louise. 
 
 '' That would not be a bad match," said Deslauriers. 
 
 Frederick said it was entirely out of the question. 
 Besides, Pere Roque was an old trickster. That in 
 no way affected the matter, in the advocate's opinion. 
 
 At the end of July, an unaccountable diminution in 
 value made the Northern shares fall. Frederick had 
 not sold his. He lost sixty thousand francs in one 
 day. His income was considerably reduced. He 
 would be forced to curtail his expenditure, or take up 
 some calling, or make a brilliant catch in the matri- 
 monial market. 
 
 Then Deslauriers spoke of Mademoiselle Roque. 
 There was nothing to prevent him from judging of 
 things by seeing for himself. Frederick was rather
 
 318 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 tired of city life. Provincial existence and the ma- 
 ternal roof would be a sort of recreation for him. 
 
 The appearance of the streets of Nogent, as he 
 passed through them in the moonlight, brought back 
 old memories to his mind ; and he experienced a kind 
 of pang, like persons who have just returned home 
 after a long period of travel. 
 
 At his mother's house, all the country visitors had 
 assembled as in former days MM. Gamblin, Heudras, 
 and Chambrion, the Lebrun family, " those young la- 
 dies, the Augers," and, in addition, Pere Roque, and, 
 seated opposite Madame Moreau at a card-table, Ma- 
 demoiselle Louise. She was now a woman. She 
 sprang to her feet with a cry of delight. They were 
 all in a flutter of excitement. She remained standing 
 motionless, and the pallor of her face was intensified 
 by the light issuing from four silver candlesticks. 
 
 When she resumed play, her hand was trembling. 
 This emotion was exceedingly flattering to Frederick, 
 whose pride had been sorely wounded of late. He 
 said to himself : " You, at any rate, will love me ! " 
 and, as if he were thus taking his revenge for the hu- 
 miliations he had endured in the capital, he began to 
 affect the Parisian lion, retailed all the theatrical gos- 
 sip, told anecdotes as to the doings of society, which 
 he had learned from the columns of the cheap news- 
 papers, and, in short, dazzled his fellow-townspeople. 
 
 Next morning, Madame Moreau expatiated on 
 Louise's fine qualities ; then she enumerated the woods 
 and farms of which she would be the owner. Pere 
 Roque's wealth was considerable. 
 
 He had acquired it while making investments for 
 M. Dambreuse ; for he had lent money to persons who 
 were able to give good security in the shape of mort- 
 gages, whereby he was enabled to demand additional
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 319 
 
 sums or commissions. The capital, owing to his ener- 
 getic vigilance, was in no danger of being lost. Be- 
 sides, Pere Roque never hesitated to make a seizure. 
 He bought up the mortgaged property at a low price, 
 and M. Dambreuse, having got back his money, found 
 his affairs in very good order. 
 
 But this manipulation of business matters in a way 
 which was not strictly legal compromised M. Dam- 
 breuse with his agent. He could refuse Pere Roque 
 nothing, and it was owing to the latter's solicitations 
 that he had received Frederick so cordially. 
 
 The truth was that in the depths of his soul Pere 
 Roque cherished a deep-rooted ambition. He wished 
 his daughter to be a countess ; and for the purpose of 
 gaining this object, without imperilling the happiness 
 of his child, he knew no other young man so suitable 
 as Frederick. 
 
 Through the influence of M. Dambreuse, he could 
 obtain the title of his maternal grandfather, Madame 
 Moreau being the daughter of a Comte de Fouvens, 
 and besides, being connected with the oldest families 
 in Champagne, the Lavernades and the D'Etrignys. 
 As for the Moreaus, a Gothic inscription near the 
 mills of Villeneuve-rArcheveque referred to one Ja- 
 cob Moreau, who had rebuilt them in 1596; and the 
 tomb of his own son, Pierre Moreau, first esquire of 
 the King under Louis XIV, was to be seen in the 
 chapel of Saint-Nicholas. 
 
 So much family distinction fascinated M. Roque, 
 the son of an old servant. If the coronet of a count 
 could not be had, he would console himself with some- 
 thing else ; Frederick might get a deputyship when 
 M. Dambreuse had been raised to the peerage, and 
 would then assist him in his commercial pursuits, and 
 obtain for him supplies and grants. He liked the
 
 320 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 young man personally. In short, he desired Frederick 
 for a son-in-law, because for a long time past he had 
 been smitten with this notion, which grew stronger 
 clay by day. Now he went to religious services, and 
 had won Madame Moreau over to his views, especially 
 by holding before her the prospect of a title. 
 
 So, eight days later, without there being any for- 
 mal engagement, Frederick was regarded as Mademoi- 
 selle Roque's " intended," and Pere Roque, not being 
 troubled with scruples, often left them together.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 LITTLE LOUISE BECOMES A WOMAN 
 
 FREDERICK had given Deslauriers the copy of 
 the deed of subrogation, with a power of at- 
 torney, giving him full authority to act ; but, 
 when he had ascended his own five flights of stairs and 
 sat alone in the midst of his dismal room, in his arm- 
 chair upholstered in sheep-leather, the very sight of 
 the stamped paper disgusted him. 
 
 He was sick of these things, and of restaurants at 
 thirty-two sous, of travelling in omnibuses, of en- 
 during want and making futile efforts. He picked up 
 the papers again ; there were others with them. They 
 were prospectuses of the coal-mining company, with 
 a list of the mines and the particulars as to their con- 
 tents, Frederick having given all these matters to him 
 in order to have his opinion on them. 
 
 An idea occurred to him that of presenting himself 
 at M. Dambreuse's house and applying for the post 
 of secretary. This post, it was perfectly certain, could 
 not be obtained without purchasing a certain number 
 of shares. Recognising the folly of his project, he 
 said to himself: 
 
 " Oh ! no, that would be a wrong step." 
 
 Then he ransacked his brains to think of the best 
 way in which he could set about recovering the fif- 
 teen thousand francs. Such an amount was a mere 
 trifle to Frederick. But, if he had it, what a power it 
 would be in his hands! And the ex-law clerk was 
 indignant at the other being so well off.
 
 322 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " He makes a miserable use of it. He is a selfish 
 fellow. Ah ! what do I care for his fifteen thousand 
 francs ! " 
 
 Why had he lent the money? For the sake of 
 Madame Arnoux's bright eyes. She was his mis- 
 tress ! Deslauriers had no doubt about it. " That was 
 another way in which money was useful ! " 
 
 And he was assailed by malignant thoughts. 
 
 Then he allowed his mind to dwell on Frederick's 
 personal appearance. It had always exercised over him 
 an almost feminine charm ; and he soon came to admire 
 it for a success which he realised that he was himself 
 incapable of achieving. 
 
 " Nevertheless, was not the will the main element 
 in every enterprise? and, since by its means we may 
 triumph over everything " 
 
 " Ha ! that would be droll ! " 
 
 But he felt ashamed of such treachery, and the next 
 moment : 
 
 " Pooh ! am I afraid ? " 
 
 Madame Arnoux from having heard her spoken 
 about so often was pictured in his imagination as 
 something extraordinary. The persistency of this pas- 
 sion had irritated him like a problem. Her austerity, 
 which seemed a little theatrical, now annoyed him. 
 Besides, the woman of the world or, rather, his own 
 conception of her dazzled the advocate as a symbol 
 and the epitome of a thousand pleasures. Poor though 
 he was, he hankered after luxury in its more glittering 
 form. 
 
 " After all, if he should get angry, so much the 
 worse! He has behaved too badly to me to call for 
 any anxiety about him on my part! I have no assur- 
 ance that she is his mistress ! He has denied it. 
 Therefore, I am free to act as I please ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 323 
 
 He could no longer abandon the desire of taking this 
 step. He wished to make a trial of his own strength, 
 so that one day, all of a sudden, he polished his boots 
 himself, bought white gloves, and set out, substituting 
 himself for Frederick, and almost imagining that he 
 was the other by a singular intellectual evolution, in 
 which there was, at the same time, vengeance and sym- 
 pathy, imitation and audacity. 
 
 He announced himself as " Doctor Deslauriers." 
 
 Madame Arnoux expressed surprise, as she had not 
 sent for any physician. 
 
 " Ha ! a thousand apologies ! 'tis a doctor of law ! 
 I have come in Monsieur Moreau's interest." 
 
 This name appeared to produce a disquieting ef- 
 fect on her mind. 
 
 " So much the better ! " thought the ex-law clerk. 
 
 " Since she has a fancy for him, she will like me, 
 too ! " buoying up his courage with the accepted idea 
 that it is much easier to supplant a lover than a hus- 
 band. 
 
 He referred to the fact that he had the pleasure of 
 meeting her on one occasion at the law-courts ; he 
 even mentioned the date. This remarkable memory as- 
 tonished Madame Arnoux. He went on in a tone of 
 mild affectation : 
 
 " You have already found your affairs a little em- 
 barrassing? " 
 
 She made no reply. 
 
 " Then it must be true." 
 
 He began to chat about one thing or another, her 
 house, the works ; then, noticing some medallions at 
 the sides of the mirror : 
 
 " Ha! family portraits, no doubt?" 
 
 He indicated that of an old lady, Madame Ar- 
 noux's mother.
 
 324 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " She has the appearance of an excellent woman, a 
 southern type." 
 
 And, on being met with the objection that she was 
 from Chartres : 
 
 " Chartres ! pretty town ! " 
 
 He praised its cathedrals and public buildings, and 
 coming back to the portrait, traced resemblances be- 
 tween it and Madame Arnoux, flattering her indi- 
 rectly. She did not appear to be offended at this. He 
 took confidence, and said that he had known Arnoux 
 a long time. 
 
 " He is a fine fellow, but one who compromises 
 himself. Take this mortgage, for example one can't 
 imagine such a reckless act 
 
 " Yes, I know," said she, shrugging her shoulders. 
 
 This involuntary evidence of contempt encouraged 
 Deslauriers to continue. " That kaolin business of 
 his was near turning out very badly, a thing you may 
 not be aware of, and even his reputation ' 
 
 A contraction of her brows made him pause. 
 
 Then, falling back on generalities, he expressed his 
 sympathy for the " poor women whose husbands frit- 
 tered away their means." 
 
 " But in this case, Monsieur, the means belong to 
 him. As for me, I have nothing ! " 
 
 No matter, one never knows. A woman of expe- 
 rience might be useful. He made offers of devotion, 
 exalted his own merits, while he looked into her face 
 through his shining spectacles. 
 
 She was seized with a vague torpor ; but suddenly 
 said: 
 
 " Let us look into the matter, I beg of you." 
 
 He opened a bundle of papers. 
 
 " This is Frederick's letter of attorney. With such 
 a document in the hands of a process-server, who
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 325 
 
 would make out an order, nothing could be easier; 
 in twenty-four hours " (She remained impassive; 
 he changed his manoeuvre.) 
 
 " As for me, however, I don't understand what 
 causes him to demand this sum, for, in fact, he doesn't 
 need it." 
 
 " How is that ? Monsieur Moreau has been very 
 kind." 
 
 " Oh ! granted ! " 
 
 And Deslauriers began by eulogising him, then in 
 a mild fashion disparaged him, stating that he was a 
 forgetful individual, and over-fond of money. 
 
 "I thought he was your friend, Monsieur?" 
 
 ' That does not prevent me from seeing his de- 
 fects. Thus, he showed very little recognition of 
 how shall I put it? the sympathy 
 
 Madame Arnoux was turning over the leaves of a 
 large manuscript book. 
 
 She interrupted him in order to ask him to explain 
 a certain word. 
 
 He bent over her shoulder, and his face came so 
 close to hers that he grazed her cheek. She blushed. 
 This heightened colour inflamed Deslauriers ; he hun- 
 grily kissed her head. 
 
 "What do you mean, Monsieur?" And, standing 
 against the wall, she compelled him to remain per- 
 fectly quiet under the glance of her large blue eyes, 
 glowing w r ith anger. 
 
 " Listen to me ! I love you ! " 
 
 She broke into a laugh, a shrill, contemptuous 
 laugh. Deslauriers felt himself suffocating with an- 
 ger. He restrained his feelings, and, with the expres- 
 sion of a vanquished person imploring mercy : 
 
 " Ha ! you are wrong ! As for me. I would not 
 leave you as he has left."
 
 326 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 "Of whom, pray, are you talking?" 
 
 " Of Frederick." 
 
 " Ah ! Monsieur Moreau troubles me little. I told 
 you that ! " 
 
 " Oh ! forgive me ! forgive me ! " Then, drawling 
 his words, in a sarcastic tone: 
 
 " I even fancied that you were sufficiently interested 
 in him personally to learn with pleasure " 
 
 She grew pale. The ex-law clerk added: 
 
 " He is about to be married." 
 
 " He ! " 
 
 " In a month at latest, to Mademoiselle Roque, the 
 daughter of Monsieur Dambreuse's agent. He has 
 gone down to Nogent for that purpose." 
 
 She placed her hand over her heart, as if at the 
 shock of a great blow ; then immediately rang the bell. 
 Deslauriers did not wait to be ordered out. When 
 she turned round he had disappeared. 
 
 Madame Arnoux was gasping a little from the strain 
 of her emotions. She drew near the window to get a 
 breath of air. 
 
 On the opposite side of the street, on the foot-path, 
 a packer in his shirt-sleeves was nailing down a trunk. 
 Hackney-coaches passed. She closed the window- 
 blinds and then came and sat down. As the high 
 houses in the vicinity intercepted the sun's rays, the 
 light of day stole coldly into the apartment. Her 
 children had gone out ; there was not a stir around 
 her. It seemed as if she were utterly deserted. 
 
 " He is going to be married ! Is it possible? " 
 
 And she was seized with a fit of nervous trembling. 
 
 " Why is this ? Does it mean that I love him ? " 
 
 Then all of a sudden : 
 
 " Yes ; I love him I love him ! " 
 
 It seemed to her as if she were sinking into end-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 327 
 
 less depths. The clock struck three. She listened to 
 the vibrations of the sounds as they died away. And 
 she remained on the edge of the armchair, with her 
 eyeballs fixed and an unchanging smile on her face. 
 
 The same afternoon, at the same moment, Fred- 
 erick and Mademoiselle Louise were walking in M. 
 Roque's garden at the end of the island. 
 
 Old Catherine was watching them, some distance 
 away. They walked side by side and Frederick said: 
 
 " You remember when I brought you into the 
 country? " 
 
 " How good you were to me ! " she replied. " You 
 helped me in making sand-pies, in filling my watering- 
 pot, and you rocked me in the swing ! " 
 
 " All your dolls, who had the names of queens and 
 marchionesses what has become of them? " 
 
 " Really, I don't know ! " 
 
 " And your pug Moricaud ? " 
 
 " He's drowned, poor darling ! " 
 
 " And the Don Quixote of which we coloured the 
 engravings together?" 
 
 " I have it still ! " 
 
 He recalled to her mind the day of her first com- 
 munion, and how pretty she had been at vespers, with 
 her white veil and her large wax-taper, whilst the 
 girls were all taking their places in a row around the 
 choir, and the bell was tinkling. 
 
 These memories had but little charm for Mademoi- 
 selle Roque. She had not a word to say; and, a 
 minute later : 
 
 " Naughty fellow ! never to have written me a line, 
 even once ! " 
 
 Frederick urged by way of excuse his numerous 
 occupations. 
 
 "What, then, are you doing?"
 
 328 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 He was embarrassed by the question ; then he said 
 that he was studying politics. 
 
 "Ha!" 
 
 And without questioning him further : 
 
 ' That gives you occupation ; while as for me ! " 
 
 Then she spoke about the barrenness of her exist- 
 ence, as there was nobody she could go to see, and 
 nothing to amuse her or distract her thoughts. She 
 wished to ride on horseback. 
 
 " The vicar maintains that this is improper for a 
 young lady ! How stupid these proprieties are ! Long 
 ago I could do whatever I pleased ; now, they won't 
 let me do anything ! " 
 
 " Your father, however, is fond of you ! " 
 
 " Yes ; but 
 
 She heaved a sigh, which meant : " That is not suf- 
 ficient to make me happy." 
 
 Then there was silence, except for the noise made 
 by their boots in the sand, and the murmur of falling 
 water; for the Seine, above Nogent, is cut into two 
 arms. That which turns the mills discharges in this 
 place the superabundance of its waves in order to 
 unite further down with the natural course of the 
 stream ; and coming from the bridge one could see at 
 the right, on the other bank of the river, a grassy 
 slope overlooked by a white house. At the left, in the 
 meadow, a row of poplar-trees extended, and the hori- 
 zon in front was bounded by a curve of the river. It 
 was flat, like a mirror. Large insects hovered over 
 the noiseless water. Tufts of reeds and rushes formed 
 an uneven border ; all kinds of plants which happened 
 to spring up there bloomed out in buttercups, caused 
 yellow clusters to hang down, raised trees in distaff- 
 shape with amaranth-blossoms, and made green rock- 
 ets spring up at random. In an inlet of the river white
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 329 
 
 water-lilies displayed themselves ; and a row of an- 
 cient willows, in which wolf-traps were hidden, consti- 
 tuted, on that side of the island, the sole protection 
 of the garden. 
 
 In the interior, on this side, four walls with a slate 
 coping enclosed the kitchen-garden, in which the 
 square patches, recently dug up, looked like brown 
 plates. The bell-glasses of the melons shone in a row 
 on the narrow hotbed. The artichokes, the kidney- 
 beans, the spinach, the carrots and the tomatoes suc- 
 ceeded each other to a background where asparagus 
 grew so profusely that it resembled a little wood of 
 feathers. 
 
 This piece of land had been under the Directory 
 what is called " a folly." The trees had, since then, 
 grown enormously. Clematis obstructed the horn- 
 beams, the walks were covered with moss, brambles 
 abounded on every side. Fragments of plaster statues 
 crumbled in the grass. The feet of anyone walking 
 through the place got entangled in iron-wire work. 
 There now remained of the 'pavilion only two apart- 
 ments on the ground floor, with some blue paper hang- 
 ing in shreds. Before the fagade extended an arbour 
 in the Italian style, in which a vine-tree was supported 
 on columns of brick by a rail-work of sticks. 
 
 Soon they arrived at this spot; and, as the light 
 fell through the irregular gaps on the green herbage, 
 Frederick, turning his head to speak to Louise, no- 
 ticed the shadow of the leaves on her face. 
 
 Louise had in her red hair, stuck in her chignon, a 
 needle, terminated by a glass bell in imitation of emer- 
 ald, and, despite her mourning, she wore (so artless 
 was her bad taste) straw slippers trimmed with pink 
 satin a vulgar trifle probably bought at some fair. 
 
 He remarked this, and ironically congratulated her.
 
 330 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Don't laugh at me ! " she replied. 
 
 Then surveying him altogether, from his grey felt 
 hat to his silk stockings: 
 
 " What an exquisite you are ! " 
 
 After this, she asked him to mention some books 
 which she might read. He named several ; and she 
 said: 
 
 " Oh ! how learned you are ! " 
 
 While yet very young, she had been smitten with 
 one of those childish passions which have, at the 
 same time, the purity of a religion and the violence 
 of a natural instinct. He had been her comrade, her 
 brother, her master, had diverted her mind, made her 
 heart beat more quickly, and, without any desire for 
 such a result, had poured into the very depths of her 
 being a latent and continuous intoxication. Then he 
 had left her at the moment of a tragic crisis in her 
 existence, when her mother had only just died, and 
 these two separations had been mingled together. Ab- 
 sence had idealised him in her memory. He had come 
 back with a sort of halo 'round his head ; and she gave 
 herself up ingenuously to the feelings of bliss she 
 experienced at seeing him again. 
 
 For the first time in his life Frederick felt himself 
 beloved; and this new pleasure, which did not tran- 
 scend the ordinary run of agreeable sensations, made 
 his breast swell with so much emotion that he spread 
 out his two arms and flung back his head. 
 
 A large cloud passed across the sky. 
 
 " It is going toward Paris," said Louise. " You'd 
 like to follow it wouldn't you ? " 
 
 "I? Why?" 
 
 "Who knows?" 
 
 And giving him a sharp look: 
 
 " Perhaps you have there " (she searched her mind
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 331 
 
 for the appropriate phrase) " something to engage 
 your affections." 
 
 " Oh ! I have nothing to engage my affections 
 there." 
 
 "Are you perfectly certain?" 
 
 " Why, yes, Mademoiselle, perfectly certain ! " 
 
 In less than a year there had taken place in the 
 young girl an extraordinary transformation, which as- 
 tonished Frederick. After a minute's silence he added 
 softly : 
 
 " We should ' thee ' and ' thou ' each other, as we 
 used to do long ago shall we ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " Because " 
 
 He persisted. She answered, with downcast face: 
 
 " I dare not ! " 
 
 They had reached the end of the garden, which was 
 close to the shell-bank. Frederick, in a spirit of boy- 
 ish fun, sent pebbles skimming over the water. She 
 bade him sit down. He obeyed; then, looking at the 
 waterfall : 
 
 " Tis like Niagara ! " He began talking about dis- 
 tant countries and long voyages. The idea of travel- 
 ling herself exercised a fascination over her mind. 
 She would not have been afraid either of tempests or 
 of lions. 
 
 Seated close to each other, they collected in front 
 of them handfuls of sand, then, while they were chat- 
 ting, they let it slip through their fingers, and the 
 hot wind, which rose from the plains, carried to them 
 in puffs odours of lavender, together with the smell 
 of tar from a boat behind the lock. The sun's rays 
 glittered on the cascade. The greenish blocks of 
 stone in the little wall over whhh the water slipped
 
 332 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 looked as if they were covered with a silver gauze 
 that was perpetually unfolding itself. A long strip 
 of foam gushed forth at the foot with a harmonious 
 murmur. Then it bubbled up, forming whirlpools and 
 a thousand opposing currents, which ended by inter- 
 mingling in a single limpid stream of water. 
 
 Louise said in a musing tone that she envied the 
 existence of fishes: 
 
 " It must be glorious to tumble about down there 
 at your ease, and to feel yourself caressed on every 
 side." 
 
 She shivered with sensuously enticing movements ; 
 a voice called : 
 
 " Where are you ? " 
 
 " Your maid is calling you," said Frederick. 
 
 " All right ! all right ! " Louise did not disturb 
 herself. 
 
 " She may be angry," he suggested. 
 
 " It is all the same to me ! and besides " Ma- 
 demoiselle Roque gave him to understand by a gesture 
 that the girl was entirely subject to her will. 
 
 She arose, however, and complained of a headache. 
 As they were passing in front of a large cart-shed 
 containing some faggots : 
 
 "Suppose we sat down there, under shelter ?" 
 
 He pretended not to understand this dialectic ex- 
 pression, and even chaffed her about her accent. 
 Gradually the corners of her mouth were compressed, 
 she bit her lips and stepped aside to sulk. 
 
 Frederick came over to her, swore he did not mean 
 to annoy her, and that he was very fond of her. 
 
 " Is that true ? " she exclaimed, looking at him with 
 a smile which lighted up her entire face, smeared 
 here and there with patches of bran. 
 
 He could not resist the sentiment of gallantry which
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 333 
 
 was stirred in him by her fresh youthfulness, and 
 he replied : 
 
 " Why should I tell you a lie ? Have you any 
 doubt about it, eh ? " and, as he spoke, he passed his 
 left hand round her waist. 
 
 A cry, soft as the cooing of a dove, leaped up from 
 her throat. Her head fell back, she was going to 
 faint ; he held her up. And his virtuous scruples were 
 futile. At the sight of this maiden offering herself 
 to him he was seized with fear. He assisted her to 
 take a few steps slowly. He had ceased to address 
 her in soothing words, and no longer caring to speak 
 of anything save the most trifling subjects, he talked 
 about some of the principal figures in the society of 
 Nogent. 
 
 Suddenly she repelled him, and in a bitter tone: 
 
 " You would not dare to run away with me ! " 
 
 He remained motionless, with a look of absolute 
 amazement in his face. She burst into sobs, and hid- 
 ing her face in his breast: 
 
 " Can I live without you?" 
 
 He tried to calm her emotion. She placed her two 
 hands on his shoulders in order to get a better view 
 of his face, and fixing her green eyes on his with an 
 almost fierce tearfulness : 
 
 " Will you be my husband ? " 
 
 " But," Frederick began, casting about in his inner 
 consciousness for a reply " Of course, I ask for noth- 
 ing better." 
 
 At that moment M. Roque's cap appeared from be- 
 hind a lilac-tree. 
 
 He took his young friend on a trip through the 
 district in order to show off his property ; and when 
 Frederick returned, after two cHys' absence, he found 
 three letters awaiting him at his mother's house.
 
 334 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 The first was a note from M. Dambreuse, inviting 
 him to dinner for the previous Tuesday. What was 
 the reason of this politeness? So, then, they had for- 
 given his prank. 
 
 The second was from Rosanette. She thanked him 
 for having risked his life in her behalf. Frederick 
 did not at first understand what she meant ; finally, 
 after a considerable amount of circumlocution, while 
 appealing to his friendship, relying on his delicacy, 
 as she put it, and going on her knees to him on ac- 
 count of the pressing necessity of the case, as she was 
 in want of bread, she asked him for a loan of five 
 hundred francs. He at once made up his mind to sup- 
 ply her with the amount. 
 
 The third letter, which was from Deslauriers, spoke 
 of the letter of attorney, and was long and obscure. 
 The advocate had not yet decided on any definite ac- 
 tion. He urged his friend not to disturb himself : 
 ' 'Tis useless for you to come back ! " even laying 
 particular stress on this point. 
 
 Frederick got lost in conjectures of every sort, and 
 felt anxious to return to Paris. This assumption of 
 a right to control him excited a feeling of revolt. 
 
 Moreover, he experienced that nostalgia of the 
 boulevard; and then, his mother was pressing him so 
 much, M. Roque kept revolving about him so con- 
 stantly, and Mademoiselle Louise was so affectionate, 
 that it was not possible for him to delay speedily 
 declaring his intentions. 
 
 He wanted to think, and he would be better able 
 to exercise a clear judgment of things at a distance. 
 
 In order to assign a motive for his journey, Fred- 
 erick invented a story ; and as he left home, he told 
 everyone, and believed himself, that he would soon be 
 back again.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ROSANETTE IN A NEW ROLE 
 
 HE felt no pleasure as he entered Paris at the 
 close of an August evening. The boulevards 
 seemed empty. The passers-by looked at each 
 other with scowling faces. Here and there a boiler of 
 asphalt was smoking; several houses had their blinds 
 down. He made his way to his own residence. The 
 hangings were covered with dust; and, while dining 
 all alone, Frederick was seized with a strange feeling 
 of forlornness; then his thoughts reverted to Made- 
 moiselle Roque. The idea of being married no longer 
 appeared to him preposterous. They might travel ; 
 they might go to Italy, to the East. And he saw her 
 standing on a hillock, or gazing at a landscape, or 
 leaning on his arm in a Florentine gallery while she 
 looked at the pictures. What a pleasure it would be 
 to him merely to watch this little creature developing 
 under the splendours of Art and Nature ! When she 
 had got free from the commonplace atmosphere in 
 which she lived, she would, in a little while, become a 
 charming companion. M. Roque's wealth, moreover, 
 tempted him. And yet he shrank from taking this 
 step, regarding it as a weakness, a degradation. 
 
 But he was determined (whatever he might do) on 
 changing his mode of life that is to say, to waste 
 himself no more in fruitless passions ; and he even 
 hesitated about executing the commission with which 
 he had been intrusted by Louise. This was to buy
 
 336 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 for her at Jacques Arnoux's establishment two large- 
 sized statues of many colours representing negroes, 
 like those which were at the Prefecture at Troves. 
 She knew the manufacturer's number, and would not 
 have any other. Frederick feared that, if he went 
 back to their house, he might once again fall a victim 
 to his old passion. 
 
 These reflections occupied his mind during the en- 
 tire evening; and he was just about to go to bed when 
 a woman presented herself. 
 
 ; 'Tis I," said Mademoiselle Vatnaz, with a laugh. 
 " I have come in behalf of Rosanette." 
 
 So, then, they were reconciled? 
 
 " Good heavens, yes ! I am not ill-natured, as you 
 are well aware. And besides, the poor girl it would 
 take too long to tell you all about it." 
 
 In short, the Marechale was anxious to see him ; she 
 was waiting for an answer, her letter having travelled 
 from Paris to Nogent. Mademoiselle Vatnaz did not 
 know its contents. 
 
 Then Frederick asked how the Marechale was get- 
 ting on. 
 
 She was now with a very rich man, a Russian, 
 Prince Tzernoukoff, who had seen her at the races 
 in the Champ de Mars last summer. 
 
 " He has three carriages, a saddle-horse, livery 
 servants, a groom got up in the English style, a coun- 
 try-house, a box at the Italian opera,, and a heap of 
 other things. There you are, my dear friend ! " 
 
 And the Vatnaz, as if she had profited by this 
 change of fortune, appeared prosperous and happier. 
 She took off her gloves and examined the furniture 
 and the objects of virtu in the room. She guessed, 
 their exact prices like a second-hand dealer. He 
 ought to have consulted her in order to get them
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 337 
 
 cheaper. Then she complimented him on his good 
 taste : 
 
 " Ha ! this is pretty, exceedingly nice ! There's no- 
 body like you for these ideas." 
 
 The next moment, as her eyes fell on a door close 
 to the pillar of the alcove: 
 
 " That's the way you let your friends out, eh?" 
 
 And, in a familiar fashion, she laid her finger on 
 his chin. He trembled at the touch of her long hands, 
 at the same time thin and soft. Round her wrists she 
 wore an edging of lace, and on the body of her green 
 dress lace embroidery, like a hussar. Her bonnet of 
 black tulle, with borders hanging down, concealed her 
 forehead a little. Her eyes shone underneath ; an 
 odour of patchouli escaped from her head-bands. 
 The carcel-lamp on the round table, shining down on 
 her like the footlights of a theatre, made her jaw 
 protrude. 
 
 She said to him, in an unctuous tone, while she drew 
 from her purse three square slips of paper : 
 
 " You will take these from me ? " 
 
 They were three tickets for Delmar's benefit per- 
 formance. 
 
 "What! for him?" 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz, without explanation further, 
 said that she adored him more than ever. If she were 
 to be believed, the comedian was now definitely classed 
 amongst " the leading celebrities of the age." And it 
 was not such or such a personage that he represented, 
 but the very genius of France, the People. He had 
 " the humanitarian spirit ; he understood the priest- 
 hood of Art." Frederick, in order to put an end to 
 these eulogies, paid her for the three seats. 
 
 " You need not mention this over the way. How
 
 338 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 late it is, good heavens ! I must leave. Ah ! I was 
 forgetting the address 'tis the Rue Grange-Batelier, 
 number fourteen." 
 
 And, at the door: 
 
 " Good-bye, beloved man ! " 
 
 "Beloved by whom?" asked Frederick. "What a 
 strange woman ! " 
 
 And he remembered that Dussardier had said to 
 him one day: 
 
 " Oh, she's not much ! " as if alluding to stories of 
 a disparaging character. 
 
 Next morning he repaired to the Marechale's abode. 
 It was a new house, the spring-roller blinds of which 
 projected into the street. At the head of each flight 
 of stairs there was a mirror against the wall ; before 
 each window there was a flower-stand, and all over 
 the steps extended a carpet of oilcloth ; when one 
 got inside the door, the coolness of the staircase was 
 refreshing. 
 
 A man-servant opened the door, a footman in a red 
 waistcoat. On a bench in the anteroom a woman and 
 two men, tradespeople, no doubt, were waiting as if 
 in a minister's vestibule. At the left, the door of the 
 dining-room, slightly ajar, afforded a glimpse of 
 empty bottles on the sideboards, and napkins on the 
 backs of chairs ; and parallel with it ran a corridor in 
 which gold-coloured sticks supported an espalier of 
 roses. In the courtyard below, two boys with bare 
 arms were scrubbing a landau. Their voices rose to 
 Frederick's ears, mingled with the intermittent sounds 
 made by a currycomb knocking against a stone. 
 
 The man-servant returned. " Madame will receive 
 Monsieur," and he conducted Frederick through a 
 second anteroom, and then into a large drawing-room 
 hung with yellow brocatel with twisted fringes at the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 339 
 
 corners which were joined at the ceiling, and which 
 seemed to be continued by flowerings of lustre re- 
 sembling cables. No doubt there had been an enter- 
 tainment there the night before. Some cigar-ashes 
 still remained on the pier-tables. 
 
 At last he found his way into a kind of boudoir 
 with stained-glass windows, through which the sun 
 shed a dim light. Trefoils of carved wood adorned 
 the upper portions of the doors. 
 
 Rosanette appeared, attired in a pink satin vest with 
 white cashmere trousers, a necklace of piasters, and a 
 red cap encircled with a branch of jasmine. 
 
 Frederick started back in surprise, then said he had 
 brought the thing she had been speaking about, and 
 he handed her the bank-note. She gazed at him in 
 astonishment ; and, as he still kept the note in his hand, 
 without knowing where to put it : 
 
 " Pray take it ! " 
 
 She seized it ; then, as she flung it on the divan : 
 
 " You are very kind." 
 
 She wanted it to meet the rent of a piece of ground 
 at Bellevue, which she paid in this way every year. 
 Her unceremoniousness wounded Frederick's sensi- 
 bility. However, it was as well ! this would avenge 
 him for the past. 
 
 " Sit down," said she. " There closer." And in 
 a grave tone : " In the first place, I have to thank you, 
 my dear friend, for having risked your life." 
 
 " Oh ! that's nothing ! " 
 
 " What ! Why, 'tis a very noble act ! "and the 
 Marechale showed an embarrassing sense of grati- 
 tude ; for it must have been impressed upon her mind 
 that the duel was entirely on account of Arnoux, as 
 the latter, who believed this himself, was not likely 
 to have resisted the temptation of telling her so.
 
 340 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " She is probably laughing at me," thought Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 He had nothing further to detain him, and, plead- 
 ing that he had an appointment, he rose. 
 
 " Oh ! no, stay ! " 
 
 He resumed his seat and presently complimented 
 her on her costume. 
 
 She replied, with an air of dejection : 
 
 ' The Prince likes me to dress in this fashion ! And 
 one must smoke such machines as that, too ! " Ro- 
 sanette added, pointing toward the narghileh. " Sup- 
 pose we try the taste of it? Have you any objection? " 
 
 She procured a light, and finding it hard to set fire 
 to the tobacco, she stamped impatiently with her foot. 
 Then a feeling of languor took possession of her ; and 
 she sat motionless on the divan, w y ith a cushion under 
 her arm and her body twisted a little on one side, one 
 knee bent and the other leg straight out. 
 
 The long serpent of red morocco, which formed 
 rings on the floor, rolled itself over her arm. She 
 put the amber mouthpiece between her lips, and 
 gazed at Frederick while she blinked her eyes in the 
 midst of the cloud of smoke that enveloped her. A 
 gurgling sound came from her throat as she inhaled 
 the fumes, and from time to time she murmured : 
 
 " The poor darling ! the poor pet ! " 
 
 Frederick tried to think of something agreeable to 
 talk about. The thought of Vatnaz recurred to his 
 memory. 
 
 He remarked that she appeared to him very lady- 
 like. 
 
 " Yes, upon my word," replied the Marechale. 
 " She is very lucky in having me, that same lady ! " 
 without adding another word, so much reserve was 
 there in their conversation.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 341 
 
 Each felt a sense of constraint, something that 
 formed a barrier to confidential relations between 
 them. In fact, Rosanette's vanity had been flattered 
 by the duel, of which she believed herself to be the 
 occasion. Then, she was astonished that he did not 
 hasten to take advantage of his achievement ; and, in 
 order to compel him to return to her, she had in- 
 vented this story that she wanted five hundred francs. 
 How was it that Frederick did not expect a little love 
 from her in return? This was a piece of refinement 
 that filled her with amazement, and, with a gush of 
 emotion, she said to him : 
 
 " Will you come with us to the sea-baths?" 
 
 "What does 'us' mean?" 
 
 11 Myself and my bird. I'll pass you off for a cousin 
 of mine, as in the old comedies." 
 
 " A thousand thanks ! " 
 
 " Well, then, you will take lodgings near ours." 
 
 The idea of hiding himself from a rich man humili- 
 ated him. 
 
 " No ! that is impossible." 
 
 " Just as you please ! " 
 
 Rosanette turned away with tears in her eyes. 
 Frederick noticed this, and in order to prove what an 
 interest he took in her, he said that he was delighted 
 to see her at last in a comfortable position. 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders. What, then, was 
 troubling her? Was it, perchance, that she was not 
 loved ? 
 
 " Oh ! I have always some one to love me ! " 
 
 She added : 
 
 " It remains to be seen in what way." 
 
 Complaining that she was " suffocating with the 
 heat," the Marechale unfastened her vest; and, with- 
 out any other garment round her body, save her silk
 
 342 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 chemise, she leaned her head on his shoulder so as 
 to arouse his tenderness. 
 
 A man of less introspective egoism would not have 
 given a thought at such a moment to the possibility 
 of the Vicomte, M. de Comaing, or anyone else ap- 
 pearing on the scene. But Frederick had too often 
 been the dupe of these very glances to subject himself 
 to a fresh humiliation. 
 
 She wished to know all about his relationships and 
 his amusements. She even inquired about his finan- 
 cial affairs, and offered to lend him money if he wanted 
 it. Frederick, unable to stand it any longer, took up 
 his hat. 
 
 "I'm off, my dear! I hope you'll enjoy yourself 
 thoroughly down there. An revoir!" 
 
 She opened her eyes wide ; then, in a dry tone : 
 
 "An revoir!" 
 
 He made his way out through the yellow drawing- 
 room, and through the second anteroom. There was 
 on the table, between a vase full of visiting-cards and 
 an inkstand, a chased silver chest. It was Madame 
 Arnoux's. Then he experienced a feeling of tender- 
 ness, and, at the same time, as it were, the scandal of 
 a profanation. He felt a longing to raise his hands 
 toward it, and open it. He was afraid of being seen, 
 and went away. 
 
 Frederick was virtuous. He did not go back to 
 the Arnouxs' house. He sent his man-servant to buy 
 the two negroes, having given him all the necessary 
 directions ; and the case containing them started the 
 same evening for Nogent. Next morning, as he was 
 repairing to Deslauriers' lodgings, at the turn where 
 the Rue Vivienne opened out on the boulevard, he met 
 Madame Arnoux face to face. 
 
 The first movement of each of them was to draw
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 343 
 
 back ; then the same smile came to the lips of both, 
 and they advanced toward each other. For a min- 
 ute neither uttered a single word. 
 
 The sunlight fell round her, and her oval face, her 
 long eyelashes, her black lace shawl, which showed 
 the outline of her shoulders, her gown of shot silk, 
 the bunch of violets at the corner of her bonnet; all 
 seemed to him to possess extraordinary magnificence. 
 An infinite softness poured itself out of her beautiful 
 eyes ; and in a faltering voice, uttering at random the 
 first words that came to his lips : 
 
 "How is Arnoux?" 
 
 " Well, I thank you ! " 
 
 "And the children?" 
 
 " They are very well ! " 
 
 " Ah ! ah ! What fine weather we are having, are 
 we not ? " 
 
 " Splendid, indeed ! " 
 
 " You are out shopping? " 
 
 And, with a slow inclination of the head : 
 
 " Good-bye ! " 
 
 She put out her hand, without having spoken one 
 affectionate word, and did not even invite him to din- 
 ner at her house. No matter! He would not have 
 missed this interview for the most delightful of ad- 
 ventures ; and he pondered over its sweetness as he 
 proceeded on his way. 
 
 Deslauriers, surprised at seeing him, dissembled his 
 spite ; for he cherished still some hope with regard to 
 Madame Arnoux ; and he had written to Frederick to 
 prolong his stay in the country, that he might be free 
 in his manoeuvres. 
 
 He informed Frederick, however, that he had pre- 
 sented himself at her house in order to ascertain if 
 their contract stipulated for a community of property
 
 344 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 between husband and wife : in that case, proceedings 
 might be taken against the wife ; " and she looked 
 queer when I told her about your marriage." 
 
 " Now, why such an invention ? " 
 
 " It was necessary in order to show that you must 
 have your own capital ! A person who was indifferent 
 would not have been attacked with the species of faint- 
 ing fit that she had." 
 
 " Really ? " exclaimed Frederick. 
 
 " Ha ! my fine fellow, you are betraying yourself ! 
 Come ! be honest ! " 
 
 A feeling of nervous weakness stole over Madame 
 Arnoux's lover. 
 
 " Why, no ! I assure you ! upon my word of hon- 
 our ! " 
 
 These weak denials ended by convincing Deslauriers. 
 He congratulated his friend, and asked him for de- 
 tails. Frederick gave him none, and even resisted a 
 secret yearning to concoct a few. As for the mort- 
 gage, he told the other to do nothing about it, but to 
 wait. Deslauriers thought he was wrong on this point, 
 and remonstrated with him in rather a churlish fash- 
 ion. 
 
 He was more gloomy, malignant, and irascible than 
 ever. In a year, if fortune did not change, he would 
 embark for America or blow out his brains. Indeed, 
 he appeared to be so furious against everything, and 
 so uncompromising in his radicalism, that Frederick 
 could not refrain from saying: 
 
 " Here you are going on in the same way as Sene- 
 cal ! " 
 
 Deslauriers, at this remark, informed him that Sen- 
 ecal had been discharged from Saint-Pelagie, the 
 magisterial investigation having failed to supply suf- 
 ficient evidence to justify his being sent for trial.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 345 
 
 Dussardier was so much overjoyed at his release 
 that he wanted to invite his friends to come and take 
 punch with him, and begged of Frederick to be one 
 of the party, giving the latter, at the same time, to 
 understand that he would be found in the company of 
 Hussonnet, who had proved himself a very good friend 
 to Senecal. 
 
 In fact, the Flambard had just become associated 
 with a business establishment whose prospectus con- 
 tained the following references : " Vineyard Agency. 
 Office of Publicity. Debt Recovery and Intelligence 
 Office, etc." But the Bohemian was afraid that his 
 connection with trade might injure his literary repu- 
 tation, and he had accordingly taken the mathemati- 
 cian to keep the accounts. Although the situation was 
 a poor one, Senecal would, but for it, have died of 
 starvation. Not wishing to offend the worthy shop- 
 man, Frederick accepted his invitation. 
 
 Dussardier, three days beforehand, had himself 
 waxed the red floor of his garret, beaten the arm- 
 chair, and dusted the chimney-piece, on which might 
 be seen under a globe an alabaster timepiece between 
 a stalactite and a cocoanut. As his two chandeliers 
 and his chamber candlestick were not sufficient, he had 
 borrowed two more candlesticks from the doorkeeper ; 
 and these five lights shone on the top of the chest of 
 drawers, which was covered with three napkins in or- 
 der that it might serve as a stand for some macaroons, 
 biscuits, a fancy cake, and a dozen bottles of beer. 
 At the opposite side, close to the wall, which was 
 hung with yellow paper, there was a little mahogany 
 bookcase containing the Fables of Lachambeaudie, the 
 Mysteries of Paris, and Norvins' Napoleon and, in 
 the middle of the alcove, the face of Beranger was 
 smiling out of a rosewood frame.
 
 346 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 The guests (in addition to Deslauriers and Senecal) 
 were an apothecary who had just been admitted, but 
 who had not enough capital to start in business for 
 himself, a young man of his own house, a town-trav- 
 eller in wines, an architect, and a gentleman employed 
 in an insurance office. Regimbart had been unable 
 to come. Regret was expressed at his absence. 
 
 They welcomed Frederick with enthusiasm, as they 
 all knew through Dussardier what he had said at M. 
 Dambreuse's house. Senecal contented himself with 
 putting out his hand in a dignified manner. 
 
 He remained standing near the chimney-piece. The 
 others seated, with their pipes in their mouths, lis- 
 tened to him, while he held forth on universal suf- 
 frage, from which he predicted the triumph of De- 
 mocracy and the practical application of the principles 
 of the Gospel. The hour was at hand. The banquets 
 of the reform party were becoming more numerous in 
 the provinces. Piedmont, Naples, Tuscany 
 
 ' 'Tis true," said Deslauriers, interrupting him 
 abruptly. " This cannot last much longer ! " 
 
 And he began to draw a picture of the situation. 
 We had sacrificed Holland to obtain from England 
 the recognition of Louis Philippe ; and this precious 
 English alliance was lost, owing to the Spanish mar- 
 riages. In Switzerland, M. Guizot, in tow with the 
 Austrian, maintained the treaties of 1815. Prussia, 
 with her Zollverein, was preparing trouble for us. 
 The Eastern question was still pending. 
 
 " The fact that the Grand Duke Constantine sends 
 presents to M. d'Aumale is no reason for placing con- 
 fidence in Russia. As for home affairs, never have 
 there been so many blunders, such stupidity. The 
 Government no longer even keeps up its majority. 
 Everywhere, indeed, according to the well-known ex-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 347 
 
 pression, it is naught! naught! naught! And in the 
 teeth of such public scandals," continued the advocate, 
 with his arms akimbo, " they express themselves sat- 
 isfied ! " 
 
 The allusion to a notorious vote called forth ap- 
 plause. Dussardier uncorked a bottle of beer; the 
 froth splashed on the curtains. He did not mind it. 
 He filled the pipes, cut the cake, passed it round, and 
 several times went downstairs to see about the punch ; 
 and ere long they lashed themselves into a state of 
 excitement, as they all felt equally exasperated against 
 Power. Their rage was of a violent character for no 
 other reason save that they hated injustice, and they 
 mixed up with legitimate grievances the most idiotic 
 complaints. 
 
 The apothecary groaned over the pitiable condition 
 of our fleet. The insurance agent could not tolerate 
 Marshal Soult's two sentinels. Deslauriers denounced 
 the Jesuits, who had just installed themselves publicly 
 at Lille. Senecal execrated M. Cousin ; for eclecticism, 
 by teaching that certitude can be deduced from reason, 
 developed selfishness and destroyed solidarity. The 
 traveller in wines, knowing very little about these 
 matters, remarked loudly that he had forgotten many 
 infamies : 
 
 " The royal carriage on the Northern line must have 
 cost eighty thousand francs. Who'll pay it?" 
 
 " Aye, who'll pay it? " repeated the clerk, as angrily 
 as if this amount had been drawn out of his own 
 pocket. 
 
 Then followed recriminations against the lynxes of 
 the Bourse and the corruption of officials. According 
 to Senecal they ought to go higher up, and hold re- 
 sponsible, first of all, the princes who had revived 
 the morals of the Regency period.
 
 348 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Have you not lately seen the Due de Montpen- 
 sier's friends coming back from Vincennes, no doubt 
 in a state of intoxication, and disturbing with their 
 songs the workmen of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine ? " 
 
 " There was even a cry of ' Down with the 
 thieves ! ' " said the apothecary. " I was there, and I 
 joined in the cry ! " 
 
 " So much the better ! The people are at last wak- 
 ing up." 
 
 " For my part, that case caused me some pain," 
 said Dussardier, " because it imputed dishonour to an 
 old soldier!" 
 
 " Do you know," Senecal went on, " what they have 
 discovered at the Duchesse de Praslin's house ?" 
 
 Here the door was sent flying open with a kick. 
 Hussonnet entered. 
 
 " Hail, Messeigneurs," said he, as he seated himself 
 on the bed. 
 
 No allusion was made to his article, which he was 
 sorry for having written, as the Marechale had sharply 
 reprimanded him on account of it. 
 
 He had just seen at the Theatre de Dumas the 
 Chevalier de Maison-Rouge, and said that it seemed 
 to him a stupid play. 
 
 Such a criticism surprised the democrats, as this 
 drama by its tendency, or rather by its scenery, flat- 
 tered their passions. They protested. Senecal, in or- 
 der to bring the discussion to a close, asked whether 
 the play served the cause of Democracy. 
 
 " Yes, perhaps ; but it is written in a style " 
 
 " Well, then, 'tis a good play. What does style 
 matter? 'Tis the idea!" 
 
 And, without allowing Frederick to say a word: 
 
 " Now, I was pointing out that in the Praslin 
 case "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 349 
 
 Husonnet interrupted him with his usual brusque- 
 ness: 
 
 " Ha ! here's another played-out trick ! I'm dis- 
 gusted at it ! " 
 
 " And others as well as you," returned Deslauriers. 
 
 " It has only got five papers taken. Listen, while I 
 read this paragraph." 
 
 Drawing his note-book from his pocket, he read: 
 
 ' We have, since the establishment of the best of 
 republics, been subjected to twelve hundred and 
 twenty-nine press prosecutions, from which the results 
 to the writers have been imprisonment extending over 
 a period of three thousand one hundred and forty- 
 one years, and the light sum of seven million one hun- 
 dred and ten thousand five hundred francs by way of 
 fine.' That's pleasant, eh ?" 
 
 They all sneered bitterly. 
 
 Frederick, incensed against the others, broke in : 
 
 " The Democratic Pacifique has had proceedings 
 taken against it on account of its feuilleton, a novel 
 entitled The Woman's Share." 
 
 " Come ! that's good," said Hussonnet. " Suppose 
 they objected to our having our share of the women ! " 
 
 " But what is it that's not prohibited ? " exclaimed 
 Deslauriers. " To smoke in the Luxembourg is pro- 
 hibited ; to sing the Hymn to Pius IX is prohibited ! " 
 
 " And the typographers' banquet has been inter- 
 dicted," a voice cried, with a thick articulation. 
 
 It was that of an architect, who had sat concealed 
 in the shade of the alcove, and who had remained 
 silent up to that moment. He added that, the week 
 before, a man named Rouget had been convicted of 
 offering insults to the king. 
 
 " That gurnet * is fried," said Hussonnet. 
 
 * Rouget means a gurnet. EDITOR.
 
 350 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 This joke appeared so out of place to Senecal that 
 he reproached Hussonnet for defending the Juggler of 
 the Hotel de Ville, the friend of the traitor Dumouriez. 
 
 " I ? quite the contrary ! " 
 
 Senecal considered Louis Philippe commonplace, 
 one of the National Guard types of men, all that sa- 
 voured most of the provision-shop and the cotton 
 night-cap ! And laying his hand on his heart, the Bo- 
 hemian gave utterance to the rhetorical phrases : 
 
 " It is always with a new pleasure. . . . Polish 
 nationality will not perish. . . . Our great works will 
 be pursued. . . . Give me some money for my little 
 family. . . ." 
 
 They all laughed loudly, declaring that he was a 
 delightful fellow, full of wit. Their joy was redoubled 
 at the sight of the bowl of punch which was brought in 
 from a nearby cafe. 
 
 The flames of the alcohol and those of the wax- 
 candles soon heated the apartment, and the light from 
 the garret, passing across the courtyard, illuminated 
 the side of an opposite roof, where the outlines of the 
 flue of a chimney could be traced through the darkness 
 of night. They talked in very loud tones all at the 
 same time. They had taken off their coats ; they gave 
 blows to the furniture ; they touched glasses. 
 
 Hussonnet exclaimed: 
 
 " Send up some great ladies, in order that this may 
 be more Tour de Nesles, have more local colouring, 
 and be more Rembrandtesque, by Jove ! " 
 
 And the apothecary, who kept stirring the punch in- 
 definitely, began to sing with expanded chest : 
 
 " I've two big oxen in my stable, 
 Two big white oxen " 
 
 Senecal laid his hand on the apothecary's mouth; 
 he did not like disorderly conduct; and the lodgers
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 351 
 
 pressed their faces against the window-panes, sur- 
 prised at the unwonted uproar in Dussardier's room. 
 The honest fellow was happy, and said that this re- 
 called to his mind their little parties on the Quai Na- 
 poleon in days gone by; however, they missed many 
 who used to be present at these reunions, " Pellerin, 
 for instance." 
 
 " We can do without him," observed Frederick. 
 
 And Deslauriers inquired about Martinon. 
 
 " What has become of that interesting gentleman? " 
 
 Frederick immediately giving vent to the ill-will 
 which he bore to Martinon, attacked his mental ca- 
 pacity, his character, his false elegance, his entire per- 
 sonality. He was a perfect specimen of an upstart 
 peasant ! The new aristocracy, the mercantile class, 
 was not equal to the old the nobility. He maintained 
 this, and the democrats expressed their approval, as 
 if he were a member of the one class, and they were 
 on visiting terms with the other. They were charmed 
 with him. The apothecary compared him to M. d'Al- 
 ton Shee, who, though a peer of France, defended the 
 cause of the people. 
 
 At last the time had come for taking their departure. 
 They all separated with great handshakings. Dus- 
 sardier, in a spirit of affectionate solicitude, saw Fred- 
 erick and Deslauriers home. As soon as they were in 
 the street, the advocate assumed a thoughtful air, and, 
 after a moment's silence : 
 
 " You have a great grudge, then, against Pellerin ? " 
 
 Frederick did not hide his bitterness. 
 
 The painter, in the meantime, had withdrawn 'the 
 notorious picture from the show-window. A person 
 should not let himself be put out by trifles. What 
 was the good of making an enemy? 
 
 " He has given way to a burst of ill-temper, excus-
 
 352 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 able in a man who hasn't a sou. You, of course, can't 
 appreciate that ! " 
 
 And, when Deslauriers had gone up to his own 
 apartments, the shopman did not part with Frederick. 
 He urged his friend to buy the portrait. In fact, Pel- 
 lerin, abandoning the hope of being able to intimidate 
 him, had induced them to use their influence to ar- 
 range the matter for him. 
 
 Deslauriers spoke about it again, and pressed him 
 on the point, urging that the artist's claims were rea- 
 sonable. 
 
 " I am sure that for a sum of, perhaps, five hun- 
 dred francs 
 
 "Oh, give it to him! Wait! here it is!" said 
 Frederick. 
 
 The picture arrived the same evening. It appeared 
 to him a still more atrocious daub than when he had 
 seen it first. The half-tints and the shades were dark- 
 ened under the excessive retouchings, and they seemed 
 obscured when brought into relation with the lights, 
 which, having remained very brilliant here and there, 
 destroyed the harmony of the picture. 
 
 Frederick revenged himself for having had to pay 
 for it by bitterly disparaging it. Deslauriers believed 
 Frederick's statement on the point, and expressed ap- 
 proval of his conduct, for he had always been ambi- 
 tious of constituting a phalanx of which he would be 
 the leader. Certain men take delight in persuading 
 their friends to do things which are disagreeable to 
 them. 
 
 Meanwhile, Frederick did not renew his visits to 
 the Dambreuses. He lacked the capital for the invest- 
 ment. He would have to enter into endless explana- 
 tions on the subject; he hesitated about coming to a 
 decision. Perhaps he was in the right. Nothing was
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 353 
 
 certain now, the coal-mining speculation any more than 
 other things. He would have to give up society of 
 that sort. The end of the matter was that Deslau- 
 riers was dissuaded from having anything further to 
 do with the undertaking. 
 
 From sheer force of hatred he had grown virtuous, 
 and again he preferred Frederick in a position of me- 
 diocrity. In this way he remained his friend's equal 
 and in more intimate relationship with him. 
 
 Mademoiselle Roque's commission had been very 
 badly executed. Her father wrote to him, supplying 
 him with the most precise directions, concluding his 
 letter with this piece of foolery: "At the risk of giv- 
 ing you nigger on the brain!" 
 
 Frederick could not do otherwise than call upon the 
 Arnouxs', once more. He went to the warehouse, but 
 could find nobody. The firm being in a tottering con- 
 dition, the clerks were as careless as their master. 
 
 He brushed against the shelves laden with earthen- 
 ware, which filled up the entire space in the centre of 
 the establishment; then, when he reached the lower 
 end, facing the counter, he walked with a more noisy 
 tread in order to make himself heard. 
 
 The portieres parted, and Madame Arnoux ap- 
 peared. 
 
 " What ! you here ! you ! " 
 
 " Yes," she faltered, with some agitation. " I was 
 looking for " 
 
 He saw her handkerchief near the desk, and con- 
 cluded that she had come down to her husband's ware- 
 house to have an account given her as to the business, 
 in order to clear up some matter that caused her anx- 
 iety. 
 
 " But perhaps there is something you want?" said 
 she.
 
 354 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " A mere nothing, Madame." 
 
 " These shop-assistants are intolerable ! they are al- 
 ways out of the way." 
 
 They should not be blamed. On the contrary, he 
 congratulated himself on the circumstance. 
 
 She looked at him in an ironical fashion. 
 
 " Well, and this marriage ? " 
 
 "What marriage?" 
 
 " Your own ! " 
 
 " Mine? I'll never marry as long as I live! " 
 
 She made a gesture as if to contradict his words. 
 
 ' Though, indeed, such things must be, after all ! 
 We take refuge in the commonplace, despairing of ever 
 realising the beautiful existence of which we have 
 dreamed." 
 
 " All your dreams, however, are not so candid ! " 
 
 " What do you mean ? " 
 
 " When you drive to races with women ! " 
 
 He cursed the Marechale. Then something re- 
 curred to his memory. 
 
 " But it was you who begged of me yourself to 
 visit her at one time in the interest of Arnoux." 
 
 She replied with a shake of her head : 
 
 " And you take advantage of it to amuse yourself? " 
 
 " Good God ! let us forget all these foolish things ! " 
 
 ' 'Tis right, since you are about to be married." 
 
 And she stifled a sigh, while she bit her lips. 
 
 Then he exclaimed: 
 
 " But I tell you again I am not ! Can you believe 
 that I, with my intellectual requirements, my habits, 
 am going to bury myself in the provinces, playing 
 cards, looking after masons, and walking about in 
 wooden shoes? What object, pray, could I have for 
 taking such a step? You've been told that she was 
 rich, haven't you ? Ah ! what do I care about money ?
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 355 
 
 Could I, after yearning so long for that which is most 
 lovely, tender,. enchanting, a sort of Paradise under a 
 human form, and having found this sweet ideal at 
 last, when this vision hides every other from my 
 view " 
 
 And taking her head between his two hands, he 
 kissed her on the eyelids, repeating : 
 
 " No ! no ! no ! never will I marry ! never ! never ! " 
 
 She submitted to these caresses, her mingled amaze- 
 ment and delight having bereft her of the power of 
 motion. 
 
 The door of the storeroom above the staircase fell 
 back, and she remained with outstretched arms, as if 
 to bid him keep silence. Steps draw near. Then 
 some one said from behind the door: 
 
 " Is Madame there?" 
 
 " Come in ! " 
 
 Madame Arnoux had her elbow on the counter 
 and was twisting a pen between her fingers quietly 
 when the book-keeper drew aside the portiere. 
 
 Frederick started up, as if on the point of leaving. 
 
 " Madame, I have the honour to salute you. The set 
 will be ready will it not? I may rely on this?" 
 
 She made no reply. But by thus silently becoming 
 his accomplice in the deception, she made his face flush 
 with the crimson glow of adultery. 
 
 On the following day he called again. She re- 
 ceived him ; and, in order to follow up the advantage 
 he had gained, Frederick, without any preamble, at- 
 tempted to offer some justification for the accidental 
 meeting in the Champ de Mars. It was the merest 
 chance that led to his being in that woman's company. 
 While admitting that she was pretty which really was 
 not the case how could she for even a moment ab- 
 sorb his thoughts, seeing that he loved another woman ?
 
 356 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " You know it well I told you it was so ! " 
 
 Madame Arnoux hung- down her head. 
 
 " I regret that you said such a thing." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 " The most ordinary proprieties now demand that 
 I should see you no more ! " 
 
 He protested the innocence of his love. The past 
 ought to be a guaranty as to his future conduct. He 
 had of his own accord made it a point of honour with 
 himself not to disturb her existence, not to annoy her 
 with his complaints. 
 
 " But yesterday my heart overflowed." 
 
 " We ought not to let our thoughts dwell on that 
 moment, my friend ! " 
 
 And yet, where would be the harm in two unhappy 
 beings mingling their griefs ? 
 
 " For, indeed, you are not happy any more than I 
 am ! Oh ! I know you. You have no one who re- 
 sponds to your craving for affection, for devotion. 
 I will do anything you wish ! I will not offend you ! 
 I swear to you that I will not ! " 
 
 And he fell on his knees, in spite of himself, giv- 
 ing way beneath the weight of the feelings that op- 
 pressed his heart. 
 
 " Rise ! " she said ; " I implore you to do so ! " 
 
 And she declared in an imperious tone that if he 
 did not comply with her wish, she would never see him 
 again. 
 
 " Ha ! I defy you to do it ! " returned Frederick. 
 " What is there for me in the world ? Other men 
 strive for riches, celebrity, power! But I have no 
 profession ; you are my exclusive occupation, my whole 
 wealth, the object, the centre of my existence and of 
 my thoughts. I can no more live without you than 
 without the air of heaven ! Do you not feel the as-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 357 
 
 piration of my soul ascending toward yours, and that 
 they must intermingle, and that I am dying on your 
 account ? " 
 
 Madame Arnoux trembled in every limb. 
 
 "Oh! leave me, I beg of you?" 
 
 The look of utter confusion in her face made him 
 pause. Then he advanced a step. But she drew back, 
 with her two hands clasped. 
 
 " Leave me in the name of Heaven, for mercy's 
 sake!" 
 
 And Frederick loved her so much that he went. 
 
 Soon afterward he was filled with rage against him- 
 self, declared that he must be an idiot, and, after the 
 lapse of twenty-four hours, returned. 
 
 Madame was gone. He stood at the head 
 of the stairs, stupefied with anger and indignation. 
 Arnoux appeared, and informed Frederick that his 
 wife had, that very morning, taken up her residence at 
 a little country-house of which he had become tenant 
 at Auteuil, as he had given up the house at Saint-Cloud. 
 
 " This is another of her whims. No matter, as 
 she is settled at last; and myself, too, for that mat- 
 ter, so much the better. Let us dine together this 
 evening, will you ? " 
 
 Frederick pleaded as an excuse some urgent busi- 
 ness ; then he hurried away to Auteuil. 
 
 Madame Arnoux permitted an exclamation of joy 
 to escape her lips. Then all his bitterness vanished. 
 
 He did not say one word about his love. In order 
 to inspire her with confidence in him, he even exag- 
 gerated his reserve ; and on his asking whether he 
 might call again, she replied : " Why, of course ! " put- 
 ting out her hand, which she withdrew the next mo- 
 ment. 
 
 From that time forth, Frederick increased his visits.
 
 358 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 He promised extra fares to the cabman who drove him. 
 But often he grew impatient at the slow pace of the 
 horse, and, alighting, he would make a dash after an 
 omnibus, and climb to the top of it out of breath. 
 Then with what disdain he surveyed the faces of 
 those around him, who were not going to see her! 
 
 He could recognise her house at a distance, with 
 an enormous honeysuckle covering, on one side, the 
 planks of the roof. It was a kind of Swiss chalet, 
 painted red, with a balcony. In the garden there 
 were three old chestnut-trees, and on a rising ground 
 in the centre might be seen a parasol made of thatch, 
 held up by the trunk of a tree. Under the slatework 
 lining the walls, a big vine-tree, badly fastened, hung 
 from one place to another after the fashion of a rot- 
 ten cable. The gate-bell, which it was rather difficult 
 to pull, was slow in ringing, and a long time always 
 elapsed before it was answered. On each occasion 
 he experienced a pang of suspense, a fear born of 
 irresolution. 
 
 Then his ears would be greeted with the pattering 
 of the servant-maid's slippers over the gravel, or else 
 Madame Arnoux herself would come. One day he 
 came up behind her just as she was stooping down 
 to gather violets. 
 
 Her daughter's capricious disposition had made it 
 necessary to send the girl to a convent. Her little 
 son was at school every afternoon. Arnoux made a 
 habit of taking prolonged luncheons at the Palais- 
 Royal with Regimbart and their friend Compain. 
 They did not trouble themselves about anything that 
 occurred, no matter how disagreeable it might be. 
 
 It was clearly understood between Frederick and 
 her that they should not belong to each other. By 
 this convention they were preserved from danger, and
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 359 
 
 they found it easier to unburden their hearts to each 
 other. 
 
 She told him all about her early life at Chartres, 
 which she spent with her mother, her devotion when 
 she had reached her twelfth year, then her passion for 
 music, when she used to sing till nightfall in her little 
 room, from which the ramparts could be seen. 
 
 He related to her how melancholy breedings had 
 haunted him at college, and how a woman's face shone 
 brightly in the cloudland of his imagination, so that, 
 when he first laid eyes upon her, he felt that her 
 features were familiar to him. 
 
 These conversations, as a rule, covered only the 
 years during which they had been acquainted with 
 each other. He recalled to her insignificant details 
 the colour of her dress at a certain period, a woman 
 whom they had met on a particular day, what she 
 had said on another occasion ; and she replied, quite 
 astonished : 
 
 " Yes, I remember ! " 
 
 Their tastes, their judgments, were the same. Often 
 one of them, when listening to the other, exclaimed : 
 
 " That's just the way with me." 
 
 And the other replied : 
 
 " And with me, too ! " 
 
 Then there were endless complaints about Provi- 
 dence : 
 
 " Why had it not been the will of Heaven ? If we 
 had only met ! " 
 
 " Ah ! if I had been younger ! " she sighed. 
 
 " No, but if I had been a little older." 
 
 And they pictured to themselves a life entirely 
 given up to love, sufficiently rich to fill up the vastest 
 solitudes, surpassing all other joys, defying all forms 
 of wretchedness, in which the hours would glide away
 
 360 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 in a continual outpouring' of their own emotions, and 
 which would be as bright and glorious as the palpi- 
 tating splendour of the stars. 
 
 They often stood at the top of the stairs exposed 
 to the free air of heaven. The tops of trees yellowed 
 by the autumn raised their crests in front of them 
 at unequal heights up to the edge of the pale sky ; or 
 else they walked on to the end of the avenue into a 
 summer-house whose only furniture was a couch of 
 grey canvas. Black specks stained the glass ; the walls 
 exhaled a mouldy smell ; and they remained there 
 chatting freely about all sorts of topics anything that 
 happened to arise in a spirit of hilarity. Sometimes 
 the rays of the sun, passing through the Venetian 
 blind, extended from the ceiling down to the flag- 
 stones like the strings of a lyre. Particles of dust 
 whirled amid these luminous bars. She amused her- 
 self by dividing them with her hand. Frederick 
 gently caught hold of it; and he gazed on the twin- 
 ings of her veins, the grain of her skin, and the form 
 of her fingers. Each of those ringers of hers was for 
 him more than a thing almost a person. 
 
 She gave him her gloves, and, the week after, her 
 handkerchief. She called him " Frederick ; " he 
 called her " Marie," adoring the name, which, he said, 
 was expressly made to be uttered with a sigh of ec- 
 stasy, and which seemed to contain clouds of incense 
 and scattered heaps of roses. 
 
 They soon came to an understanding as to the days 
 on which he might see her; and, leaving the house 
 as if by mere chance, she would walk along the road 
 to meet him. 
 
 She made no effort whatever to excite his love, lost 
 in that listlessness which is characteristic of intense 
 happiness. During the whole season she wore a
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 361 
 
 brown silk dressing-gown with velvet borders of the 
 same colour, a large garment, which harmonised 
 with the indolence of her attitudes and her grave 
 physiognomy. Besides, she had just reached the au- 
 tumnal period of womanhood, in which reflection is 
 combined with tenderness, in which the beginning of 
 maturity colours the face with a more intense flame, 
 when strength of feeling mingles with experience of 
 life, and when, having completely expanded, the en- 
 tire being overflows with a richness in unison with 
 its beauty. Never had she possessed more sweetness, 
 more leniency. Secure in the thought that she would 
 not err, she abandoned herself to a sentiment which 
 seemed to her justified by her sorrows. And, more- 
 over, it was so innocent and fresh ! What an abyss 
 lay between the coarseness of Arnoux and the adora- 
 tion of Frederick! 
 
 He trembled at the thought that by an imprudent 
 word he might lose all that he had gained, saying to 
 himself that an opportunity might come again, but a 
 foolish step could never be repaired. He wished that 
 she should give herself rather than that he should 
 take her. The assurance of being loved by her de- 
 lighted him like a foretaste of possession, and then the 
 charm of her person stirred his heart more than his 
 senses. It was an indefinable feeling of bliss, a sort 
 of intoxication that made him lose sight of the pos- 
 sibility of having his happiness completed. When 
 away from her, he was consumed with longing. 
 
 Soon the conversations were interrupted by long 
 spells of silence. Sometimes a sort of sexual shame 
 made them blush in each other's presence. All the 
 precautions they took to hide their love only served 
 to unveil it ; the stronger it grew, the more constrained 
 they became. The effect of this dissimulation was to
 
 362 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 intensify their sensibility. They experienced a sensa- 
 tion of delight at the odour of moist leaves; they 
 could not endure the east wind ; they got irritated 
 without apparent cause, and had melancholy fore- 
 bodings. The sound of a footstep, the creaking of 
 the wainscoting, filled them with as much terror as 
 if they had been guilty. They felt as if they were 
 being pushed toward the edge of a chasm. They were 
 surrounded by a tempestuous atmosphere ; and when 
 complaints escaped Frederick's lips, she accused her- 
 self. 
 
 " Yes, I am doing wrong. I am acting as if I were 
 a coquette ! Don't come any more ! " 
 
 Then he would repeat the same oaths, to which 
 on each occasion she listened with renewed pleasure. 
 
 His return to Paris, and the fuss occasioned by 
 New Year's Day, interrupted their meetings for a 
 time. When he returned, he had an air of greater 
 self-confidence. Every moment she went out to give 
 orders, and in spite of his entreaties she received all 
 visitors that called during the evening. 
 
 After this, they conversed about Leotade, M. Gui- 
 zot, the Pope, the insurrection at Palermo, and the 
 banquet of the Twelfth Arrondissement, which had 
 caused some disquietude. Frederick eased his mind 
 by railing against Power, for he longed, like Des- 
 lauriers, to turn the whole world upside down, so 
 soured had he now become. Madame Arnoux, on her 
 side, had become sad. 
 
 Her husband, indulging in displays of wild folly, 
 was flirting with one of the girls in his pottery works, 
 the one who was known as " the girl from Bordeaux." 
 Madame Arnoux was informed of it by Frederick. 
 He wanted to make use of it as an argument, " inas- 
 much as she was the victim of deception."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 363 
 
 " Oh ! I'm not much troubled about it," she said. 
 
 This admission on her part seemed to him to 
 strengthen the intimacy between them. Would Ar- 
 noux be suspicious with regard to them ? 
 
 " No ! not now ! " 
 
 It seemed that, one evening, he had left them talk- 
 ing together, and had afterward come back and lis- 
 tened behind the door, and as they both were chat- 
 ting at the time of matters that were of no conse- 
 quence, he had lived since in a state of complete se- 
 curity. 
 
 "With good reason, too is that not so?" said 
 Frederick bitterly. 
 
 " Yes, no doubt ! " 
 
 It would have been better for him not to have given 
 so risky an answer. 
 
 One day she was out at the hour when he usually 
 called. To him there seemed to be a sort of treason 
 in this. 
 
 He was next displeased at seeing the flowers which 
 he used to bring her always placed in a glass of fresh 
 water. 
 
 "Where, then, would you have me put them?" 
 
 " Oh ! not there ! However, they are not so cold 
 there as they would be near your heart ! " 
 
 Not long afterward he reproached her for having 
 been at the Italian opera the night before without tell- 
 ing him previously of her intention to go there. Oth- 
 ers had seen, admired, fallen in love with her, perhaps ; 
 Frederick was fastening on those suspicions of his 
 merely in order to pick a quarrel with her, to tor- 
 ment her ; for he was beginning to hate her, and the 
 very least he might expect was that she should share 
 in his sufferings ! 
 
 One afternoon, toward the middle of February, he
 
 364 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 found her in a state of great mental excitement. Eu- 
 gene had been complaining about his sore throat. 
 The doctor had told her that it was a trifling ailment 
 a bad cold, an attack of influenza. Frederick was as- 
 tonished at the child's stupefied look. Nevertheless, 
 he reassured the mother, and brought forward the 
 cases of several children of the same age who had 
 been attacked with similar ailments, and had been 
 speedily cured. 
 
 "Really?" 
 
 " Why, yes, assuredly ! " 
 
 " Oh ! how good you are ! " 
 
 And she caught his hand. He clasped hers tightly 
 in his. 
 
 "Oh! let it go!" 
 
 " What does it matter, when it is to one who sym- 
 pathises with you that you offer it? You place every 
 confidence in me when I speak of these things, but 
 you distrust me when I talk about my love ! " 
 
 " I don't doubt you on that point, my poor friend ! " 
 
 " Why this distrust, as if I were a wretch capable 
 of abusing " 
 
 "Oh! no! " 
 
 "If I had only a proof! " 
 
 "What proof?" 
 
 " The proof that might be given to the first comer 
 what you have granted to myself ! " 
 
 And he recalled to her how, on one occasion, they 
 had gone out together, on a winter's twilight, when 
 there was a fog. This seemed now a long time ago. 
 What, then, was to prevent her from showing her- 
 self on his arm before the whole world without any 
 fear on her part, and without any mental reservation 
 on his, not having anyone around them who could 
 importune them?
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 365 
 
 " Be it so ! " she said, with a promptness of deci- 
 sion that at first astonished Frederick. 
 
 But he replied, in a lively fashion: 
 
 " Would you like me to wait at the corner of the 
 Rue Tronchet and the Rue de la Ferme?" 
 
 " Good heavens, my friend ! " faltered Madame Ar 
 noux. 
 
 Without giving her time to think, he added: 
 
 " Next Tuesday, I suppose ? " 
 
 "Tuesday?" 
 
 " Yes, between two and three o'clock." 
 
 " I will be there ! " 
 
 And she turned aside her face with a movement of 
 shame. Frederick placed his lips on the nape of her 
 neck. 
 
 " Oh ! this is not right," she said. " You will make 
 me repent." 
 
 He turned away, dreading the fickleness which is 
 usual with women. Then, on the threshold, he mur- 
 mured softly, as if it were a thing that was thoroughly 
 understood : 
 
 " On Tuesday ! " 
 
 She lowered her beautiful eyes in a cautious and 
 resigned fashion. 
 
 Frederick had a plan in his mind. 
 
 He hoped that, owing to the rain or the sun, he 
 might get her to stop under some doorway, and that, 
 once there, she would enter some house. The diffi- 
 culty was to find one that would suit. 
 
 He made a search, and about the middle of the Rue 
 Tronchet he read, on a signboard, " Furnished apart- 
 ments." 
 
 The waiter, divining his object, showed him im- 
 mediately above the ground-floor a room and a closet 
 with two exits. Frederick took it for a month, and
 
 366 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 paid in advance. Then he went into three shops to 
 buy the rarest perfumery. He got a piece of imita- 
 tion guipure, to replace the horrible red cotton cov- 
 erlet ; he selected a pair of blue satin slippers, and only 
 the fear of appearing coarse checked the amount of 
 his purchases. He came back with them ; and with 
 more devotion than those show who erect processional 
 altars, he altered the position of the furniture, ar- 
 ranged the curtains himself, put heather in the fire- 
 place, and covered the chest of drawers with vio- 
 lets. He would have liked to pave the entire apart- 
 ment with gold. " To-morrow is the time," said he to 
 himself. "Yes, to-morrow! I am not dreaming!" 
 and his heart throbbed violently under the delirious 
 excitement begotten by his anticipations. Then, 
 when everything was ready, he carried off the key in 
 his pocket, as if the happiness which slept there might 
 have flown away along with it. 
 
 A letter from his mother was awaiting him : 
 
 " Why such a long absence ? Your conduct is be- 
 ginning to look ridiculous. I understand your hesi- 
 tating more or less with regard to this union. How- 
 ever, think well upon it." 
 
 And she placed the matter before him with the ut- 
 most clearness : an income of forty-five thousand 
 francs. However, " people were talking about it ; " 
 and M. Roque was expecting a definite answer. As 
 for the young girl, her position was truly most embar- 
 rassing. 
 
 " She is deeply attached to you." 
 
 Frederick threw aside the letter even before he had 
 finished reading it, and opened an epistle from Des- 
 lauriers. 
 
 " DEAR OLD BOY The pear is ripe. In accordance 
 with your promise, we may count on you. We meet
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 367 
 
 to-morrow at daybreak in the Place du Pantheon. 
 Drop into the Cafe Soufflot. It is necessary for me 
 to talk with you before the manifestation takes place." 
 
 " Oh ! I know them, with their manifestations ! A 
 thousand thanks! I have a more agreeable appoint- 
 ment." 
 
 And on the following morning, at eleven o'clock, 
 Frederick left the house. He wanted to give one 
 last glance at the preparations. Then,- who could tell 
 but that, by some chance or other, she might be at 
 the place of meeting before him? As he emerged 
 from the Rue Tronchet, he heard a great clamour be- 
 hind the Madeleine. He pressed forward, and saw at 
 the far end of the square, to the left, a number of 
 men in blouses and well-dressed people. 
 
 A manifesto published in the newspapers had sum- 
 moned to this spot all who had subscribed to the ban- 
 quet of the Reform Party. The Ministry had, almost 
 without a moment's delay, posted up a proclamation 
 prohibiting the meeting. The Parliamentary Opposi- 
 tion had, on the previous evening, disclaimed any con- 
 nection with it ; but the patriots, who were unaware 
 of this resolution on the part of their leaders, had 
 come to the meeting-place, followed by a great crowd 
 of spectators. A deputation from the schools had 
 made its way, a little earlier, to the house of Odillon 
 Barrot. It was now at the residence of the Minister 
 for Foreign Affairs ; and nobody could tell whether 
 the banquet would take place, whether the Government 
 would carry out its threat, and whether the National 
 Guards would make their appearance. People were as 
 furious against the deputies as against Power. The 
 crowd was growing bigger and bigger, when sud- 
 denly the strains of the Marseillaise rang through 
 the air.
 
 368 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 It was the students' column which had just arrived 
 on the scene. They marched at an ordinary walking 
 pace, in double file and in good order, with angry 
 faces, bare hands, and all shouting at intervals : 
 
 " Long live Reform ! Down with Guizot ! " 
 
 Frederick's friends were there, sure enough. They 
 would have seen him and dragged him along with 
 them. He quickly sought refuge in the Rue de 1'Ar- 
 cade. 
 
 When the students had taken two turns round the 
 Madeleine, they went in the direction of the Place de 
 la Concorde. It was full of people ; and, at a distance, 
 the crowd pressed close together, had the appearance 
 of a field of dark ears of corn swaying to and fro. 
 
 At the same moment, some soldiers of the line 
 ranged themselves in battle-array at the left-hand side 
 of the church. 
 
 The groups remained standing there, however. In 
 order to scatter them, some police-officers in civilian 
 dress seized the most riotous in a brutal fashion, and 
 carried them off to the guard-house. Frederick, in 
 spite of his indignation, remained silent ; he feared 
 being arrested along with the others, and thus miss- 
 ing Madame Arnoux. 
 
 A little while afterward the helmets of the Mu- 
 nicipal Guards appeared. They kept striking about 
 them with the flat side of their sabres. A horse fell. 
 The people made a rush forward to save him, and as 
 soon as the rider was in the saddle, they all ran away. 
 
 Then there was a great silence. The thin rain, 
 which had moistened the asphalt, was no longer fall- 
 ing. Clouds floated past, gently swept on by the wind. 
 
 Frederick began running through the Rue Tronchet. 
 looking before and behind him* 
 
 At length it struck two o'clock.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 369 
 
 " Ha ! now is the time ! " said he to himself. " She 
 is leaving- her house; she is approaching," and a 
 minute after, " she has had plenty of time to be 
 here." 
 
 Up to three he tried to keep quiet. " No, she is 
 not going to be late a little patience ! " 
 
 And for want of something to do he examined the 
 .most interesting shops that he passed a bookseller's, 
 a saddler's and a mourning ware-house. Soon he 
 knew the names of the different books, the various 
 kinds of harness, and every sort of material. The 
 persons who were in attendance in these establish- 
 ments, from seeing him continually going to and fro, 
 were at first surprised, and then alarmed, and finally 
 they closed up their shop-fronts. 
 
 No doubt she had met with some obstacle, and 
 must be enduring pain at the delay. But what de- 
 light would be afforded in a very short time ! For 
 she would come that was certain. " She has given 
 me her promise ! " In the meantime an intolerable 
 feeling of anxiety was gradually seizing hold of him. 
 Impelled by an absurd idea, he returned to his hotel, 
 as if he expected to find her there. At the same mo- 
 ment, she might have reached the street in which 
 their meeting was to take place. He rushed out. 
 There was no one. And he resumed his tramp up and 
 down the footpath. 
 
 He stared at the gaps in the pavement, the mouths 
 of the gutters, the candelabra, and the numbers above 
 the doors. The most trifling objects became for him 
 companions, or rather, ironical spectators, and the 
 uniform fronts of the houses seemed to him to have a 
 pitiless aspect. He was suffering from cold feet. He 
 felt as if he were about to succumb to the dejection 
 which was crushing: him. The reverberation of his
 
 370 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 footsteps vibrated through his brain as he tramped to 
 and fro. 
 
 When he saw by his watch that it was four o'clock, 
 he experienced, as it were, a sense of vertigo, a feel- 
 ing of despair. He tried to repeat some verses to him- 
 self, to make a calculation, no matter of what sort, 
 to invent some kind of story. Impossible ! He was 
 beset by the image of Madame Arnoux ; he felt a 
 longing to run in order to meet her. But what road 
 ought he to take so that they might not pass each 
 other? 
 
 He went up to a messenger, put five francs into his 
 hand, and told him to go to the Rue de Paradis to 
 Jacques Arnoux's residence and inquire " if Madame 
 were at home." Then he took up his post at the cor- 
 ner of the Rue de la Ferme and of the Rue Tronchet, 
 so as to be able to look down both of them at the same 
 time. On the boulevard, in the background of the 
 scene before him, confused masses of people were 
 gliding past. He could distinguish, every now and 
 then, the aigrette of a dragoon or a woman's hat ; and 
 he strained his eyes in an effort to recognise the 
 wearer. A child in rags, exhibiting a jack-in-the-box, 
 asked him, with a smile, for alms. 
 
 The man with the velvet vest reappeared. " The 
 porter had not seen her going out." What had kept 
 her in? If she were ill he would have been told about 
 it. Was it a visitor? Nothing was easier than to 
 say that she was not at home. He struck his forehead. 
 
 " Ah ! I am stupid ! Of course, this political out- 
 break prevented her from coming ! " 
 
 He was relieved by this apparently natural explan- 
 ation. Then, suddenly : " But her quarter of the city 
 is quiet." And a horrible doubt seized hold of his 
 mind: " Suppose she never intended coming at all, and
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 371 
 
 merely gave me a promise in order to get rid of me? 
 No, no ! " What had prevented her from coming was, 
 no doubt, some extraordinary mischance, one of those 
 occurrences that baffled all one's anticipations. In 
 that case she would have written to him. 
 
 He sent the hotel errand-boy to his residence in the 
 Rue Rum fort to find out whether there was a letter 
 waiting for him there. 
 
 No letter had been brought. This absence of news 
 reassured him. 
 
 He drew omens from the number of coins which he 
 took out of his pocket by chance, from the physiog- 
 nomies of the passers-by, and from the colour of dif- 
 ferent horses ; and when the augury was unfavourable, 
 he forced himself to disbelieve it. In his sudden out- 
 bursts of rage against Madame Arnoux, he abused her 
 in muttering tones. Then came fits of weakness that 
 nearly made him swoon, followed, all of a sudden, by 
 fresh rebounds of hopefulness. She would appear 
 presently ! She was there, behind his back ! He turned 
 round there was nobody there ! Once he saw, about 
 thirty paces away, a woman of the same height, with 
 a dress of the same kind. He came up to her it 
 was not she. It struck five half-past five six. The 
 gas-lamps were lighted. Madame Arnoux had not 
 come. 
 
 The night before, she had dreamed that she had 
 been, for some time, on the footpath in the Rue 
 Tronchet. She was waiting for something the nature 
 of which she was not quite clear about, but which, 
 nevertheless, was of great importance ; and, without 
 knowing why, she was afraid of being seen. But a 
 pestiferous little dog kept barking at her furiously 
 and biting at the hem of her dress. Every time she 
 shook him off he returned stubbornly to the attack,
 
 372 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 always barking more violently than before. Madame 
 Arnoux woke up. The dog's barking continued. She 
 strained her ears to listen. It came from her son's 
 room. She rushed to the spot in her bare feet. It was 
 the child himself who was coughing. His hands were 
 burning, his face flushed, and his voice singularly 
 hoarse. Every minute he found it more difficult to 
 breathe. She remained there till daybreak, bent over 
 the coverlet watching him. 
 
 At eight o'clock the drum of the National Guard 
 reminded M. Arnoux that his comrades were expect- 
 ing his arrival. He dressed himself quickly and 
 went out, promising that he would immediately send 
 their doctor, M. Colot, whose house he would be 
 passing. 
 
 At ten o'clock, when M. Colot did not make his 
 appearance, Madame Arnoux despatched her chamber- 
 maid for him. The doctor was away in the country; 
 and the young man who was taking his place had gone 
 out on some business. 
 
 Eugene kept his head on one side on the bolster 
 with contracted eyebrows and dilated nostrils. His 
 pale little face was whiter than the sheets; and there 
 escaped from his larynx a wheezing caused by his 
 oppressed breathing, which gradually grew shorter, 
 dryer, and more metallic. His cough resembled the 
 noise made by those barbarous mechanical inventions 
 known as barking toy-dogs. 
 
 Madame Arnoux was seized with terror. She rang 
 the bell violently, calling out for help, and exclaiming : 
 
 " A doctor ! a doctor ! " 
 
 Ten minutes later came an elderly gentleman in a 
 white tie, and with grey whiskers well trimmed. He 
 put several questions as to the habits, the age, and the 
 constitution of the young patient, and studied the case
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 373 
 
 with his head thrown back. Then he wrote out a 
 prescription. 
 
 The calm manner of this old man was intolerable. 
 He smelt of aromatics. She would have liked to beat 
 him. He said he would return in the evening. 
 
 The horrible coughing soon began again. Some- 
 times the child sat up suddenly. Convulsive move- 
 ments shook the muscles of his breast; and in his ef- 
 forts to breathe his stomach shrank in as if he were 
 suffocating after running too hard. Then he sank 
 down, with his head thrown back and his mouth wide 
 open. With infinite pains, Madame Arnoux tried to 
 make him swallow the contents of the phials, hippo 
 wine, and a potion containing trisulphate of antimony. 
 But he pushed away the spoon, groaning in a feeble 
 panting voice. He seemed to be blowing out his 
 words. 
 
 At intervals she re-read the prescription. The ob- 
 servations of the formulary frightened her. Perhaps 
 the apothecary had made some mistake. Her power- 
 lessness filled her with despair. M. Colot's pupil ar- 
 rived. 
 
 He was a young man of modest demeanour, new to 
 medical work, and he made no attempt to disguise his 
 opinion about the case. He was at first undecided as 
 to what should be done, for fear of compromising 
 himself, and finally he ordered pieces of ice to be ap- 
 plied to the sick child. It took a long time to get ice. 
 The bladder containing it burst. It was necessary to 
 change the little boy's shirt. This disturbance brought 
 on an attack of even a more dreadful character than 
 any of the previous ones. 
 
 The child began tearing off the linen round his 
 neck, as if he were trying to remove the obstacle that 
 was choking him; and he scratched the walls and
 
 374 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 seized the curtains of his bedstead, trying to get a 
 point of support to assist him in breathing. 
 
 His face was now of a bluish hue, and his entire 
 body, bathed in a cold perspiration, appeared to be 
 growing lean. His haggard eyes were fixed with ter- 
 ror on his mother. He threw his arms round her 
 neck, and hung there desperately ; and repressing her 
 rising sobs, she gave utterance in a broken voice to 
 loving words : 
 
 " Yes, my pet, my angel, my treasure ! " 
 
 Then came intervals of calm. 
 
 She went to look for playthings a punchinello, a 
 collection of images, and spread them out on the bed 
 in an effort to amuse him. She even attempted to 
 sing. 
 
 She began a little ballad which she used to sing 
 years before, when she was nursing him, wrapped up 
 in swaddling-clothes in this same little upholstered 
 chair. But a shiver ran all over his frame, just as 
 when a wave is agitated by the wind. The balls of 
 his eyes protruded. She thought he was about to 
 die, and turned away her eyes to avoid seeing him. 
 
 The next moment she felt strength enough in her to 
 look at him. He was still living. The hours suc- 
 ceeded each other dull, mournful, interminable, hope- 
 less, and she no longer counted the minutes, save by 
 the progress of this mental anguish. The shakings of 
 his chest threw him forward as if to shatter his body. 
 Finally, he vomited something strange, which was 
 like a parchment tube. What could it be? She fan- 
 cied that he had evacuated one end of his entrails. 
 But he now began to breathe freely and regularly. 
 This improved appearance alarmed her more than 
 anything else that had happened. She was sitting like 
 one petrified, her arms hanging by her sides, her eyes
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 375 
 
 fixed, when M. Colot suddenly entered. The child, in 
 his opinion, was saved. 
 
 She did not realise what he meant at first, and made 
 him repeat the words. Was not this one of those 
 consoling phrases which were customary with medi- 
 cal men? The doctor departed with an air of tran- 
 quillity. Then it seemed as if the cords that pressed 
 round her heart were loosened. 
 
 " Saved! Is it possible?" 
 
 Suddenly the thought of Frederick presented itself 
 to her mind in a clear and inexorable fashion. This 
 was a warning sent to her by Providence. But the 
 Lord in His mercy had not completed her chastise- 
 ment. What expiation could she offer at another time 
 if she were to persevere in this love-affair? No doubt 
 insults would be cast at her son on her account; and 
 Madame Arnoux saw him a young man, wounded in a 
 combat, carried off on a litter, dying. At one spring 
 she threw herself on the little chair, and, letting her 
 soul escape toward the heights of heaven, she vowed 
 to God that she would sacrifice, as a holocaust, her 
 first real passion, her only weakness as a woman. 
 
 Frederick had returned home. He remained in his 
 armchair, without energy enough to curse her. A sort 
 of slumber fell upon him, and, in the midst of his 
 nightmare, he could hear the rain falling, still under 
 the impression that he was there outside on the foot- 
 path. 
 
 Next morning, unable to resist the temptation which 
 assailed him, he again sent a messenger to Madame 
 Arnoux's house. 
 
 Whether the true explanation happened to be that 
 the fellow did not deliver his message or that she had 
 too many things to say to explain herself in a word 
 or two, the same answer was brought back. This in-
 
 376 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 science was too great ! A feeling of angry pride took 
 possession of him. He swore to himself that he would 
 never again cherish even a desire ; and, like a group 
 of leaves swept away by a hurricane, his love disap- 
 peared. He experienced a sense of relief, a feeling of 
 stoical joy, then a need of violent action ; and he 
 walked at random through the streets. 
 
 Men from the faubourgs were marching past armed 
 with guns and old swords, some of them wearing red 
 caps, and all singing the Marseillaise or the Girondins. 
 Here and there a National Guard was hurrying to 
 join his mayoral department. Drums could be heard 
 rolling in the distance. A conflict was going on at 
 Porte Saint-Martin. There was something lively and 
 warlike in the air. Frederick kept continuously walk- 
 ing on. The excitement of the great city made him 
 
 gay. 
 
 On the Frascati hill he got a glimpse of the Mare- 
 chale's windows : a wild idea occurred to him, a re- 
 action of youthfulness. He crossed the boulevard. 
 
 The yard-gate was just being closed ; and Delphine, 
 who was in the act of writing on it with a piece of 
 charcoal, " Arms given," said to Frederick in an eager 
 tone : 
 
 " Ah ! Madame is in a nice state ! She discharged 
 a groom who insulted her this morning. She thinks 
 there's going to be pillage everywhere. She is fright- 
 ened to death ! and the more so as Monsieur has 
 gone ! " 
 
 "What Monsieur?" 
 
 " The Prince ! " 
 
 Frederick entered the boudoir. The Marechale was 
 there, in her petticoat, her hair hanging down her back 
 in disorder. 
 
 " Ah ! thanks ! You are going to save me ! 'tis the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 377 
 
 second time ! You are one of those who never count 
 the cost ! " 
 
 " A thousand pardons ! " said Frederick, catching 
 her round the waist with both hands. 
 
 "How now? What are you doing?" stammered 
 the Marechale, at the same time surprised and cheered 
 by his manner. 
 
 He replied: 
 
 " I am in the fashion ! I'm reformed ! " 
 
 She let herself fall back on the divan, and continued 
 laughing under his kisses. 
 
 They spent the afternoon looking out of the window 
 at the people in the street. Then he took her to dine 
 at the Trois Freres Provengaux. The meal was a 
 long and dainty one. They returned on foot for want 
 of a vehicle. 
 
 At the announcement of a new Ministry, Paris had 
 changed. Everyone was in a state of delight. People 
 promenaded about the streets, and every floor was 
 illuminated with lamps, so that it seemed as if it were 
 broad daylight. The soldiers returned to their bar- 
 racks, worn out and looking quite depressed. The 
 people saluted them with exclamations of " Long live 
 the Line ! " 
 
 They continued on their way without making any 
 response. Among the National Guard, on the con- 
 trary, the officers, flushed with enthusiasm, brandished 
 their sabres, vociferating: 
 
 " Long live Reform ! " 
 
 And every time the two lovers heard this word 
 they laughed. 
 
 Frederick told droll stories, and was quite gay. 
 
 Passing through the Rue Duphot, they reached the 
 boulevards. Venetian lanterns hanging from the 
 houses formed wreaths of flame. Underneath, a con-
 
 378 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 fused swarm of people kept in constant motion. In the 
 midst of those moving shadows could be seen, here 
 and there, the steely glitter of bayonets. There was a 
 great uproar. The crowd was so compact that it was 
 impossible to make one's way back in a straight line. 
 They were entering the Rue Caumartin, when sud- 
 denly behind them burst forth a noise like the crack- 
 ling of an immense piece of silk being torn across. It 
 was the discharge of musketry on the Boulevard des 
 Capucines. 
 
 " Ha ! a few of the citizens are getting a crack," 
 said Frederick calmly ; for there are situations in which 
 a man of the least cruel disposition is so much de- 
 tached from his fellow-men that he would see the 
 entire human race exterminated without a single throb 
 of the heart. 
 
 The Marechale was clinging to his arm with her 
 teeth chattering. She declared that she could not walk 
 twenty steps farther. Then, by a refinement of hatred, 
 in order the better to offer an outrage in his own soul 
 to Madame Arnoux, he took Rosanette to the hotel in 
 the Rue Tronchet, and brought her up to the room 
 which he had got ready for the other. 
 
 The flowers were still fresh. The guipure was 
 spread out on the bed. He drew out from the cup- 
 board the little slippers. Rosanette considered this 
 forethought on his part a great proof of his delicacy 
 of sentiment. About one o'clock she was awakened 
 by distant rolling sounds, and she found that he was 
 sobbing bitterly with his head buried in the pillow. 
 
 " What is troubling you, darling ? " 
 
 " 'Tis the extreme joy," said Frederick. " I have 
 been too long waiting for you ! "
 
 BOOK II
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 
 
 [Concluded] 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY DAYS 
 
 A DISCHARGE of musketry aroused Frederick 
 from sleep; and, in spite of Rosanette's en- 
 treaties, he determined to go and see what was 
 happening. He hurried down to the Champs-Elysees, 
 where shots were being fired. At the corner of the 
 Rue Saint-Honore some men in blouses ran past him, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 " No ! not that way ! to the Palais-Royal ! " 
 Frederick followed them. The grating of the Con- 
 vent of the Assumption had been torn away. A little 
 farther on there were three paving-stones in the mid- 
 dle of the street, the beginning of a barricade, no 
 doubt; then fragments of bottles and bundles of iron- 
 wire, to obstruct the cavalry; and there rushed sud- 
 denly out of a lane a tall young man of pale com- 
 plexion, with his black hair flowing over his shoulders, 
 and with an odd sort of pea-coloured swaddling-cloth 
 thrown round him. In his hand he held a long mili- 
 tary musket, and he dashed along on the tips of his 
 slippers with the air of a somnambulist and the nimble- 
 ness of a tiger. At intervals a detonation could be 
 heard. 
 On the evening of the day before, the sight of a wag-
 
 2 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 gon containing five corpses picked up from amongst 
 those that were lying on the Boulevard des Capucines 
 had changed the disposition of the people ; and, while 
 at the Tuileries the aides-de-camp succeeded each 
 other, and M. Mole, having set about the composition 
 of a new Cabinet, did not come back, and M. Thiers 
 was making efforts to constitute another, and while 
 the King was cavilling and hesitating, and finally as- 
 signed the post of commander-in-chief to Bugeaud in 
 order to prevent him from making use of it, the in- 
 surrection was organising itself in a formidable man- 
 ner, as if it were directed by a single arm. 
 
 Men inspired with a kind of frantic eloquence were 
 engaged in haranguing the populace at the street- 
 corners, others were in the churches ringing the toc- 
 sin as loudly as ever they could. Lead was cast for 
 bullets, cartridges were rolled about. The trees on 
 the boulevards, the urinals, the benches, the gratings, 
 the gas-burners, everything was torn off and thrown 
 about. Paris, that morning, was covered with barri- 
 cades. The resistance which was offered was of short 
 duration, so that at eight o'clock the people, by volun- 
 tary surrender or by force, had got possession of five 
 barracks, nearly all the municipal buildings, the most 
 favourable strategic points. Of its own accord, with- 
 out any effort, the monarchy was rapidly dissolving, 
 and now an attack was made on the guard-house of 
 the Chateau d'Eau, in order to liberate fifty prisoners, 
 who were not there. 
 
 Frederick was forced to stop at the entrance to the 
 square. It was filled with groups of armed men. The 
 Rue Saint-Thomas and the Rue Fromanteau were oc- 
 cupied by companies of the Line. The Rue de Valois 
 Was choked up by an enormous barricade. The smoke 
 which fluttered about at the top of it partly opened.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 3 
 
 Men kept running overhead, making violent gestures ; 
 they vanished from sight; then the firing was again 
 renewed. It was answered from the guard-house 
 without anyone being visible. Its windows, protected 
 by oaken window-shutters, were pierced with loop- 
 holes ; and the monument with its two stories, its two 
 wings, its fountain on the first floor and its little door 
 in the centre, was beginning to be speckled with white 
 spots under the shock of the bullets. The three steps 
 in front of it remained unoccupied. 
 
 At his side a man in a Greek cap, with a cartridge- 
 box over his knitted vest, was disputing with a woman 
 with a Madras neckerchief round her shoulders. She 
 said to him : 
 
 " Come back now ! Come back ! " 
 
 " Leave me alone ! " replied the husband. " You 
 can easily mind the porter's lodge by yourself. I ask, 
 citizen, is this fair? I have on every occasion done 
 my duty in 1830, in '32, in '34, and in '39! Now 
 they're fighting again. I must fight ! Go away ! " 
 
 And the porter's wife ended by yielding to his re- 
 monstrances and to those of a National Guard near 
 them a man of forty, whose simple face was adorned 
 with a circle of white beard. He loaded his gun and 
 fired while talking to Frederick, as calm in the midst 
 of the outbreak as a horticulturist in his garden. A 
 young lad with a packing-cloth thrown over him was 
 trying to coax this man to give him a few caps, so that 
 he might make use of a gun he had, a fine fowling- 
 piece which a " gentleman " had made him a present 
 of. 
 
 " Catch on behind my back," said the good man, 
 " and keep yourself from being seen, or you'll get your- 
 self killed ! " 
 
 The drums sounded for the charge. Sharp cries,
 
 4 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 hurrahs of triumph burst forth. A continual ebbing 
 to and fro made the multitude sway backward and 
 forward. Frederick, caught between two thick masses 
 of people, did not move an inch, all the time fasci- 
 nated and entertained by the scene around him. The 
 wounded who sank to the ground, the dead lying at 
 his feet, did not seem like persons really wounded or 
 really dead. The impression left on him was that he 
 was looking on at a show. 
 
 In the midst of the surging throng, above the sea 
 of heads, could be seen an old man in a black coat, 
 mounted on a white horse with a velvet saddle. He 
 held in one hand a green bough, in the other a pa- 
 per, and he kept shaking them continuously ; but at 
 length, abandoning all hope of obtaining a hearing, 
 he withdrew from the scene. 
 
 The soldiers of the Line had gone, and only the 
 municipal troops were left to defend the guard-house. 
 A wave of dauntless spirits dashed up the steps; they 
 were flung down ; others came on to replace them, 
 and the gate resounded under blows from iron bars. 
 The municipal guards did not give way. A waggon, 
 stuffed full of hay, and burning like a gigantic torch, 
 was dragged against the walls. Faggots were speedily 
 brought, then straw, and a barrel of spirits of wine. 
 The fire mounted up to the stones along the wall ; the 
 building began to send forth smoke on all sides like 
 the crater of a volcano ; and at its summit, between 
 the balustrades of the terrace, huge flames escaped 
 with a harsh noise. The first story of the Palais- 
 Royal was occupied by National Guards. Shots were 
 fired through every window in the square ; the bul- 
 lets whizzed, the water of the fountain, which had 
 burst, mingled with the blood, forming little pools on 
 the ground. People slipped in the mud over clothes,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION '5 
 
 shakos, and weapons. Frederick felt something soft 
 under his foot. It was the hand of a sergeant in a 
 grey great-coat, stretched on his face in the stream 
 that ran along the street. Fresh bands of people con- 
 tinually came up, pushing on the combatants at the 
 guard-house. The firing became quicker. The wine- 
 shops were open ; people went into them from time to 
 time to smoke a pipe and drink a glass of beer, and 
 then came back again to fight. A lost dog began to 
 howl. This made the people laugh. 
 
 Frederick was shaken by the impact of a man fall- 
 ing on his shoulder with a bullet through his back ; he 
 could hear the death-rattle in his throat. At this shot, 
 perhaps directed against himself, he felt stirred up to 
 rage ; and he was plunging forward when a National 
 Guard stopped him. 
 
 " Tis useless ! the King has just gone ! If you 
 don't believe me, go and see for yourself ! " 
 
 This assurance calmed Frederick. The Place du 
 Carrousel had a tranquil aspect. The Hotel de Nantes 
 stood there as firm as ever; and the houses in the 
 rear; the dome of the Louvre in front, the long gal- 
 lery of wood at the right, and the waste plot of ground 
 that ran unevenly as far as the sheds of the stall- 
 keepers were, so to speak, steeped in the grey hues of 
 the atmosphere, where indistinct murmurs seemed to 
 mingle with the fog; while, at the other side of the 
 square, a stiff light, falling through the parting of 
 the clouds on the faqade of the Tuileries, outlined all 
 its windows in white patches. Near the Arc de Tri- 
 omphe a dead horse lay on the ground. Behind the 
 gratings groups consisting of five or six persons were 
 chatting. The doors leading into the chateau were 
 open, and the servants at the entrances allowed the 
 people to enter.
 
 6' GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Below stairs, in a kind of little parlour, bowls of 
 cafe an lait were passed round. A few sat down to 
 the table and made merry; others remained standing, 
 and amongst the latter was a hackney-coachman. He 
 snatched up with both hands a glass vessel full of 
 powdered sugar, cast a restless glance right and left, 
 and then began to eat voraciously, with his nose stuck 
 into the mouth of the vessel. 
 
 At the foot of the great staircase a man was writ- 
 ing his name in a register. 
 
 Frederick recognised him by his back. 
 
 " Hallo, Hussonnet ! " 
 
 " Yes, 'tis I," replied the Bohemian. " I am in- 
 troducing myself at court. This is a nice joke, isn't 
 it?" 
 
 " Suppose we go upstairs ? " 
 
 And they reached presently the Salle des Mare- 
 chaux. The portraits of those illustrious generals, 
 save that of Bugeaud, which had been pierced through 
 the stomach, were all intact. They were represented 
 leaning on their sabres with a gun-carriage behind 
 each of them, and in formidable attitudes in contrast 
 with the occasion. A large timepiece indicated that it 
 was twenty minutes past one. 
 
 Suddenly the Marseillaise resounded. Hussonnet 
 and Frederick looked over the balusters. It was the 
 people. They rushed up the stairs, shaking with a 
 dizzying, wave-like motion bare heads, or helmets, or 
 red caps, or else bayonets or human shoulders with 
 such impetuosity that somebody disappeared even- 
 now and then in the swarming mass, which was mount- 
 ing up without a moment's pause, like a river com- 
 pressed by an equinoctial tide, with a continuous roar 
 under an irresistible impulse. When they reached the 
 top of the stairs, they were scattered, and their chant
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 7 
 
 died away. Nothing could any longer be heard but 
 the tramp of feet intermingled with the chopping 
 sound of many voices. The crowd not being in a mis- 
 chievous mood, contented themselves with looking 
 about them. But, from time to time, an elbow, press- 
 ing too hard, broke through a pane of glass, or else 
 a vase or a statue fell from a bracket down on the 
 floor. The wainscotings cracked under the pressure 
 of people against them. Every face was flushed ; the 
 perspiration was rolling down their features in large 
 beads. Hussonnet remarked : 
 
 " Heroes have not a good smell." 
 
 " Ah ! you are provoking," returned Frederick. 
 
 And, pushed forward in spite of themselves, they 
 entered an apartment in which a dais of red velvet 
 rose as far as the ceiling. On the throne below sat 
 a representative of the proletariat in effigy with a 
 black beard, his shirt gaping open, a jolly air, and the 
 stupid look of a baboon. Some climbed up the plat- 
 form to sit in his place. 
 
 " What a myth ! " said Hussonnet. " There you 
 see the sovereign people ! " 
 
 The armchair was raised up on the hands of a num- 
 ber of persons and passed across the hall, swaying 
 from side to side. 
 
 " By Jove, 'tis like a boat ! The Ship of State is 
 tossing about in a stormy sea! Let it dance the can- 
 can ! Let it dance the cancan ! " 
 
 They had drawn it toward a window, and in the 
 midst of hisses, they launched it out. 
 
 " Poor old chap ! " said Hussonnet, as he saw the 
 effigy falling into the garden, where it was speedily 
 picked up, in order to be afterward carried to the Bas- 
 tile to be burned. 
 
 Then a mad joy burst forth, as if, in place of the
 
 8 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 throne, a future of boundless happiness had arrived ; 
 and the people, less through a spirit of vindictiveness 
 than to enjoy their right of possession, broke or tore 
 the glasses, the curtains, the lustres, the tapers, the 
 tables, the chairs, the stools, the entire furniture, in- 
 cluding the very albums and engravings, and the cor- 
 bels of the tapestry. Since they were the victors, 
 they must needs amuse themselves ! The common 
 herd ironically wrapped themselves up in laces and 
 cashmeres. Gold fringes were rolled round the sleeves 
 of blouses. Hats with ostriches' feathers ' adorned 
 blacksmiths' heads, and ribbons of the Legion of 
 Honour supplied waistbands for prostitutes. Each 
 person satisfied his or her caprice ; some danced, oth- 
 ers drank. In the queen's apartment a woman glossed 
 her hair with pomatum. Behind a folding-screen two 
 lovers played cards. Hussonnet drew Frederick's at- 
 tention to an individual who was smoking a dirty pipe 
 with his elbows resting on a balcony ; and the popu- 
 lar frenzy redoubled with the continuous crash of 
 broken porcelain and pieces of crystal, which, as they 
 rebounded, made sounds resembling those produced 
 by the plates of musical glasses. 
 
 Then their fury was overshadowed. A vulgar 
 curiosity made them rummage all the dressing-rooms, 
 all the recesses. Liberated convicts thrust their arms 
 into the beds of princesses, and rolled themselves on 
 the top of them, to console themselves for not being 
 able to embrace their owners. Others, with sinister 
 faces, wandered about silently, looking for something 
 to steal, but too great a multitude was there. Through 
 the bays of the doors could be seen in the suite of 
 apartments only the dark mass of people between the 
 gilding of the walls under a cloud of dust. Every 
 breast was beating-. The heat became more and more
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 9 
 
 suffocating; and the two friends, afraid of being sti- 
 fled, seized the opportunity of escaping, making their 
 way out. 
 
 In the antechamber, standing on a heap of gar- 
 ments, appeared a girl of the town as a statue of 
 Liberty, motionless, her grey eyes wide open a fear- 
 ful sight. 
 
 They had taken about three steps outside the cha- 
 teau when a company of the National Guards, in 
 great-coats, advanced toward them, and, removing 
 their foraging-caps from their slightly bald heads, 
 they bowed very low to the people. At this testi- 
 mony of respect, the ragged victors bridled up. Hus- 
 sonnet and Frederick experienced a certain pleasure 
 from it as well as the rest. 
 
 They were filled with ardour. They went back to 
 the Palais-Royal. In front of the Rue Fromanteau, 
 soldiers' corpses were heaped up on the straw. They 
 passed close to the dead without a single quiver of 
 emotion, feeling a certain pride in being able to con- 
 trol themselves. 
 
 The Palais overflowed with people. In the inner 
 courtyard seven piles of wood were burning. Pianos, 
 chests of drawers, and clocks were hurled out through 
 the windows. Fire-engines sent streams of water up 
 to the roofs. Some vagabonds tried to cut the hose 
 with their sabres. Frederick urged a pupil of the Poly- 
 technic School to interfere. The latter did not under- 
 stand him, and, moreover, appeared to be idiotic. All 
 around, in the two galleries, the populace, having got 
 possession of the cellars, gave themselves up to a hor- 
 rible carouse. Wine flowed in streams around peo- 
 ple's feet; the mudlarks drank out of the tail-ends of 
 the bottles, and shouted songs and oaths as they stag- 
 gered along.
 
 10 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Come out of this," said Hussonnet ; " I am dis- 
 gusted with the people." 
 
 All over the Orleans Gallery the wounded lay on 
 mattresses on the ground, with purple curtains over 
 them as coverlets; and the small shopkeepers' wives 
 and daughters from the quarter brought them broth 
 and linen. 
 
 " No matter ! " said Frederick ; " after all, the peo- 
 ple are sublime." 
 
 The great vestibule was filled with a whirlwind of 
 furious individuals. Men tried to ascend to the up- 
 per stories in order to continue the work of whole- 
 sale destruction. National Guards, on the steps, strove 
 to keep them back. The most intrepid was a chas- 
 seur, who stood with bare head, his hair bristling, 
 and his straps in pieces. His shirt caused a swelling 
 between his trousers and his coat, and he struggled 
 desperately in the midst of the others. Hussonnet, 
 who had a sharp sight, recognised Arnoux. 
 
 Then they went into the Tuileries garden, so as to 
 be able to breathe more freely. They sat down on a 
 bench and remained for some minutes with their eyes 
 closed, so stunned that they had not the energy to 
 say a word. The people who were passing stopped 
 to inform them that the Duchesse d'Orleans had been 
 appointed Regent, and that it was all over. They were 
 feeling that species of comfort which follows rapid 
 denouements, when at the windows of the attics in 
 the chateau appeared men-servants tearing their liv- 
 eries to pieces. They flung their torn clothes into 
 the garden, as a token of renunciation. The people 
 hooted at them, and then they retired. 
 
 The attention of Frederick and Hussonnet was dis- 
 tracted by a tall fellow who was walking quickly be- 
 tween the trees with a musket on his shoulder. A
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 11 
 
 cartridge-box was pressed against his pea-jacket; a 
 handkerchief was wound round his forehead under 
 his cap. He turned his head to one side. It was 
 Dussardier ; and casting himself into their arms : 
 
 " Ah ! what good fortune, my dear old friends ! " 
 without being able to say another word, so breathless 
 was he from fatigue. 
 
 He had been on his feet for the last twenty-four 
 hours. He had been engaged at the barricades of 
 the Latin Quarter, had fought in the Rue Rabuteau, 
 had saved three dragoons' lives, had entered the Tuil- 
 eries with Colonel Dunoyer, and, after that, had re- 
 paired to the Chamber, and then had gone to the Hotel 
 de Ville. 
 
 " I have come right from it ! all goes well ! the 
 people are victorious ! the workmen and the employ- 
 ers are embracing one another ! Ha ! if you knew 
 what I have seen ! what brave fellows ! what a fine 
 sight it was ! " 
 
 And without noticing that they had no arms : 
 
 " I was quite certain of finding you there ! This 
 has been a bit rough no matter ! " 
 
 A drop of blood ran down his cheek, and in answer 
 to the questions put to him by the two others: 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis nothing ! a slight scratch from a bayo- 
 net ! " 
 
 " Still, you ought to take care of yourself." 
 
 "Pooh! I am substantial! What does this matter? 
 The Republic is proclaimed! We'll be happy hence- 
 forth ! Some journalists, who were talking near me 
 just now, said they were going to liberate Poland and 
 Italy! No more kings! You understand? The en- 
 tire land free ! the entire land free ! " 
 
 And with one comprehensive glance at the horizon, 
 he spread out his arms triumphantly. Just then a
 
 12 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 long file of men rushed over the terrace on the 
 water's edge. 
 
 " Ah, deuce take it ! I was forgetting. I must be 
 off. Good-bye ! " 
 
 He went off shouting with them, while brandishing 
 his musket : 
 
 " Long live the Republic ! " 
 
 From the chimneys of the chateau escaped enor- 
 mous whirlwinds of black smoke which bore sparks 
 along with them. The ringing of the bells sent out 
 over the city a wild and startling alarm. Right and 
 left, in every direction, the conquerors discharged 
 their weapons. 
 
 Frederick, though he was not a warrior, felt the 
 Gallic blood bounding in his veins. The magnetism 
 of the public enthusiasm had seized hold of him. He 
 inhaled with a voluptuous delight the stormy atmos- 
 phere filled with the odour of gunpowder ; and he quiv- 
 ered under the effluvium of an immense love, a su- 
 preme and universal tenderness, as if the heart of all 
 humanity were throbbing in his breast. 
 
 Hussonnet said, with a yawn : 
 
 " It might be time, perhaps, to go and instruct the 
 populace." 
 
 Frederick accompanied him to his correspondence- 
 ofifice in the Place de la Bourse ; and he began to com- 
 pose for the Troves newspaper an account of recent 
 events in a lyric style a veritable tit-bit to which he 
 attached his signature. Then they dined together at 
 a tavern. Hussonnet was pensive ; the eccentricities 
 of the Revolution surpassed his own. 
 
 After leaving the cafe, they repaired to the Hotel 
 de Ville to learn the news, and the boyish impulses 
 which were natural to him had got the upper hand 
 once more. He scaled the barricades like a chamois,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 13 
 
 and answered the sentinels with broad jokes of a patri- 
 otic flavour. 
 
 They heard the Provisional Government proclaimed 
 by torchlight. At last, Frederick got back to his house 
 at midnight, overcome with fatigue. 
 
 "Well," said he to 'his man-servant, while the lat- 
 ter was undressing him, "are you satisfied?" 
 
 " Yes, no doubt, Monsieur ; but I don't like to see 
 the people dancing to music." 
 
 Xext morning, when he awoke, Frederick thought 
 of Deslauriers. lie hastened to his friend's lodgings. 
 He ascertained that the advocate had just left Paris, 
 having been appointed a provincial commissioner. At 
 the soiree given the night before, he had come into 
 contact with Ledru-Rollin, and laying siege to him in 
 the name of the Law Schools, had snatched from him 
 a post, a mission. However, the doorkeeper explained, 
 he had promised to write giving his address the fol- 
 lowing week. 
 
 After this, Frederick went to see the Marechale. 
 She received him. She resented his desertion of her. 
 Her bitterness disappeared when he repeatedly as- 
 sured her that peace was restored. 
 
 All was quiet now. There was no reason to be 
 alarmed. He kissed her, and she declared herself in 
 favour of the Republic, as his lordship the Archbishop 
 of Paris had already done, and as the magistracy, the 
 Council of State, the Institute, the marshals of France, 
 Changarnier, M. de Falloux, all the Bonapartists, all 
 the Legitimists, and a considerable number of Orlean- 
 ists were about to do with a swiftness indicative of 
 marvellous zeal. 
 
 The overthrow of the monarchy had been so rapid 
 that, as soon as the first stupefaction that succeeded it 
 had passed away, there was amongst the middle, class
 
 14 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 a feeling of astonishment at the fact that they were 
 still alive. The summary execution of some thieves, 
 who were shot without a trial, was regarded as an 
 act of signal justice. For a month Lamartine's phrase 
 was repeated with reference to the red flag, " which 
 had only gone the round of the "Champ de Mars, while 
 the tricoloured flag," etc. ; and all placed themselves 
 under its shade, each party seeing amongst the three 
 colours only its own, and firmly determined, as soon 
 as it gained the most power, to tear away the two 
 others. 
 
 As business was suspended, anxiety and love of 
 gaping drove everyone into the open air. The care- 
 less style of costume generally adopted lessened dif- 
 ferences of social position. Hatred disguised itself; 
 expectations were openly indulged in ; the multitude 
 seemed full of good-nature. The pride of having 
 maintained their rights shone in the people's faces. 
 They displayed the gaiety of a carnival, the man- 
 ners of a bivouac. Nothing could be more amusing 
 than the aspect of Paris during the first days that fol- 
 lowed the Revolution. 
 
 Frederick gave the Marechale his arm, and they 
 strolled along through the streets. She was highly di- 
 verted by the display of rosettes in every buttonhole, 
 by the banners hung from every window, and the bills 
 of various colours that were posted upon the walls; 
 she threw some money here and there into the collec- 
 tion-boxes for the wounded, which were placed on 
 chairs in the middle of the pathway. Then she stopped 
 before some caricatures representing Louis Philippe 
 as a pastry-cook, as a mountebank, as a dog, or as a 
 leech. But she was a little frightened at the sight of 
 Caussidiere's men with their sabres and scarfs. At 
 other times it was a tree of Liberty that was being
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 15 
 
 planted. The clergy vied with each other in blessing 
 the Republic ; they were escorted by servants in gold 
 lace ; and the populace thought this very fine. The 
 most frequent sight was that of deputations from no 
 matter what, going to demand something at the Hotel 
 de Ville every trade, every industry, was looking 
 to the Government to put a complete end to its mis- 
 eries. Some, it is true, went to offer advice or con- 
 gratulate, or merely to pay a little visit, and to see the 
 Government machine performing its functions. 
 
 One day, about the middle of the month of 
 March, as they were passing the Pont d'Arcole, do- 
 ing some commission for Rosanette in the Latin Quar- 
 ter, Frederick saw approaching a column of indivi- 
 duals with oddly-shaped hats and long beards. At its 
 head, beating a drum, walked a negro who had for- 
 merly been an artist's model ; and the man who bore 
 the banner, on which this inscription floated in the 
 wind, " Artist-Painters," was no other than Pellerin. 
 
 He signed to Frederick to wait for him, and then 
 reappeared five minutes afterward, having some time 
 before him ; for the Government was, at that moment, 
 receiving a deputation from the stone-cutters. He 
 was going with his colleagues to ask for the creation 
 of a Forum of Art, a kind of Exchange where the 
 interests of ^Esthetics would be discussed. Sublime 
 masterpieces would be produced, as a result of the 
 workers amalgamating their talents. Ere long Paris 
 would be covered with gigantic monuments. He 
 would decorate them. He had even begun a figure 
 of the Republic. One of his comrades had come to 
 take it, for they were closely followed by the deputa- 
 tion from the poulterers. 
 
 " What stupidity ! " growled a voice in the crowd. 
 " Always some humbug, nothing strong ! "
 
 16 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 It was Regimbart. He did not salute Frederick, 
 but took advantage of the occasion to give vent to his 
 own bitterness. 
 
 The Citizen spent his days wandering about the 
 streets, pulling his moustache, rolling his eyes about, 
 accepting and spreading any dismal news that was 
 communicated to him ; and he had only two phrases : 
 " Take care ! we're going to be run over ! " or else, 
 " Why, confound it ! they're juggling with the Re- 
 public ! " He was dissatisfied with everything, and 
 especially with the fact that we had not regained our 
 natural frontiers. 
 
 The very name of Lamartine made him shrug his 
 shoulders. He did not consider Ledru-Rollin " suffi- 
 cient for the problem," referred to Dupont (of the 
 Eure) as an old numbskull, Albert as an idiot, Louis 
 Blanc as an Utopist, and Blanqui as an exceedingly 
 dangerous man ; and when Frederick asked him what 
 he would advise as the best thing to do, he replied, 
 pressing his arm till he nearly bruised it: 
 
 " To take the Rhine, I tell you ! to take the Rhine, 
 damn it ! " 
 
 Then he blamed the Reactionaries. They were tak- 
 ing off the mask. The sack of the Chateau of Neuilly 
 and Suresne, the fire at Batignolles, the troubles at 
 Lyons, all the excesses and all the grievances, were 
 just now being exaggerated by having superadded to 
 them Ledru-Rollin's circular, the forced currency of 
 bank-notes, the fall of the funds to sixty francs, and, 
 to crown all, as the supreme wrong, a final blow, a 
 culminating horror, the duty of forty-five centimes ! 
 And over and above all these things, there was So- 
 cialism ! Although these theories, as new as the game 
 of goose, had been discussed sufficiently for forty years 
 to fill a number of libraries, they terrified the wealth-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 17 
 
 ier citizens, as if they had been a hailstorm of aerolites ; 
 and they expressed indignation at them by reason of 
 that hatred which the advent of every idea provokes, 
 simply because it is an idea an odium from which it 
 derives subsequently its glory, and which causes its 
 enemies to be always beneath it, however lowly it may 
 be. 
 
 Then Property attained in the public regard the 
 level of Religion, and was confounded with God. The 
 attacks made on it appeared to them a sacrilege; al- 
 most a species of cannibalism. In spite of the most 
 humane legislation that ever existed, the spectre of 
 '93 reappeared, and the chopper of the guillotine vi- 
 brated in every syllable of the word " Republic," which 
 did nofprevent them from despising it for its weak- 
 ness. France, no longer feeling herself in command 
 of the situation, was beginning to shriek with terror, 
 like a blind man without his stick or an infant that 
 has lost its nurse. 
 
 Of all Frenchmen, M. Dambreuse was the most 
 alarmed. The new condition of things threatened his 
 fortune, but, more than anything else, it deceived his 
 experience. A system so good ! a king so wise ! was 
 it possible? The ground was tottering beneath their 
 feet! Next morning he dismissed three of his ser- 
 vants, sold his horses, bought a soft hat to go out into 
 the streets, considered even letting his beard grow ; 
 and he remained at home, prostrated, reading over and 
 over again newspapers most hostile to his own ideas; 
 he was plunged into such gloomy reflections that even 
 the jokes about the pipe of Flocon had not the power 
 to make him smile. 
 
 As a supporter of the late reign, he was dreading 
 the vengeance of the people on his estates in Cham- 
 pagne, when Frederick's lucubration fell into his
 
 18 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 hands. Then it occurred to his mind that his young 
 friend was a very useful personage, and that he might 
 be able, if not to serve him, at least to protect him ; 
 so, one morning, M. Dambreuse presented himself at 
 Frederick's residence, accompanied by Martinon. 
 
 This visit, he said, had no purpose save that of see- 
 ing him for a little while, and having a chat. He re- 
 joiced at the events that had happened, and with his 
 whole heart adopted " our sublime motto, Liberty, 
 Equality and Fraternity," having always been at heart 
 a Republican. If he voted under the other regime with 
 the Ministry, it was simply in order to accelerate an 
 inevitable downfall. He even inveighed against M. 
 Guizot, " who has got us into a nice hobble, we must 
 admit ! " By way of retaliation, he spoke enthusiasti- 
 cally about Lamartine, who had shown himself " mag- 
 nificent, upon my word of honour, when, with ref- 
 erence to the red flag " 
 
 " Yes, I know," said Frederick. After which he de- 
 clared that his sympathies were on the side of the 
 working-men. 
 
 " For, in fact, more or less, we are all working- 
 men ! " And he carried his impartiality so far as to 
 admit that Proudhon had a certain amount of logic 
 in his views. " Oh, a great deal of logic, deuce take 
 it!" 
 
 Then, with the disinterestedness of a superior mind, 
 he chatted about the exhibition of pictures, at which 
 he had seen Pellerin's work. He considered it origi- 
 nal and well-painted. 
 
 Martinon supported all he said with expressions of 
 approval; and likewise was of his opinion that it was 
 necessary to rally boldly to the side of the Republic. 
 And he talked about the husbandman, his father, and 
 assumed the part of the peasant, the man of the peo-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 19 
 
 pie. They soon came to the question of the elections 
 for the National Assembly, and the candidates in 
 the arrondissement of La Fortelle. The Opposition 
 candidate had no chance. 
 
 " You should take his place ! " said M. Dambreuse. 
 
 Frederick protested. 
 
 "But why not?" For he would obtain the suf- 
 frages of the Extremists owing to his personal opin- 
 ions, and that of the Conservatives on account of his 
 family ; " And perhaps also," added the banker, with 
 a smile, " thanks to my influence, in some measure." 
 
 Frederick urged as an obstacle that he did not know 
 how to set about the matter. 
 
 Nothing was easier if he only got himself recom- 
 mended to the patriots of the Aube by one of the clubs 
 of the capital. All he had to do was to read out, 
 not a profession of faith such as might be seen every 
 day, but a serious statement of principles. 
 
 " Bring it to me ; I am familiar with what goes 
 down in the locality ; and you can, I say again, render 
 great services to the country to us all to myself." 
 
 In such times people ought to assist each other, 
 and, if Frederick had need of anything, he or his 
 friends 
 
 "Oh, a thousand thanks, my dear Monsieur!" 
 
 " You'll do as much for me in return, mind ! " 
 
 Decidedly, the banker was a decent man. 
 
 Frederick could not refrain from pondering over 
 his advice; and soon he was dazzled by a kind of 
 dizziness. 
 
 The great figures of the Convention passed before 
 his mental vision. It seemed to him that a splendid 
 dawn was about to rise. Rome, Vienna and Berlin 
 were in a state of insurrection, and the Austrians had 
 been driven out of Venice. All Europe was agitated.
 
 20 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Now was the time to make a plunge into the move- 
 ment, and perhaps to accelerate it ; and then he was 
 fascinated by the costume which it was said the depu- 
 ties would wear. Already he could see himself in a 
 waistcoat with lapels and a tricoloured sash ; and this 
 itching, this hallucination, became so violent that he 
 talked the matter over with Dambreuse. 
 
 The honest fellow's enthusiasm had not abated. 
 
 " Certainly sure enough. Offer yourself." 
 
 Frederick, nevertheless, consulted Deslauriers. 
 
 The idiotic opposition which trammelled the com- 
 missioner in his province had augmented his Liberal- 
 ism. He at once replied, exhorting Frederick with 
 the utmost vehemence to present himself as a candi- 
 date. However, as the latter was desirous of having 
 the approval of a great number of persons, he con- 
 fided the thing to Rosanette one day, when Mademoi- 
 selle Vatnaz happened to be present. 
 
 She was one of those Parisian spinsters who, every 
 evening, when they have given their lessons or tried 
 to sell little sketches, or to dispose of poor manu- 
 scripts, return to their own homes with mud on their 
 petticoats, prepare their own dinner, which they eat 
 by themselves, and then, with their soles resting on 
 a foot-warmer, by the light of a filthy lamp, dream of 
 love, a family, a hearth, wealth all that they lack. 
 So it was that, like many others, she had hailed in the 
 Revolution the advent of vengeance, and she deliv- 
 ered herself up to a Socialistic propaganda of the most 
 extreme description. 
 
 The enfranchisement of the proletariat, according 
 to the Vatnaz, was only possible by the enfranchise- 
 ment of woman. She wished to have her own sex 
 admitted to every kind of employment, to have strict 
 inquiry made into the paternity of children, a different
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 21 
 
 code, the abolition, or at least a more intelligent reg- 
 ulation, of marriage. In that case every French- 
 woman would be bound to marry a Frenchman, or 
 to adopt an old man. Nurses and midwives should 
 be State paid officials. 
 
 There should be a jury to examine the works of 
 women, special editors for women, a polytechnic 
 school for women, a National Guard for women, 
 everything for women ! And since the Government 
 ignored their rights, they ought to overcome force by 
 force. Ten thousand citizenesses with good guns 
 could make the Hotel de Ville quake ! 
 
 Frederick's candidature appeared to her favourable 
 to the carrying out of her ideas. She encouraged him, 
 pointing out the glory that shone on the horizon. 
 Rosanette was delighted at the notion of having a 
 lover who would make speeches at the Chamber. 
 
 " And then, perhaps, they'll give you a good place? " 
 
 Frederick, a man prone to every kind of weakness, 
 was infected by the universal mania. He wrote an 
 address and took it to M. Dambreuse. 
 
 At the sound made by the great door falling back, 
 a curtain gaped open a little behind a casement, and 
 a woman appeared at it. He had not time to find out 
 who she was ; but, in the anteroom, a picture arrested 
 his attention Pellerin's picture which lay on a chair, 
 no doubt provisionally. 
 
 It represented the Republic, or Progress, or Civili- 
 sation, under the form of Jesus Christ driving a loco- 
 motive, which was passing through a virgin forest. 
 Frederick, after a minute's contemplation, exclaimed: 
 
 " What a vile thing ! " 
 
 " Is it not, eh ? " said M. Dambreuse, entering un- 
 expectedly just at the moment when the other was 
 giving utterance to this opinion, and fancying that it
 
 22 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 had reference, not so much to the picture as to the 
 doctrine it glorified. Martinon presented himself at 
 the same time. They made their way into the study, 
 and Frederick was drawing a paper out of his pocket, 
 when Mademoiselle Cecile, entering suddenly, said, 
 articulating her words in an ingenuous fashion : 
 
 " Is my aunt here ? " 
 
 " You know perfectly well she is not," replied the 
 banker. " No matter ! act as if you were at home, 
 Mademoiselle." 
 
 " Oh, thanks ! I am going away ! " 
 
 Scarcely had she left when Martinon seemed to be 
 searching for his handkerchief. 
 
 " I forgot to take it out of my coat excuse me ! " 
 
 " All right ! " said M. Dambreuse. 
 
 Evidently he was not deceived by this manoeuvre, 
 and even seemed to regard it with favour. Why? 
 But Martinon soon reappeared, and Frederick began 
 reading his address. 
 
 At the second page, which pointed toward the pre- 
 ponderance of financial interests as a disgraceful fact, 
 the banker made a grimace. Then, touching on re- 
 forms, Frederick demanded free trade. 
 
 " What ? Allow me, now ! " 
 
 The other paid no attention, and continued. He 
 favoured a tax on yearly incomes, a progressive tax, 
 a European federation, and the education of the peo- 
 ple, the encouragement of the fine arts on a liberal 
 scale. 
 
 " When the country could provide men like Dela- 
 croix or Hugo with incomes of a hundred thousand 
 francs, where would be the harm? " 
 
 At the close of the address advice was given to 
 the upper classes. 
 
 " Spare nothing, ye rich ; but give ! give ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 23 
 
 He stopped, and remained standing. His two listen- 
 ers did not utter a word. Martinon opened his eyes 
 wide ; M. Dambreuse was quite pale. At last, conceal- 
 ing his emotion under a bitter smile : 
 
 " That address of yours is simply perfect ! " And 
 he praised the style highly in order to avoid giving his 
 opinion as to the matter of the address. 
 
 This virulence on the part of an inoffensive young 
 man frightened him, especially as a dangerous sign 
 of the times. 
 
 Martinon tried to reassure him. The Conservative 
 party, in a little while, would certainly be in a position, 
 to take its revenge. In several cities the commission- 
 ers of the provisional government had been driven 
 away; the elections were not due till the twenty-third 
 of April ; there was plenty of time. In short, it was 
 necessary for M. Dambreuse to present himself per- 
 sonally in the Aube ; and from that time forth, Mar- 
 tinon remained by his side, became his secretary, and 
 was as attentive to him as a son. 
 
 Frederick arrived at Rosanette's house in a very 
 self-complacent mood. Delmar happened to be there, 
 and told him of his intention to stand as a candidate 
 at the Seine elections. In a placard to the people, in 
 which he addressed them in the familiar manner which 
 one adopts toward an individual, the actor boasted of 
 being able to understand them, and of having, in or- 
 der to save them, got himself " crucified for the sake 
 of art," so that he was the incarnation, the ideal of the 
 popular spirit, believing that he had, in fact, such 
 enormous power over the masses that he proposed by- 
 and-by, when he occupied a ministerial office, to quell 
 any outbreak alone ; and, when asked what means he 
 would employ, he gave this answer : " Never fear ! I'll 
 show them my head ! "
 
 24 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Frederick, in order to mortify him, gave him to 
 understand that he was himself a candidate. The 
 mummer, from the moment that his future colleague 
 aspired to represent the province, pronounced himself 
 his servant, and offered to be his guide to the various 
 clubs. 
 
 They visited them, or nearly all, the red and the 
 blue, the furious and the tranquil, the puritanical and 
 the licentious, the mystical and the intemperate, those 
 that had voted for the death of kings, and those in 
 which the frauds in the grocery trade had been de- 
 nounced ; and everywhere the tenants cursed the land- 
 lords ; the blouse was full of spite against broadcloth ; 
 and the rich conspired against the poor. Many 
 wanted indemnities on the ground that they had for- 
 merly been martyrs of the police ; others appealed for 
 money to carry out certain inventions, or else there 
 were plans of phalansteria, projects for cantonal ba- 
 zaars, systems of public felicity ; then, here and there a 
 flash of genius amid these clouds of folly, sudden as 
 splashes, the law formulated by an oath, and flowers of 
 eloquence on the lips of some soldier-boy, with a 
 shoulder-belt strapped over his bare, shirtless chest. 
 Sometimes, too, a gentleman made his appearance an 
 aristocrat of humble demeanour, talking in a plebeian 
 strain, and with his hands unwashed, so as to make 
 them look hard. A patriot would recognise him ; the 
 most virtuous would mob him ; and he would go off 
 with rage in his soul. On the pretext of good sense, 
 it was desirable to be always disparaging the advo- 
 cates, and to reiterate as often as possible these ex- 
 pressions : " To carry his stone to the building," " so- 
 cial problem," " workshop." 
 
 Delmar did not miss any opportunity for getting in a 
 word ; and when he no longer found anything to say,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 25 
 
 he would plant himself in some conspicuous position 
 with one of his arms akimbo and the other in his waist- 
 coat, turning himself round abruptly in profile, so as 
 to give a good view of his head. Then there were 
 outbursts of applause, led by Mademoiselle Vatnaz at 
 the lower end of the hall. 
 
 Frederick, in spite of the weakness of orators, did 
 not dare to try the experiment of speaking. All the 
 people around seemed to him too unpolished or too 
 hostile. 
 
 Dussardier made inquiries, and informed him that 
 there existed in the Rue Saint-Jacques a club which 
 bore the name of the " Club of Intellect." Such a 
 name sounded hopeful. Besides, he would bring some 
 friends of his own there. 
 
 He brought those whom he had invited to take 
 punch with him the bookkeeper, the traveller in 
 wines, and the architect; even Pellerin had agreed to 
 come, and Hussonnet would probably form one of the 
 party, and on the footpath before the door stood Re- 
 gimbart, with two men, the first of whom was his 
 faithful Compain, a rather thick-set man marked with 
 smallpox and with bloodshot eyes ; and the second, 
 an ape-like negro, exceedingly hairy, and whom he 
 knew only in the character of " a patriot from Barce- 
 lona." 
 
 They passed through a passage, leading into a large 
 room, probably used by a joiner, with walls still fresh 
 and smelling of plaster. Four argand lamps hung par- 
 allel to each other, and shed an unpleasant light. On 
 a platform, at the end of the room, there was a desk 
 on which was a bell ; underneath it a table, represent- 
 ing the rostrum, and on each side two others, some- 
 what lower, for the secretaries. The audience that 
 occupied the benches consisted of old painters of
 
 26 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 daubs, ushers, and literary men who could not get 
 their works published. 
 
 In the midst of those lines of paletots with greasy 
 collars might be seen here and there a woman's cap 
 or a workman's linen smock. The end of the apart- 
 ment was full of workmen, who had in all likelihood 
 come there to pass away an idle hour, and who had 
 been invited by some of the speakers in order that they 
 might applaud. 
 
 Frederick took care to place himself between Dus- 
 sardier and Regimbart, who was scarcely seated be- 
 fore he leaned both hands on his walking-stick and 
 his chin on his hands and shut his eyes, whilst at the 
 other end of the room Delmar stood looking down at 
 the crowd. Senecal appeared at the president's desk. 
 
 The worthy bookkeeper thought Frederick would 
 be pleased at this. It only annoyed him. 
 
 The meeting manifested great respect for the presi- 
 dent. He was one who, on the twenty-fifth of Feb- 
 ruary, had advised an immediate organisation of la- 
 bour. On the following day, at the Prado, he had 
 declared himself in favour of attacking the Hotel de 
 Ville; and, as every person at that period took some 
 model for imitation, one copied Saint- Just, another 
 Danton, another Marat; he tried to be like Blanqui, 
 who imitated Robespierre. His black gloves, and his 
 straight hair brushed back, gave him a rigid aspect 
 exceedingly becoming. 
 
 He opened the proceedings with the declaration of 
 the Rights of Man and of the Citizen a customary 
 act of faith. Then, a vigorous voice struck up Be- 
 ranger's Souvenirs du Peuple. 
 
 Other voices were raised : " No ! no ! not that ! " 
 
 "La Casquette!" the patriots at the end of the 
 apartment began to howl.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 27 
 
 And they sang in chorus the favourite lines of the 
 
 Deriod : 
 
 "Doff your hat before my cap 
 Kneel before the working-man!" 
 
 At a word from the president the audience became 
 >ilent. 
 
 One of the secretaries proceeded to inspect the let- 
 :ers. 
 
 Some young- men announced that they burned a 
 lumber of copies of the Assemblee Nationale every 
 evening in front of the Pantheon, and they urged on 
 ill patriots to follow their example. 
 
 " Bravo ! adopted ! " responded the audience. 
 
 The Citizen Jean Jacques Langreneux, a printer in 
 :he Rue Dauphin, suggested that a monument should 
 )e raised to the memory of the martyrs of Thermi- 
 ior. 
 
 Michel Evariste Nepomucene, ex-professor, gave 
 expression to the wish that the European democracy 
 ;hould adopt unity of language. A dead language 
 night be used for that purpose as, for example, im- 
 )roved Latin. 
 
 " No ; no Latin ! " exclaimed the architect. 
 
 " Why ? " said the college-usher. 
 
 And these two gentlemen engaged in a discussion, 
 n which the others joined, each putting in a word of 
 lis own for effect; and the conversation on this topic 
 soon became so tedious that many left. A little old 
 nan, who wore at the top of his prodigiously high 
 r orehead a pair of green spectacles, asked permission 
 o speak in order to make an important communica- 
 ion. 
 
 It was a memorandum on the assessment of taxes. 
 Fhe figures flowed on in a continuous stream, as if 
 :hey were never going to end. The impatience of the
 
 28 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 audience was shown at first in murmurs, in whispered 
 talk. He allowed nothing to stop him. Then they 
 began hissing ; they catcalled him. Senecal called the 
 persons who were interrupting to order. The speaker 
 went on like a machine. It was necessary to catch 1 him 
 by the shoulder in order to make him cease. The old 
 fellow looked as if he were waking out of a dream, 
 and, placidly lifting his spectacles, said : 
 
 " Pardon me, citizens ! pardon me ! I am going 
 a thousand excuses ! " 
 
 Frederick was disconcerted with the failure of the 
 old man's attempts to read this written statement. 
 He had his own address in his pocket, but an extem- 
 poraneous speech w^ould have been preferable. 
 
 Finally the president announced that they were 
 about to pass on to the important matter, the elec- 
 toral question. They would not discuss the big Re- 
 publican lists. However, the " Club of Intellect " had 
 every right, like every other, to form one, " with all re- 
 spect for the pachas of the Hotel de Ville, and the 
 citizens who solicited the popular mandate might now 
 set forth their claims. 
 
 " Go on, now ! " said Dussardier. 
 
 A man in a cassock, with woolly hair and a petu- 
 lant expression on his face, had raised his hand. He 
 said, with a stutter, that his name was Ducretot, 
 priest and agriculturist, and that he was the author 
 of a work entitled Manures. He was advised to send 
 it to a horticultural club. 
 
 Then a patriot in a blouse climbed to the rostrum. 
 He was a plebeian, with broad shoulders, a big face, 
 very mild-looking, with long black hair. He cast on 
 the assembly an almost voluptuous glance, flung back 
 his head, and, finally, spreading out his arms: 
 
 " You have repelled Ducretot, O my brothers ! and
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 29 
 
 you have done right; but it was not through irre- 
 Hgion, for we are all religious." 
 
 Many of those present listened open-mouthed, with 
 the air of catechumens and in ecstatic attitudes. 
 
 " It is not either because he is a priest, for we, too, 
 are priests ! The workman is a priest, just as the 
 founder of Socialism was the Master of us all, Jesus 
 Christ ! " 
 
 The time had arrived to inaugurate the Kingdom 
 of God. The Gospel led directly to '89. After the 
 abolition of slavery, the abolition of the proletariat. 
 They had had the age of hate the age of love was 
 about to begin. 
 
 " Christianity is the keystone and the foundation of 
 the new edifice " 
 
 " You are making game of us ! " exclaimed the 
 traveller in wines. " Who has given me a priest's 
 cap? " 
 
 This interruption gave great offence. Nearly all 
 the audience got on benches, and, shaking their fists, 
 shouted : " Atheist ! aristocrat ! low rascal ! " whilst the 
 president's bell kept ringing continuously, and the 
 cries of " Order ! order ! " redoubled. But, aimless, 
 and, moreover, fortified by three cups of coffee which 
 he had swallowed before coming to the meeting, he 
 struggled in the -midst of the others: 
 
 "What? I an aristocrat? Come, now!" 
 
 When, at length, he was permitted to explain, he 
 declared that he would never be at peace with the 
 priests ; and, since something had just been said about 
 economical measures, it would be a splendid begin- 
 ning to put an end to the churches, the sacred pyxes, 
 and finally all creeds. 
 
 Somebody raised the objection that he was going 
 very far.
 
 30 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Yes ! I am going very far ! But, when a vessel is 
 caught suddenly in a storm 
 
 Without waiting for the conclusion of this simile, 
 another said : 
 
 " Granted ! But this is to demolish at a single stroke, 
 like a mason devoid of judgment 
 
 " You are insulting the masons ! " yelled a citizen 
 covered with plaster. And persisting in the belief that 
 provocation had been offered to him, he poured forth 
 insults, and wished to fight, clinging tightly to the 
 bench whereon he sat. It took no less than three men 
 to put him out. 
 
 Meanwhile the workman still remained on the ros- 
 trum. The two secretaries gave him an intimation 
 that he should descend. He protested against the 
 injustice done to him. 
 
 " You shall not prevent me from crying out, ' Eter- 
 nal love to our dear France ! eternal love to the Re- 
 public ! ' : 
 
 " Citizens ! " said Compain, after this " Citizens ! " 
 
 And, by dint of repeating " Citizens," having ob- 
 tained a little silence, he leaned on the rostrum with 
 his two red hands, which looked like stumps, bent 
 forward his body, and blinking his eyes : 
 
 " I believe that it would be necessary to give a larger 
 extension to the calf's head." 
 
 All who heard him kept silent, fancying that they 
 had misunderstood his words. 
 
 " Yes ! the calf's head ! " 
 
 Three hundred laughs burst forth at the same mo- 
 ment. The ceiling shook. 
 
 At the sight of all these faces convulsed with mirth, 
 Compain shrank back. He continued in an angry 
 tone: 
 
 " What ! you don't know what the calf's head is ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 31 
 
 It was a paroxysm, a delirium. They held their 
 sides. Some of them even tumbled off the benches 
 to the ground in convulsions of laughter. Compain, 
 not being able to bear it any longer, took refuge be- 
 side Regimbart, and wanted to drag him away. 
 
 " No ! I shall remain till 'tis all over ! "said the Cit- 
 izen. 
 
 This reply caused Frederick to come to a decision; 
 and, as he looked about to the right and the left to 
 see whether his friends were prepared to support him, 
 he saw Pellerin standing on the rostrum in front of 
 him. 
 
 The artist assumed a haughty tone in addressing 
 the meeting. 
 
 " I would like to get some notion as to who is the 
 candidate amongst all these that represent art. For 
 my part, I have painted a picture." 
 
 " We have nothing to do with painting pictures ! " 
 was the churlish remark of a thin man with red spots 
 on his cheek-bones. 
 
 Pellerin protested against this interruption. 
 
 But the other, in a tragic tone : 
 
 " Ought not the Government to make an ordinance 
 abolishing prostitution and want?" 
 
 And this phrase having at once won the popular 
 favour, he thundered against the corruption of great 
 cities. 
 
 " Shame and infamy ! We ought to catch hold of 
 wealthy citizens on their way out of the Maison d'Or 
 and spit in their faces unless it be that the Govern- 
 ment justifies debauchery! The collectors of the 
 city dues exhibit toward our daughters and our sis- 
 ters an amount of indecency " 
 
 A voice exclaimed, some distance away: 
 
 " This is blackguard language ! Turn him out ! "
 
 32 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ' They extract taxes from us to pay for licentious- 
 ness ! Thus, the high salaries paid to actors " 
 
 " Help ! " cried Pellerin. 
 
 He leaped from the rostrum, pushed everybody 
 aside, and declaring- that he regarded such stupid ac- 
 cusations with disgust, expatiated on the civilising 
 mission of the player. Inasmuch as the theatre was 
 the focus of national education, he would record his 
 vote for the reform of the theatre ; and to begin with, 
 no more managements, no more privileges ! 
 
 " Yes ; of any sort ! " 
 
 The actor's manner excited the audience, and peo- 
 ple moved backward and forward knocking each other 
 down. 
 
 " No more academies ! No more institutes ! " 
 
 " No missions ! " 
 
 " No more bachelorships ! Down with the Univer- 
 sity degrees ! " 
 
 " Let us preserve them," said Senecal ; " but let 
 them be conferred by universal suffrage, by the peo- 
 ple, the only true judge ! " 
 
 Besides, these things were not the most important. 
 It was necessary to find a level which would be above 
 the heads of the wealthy. And he represented them 
 as gorging themselves with crimes under their gilded 
 ceilings ; while the starving poor, writhing in their 
 garrets, cultivated every virtue. The applause became 
 so vehement that it interrupted his discourse. For 
 several minutes he remained with his eyes closed, his 
 head thrown back, and, as it were, lulling himself to 
 sleep over the fury which he had aroused. 
 
 Then he began to talk in a dogmatic way, in phrases 
 as imperious as laws. The State should take pos- 
 session of the banks and the insurance offices. In- 
 heritances should be abolished. A social fund should
 
 33 
 
 be established for the workers. Many other measures 
 were desirable in the future. For the time being, 
 these would suffice, and, returning to the question of 
 the elections : " We need pure citizens, men entirely 
 fresh. Let some one offer himself." 
 
 Frederick arose. There was a buzz of approval 
 made by his friends. Senecal, assuming the attitude 
 of a Fouquier-Tinville, began to ask questions as to 
 his first name and surname, his antecedents, life, and 
 morals. 
 
 Frederick answered succinctly, and bit his lips. 
 Senecal asked whether anyone saw any impediment 
 to this candidature. 
 
 " No ! no ! " 
 
 But, for his part, he saw some. All around him 
 bent forward and strained their ears to listen. The 
 citizen who was seeking for their support had not de- 
 livered a certain sum promised by him for the found- 
 ing of a democratic journal. Moreover, on the 
 twenty-second of February, though he had had due no- 
 tice, he had failed to be at the meeting-place in the 
 Place de Pantheon. 
 
 " I swear that he was at the Tuileries ! " exclaimed 
 Dussardier. 
 
 " Can you swear to having seen him at the Pan- 
 theon ? " 
 
 Dussardier hung down his head. Frederick was 
 silent. His friends, scandalised, regarded him anx- 
 iously. 
 
 " In any case," Senecal went on, " do you know 
 any patriot who will answer to us for your princi- 
 ples ? " 
 
 " I will ! " said Dussardier. 
 
 " Oh ! that is not enough ; another ! " 
 
 Frederick turned round to Pellerin. The artist re-
 
 34 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 plied to him with a number of gestures, which meant : 
 
 "Ah! my dear boy, they have rejected myself! 
 The deuce ! What would you have ? " 
 
 Thereupon Frederick gave Regimbart a nudge. 
 
 "Yes, all right; 'tis time! I'm going." 
 
 And Regimbart stepped upon the platform; then, 
 pointing toward the Spaniard, who had followed him: 
 
 " Allow me, citizens, to present to you a patriot 
 from Barcelona ! " 
 
 The patriot made a low bow, rolled his gleaming 
 eyes about, and with his hand on his heart : 
 
 " Ciudadanos! mucho aprecio el honour that you 
 have bestowed on me ! however, great may be vuestra 
 bondad, mayor vuestra atention!" 
 
 " I claim the right to speak ! " cried Frederick. 
 
 " Desde que se proclamo la constitution de Cadiz, 
 ese pacto fundamental de las libertades Espanolas, 
 hasta la ultima revolution, nuestra patria cuenta num- 
 eros y heroicos mdrtires." 
 
 Frederick once more endeavoured to obtain a hear- 
 ing: 
 
 " But, citizens ! ' 
 
 The Spaniard continued :' f El martes proximo ten- 
 dra lugar en la iglesia de la Magdelcna un scrvicio 
 funebre." 
 
 " This is ridiculous ! Nobody understands him ! " 
 
 This observation exasperated the audience. 
 
 " Turn him out ! Turn him out ! " 
 
 "Who? I?" asked Frederick. 
 
 " Yourself! " said Senecal, majestically. " Out with 
 you!" 
 
 He rose to leave, and the voice of the Iberian pur- 
 sued him: 
 
 " Y todos los Espanoles descarien ver alii reunidas 
 las disputaciones de los clubs y de la militia national.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 35 
 
 An oracion fiinebre en honour of the libertad Espanola 
 y del mundo entcro will be prononciado por un miem- 
 bro del clcro of Paris en la sala Bonne Xouvelle. 
 Honour al pueblo franccs qne llamaria yo el primero 
 pueblo del mundo, sino fnese ciudadano de otra na- 
 cion! " 
 
 " Aristo!" screamed one blackguard, shaking his 
 fist at Frederick, as the latter, boiling with indignation, 
 rushed out into the yard adjoining the place where 
 the meeting was held. 
 
 He blamed himself for his devotedness, without re- 
 flecting that, after all, the accusations brought against 
 him were just. 
 
 What fatal idea was this candidature ! But what 
 asses ! what idiots ! He drew comparisons between 
 himself and these men, and soothed his wounded 
 pride with the thought of their stupidity. 
 
 Then he sought Rosanette. After such an exhibi- 
 tion of ugly traits, and so much magniloquence, her 
 dainty person would be a relaxation. She was aware 
 that he had intended to present himself at a club that 
 evening. However, she did not ask a single question 
 when he came in. She was seated near the fire, rip- 
 ping open the lining of a dress. He was surprised 
 to find her thus occupied. 
 
 " Hallo! what are you doing?" 
 
 " You can see for yourself," said she, dryly. " I 
 am mending my clothes ! So much for this Republic 
 of yours ! " 
 
 " Why do you call it mine? " 
 
 " Perhaps you want to make out that it's mine ! " 
 
 And she began to reproach him for everything that 
 had happened in France for the last two months, ac- 
 cusing him of having brought about the Revolution 
 and with having ruined her prospects by making
 
 36 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 everybody with money leave Paris, and that she would 
 by-and-by be dying in a hospital. 
 
 " It is easy for you to talk lightly about it, with 
 your yearly income ! However, at the rate at which 
 things are happening, you won't have your yearly in- 
 come long." 
 
 : ' That may be," said Frederick. " The most de- 
 voted are always misunderstood, and if one were not 
 sustained by one's conscience, the brutes that you mix 
 yourself up with would disgust you with your own 
 self-denial ! " 
 
 Rosanctte gazed at him with knitted brows. 
 
 "Eh? What? What self-denial? Monsieur has 
 not been successful, it would seem? So much the 
 better ! It will teach you to make patriotic donations. 
 Oh, don't lie! I know you have given them three 
 hundred francs, for this Republic of yours has to be 
 kept. Well, amuse yourself with it, my good man ! " 
 
 Under this avalanche of abuse, Frederick passed 
 from his former disappointment to a more painful 
 disillusion. 
 
 He withdrew to the lower end of the apartment. 
 She came after him. 
 
 " Listen to me ! Think it out a bit ! In a country as 
 in a house, there must be a master, otherwise, every- 
 one pockets something out of the money spent. Every- 
 body knows that Ledru-Rollin is head over ears in 
 debt. As for Lamartine, how can you expect a poet 
 to understand politics ? Ah ! 'tis all very well for you 
 to shake your head and to think that you have more 
 brains than others; all the same, what I say is true! 
 But you are always cavilling ; one can't get in a word 
 with you! For instance, there's Fournier- Fontaine, 
 who had stores at Saint-Roch ! do you know how 
 much he failed for ? Eight hundred thousand francs !
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 37 
 
 And Corner, the packer opposite to him another Re- 
 publican, that one he smashed the tongs on his wife's 
 head, and he drank so much absinthe that he is going 
 to be put into a private asylum. That's the way with 
 the lot of them the Republicans ! A Republic at 
 twenty-five per cent. Ah ! plume yourself upon it ! " 
 
 Frederick took himself off. He was disgusted at 
 the foolishness of this girl, which revealed itself all at 
 once in the language of the populace. He felt himself 
 becoming a little patriotic once more. 
 
 The ill-temper of Rosanette only increased. Made- 
 moiselle Vatnaz irritated him with her enthusiasm. 
 Believing that she had a mission, she felt a furious 
 desire to make speeches, to carry on discussions, and 
 sharper than Rosanette in matters of this sort over- 
 whelmed her with arguments. 
 
 One day she made her appearance burning with in- 
 dignation against Hussonnet, who had just indulged 
 in some blackguard remarks at the Woman's Club. 
 Rosanette approved of his conduct, declaring that 
 she would take to men's clothes herself to go and 
 " give them a bit of her mind, the entire lot of them, 
 and to whip them." 
 
 Frederick entered at the same moment. 
 
 " You'll accompany me won't you ? " 
 
 And, in spite of his presence, there was a bickering 
 match, one of them playing the part of a citizen's wife 
 and the other of a female philosopher. 
 
 According to Rosanette, women were born exclu- 
 sively for love, or in order to bring up children, to 
 be housekeepers. 
 
 According to Mademoiselle Vatnaz, women were en- 
 titled to a position in the Government. In former 
 times, the Gaulish women, and also the Anglo-Saxon 
 women, took part in the legislation ; the squaws of the
 
 38 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Hurons formed a portion of the Council. The work of 
 civilisation was common to both. It was necessary 
 that all should contribute toward it, and that frater- 
 nity should be substituted for egoism, association for 
 individualism, and cultivation on a large scale for 
 minute subdivision of land. 
 
 " Come, that is good ! you know a great deal about 
 culture just now! " 
 
 " Why not ? " Besides, it is a question of the future 
 of humanity ! " 
 
 " Attend to your own business ! " 
 
 ' This is my business ! " 
 
 They got into a passion. Frederick interposed. The 
 Vatnaz became very heated, and went so far as to up- 
 hold Communism. 
 
 " What nonsense ! " said Rosanette. " How could 
 such a thing ever come to pass ? " 
 
 The other brought forward in support of her theory 
 the examples of the Essenes, the Moravian Brethren, 
 the Jesuits of Paraguay, the family of the Pingons 
 near Thiers in Auvergne ; and, as she gesticulated 
 wildly, her gold chain became entangled in her bun- 
 dle of trinkets, to which was attached a gold orna- 
 ment in the form of a sheep. 
 
 Suddenly, Rosanette turned exceedingly pale. 
 
 Madame Vatnaz continued extricating her trinkets. 
 
 " Don't give yourself so much trouble," said Rosa- 
 nette. " Now, I know your political opinions." 
 
 " What ? " replied the Vatnaz, with a blush on her 
 face, like that of a virgin. 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! you understand me." 
 
 Frederick did not understand. Something had evi- 
 dently taken place between them of a more important 
 and intimate character than Socialism. 
 
 " And even though it should be so," said the Vat-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 39 
 
 naz in reply, rising up unflinchingly. " 'Tis a loan, 
 my dear set off one debt against the other." 
 
 " Faith, I never deny my own debts. I owe some 
 thousands of francs a nice sum. I borrow, at least; 
 I don't rob anyone." 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz made an effort to laugh. 
 
 " Oh ! I would put my hand in the fire for him." 
 
 " Take care ! it is dry enough to burn." 
 
 The spinster extended her right hand, and keeping 
 it raised in front of her : 
 
 " But there are friends of yours who find it con- 
 venient to use." 
 
 " Andalusians, I suppose? as castanets?" 
 
 "You beggar!" 
 
 The Marechale made her a low bow. 
 
 " There's nobody so charming ! " 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz did not reply. Beads of per- 
 spiration stood on her temples. Her eyes fixed them- 
 selves on the carpet. She panted for breath. At last 
 she reached the door, and slamming it vigorously: 
 " Good night ! You'll hear from me ! " 
 
 " Much I care ! " said Rosanette. The effort of 
 self-control had shattered her nerves. She sank down 
 on the divan, shaking all over, stammering forth words 
 of abuse, shedding tears. Was it this threat on the 
 part of the Vatnaz that had agitated her mind? Oh, 
 no ! what did she care, indeed, about that one ? It 
 was the golden sheep, a present, and in the midst of 
 her tears the name of Delmar escaped her lips. So, 
 then, she was still in love with the mummer? 
 
 " In that case, why did she take on with me ? " 
 Frederick asked himself. " How is it that he has 
 returned again ? Who compels her to keep me ? 
 Where is the sense of this sort of thing? " 
 
 Rosanette was still sobbing. She lay all the time
 
 40 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 on the edge of the divan, with her right cheek rest- 
 ing on her two hands, and she seemed a being so 
 dainty, so free from self-consciousness, and so sorely 
 troubled, that he drew closer to her and softly kissed 
 her on the forehead. 
 
 Thereupon she gave him assurances of her affec- 
 tion for him ; the Prince had just left her, they would 
 be free. But she was for the time being short of 
 money. " You saw yourself that this was so, the 
 other day, when I was trying to turn my old linings 
 to use." No more equipages now ! And this was 
 not all; the upholsterer was threatening to take pos- 
 session of the bedroom and the large drawing-room 
 furniture. She did not know what to do. 
 
 Frederick felt disposed to answer : 
 
 " Don't annoy yourself about it. I will pay." 
 
 But the lady knew how to lie. Experience had 
 enlightened him. He confined himself to mere ex- 
 pressions of sympathy. 
 
 Rosanette's fears were not unfounded. It was nec- 
 essary to give up the furniture and to quit the hand- 
 some apartment in the Rue Drouot. She took another 
 on the Boulevard Poissonniere, on the fourth floor. 
 
 The curiosities of her old boudoir were quite suf- 
 ficient to give to the three rooms a coquettish air. 
 There were Chinese blinds, a tent on the terrace, and 
 in the drawing-room a second-hand carpet still per- 
 fectly new, with ottomans covered with pink silk. 
 Frederick had contributed largely to these purchases. 
 He had felt the joy of a newly-married man who pos- 
 sesses at last a house of his own, a wife of his own 
 and, being much pleased with the place, he slept there 
 nearly every evening. 
 
 One morning, as he was passing out through the 
 ante-room, he saw, on the third floor, on the stair-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 41 
 
 case, the shako of a National Guard who was as- 
 cending it. Where in the world was he going? 
 
 Frederick waited. The man continued his prog- 
 ress up the stairs, with his head slightly bent. He 
 raised his eyes. It was my lord Arnoux ! 
 
 The situation was obvious. They both reddened 
 simultaneously, overcome by a feeling of embarrass- 
 ment common to both. 
 
 Arnoux was the first to find a way out of the diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 " She is better is she not?" as if Rosanette were 
 ill, and he had come to inquire how she was. 
 
 Frederick took advantage of this opening. 
 
 " Yes, certainly ! at least, so I was told by her 
 maid," wishing to convey that he had not been al- 
 lowed to see her. 
 
 Then they stood facing each other, both unde- 
 cided as to what to do next, and eyeing each other 
 intently. The question now was, which of the two 
 would remain. Arnoux once more solved the prob- 
 lem. 
 
 " Pshaw ! I'll come back later. Where are you go- 
 ing ? I will go with you ! " 
 
 And, when they were in the street, he chatted as 
 naturally as usual. Unquestionably he was not a man 
 of jealous disposition, or else he was too good-natured 
 to get angry. Besides, his time was devoted to serv- 
 ing his country. He was never out of his uniform 
 now. On the twenty-ninth of March he had defended 
 the offices of the Presse. When the Chamber was in- 
 vaded, he distinguished himself by his courage, and 
 he was at the banquet given to the National Guard 
 at Amiens. 
 
 Hussonnet, who was still on duty with him, availed 
 himself of his flask and his cigars; but, irreverent by
 
 42 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 nature, he delighted in contradicting him, disparaging 
 the somewhat inaccurate style of the decrees ; and de- 
 crying the conferences at the Luxembourg, the women 
 known as the " Vesuviennes," the political section 
 bearing the name of '" Tyroliens " ; everything, in fact, 
 down to the Car of Agriculture, drawn by horses to 
 the ox-market, and escorted by ill-favoured young 
 girls. Arnoux, on the other hand, upheld authority, 
 and dreamed of uniting the different parties. How- 
 ever, his own affairs had taken an unfavourable turn, 
 and he was more or less troubled about them. 
 
 He was not disturbed about Fredrick's relations 
 with the Marechale ; for this disocvery made him 
 feel justified (in his conscience) in withdrawing the 
 allowance which he had renewed since the Prince had 
 left her. He pleaded by way of excuse for this step 
 the embarrassed condition in which he found himself, 
 uttered many lamentations and Rosanette was gen- 
 erous. The result was that M. Arnoux regarded him- 
 self as the lover who appealed entirely to the heart, 
 an idea that raised him in his own estimation and 
 made him feel young again. Having no doubt that 
 Frederick was paying the Marechale, he flattered him- 
 self that he was " playing a nice trick " on" the young 
 man. He called at the house in such a stealthy fash- 
 ion as to keep the other in ignorance of the fact, and 
 when they happened to meet, left the coast clear for 
 him. 
 
 Frederick was not pleased with this partnership, 
 and his rival's politeness seemed only an elaborate piece 
 of sarcasm. But by taking offence at it, he would 
 have removed every opportunity of ever finding his 
 way back to Madame Arnoux; and then, this was 
 the only means whereby he could hear about her move- 
 ments. The earthenware-dealer, in accordance with
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 43 
 
 his usual practice, or perhaps with some cunning de- 
 sign, mentioned her readily in the course of conver- 
 sation, and asked him why he no longer came to see 
 her. 
 
 Frederick, having exhausted every excuse he could 
 think of, assured him that he had called several times 
 to see Madame Arnoux, but without success. Ar- 
 noux believed this, for he had often referred in an 
 eager tone at home to the absence of their friend, and 
 she had invariably replied that she was out when he 
 called, so that these two lies, in place of contradict- 
 ing, corroborated each other. 
 
 The young man's gentle ways and the pleasure of 
 finding a dupe in him made Arnoux like him all the 
 better. He carried familiarity to its extreme limits, 
 not through disdain, but through assurance. One day 
 he wrote saying that urgent business compelled him 
 to be away in the country for twenty-four hours. He 
 begged of the young man to mount guard in his stead. 
 Frederick dared not refuse, so he repaired to the 
 guard-house in the Place du Carrousel. 
 
 He had to put up with the society of the National 
 Guards, and, with the exception of a sugar-refiner, 
 a witty fellow who drank to an inordinate extent, 
 they all appeared to him more stupid than their car- 
 tridge-boxes. The principal subject of conversation 
 amongst them was the 'substitution of sashes for belts. 
 Others declaimed against the national work-shops. 
 
 One man said : 
 
 "What is this leading to?" 
 
 The man to whom the words had been addressed 
 opened his eyes as if he were on the verge of an abyss. 
 
 " Where are we going ? " 
 
 Then, one who was more daring than the rest ex- 
 claimed :
 
 44 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " It cannot last ! It must come to an end ! " 
 
 And as similar talk went on till night, Frederick 
 was bored to death. 
 
 Great was his surprise when, at eleven o'clock, he 
 suddenly beheld Arnoux, who explained that he had 
 hurried back to set him at liberty, having disposed of 
 his business. 
 
 The fact was that he had no business to transact. 
 The whole thing was made up to enable him to spend 
 twenty-four hours alone with Rosanette. But the 
 worthy Arnoux had placed too much confidence in 
 his own powers, so that, now in the state of lassitude 
 which was the result, he was seized with remorse. He 
 had come to thank Frederick, and to invite him to 
 supper. 
 
 " A thousand thanks ! I'm not hungry. All I want 
 is to go to bed." 
 
 " A reason the more for having a snack together. 
 How flabby you are ! One does not go home at such 
 an hour as this. It is too late! It would be dan- 
 gerous ! " 
 
 Frederick once more yielded. Arnoux was quite a 
 favourite with his brethren-in-arms, who had not ex- 
 pected to see him and he was a particular crony of 
 the refiner. They all liked him, and he was such a 
 good fellow that he was sorry Hussonnet was not 
 there. But he wanted to shut -his eyes for one min- 
 ute, no longer. 
 
 " Sit down beside me ! " said he to Frederick, 
 stretching himself on the camp-bed without removing 
 his belt and straps. Through fear of an alarm, in 
 spite of the regulation, he even kept his gun in his 
 hand. He stammered out some words: 
 
 " My darling ! my little angel ! " and ere long was 
 fast asleep.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 45 
 
 Those who had been conversing became silent ; and 
 gradually there was a deep silence in the guard-house. 
 Frederick, tormented by the fleas, kept staring about 
 him. The wall, painted yellow, had, half-way up, a 
 long shelf, on which the knapsacks formed a suc- 
 cession of little humps, while underneath, the lead- 
 coloured muskets rose up side by side ; and there could 
 be heard a succession of snores, produced by the Na- 
 tional Guards, whose stomachs were outlined through 
 the darkness in a confused fashion. On the top of 
 the stove stood an empty bottle and some plates. 
 Three straw chairs were ranged around the table, on 
 which a pack of cards was displayed. A drum, in the 
 middle of the bench, had its strap hanging down. 
 
 A warm breath of air making its way through the 
 door caused the lamp to smoke. Arnoux slept with 
 his two arms wide apart ; and, as his gun was in a 
 slightly crooked position, with the butt-end downward, 
 the mouth of the barrel came up right under his arm. 
 Frederick noticed this, and was alarmed. 
 
 " But, no, it's impossible, there's nothing to be 
 afraid of ! And yet, suppose he met his death ! " 
 
 And immediately pictures unrolled themselves be- 
 fore his mind in endless succession. 
 
 He saw himself with her at night in a post-chaise, 
 then on a river's bank on a summer's evening, and 
 again, under the reflection of a lamp at home in their 
 own house. He even thought of household expenses 
 and domestic arrangements, contemplating, feeling al- 
 ready his happiness between his hands ; and in order 
 to realise it, all that was needed was that the cock of 
 the gun should rise. The end of it could be pushed 
 with one's toe, the gun would go off it would be a 
 mere accident nothing more ! 
 
 Frederick brooded over this idea like a playwright
 
 46 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 in the agonies of composition. Suddenly it seemed 
 to him that it was about to be carried into practical 
 operation, and that he was going to contribute to that 
 result that, in fact, he was yearning for it; and then 
 a feeling of absolute terror took possession of him. 
 In the midst of this mental distress he experienced 
 a sense of pleasure, and he allowed himself to sink 
 deeper and deeper into it, with a dreadful conscious- 
 ness all the time that his scruples were weakening. In 
 the wildness of his reverie the rest of the world be- 
 come effaced, and he only realised that he was still 
 alive by the intolerable oppression on his chest. 
 
 " Let us take a drop of white wine ! " said the re- 
 finer, as he awoke. 
 
 Arnoux sprang to his feet, and, as soon as the white 
 wine was swallowed, he offered to relieve Frederick of 
 his sentry duty. 
 
 Then he took him to breakfast in the Rue de 
 Chartres, at Parly's, and as he required to recuperate 
 his energies, he ordered two dishes of meat, a lobster, 
 an omelet with rum, a salad, etc., and finished this 
 off with a brand of Sauterne of 1819 and one of '42 
 Romance, not to speak of the champagne at dessert 
 and the liqueurs. 
 
 Frederick did not in any way gainsay him. He 
 was disturbed in mind as if by the thought that the 
 other might somehow detect on his countenance the 
 idea that had lately flitted before his imagination. 
 With both elbows on the table and his head bent for- 
 ward, so that Frederick felt annoyed by his fixed stare, 
 he confided some of his hobbies to the young man. 
 
 He wanted to obtain for farming purposes all the 
 embankments on the Northern line, in order to plant 
 potatoes there, or else to organise on the boulevards 
 a monster cavalcade in which the celebrities of the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 47 
 
 period would figure. He would let all the windows, 
 which would, at the rate of three francs for each per- 
 son, produce a handsome profit. In short, he dreamed 
 of making a great fortune by means of a monopoly. 
 He assumed a moral tone, nevertheless, found fault 
 with excesses and all sorts of misconduct, spoke about 
 his " poor father," and every evening, as he said, made 
 an examination of his conscience before offering his 
 soul to God. 
 
 " A little curacao, eh ? " 
 
 " Just as you please." 
 
 As for the Republic, things would adjust them- 
 selves ; in fact, he considered himself the happiest man 
 on earth ; and forgetting himself, he exalted Rosa- 
 nette's attractive qualities, and even compared her 
 with his wife. It was quite a different thing, of 
 course. You could not imagine a lovelier person ! 
 
 " Your health ! " 
 
 Frederick touched glasses with him. He had, out 
 of complaisance, drunk a little too much. Besides, 
 the strong sunlight dazzled him ; and when they 
 walked up the Rue Vivienne together again, their 
 shoulders touched in a fraternal fashion. 
 
 When he got home, Frederick slept till seven 
 o'clock. Then he called on the Marechale. She was 
 out with somebody with Arnoux, perhaps ! Not 
 knowing what to do with himself, he continued his 
 promenade along the boulevard, but could not pass 
 the Porte Saint-Martin, owing to the immense crowd 
 that blocked the way. 
 
 Want had abandoned to their own resources a con- 
 siderable number of workmen, and they came there 
 every evening, no doubt for the purpose of holding 
 a review and awaiting a signal. 
 
 In spite of the law against riotous assemblies, these
 
 48 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 clubs of despair increased to a frightful extent. Many 
 citizens repaired every day to the spot through bra- 
 vado, and because it was the fashion. 
 
 All of a sudden Frederick caught a glimpse, three 
 paces away, of M. Dambreuse along with Martinon. 
 He turned his head away, for on account of M. Dam- 
 breuse having got himself nominated as a representa- 
 tive of the people, he cherished a secret spite against 
 him. But the capitalist stopped him. 
 
 " One word, my dear Monsieur ! I have some ex- 
 planations to make to you." 
 
 " I am not asking for any." 
 
 " Pray listen to me ! " 
 
 It was not his fault in any way. Appeals haa been 
 made to him ; pressure had, to a 'certain extent, been 
 placed on him. Martinon immediately endorsed all 
 that he said. Some of the electors of Nogent had pre- 
 sented themselves in a deputation at his house. 
 
 " Besides, I expected to be free as soon as 
 
 A crush of people on the footpath forced M. Dam- 
 breuse to get out of the way. A minute after he re- 
 gained his place, saying to Martinon: 
 
 " This is a genuine service, really, and you won't 
 have any reason to regret " 
 
 All three stood with their backs against a shop in 
 order to be able to chat more at their ease. 
 
 From time to time there was a cry of, " Long live 
 Napoleon ! Long live Barbes ! Down with Marie ! " 
 
 The countless throng kept talking very loudly ; and 
 all these voices, echoing through the houses, made 
 so to speak, the continuous ripple of waves in a har- 
 bour. At intervals they ceased; and then could be 
 heard voices singing the Marseillaise. 
 
 Under the court-gates, men of mysterious appear- 
 ance offered sword-sticks to those who passed. Some-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 49 
 
 times two individuals, one of whom preceded the 
 other, would wink, and then quickly hurry away. The 
 footpaths were filled with groups of staring idlers. A 
 dense crowd swayed to and fro on the pavement. En- 
 tire bands of police-officers, emerging from the alleys, 
 had scarcely made their way into the midst of the 
 multitude when they were swallowed up in the mass 
 of people. Little red flags here and there looked like 
 flames. Coachmen, from their high seats, gesticulated 
 energetically, and then turned to go back. It was a 
 scene of perpetual movement one of the strangest 
 sights that could be conceived. 
 
 " How all this," said Martinon, " would have 
 amused Mademoiselle Cecile ! " 
 
 " My wife, as you know, does not like my niece to 
 come with us," returned M. Dambreuse with a smile. 
 
 One could scarcely recognise in him the same man. 
 For the past three months he had been crying, " Long 
 live the Republic ! " and he had even voted in favour 
 of the banishment of Orleans. But there should be 
 an end of concessions. He exhibited his indignation 
 so far as to carry a tomahawk in his pocket. 
 
 Martinon had one, too. The magistracy not being 
 any longer irremovable, he had withdrawn from Par- 
 quet, so that he surpassed M. Dambreuse in his dis- 
 play of violence. 
 
 The banker had a special antipathy to Lamartine 
 (for having supported Ledru-Rollin) and, at the same 
 time, to Pierre Leroux, Proudhon, Considerant, La- 
 mennais, and all the cranks, all the Socialists. 
 
 " For, in fact, what is it they want ? The duty on 
 meat and arrest for debt have been abolished. Now 
 the project of a bank for mortgages is under consid- 
 eration ; the other day it was a national bank ; and 
 there are five millions in the Budget for the working-
 
 50 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 men ! But luckily, it is over, thanks to Monsieur de 
 Falloux ! Good-bye to them ! let them go ! " 
 
 Not knowing how to maintain the three hundred 
 thousand men in the national workshops, the Minis- 
 ter of Public Works had that very day signed an 
 order inviting all citizens between the ages of eighteen 
 and twenty to take service as soldiers, or else to go to 
 the provinces and cultivate the ground there. 
 
 They were indignant at the alternative thus put be- 
 fore them, convinced that the object was to destroy 
 the Republic. They were aggrieved at having to live 
 at a distance from the capital, as if it were a kind of 
 exile. They pictured themselves dying of fevers in 
 desolate parts of the country. To many of them, more- 
 over, who had been accustomed to work of a refined 
 description, agriculture seemed a degradation ; it was, 
 in short, a mockery, a decisive breach of all the prom- 
 ises which had been made to them. If they offered 
 any resistance, force would be employed against them. 
 They had no doubt of this, and made preparations to 
 anticipate it. 
 
 About nine o'clock the riotous assemblies which 
 had gathered at the Bastille and at the Chatelet ebbed 
 back toward the boulevard. From the Porte Saint- 
 Denis to the Porte Saint-Martin nothing could be dis- 
 cerned save an enormous swarm of people, a single 
 mass of a dark blue shade, nearly black. The men 
 of whom one caught a glimpse all had glowing eyes, 
 pale complexions, faces emaciated with hunger and 
 excited with a sense of injustice. 
 
 Meanwhile clouds had gathered. The tempestuous 
 sky roused the electricity that was in the people, and 
 they kept whirling about of their own accord with 
 the great swaying movements of a swelling sea, and 
 one felt that there was an incalculable force in the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 51 
 
 depths of this excited throng, and as it were, the en- 
 ergy of an element. Then they all began shouting: 
 " Lamps ! lamps ! " Many windows had no illumina- 
 tion, and stones were flung at the panes. M. Dam- 
 breuse deemed it prudent to withdraw from the scene. 
 The two young men accompanied him home. He pre- 
 dicted great disasters. The people might once more 
 invade the Chamber, and he told them how he should 
 have been killed on the fifteenth of May had it not 
 been for the devotion of a National Guard. 
 
 " But I had forgotten ! he is a friend of yours the 
 earthenware manufacturer Jacques Arnoux ! " The 
 rioters had been actually throttling him, when that 
 brave citizen caught him in his arms and dragged him 
 out of their reach. 
 
 Since then, there had been a kind of intimacy be- 
 tween them. 
 
 " One of these days they would dine together, and, 
 since you often see him, give him the assurance that 
 I like him very much. He is an excellent man, and 
 has, in my opinion, been slandered ; and he has his wits 
 about him in the morning. My compliments once 
 more ! A very good evening ! " 
 
 Frederick, after he had left M. Dambreuse, went 
 back to the Marechale, and in a very gloomy fashion, 
 said that she could choose between him and Arnoux. 
 She replied that she did not understand " dumps of 
 this sort," that she did not care about Arnoux, and 
 had no desire to be with ihm. Frederick was thirst- 
 ing to fly from Paris. She offered no opposition to 
 this whim ; and next morning they set out for Fon- 
 tainebleau. 
 
 The hotel at which they stayed could be distin- 
 guished from others by a fountain that rippled in the 
 middle of the courtyard attached to it. The doors of
 
 52 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the various apartments opened out on a corridor, as 
 in monasteries. The room assigned to them was large, 
 well-furnished, hung with print, and noiseless, owing 
 to the scarcity of tourists. Alongside the houses, peo- 
 ple who had nothing to do passed up and down ; then, 
 under their windows, at the close of the day, children 
 in the street would engage in a game of base. This 
 tranquillity, following so soon the tumult they had 
 witnessed in Paris, filled them with astonishment and 
 exercised over them a soothing influence. 
 
 Every morning at an early hour, they paid a visit 
 to the Chateau. As they passed in through the gate, 
 they had a view of its entire front, with the five pa- 
 vilions covered with sharp-pointed roofs, and its stair- 
 case of horseshoe-shape opening into the end of the 
 courtyard, which is hemmed in, to right and left, by 
 two main portions of the building further down. On 
 the paved ground lichens blended their colours here 
 and there with the tawny hue of bricks, and the en- 
 tire appearance of the palace, rust-coloured like old 
 armour, had about it something of the impassive- 
 ness of royalty a sort of warlike, melancholy gran- 
 deur. 
 
 At last, a man-servant would make his appearance 
 with a bunch of keys. He first showed them the 
 apartments of the queens, the Pope's oratory, the gal- 
 lery of Francis I, the mahogany table on which the 
 Emperor signed his abdication, and in one of the 
 rooms cut in two the old Galerie des Cerfs, the place 
 where Christine got Monaldeschi assassinated. Rosa- 
 nette listened to this narrative attentively, then, turn- 
 ing toward Frederick : 
 
 " No doubt it was through jealousy ! Mind your- 
 self ! " After this they passed through the Council 
 Chamber, the Guards' Room, the Throne Room, and
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 53 
 
 the drawing-room of Louis XIII. The uncurtained 
 windows admitted a white light. The handles of the 
 window- fastenings and the copper feet of the pier- 
 tables were slightly tarnished with dust. The arm- 
 chairs were covered with coarse linen covers. Above 
 the doors could be seen reliquaries of Louis XIV, and 
 here and there hangings representing the gods of 
 Olympus, Psyche, or the battles of Alexander. 
 
 As she was passing in front of the mirrors, Rosa- 
 nette stopped for a moment to smooth her head-bands. 
 
 After going through the donjon-court and the Saint- 
 Saturnin Chapel, they reached the Festal Hall. 
 
 They were dazzled by the magnificence of the ceil- 
 ing, which was divided into octagonal sections set off 
 with gold and silver, more finely chiselled than a jewel, 
 and by the vast number of paintings covering the 
 w r alls, from the immense chimney-piece, where the 
 arms of France were surrounded by crescents and 
 quivers, down to the musicians' gallery, which had 
 been erected at the other end along the entire width 
 of the hall. The ten arched windows were wide open ; 
 the sun threw its lustre on the pictures, so that they 
 glowed beneath its rays ; the blue sky continued in an 
 endless curve the ultramarine of the arches ; and from 
 the depths of the woods, where the lofty summits of 
 the trees filled up the horizon, there seemed to come 
 an echo of flourishes from ivory trumpets, and myth- 
 ological ballets, together under the foliage princesses 
 and nobles disguised as nymphs or fauns an epoch 
 of ingenuous science, of violent passions, and sumptu- 
 ous art, \vhen the ideal was to eliminate the world in 
 a vision of the Hesperides, and when the mistresses 
 of kings mingled their glory with the stars. There 
 was a portrait of one of the most beautiful of these 
 celebrated women in the form of Diana the hunt-
 
 54 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ress, and even as the Infernal Diana, on doubt in 
 order to indicate the power which she wielded even be- 
 yond the limits of the tomb. All these symbols con- 
 firmed her glory, and there hovered about the spot 
 something of her, an indistinct voice, a radiation that 
 stretched out indefinitely. A feeling of mysterious 
 retrospective voluptuousness took possession of Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 In order to divert these passionate longings into 
 another channel, he gazed tenderly on Rosanette, and 
 asked her would she not like to have been this woman ? 
 
 " What woman? " 
 
 " Diane de Poitiers ! " 
 
 He repeated : 
 
 " Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henry the Second." 
 
 She gave utterance to a little " Ah ! " that was all. 
 
 Her silence demonstrated that she knew nothing 
 about the matter, and did not comprehend his mean- 
 ing, so that out of complaisance he said to her: 
 
 " Perhaps you are getting tired of this ? " 
 
 " No, no quite the reverse." And lifting up her 
 chin, and casting around her a vague glance, Rosa- 
 nette said : 
 
 " It recalls some memories to me ! " 
 
 Meanwhile, it was easy to trace on her counte- 
 nance a strained expression, a certain sense of awe; 
 and, as this air of gravity made her look all the pret- 
 tier, Frederick enjoyed it. 
 
 The carps' pond amused her more. For a quarter 
 of an hour she kept flinging pieces of bread into the 
 water in order to see the fishes jumping about. 
 
 Frederick had seated himself by her side under the 
 linden-trees. He saw in imagination all the person- 
 ages who had haunted these walls Charles V, the 
 Valois kings, Henry IV, Peter the Great, Jean
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 55 
 
 Jacques Rousseau, and " the fair mourners of the 
 stage-boxes," Voltaire, Napoleon, Pius VII, and 
 Louis Philippe; and he felt himself surrounded, el- 
 bowed, by these tumultuous dead people. He was 
 stunned by such a confusion of historic figures, even 
 though he found a certain fascination in contem- 
 plating them, nevertheless. 
 
 Presently they descended into the flower-garden. 
 
 It is a vast rectangle, which presents to the spec- 
 tator, at the first glance, its wide yellow walks, its 
 square grass-plots, its ribbons of box-wood, its yew- 
 trees shaped like pyramids, its low-lying greenswards, 
 and its narrow borders, in which thinly-sown flowers 
 edge the grey soil. At the end of the garden may 
 be seen a park through whose entire length a canal 
 makes its way. 
 
 Royal residences have connected with them a pecu- 
 liar kind of melancholy, due, no doubt, to their dimen- 
 sions being much too large for the limited number of 
 guests entertained within them, to the silence which 
 one feels astonished to find in them after so many 
 flourishes of trumpets, to the immobility of their lux- 
 urious furniture, which symbolises by its age and de- 
 cay the transitory character of dynasties, the eternal 
 wretchedness of all things ; and this exhalation of the 
 centuries, enervating and funereal, like the perfume 
 of a mummy, impresses even untutored brains. Rosa- 
 nette yawned immoderately. They went back to the 
 hotel. 
 
 After breakfast an open carriage came round for 
 them. They set out from Fontainebleau at a point 
 where several roads diverged, then ascended at a walk- 
 ing pace a gravelly road leading toward a little pine- 
 wood. The trees became larger, and, from time to 
 time, the driver would say, " This is the Freres Sia-
 
 56 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 mois, the Pharamond, the Bouquet de Roi," not for- 
 getting- a single one of these notable sites, sometimes 
 even drawing up to enable them to admire the view. 
 
 They entered the forest of Franchard. The car- 
 riage glided over the grass like a sledge ; pigeons 
 which were not in sight began cooing. Suddenly, the 
 waiter of a cafe made his appearance, and they alighted 
 before the railing of a garden in which a number of 
 round tables were placed. Then, passing on the left 
 by the walls of a ruined abbey, they made their way 
 over big boulders of stone and soon reached the 
 lower part of the gorge. 
 
 It is covered on one side with sandstones and juni- 
 per-trees tangled together, while on the other side 
 the ground, almost bare, inclines toward the hollow of 
 the valley, where a foot-track makes a pale line 
 through the brown heather; and far above could be 
 distinguished a flat cone-shaped summit with a tele- 
 graph-tower behind it. 
 
 Half an hour later they stepped out of the vehicle 
 once more, to climb the heights of Aspremont. 
 
 The roads form zigzags between the thick-set pine- 
 trees under rocks with angular faces. All this cor- 
 ner of the forest has a sort of choked-up look a wild 
 and solitary aspect. One is reminded of hermits 
 companions of huge stags with fiery crosses between 
 their horns, who were wont to welcome with paternal 
 smiles the good kings of France when they knelt be- 
 fore their grottoes. The warm air was filled with a 
 resinous odour, and roots of trees crossed one another 
 like veins close to the soil. Rosanette stumbled over 
 them, grew dejected, and felt inclined to shed tears. 
 
 But, at the very top, she became joyous once more 
 on finding, under a roof made of branches, a sort of 
 tavern where carved wood was sold. She drank a bot-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 57 
 
 tie of lemonade, and bought a holly-stick; and, with- 
 out one glance toward the landscape which disclosed 
 itself from the plateau, she entered the Brigands' Cave, 
 with a waiter carrying a torch in front of her. Their 
 carriage awaited them in the Bas Breau. 
 
 A painter in a blue blouse was working at the foot 
 of an oak-tree with his box of colours on his knees. 
 He raised his head and watched them as they passed. 
 
 In the middle of the hill of Chailly, the sudden 
 breaking of a cloud necessitated the turning up of the 
 hoods of their cloaks. Almost immediately the rain 
 stopped, and the paving-stones of the street glistened 
 under the sun as they reentered the town. 
 
 Some travellers, who had recently arrived, informed 
 them that a terrible battle had stained Paris with 
 blood. Rosanette and her lover were not surprised. 
 Then everybody left; the hotel became quiet, the gas 
 was put out, and they were lulled to sleep by the 
 murmur of the fountain in the courtyard. 
 
 On the following day they went to see the Wolf's 
 Gorge, the Fairies' Pool, the Long Rock, and the 
 Marlottc. Two days later, they began driving again 
 at random, just where their coachman thought fit to 
 take them, without asking where they were, and often 
 even neglecting the famous sites. 
 
 They felt so comfortable in their old landau, low 
 as a sofa, and covered with a rug made of a striped 
 material which was quite faded. The moats, filled 
 with brushwood, stretched out under their eyes with 
 a gentle, continuous movement. White rays gleamed 
 like arrows through the tall ferns. Sometimes a road 
 no longer in use presented itself before them, in a 
 straight line, and here and there might be seen a 
 feeble growth of weeds. In the centre between four 
 cross-roads, a crucifix extended its four arms. In
 
 58 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 other places, stakes were bending down like dead 
 trees, and little curved paths, which were hidden under 
 the leaves, made them feel a longing to pursue them. 
 At the same moment the horse turned round ; they 
 entered there; they plunged into the mire. Further 
 down moss had sprouted out at the sides of the deep 
 ruts. 
 
 They believed that they were far away from every- 
 body, quite alone. But suddenly a game-keeper with 
 his gun, or a band of ragged women, with big bun- 
 dles of faggots strapped on their backs, would hurry 
 past them. 
 
 When the carriage stopped, there was a universal 
 silence. The only sounds were the blowing of the 
 horse in the shafts or the faint cry of a bird more 
 than once repeated. 
 
 The light at certain points illuminating the out- 
 skirts of the wood, left the interior in deep shadow, 
 or else, attenuated in the foreground by a sort of twi- 
 light, it exhibited in the background violet vapours, a 
 white radiance. The midday sun, falling directly on 
 wide tracts of greenery, made splashes of light over 
 them, hung gleaming drops of silver from the ends 
 of the branches, streaked the grass with long lines of 
 emeralds, and flung golden spots on the beds of dead 
 leaves. Looking upward, they could distinguish the 
 sky through the tops of the trees. Some of them, 
 which were enormously high, looked like patriarchs 
 or emperors, or, touching one another at their ex- 
 tremities formed with their long shafts, as it were, 
 triumphal arches; others springing forth obliquely 
 from below, seemed like falling columns. This heap 
 of big vertical lines gaped open. Then, enormous 
 green billows unrolled themselves in unequal emboss- 
 ments as far as the surface of the valleys, toward
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 59 
 
 which advanced the brows of other hills looking down 
 on white plains, which finally lost themselves in an 
 undefined pale tinge. 
 
 Standing side by side, on some rising ground, they 
 felt, as they drank in the air, the pride of a fuller life 
 penetrating into the depths of their souls, with a sup- 
 erabundance of energy, a joy which they could not 
 explain. 
 
 The variety of trees furnished a spectacle of the 
 most diversified character. The smooth, white-barked 
 beeches twisted their tops together. Ash trees softly 
 curved their bluish branches. In the tufts of the 
 hornbeams rose up holly stiff as bronze. Then came 
 a row of thin birches, bent into elegiac attitudes; and 
 the pine-trees, symmetrical as organ pipes, seemed to 
 be singing as they swayed to and fro. There were gi- 
 gantic oaks with knotted forms, which had been vio- 
 lently shaken, stretched out from the soil and pressed 
 close against each other, and with firm trunks re- 
 sembling torsos, launched forth to heaven despairing 
 appeals with their bare arms and furious threats, like 
 a group of Titans struck rigid in the midst of their 
 rage. An atmosphere of gloom, a feverish languor, 
 brooded over the pools, whose sheets of water were 
 cut into flakes by the overshadowing thorn-trees. The 
 lichens on their banks, where the wolves come to 
 drink, are of the colour of sulphur, burnt, as it were, 
 by the footprints of witches, and the incessant croak- 
 ing of the frogs responds to the cawing of the crows 
 as they wheel through the air. Then they passed 
 through the monotonous glades planted here and 
 there with a staddle. The sound of iron falling with 
 a succession of rapid blows could be heard. On the 
 side of the hill a group of quarrymen were breaking 
 the rocks. These rocks became more and more nu-
 
 60 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 merous and finally filled up the entire landscape, cube- 
 shaped like houses, flat like flag-stones, propping up, 
 overhanging, and becoming intermingled with each 
 other, as if they were the ruins, unrecognisable and 
 monstrous, of some vanished city. But this wild chaos 
 reminded one rather of volcanoes, of deluges, of great 
 unknown cataclysms. Frederick said they had been 
 there since the beginning of the world, and would re- 
 main so till the end. Rosanette turned aside her head, 
 declaring that it would drive her out of her mind, and 
 went off to collect sweet heather. The little violet 
 blossoms, heaped up near one another, formed un- 
 equal surfaces, and the soil, which was giving way 
 underneath, formed soft dark fringes on the sand 
 spangled with mica. 
 
 One day they reached a point half-way up a hill, 
 where the soil was full of sand. Its surface, untrod- 
 den till now, was streaked, and resembled symmetrical 
 waves. Here and there, like promontories on the dry 
 bed of an ocean, rose up rocks with the vague out- 
 lines of animals, tortoises thrusting forward their 
 heads, crawling seals, hippopotami, and bears. Not 
 a soul near them. Not a single sound. The shingle 
 glowed under the dazzling rays of the sun, and all at 
 once in this vibration of light these specimens of the 
 brute creation began to move before their eyes. They 
 returned home quickly, flying from the dizziness that 
 had seized hold of them, almost dismayed at their own 
 fancies. 
 
 The gravity of the forest influenced them, and 
 hours passed in silence, during which, allowing them- 
 selves to yield to the lulling effects of springs, they 
 remained as it were sunk in the torpor of a calm in- 
 toxication. With his arm around her waist, he listened 
 to her talking while the birds were warbling, noticed
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 61 
 
 with the same glance the black grapes on her bonnet 
 and the juniper-berries, the draperies of her veil, and 
 the spiral forms assumed by the clouds, and when he 
 bent toward her the freshness of her skin blended 
 with the strong perfume of the woods. Everything 
 amused them. They showed one another, as a curi- 
 osity, gossamer threads of the Virgin hanging from 
 bushes, holes full of water in the middle of stones, a 
 squirrel on the branches, the way in which two but- 
 terflies kept following them ; or else, at twenty paces 
 from them, under the trees, a hind strode on peace- 
 fully, with an air of nobility and gentleness, its doe 
 walking by its side. 
 
 Rosanette would have liked to run after it to em- 
 brace it. . ' 
 
 She got very much alarmed once, when a man, sud- 
 denly presenting himself, showed her three vipers in 
 a box. She wildly flung herself on Frederick's breast. 
 He felt happy at the thought that she was weak and 
 that he was strong enough to protect her. 
 
 One evening they dined at an inn on the banks of 
 the Seine. The table was near the window ; Rosa- 
 nette sat opposite him, and he contemplated her little 
 well-shaped white nose, her turned-up lips, her bright 
 eyes, the swelling bands of her nut-brown hair, and 
 her pretty oval face. Her dress of raw silk clung to 
 her somewhat drooping shoulders, and her two hands, 
 emerging from their sleeves, joined close together as 
 if they were one carved, poured out wine, moved 
 over the table-cloth. The waiter placed before them 
 a chicken with its four limbs stretched out, a stew of 
 eels in a dish of pipe-clay, wine that had got spoiled, 
 bread that was too hard, and knives with notches in 
 them. All these things made the repast more enjoy- 
 able and heightened the illusion. They fancied them-
 
 62 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 selves in the middle of a journey in Italy on their 
 honeymoon. Before starting again they went for a 
 walk along the bank of the river. 
 
 The soft blue dome-like sky, touched at the horizon 
 on the indentations of the woods. On the opposite 
 side, at the end of the meadow, was a village steeple ; 
 and further away, to the left, the roof of a house made 
 a red splash on the river, which wound its way with- 
 out any apparent motion. Some rushes bent over it, 
 and the water lightly shook some poles fixed at its 
 edge in order to hold nets. An osier bow-net and 
 two or three old fishing-boats were to be seen. Near 
 the inn a girl in a straw hat was drawing buckets out 
 of a well. Every time they came up, Frederick heard 
 the grating sound of the chain with a feeling of in- 
 expressible delight. 
 
 He had no doubt that he would be happy till the 
 end of his days, so natural did his felicity appear to 
 him, so much a part of his life, and so intimately as- 
 sociated with this woman's being. He was irresist- 
 ibly impelled to address her with words of endear- 
 ment. She answered with pretty little speeches, gentle 
 taps on the shoulder, displays of tenderness that 
 charmed him by their unexpectedness. He discovered 
 in her quite a new sort of beauty, which, perhaps, was 
 only the reflection of surrounding things, unless in- 
 deed it happened to bud forth from hidden poten- 
 tialities. 
 
 Sometimes they lay down in the middle of the 
 field, and he would stretch himself out with his head 
 on her lap, under the shelter of her parasol ; or else 
 with their faces turned toward the greensward, in the 
 centre of which they rested, they gazed, toward each 
 other till their pupils seemed to intermingle, thirst- 
 ing for each other and ever satiating their thirst, and
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 63 
 
 then with half-closed eyelids they lay side by side 
 without uttering a single word. 
 
 Xow and then the distant rolling of a drum reached 
 their ears. It was the signal-drum which was being 
 beaten in the different villages calling on people to go 
 to the defence of Paris. 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis the rising ! " said Frederick, with a dis- 
 dainful pity, all this excitement now presenting to his 
 mind a pitiful aspect by comparison with their love and 
 eternal nature. 
 
 And they talked about whatever happened to come 
 into their heads, things that were perfectly familiar to 
 them, persons in whom they took no interest, a thou- 
 sand trifles. She chatted about her chambermaid and 
 her hairdresser. One day she was so self-forgetful 
 that she told him her age twenty-nine years. She 
 was becoming quite an old woman. 
 
 Several times, almost unconsciously, she gave him 
 some particulars with reference to her own life. She 
 had been a " shop girl," had taken a trip to England, 
 and had begun studying for the stage ; all this she 
 told without any explanation of how these changes 
 had come about ; and he found it impossible to recon- 
 struct her entire history. 
 
 She related still more about herself one day when 
 they were seated side by side under a plane-tree at 
 the back of a meadow. At the road-side, further 
 down, a little barefooted girl, standing amid a heap 
 of dust, was driving a cow to pasture. As soon as 
 she caught sight of them she came up to beg, and 
 while with one hand she held up her tattered petti- 
 coat, she kept scratching with the other her black 
 hair, which, like a wig of Louis XIV's time, curled 
 round her dark face, lighted by a magnificent pair 
 of eves.
 
 64 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " She will be very pretty later," said Frederick. 
 
 " How lucky she is if she has no mother ! " re- 
 marked Rosanette. 
 
 "Eh? How is that?" 
 
 " Certainly. I, if it were not for mine " 
 
 She sighed, and began to talk about her childhood. 
 Her parents were weavers in the Croix Rousse. She 
 acted as an apprentice to her father. In vain did the 
 poor man wear himself out with hard work; his wife 
 was continually abusing him, and sold everything for 
 drink. Rosanette could see, as if it were yesterday, 
 the room they occupied, with the looms ranged length- 
 wise against the windows, the pot boiling on the 
 stove, the bed painted to represent mahogany, a cup- 
 board facing it, and the obscure loft where she used 
 to sleep up to the time when she was fifteen years old. 
 A length a gentleman made his appearance on the 
 scene a fat man with a face the colour of boxwood, 
 the manners of a devotee, and a suit of black clothes. 
 Her mother and this man had a conversation to- 
 gether, with the result that three days afterward 
 Rosanette stopped, and with a look in which there was 
 as much bitterness as shamelessness : 
 
 " It was done ! " 
 
 Then, in response to a gesture of Frederick: 
 
 " As he was married (he would have been afraid 
 of compromising himself in his own house), I was 
 brought to a private room in a restaurant, and told 
 that I would be very happy, and would get a hand- 
 some present. 
 
 "At the door, the first thing that struck me was 
 a candelabrum of vermilion on a table, on which 
 there were two covers. A mirror on the ceiling re- 
 flected them, and the blue silk hangings on the walls 
 made the entire apartment resemble an alcove ; I was
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 65 
 
 overcome with astonishment. You understand a 
 poor creature who had never seen anything before. 
 In spite of my dazed condition of mind, I got fright- 
 ened. I wanted to go away. However, I remained. 
 
 " The only seat in the room was a sofa close be- 
 side the table. It was so soft that it yielded under me. 
 The mouth of the hot-air stove in the middle of the 
 carpet emitted toward me a warm breath, and there I 
 sat without taking anything. The waiter, who was 
 standing near me, urged me to eat. He poured out 
 for me a large glass of wine. My head began to 
 swim, I wanted to open the window. He said to me: 
 
 " ' No, Mademoiselle ! that is forbidden.' " 
 
 " And he left me. 
 
 '' The table was laden with a heap of things that I 
 had no knowledge of. Nothing there seemed to me 
 good. Then I fell back on a pot of jam, and patiently 
 waited. I did not know what prevented him from 
 coming. It was very late midnight at last I 
 couldn't bear the fatigue any longer. While pushing 
 aside one of the pillows, in order to hear better, I 
 found under my hand a kind of album a book of en- 
 gravings, they were vulgar pictures. I was asleep 
 on top of it when he entered the room." 
 
 She hung down her head and remained pensive. 
 
 The leaves rustled around them. Amid the tangled 
 grass a great foxglove swayed to and fro. The sun- 
 light swept like a wave over the green expanse, and 
 the silence was interrupted at intervals only by the 
 browsing of the cow, which they could no longer see. 
 
 Rosanette kept her eyes fixed on a particular spot, 
 three paces away from her, her nostrils heaving, and 
 her mind absorbed in thought. Frederick caught hold 
 of her hand. 
 
 " How you suffered, poor darling ! "
 
 66 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Yes," said she, " more than you imagine ! So 
 much so that I tried to make an end of it they had 
 to fish me up ! " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Ah ! think no more about it ! I love you, I am 
 happy ! kiss me ! " 
 
 And she picked off, one by one, the sprigs of the 
 thistles which clung to her gown. 
 
 Frederick was thinking more than all on what she 
 had not told him. By what means had she gradually 
 emerged from wretchedness? To what lover did she 
 owe her education? What had occurred in her life 
 down to the day when he first came to her house? 
 Her latest avowal was a bar to these questions. All 
 he asked her was how she had made Arnoux's ac- 
 quaintance. 
 
 " Through the Vatnaz." 
 
 " Wasn't it you that I once saw with both of them 
 at the Palais-Royal ? " 
 
 He mentioned the exact date. Rosanette made a 
 movement which showed a sense of deep pain. 
 
 " Yes, it is true ! I was not gay at that time ! " 
 
 But Arnoux had proved himself a very good fel- 
 low. Frederick had no doubt of it. However, their 
 friend was a queer character, full of faults. He took 
 care to recall them all. She quite agreed with him 
 on this point. 
 
 " Never mind ! One likes him, all the same, this 
 camel ! " 
 
 " Still even now ? " said Frederick. 
 
 She reddened, half smiling, half angry. 
 
 " Oh, no ! that's an old story. I don't keep any- 
 thing hidden from you. Even though it might be so, 
 with him it is different. Besides, I don't think you 
 are nice toward your victim ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 67 
 
 " My victim ! " 
 
 Rosanette caught hold of his chin. 
 
 " No doubt ! " 
 
 And in the lisping fashion in which nurses talk to 
 babies : 
 
 " Have always been so good ! Never went a-by- 
 by with his wife? " 
 
 " I ! never at any time ! " 
 
 Rosanette smiled. He felt hurt by that smile of hers, 
 which seemed to him an evidence of indifference. 
 
 But she went on gently, and with one of those looks 
 which seem to appeal for a denial of the truth: 
 
 " Are you perfectly certain ? " 
 
 " Not a doubt abo'ut it ! " 
 
 Frederick solemnly declared on his word of honour 
 that he had never bestowed a thought on Madame 
 Arnoux, as he was far too much in love with another 
 woman. 
 
 " With whom, pray?" 
 
 " Why, with you, my beautiful one ! " 
 
 " Ah ! don't laugh at me ! You only annoy me ! " 
 
 He thought it a prudent course to invent a story 
 to pretend that he was swayed by a passion. He 
 made up some circumstantial details. This woman, 
 however, had rendered him very unhappy. 
 
 " Decidedly, you have not been lucky," said Rosa- 
 nette. 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! I may have been ! " wishing to convey 
 that he had been often fortunate in his love-affairs, 
 so that she might have a better opinion of him, just 
 as Rosanette did not confess how many lovers she had 
 had, in order that he might have more respect for her 
 for there will always be found in the midst of the 
 most intimate confidences restrictions, false shame, 
 delicacy, and pity. You divine either in the other or
 
 68 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 in yourself precipices or miry paths which deter you 
 from penetrating any farther ; moreover, you feel that 
 you will not be understood. It is difficult to express 
 accurately the thing you mean, whatever it may be; 
 and this is the reason why perfect unions are rare. 
 
 The poor Marechale had never known one better 
 than this. Often, when she gazed at Frederick, tears 
 came into her eyes ; then she would raise them or 
 cast a glance toward the horizon, as if she saw there 
 some bright dawn, perspectives of boundless felicity. 
 At last, she confessed one day to him that she would 
 like to have a mass said, " so that it might bring a 
 blessing on our love." 
 
 How was it, then, that she had resisted him so 
 long? She could not tell herself. He repeated his 
 question a great many times; and she replied, as she 
 clasped him in her arms : 
 
 " It was because I was afraid, my darling, of lov- 
 ing you too well ! " 
 
 On Sunday morning, Frederick read, amongst the 
 list of the wounded in the newspaper, the name of 
 Dussardier. He uttered a cry, and showing the paper 
 to Rosanette, declared that he would start at once for 
 Paris. 
 
 "For what purpose?" 
 
 " In order to see him, to nurse him ! " 
 
 " You are not going, I'm sure, to leave me by my- 
 self?" 
 
 " Come with me ! " 
 
 " Ha ! to poke my nose in a squabble of that sort ? 
 Oh, no, thanks ! " 
 
 " However, I cannot " 
 
 " Ta ! ta ! ta ! as if they had need of nurses in the 
 hospitals ! And then, what concern is he of yours 
 now ? Everyone for himself ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 69 
 
 He was roused to indignation by this egoism on her 
 part, and he reproached himself for not being in Paris 
 with the others. Such indifference to the misfortunes 
 of the nation had in it something shabby, and only 
 worthy of a small shopkeeper. And now, all of a sud- 
 den, his intrigue with Rosanette weighed on his mind 
 as if it were a crime. For an hour they were quite 
 cool toward each other. 
 
 Then she implored him to wait, and not expose him- 
 self to danger. 
 
 " Suppose you happen to be killed?" 
 
 " Well, I should only have done my duty ! " 
 
 Rosanette gave a jump. His first duty was to love 
 her ; but perhaps he did not care about her any longer. 
 There was no common sense in what he was going to 
 do. Good heavens ! what an idea ! 
 
 Frederick rang for his bill. But to return to Paris 
 was no easy matter. The Leloir stage-coach had just 
 left ; the Lecomte berlins would not be starting ; the 
 diligence from Bourbonnais would not be passing till 
 a late hour that night, and perhaps it might be full, 
 one could never tell. When he had lost a great deal 
 of time in making inquiries about the various modes of 
 conveyance, the idea occurred to him to travel post. 
 The master of the post-house refused to supply him 
 with horses, as Frederick had no passport. Finally, 
 he hired an open carriage the same one in which they 
 had driven about the country and at about five o'clock 
 they reached the Hotel du Commerce at Melun. 
 
 The market-place was covered with piles of arms. 
 The prefect had forbidden the National Guards to 
 proceed toward Paris. Those who did not belong to 
 his department wished to go on. There was a great 
 deal of shouting, and the inn was packed with a noisy 
 crowd.
 
 70 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Rosanette, terrified, said she would not go a step 
 further, and once more begged of him to stay. The 
 innkeeper and his wife joined in her entreaties. A 
 decent sort of man who happened to be dining there 
 interposed, and said that the fighting would be 
 over in a very short time. Besides, each man ought 
 to do his duty. Thereupon the Marechale redoubled 
 her sobs. Frederick got exasperated. He handed her 
 his purse, kissed her quickly, and disappeared. 
 
 On reaching Corbeil, he learned at the station that 
 the insurgents had cut the rails at regular distances, 
 and the coachman refused to drive him any farther; 
 he said that his horses were " overspent." 
 
 Frederick managed to procure an indifferent cabrio- 
 let, which, for the sum of sixty francs, without taking 
 into account the price of a drink for the driver, was to 
 convey him as far as the Italian barrier. But at a 
 hundred paces from the barrier his coachman made 
 him descend and turn back. Frederick was walking 
 along the pathway, when suddenly a sentinel thrust 
 out his bayonet. Four men seized him, exclaiming: 
 
 " This is one of them ! Look out ! Search him ! 
 Brigand ! scoundrel ! " 
 
 And he was so thoroughly stunned that he let him- 
 self be dragged to the guard-house of the barrier, at 
 the very point where the Boulevards des Gobelins and 
 de 1'Hopital and Rues Godefroy and Mauffetard con- 
 verge. 
 
 Four barricades formed at the ends of four differ- 
 eiit ways enormous sloping ramparts of paving-stones. 
 Torches glimmered here and there. In spite of the 
 rising clouds of dust he could distinguish foot-soldiers 
 of the Line and National Guards, all with their faces 
 blackened, their chests uncovered, and an appearance 
 of wild excitement. They had just captured the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 71 
 
 square, and had shot down a number of men. Their 
 rage had not yet cooled. Frederick said he had come 
 from Fontainebleau to the relief of a wounded com- 
 rade who lodged in the Rue Bellefond. Not one of 
 them would believe him at first. They examined his 
 hands ; they even put their noses to his ear to make 
 sure that he did not smell of powder. 
 
 However, by dint of repeating the same thing, he 
 finally convinced a captain, who directed two fusiliers 
 to conduct him to the guard-house of the Jardin des 
 Plantes. They descended the Boulevard de 1'Hopital. 
 A strong breeze was blowing. It restored him to 
 animation. 
 
 After this they turned up the Rue du Marche aux 
 Chevaux. The Jardin des Plantes at the right formed 
 a long black mass, whilst at the left the entire front 
 of the Pitie, illuminated at every window, blazed like 
 a conflagration, and shadows passed rapidly across 
 the window-panes. 
 
 Two of the men in charge of Frederick left him. 
 Another accompanied him to the Polytechnic School. 
 The Rue Saint- Victor was quite dark, without a gas- 
 lamp or a light at any window to relieve the gloom. 
 Every ten minutes could be heard the words: 
 
 " Sentinels ! mind yourselves ! " 
 
 And this exclamation, cast into the midst of the 
 silence, was prolonged like the repeated striking of a 
 stone against the side of a chasm as it falls through 
 space. 
 
 Every now and then the stamp of heavy footsteps 
 could be heard coming nearer. This was nothing less 
 than a patrol consisting of about a hundred men. 
 From this confused mass escaped whisperings and 
 the dull clanking of iron ; and, moving along with 
 a rhythmic swing, it melted into the darkness.
 
 72 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 In the middle of the crossing, where several streets 
 met, a dragoon sat motionless on his horse. Occa- 
 sionally an express rider passed at a rapid gallop; 
 then the silence was renewed. Cannons, which were 
 being drawn along the streets, made, on the pavement, 
 a heavy rolling sound that seemed full of menace a 
 sound different from every ordinary sound which 
 oppressed the heart. These interruptions served to 
 intensify the silence, which was profound, unlimited 
 a black abyss. Men in white blouses accosted the sol- 
 diers, spoke one or two words to them, and then 
 vanished like phantoms. 
 
 The guard-house of the Polytechnic School was 
 crowded. The threshold was blocked up with women, 
 who had come to see their sons or their husbands. 
 They were sent on to the Pantheon, which was being 
 utilised as a dead-house ; and no attention was paid 
 to Frederick. He pressed forward resolutely, sol- 
 emnly declaring that his friend Dussardier was wait- 
 ing for him, that he was at death's door. At last they 
 sent a corporal to accompany him to the top of the 
 Rue Saint- Jacques, to the Mayor's office in the twelfth 
 arrondissement. 
 
 The Place du Pantheon was filled with soldiers ly- 
 ing asleep on straw. The day was breaking; the 
 bivouac-fires were extinguished. 
 
 The insurrection had left terrible traces in this quar- 
 ter. The soil of the streets, from end to end, was 
 covered with piles of various sizes. On the wrecked 
 barricades had been piled up omnibuses, gas-pipes, 
 and cart-wheels. In certain places there were little 
 dark pools, which must have been blood. The houses 
 were riddled with projectiles, and their framework 
 could be seen under the plaster that was peeled off. 
 Window-blinds, attached by a single nail, hung like
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 73 
 
 rags. The staircases having fallen in, doors opened 
 on vacancy. The interiors of rooms could be seen with 
 their papers in strips. In some instances dainty ob- 
 jects had remained quite intact. Frederick noticed a 
 timepiece, a parrot-stick, and some engravings. 
 
 When he entered the Mayor's office, the National 
 Guards were chattering without a moment's pause 
 about the deaths of Brea and Negrier, about the 
 Deputy Charbonnel, and about the Archbishop of 
 Paris. He heard them saying that the Due d'Aumale 
 had landed at Boulogne, that Barbes had fled from 
 Vincennes, that the artillery were due from Bourges, 
 and that abundant aid was arriving from the provinces. 
 About three o'clock some one brought good news. 
 
 Truce-bearers from the insurgents were in confer- 
 ence with the President of the Assembly. 
 
 Thereupon they all made merry; and as he had a 
 dozen francs left, Frederick sent for a dozen bottles 
 of wine, hoping in this way to hasten his deliverance. 
 Suddenly a discharge of musketry was heard. The 
 drinking stopped. The men peered with distrustful 
 eyes into the unknown it might be Henry V. 
 
 In order to shift responsibility, they took Frederick 
 to the Mayor's office in the eleventh arrondissement, 
 which he was not permitted to leave till nine o'clock 
 in the morning. 
 
 He started at a running pace from the Quai Vol- 
 taire. At an open window an old man in his shirt- 
 sleeves was crying, with his eyes raised. The Seine 
 glided peacefully along. The sky was of a clear blue ; 
 and in the trees round the Tuileries birds were singing. 
 
 Frederick was just crossing the Place du Carrousel 
 when a litter happened to pass by. The soldiers at 
 the guard-house immediately presented arms; and the 
 officer, putting his hand to his shako, said : " Honour
 
 74 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 to unfortunate bravery ! " This phrase seemed to have 
 almost become a matter of duty. He who pronounced 
 it appeared to be, on each occasion, filled with pro- 
 found emotion. A group of people in a state of fierce 
 excitement followed the litter, exclaiming : 
 
 " We will avenge you ! we will avenge you ! " 
 
 The vehicles kept moving about on the boulevard, 
 and women were making lint before the doors. Mean- 
 while, the outbreak had been quelled, or very nearly 
 so. A proclamation from Cavaignac, just posted up, 
 announced the fact. At the top of the Rue Vivienne, 
 a company of the Garde Mobile appeared. Then the 
 citizens uttered enthusiastic shouts. They raised their 
 hats, applauded, danced, wished to embrace them, and 
 to invite them to drink; and flowers, flung by ladies, 
 fell from the balconies. 
 
 At last, at ten o'clock, just at the moment when the 
 booming of the cannon announced that an attack was 
 being made on the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Frederick 
 reached the abode of Dussardier. He found the book- 
 keeper in his garret, lying asleep on his back. From 
 the adjoining apartment a woman came forth with 
 silent tread Mademoiselle Vatnaz. 
 
 She led Frederick aside and told him how Dussar- 
 dier had got wounded. 
 
 On Saturday, on the top of a barricade in the Rue 
 Lafayette, a young fellow wrapped in a tricoloured 
 flag cried out to the National Guards : " Are you go- 
 ing to shoot your brothers ? " As they advanced 
 Dussardier flung down his gun, pushed away the 
 others, sprang over the barricade, and, with a blow of 
 an old shoe, knocked down the insurgent, from whom 
 he tore the flag. He had afterward been found under 
 a heap of rubbish with a slug of copper in his thigh. 
 It was found necessary to make an incision in order
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 75 
 
 to extract the projectile. Mademoiselle Vatnaz ar- 
 rived the same evening, and since then had not left 
 his side. 
 
 She prepared intelligently everything that was 
 needed for the dressings, assisted him in taking his 
 medicine or other liquids, attended to his slightest 
 wishes, left and returned again with footsteps lighter 
 than those of a fly, and gazed at him with eyes full of 
 tenderness. 
 
 Frederick, during the two following weeks, did not 
 fail to call every morning. One day, while he was 
 speaking about the devotion of the Vatnaz, Dussar- 
 dier shrugged his shoulders : 
 
 "' Oh, no ! she does this through interested motives." 
 
 " Do you think so ? " 
 
 He replied . " I am sure of it ! " without attempting 
 to give any further explanation. 
 
 She had loaded him with kindnesses, carrying her 
 attentions so far as to bring him the newspapers in 
 which his gallant action was extolled. He confessed 
 to Frederick that he felt uneasy in his conscience. 
 
 Perhaps he ought to have put himself on the other 
 side with the men in blouses ; for, indeed, a heap of 
 promises had been made to them which had not been 
 fulfilled. Those who had vanquished them hated the 
 Republic ; and, in the next place, they had treated 
 them very harshly. No doubt they were in the wrong 
 not quite, however; and the honest fellow was tor- 
 mented by the thought that he might have fought 
 against the righteous cause. Senecal, who was im- 
 prisoned in the Tuileries, under the terrace at the 
 water's edge, suffered none of this mental anguish. 
 
 There were nine hundred men in the place, hud- 
 dled together in the midst of filth, with no attempt at 
 order, their faces blackened with powder and clotted
 
 76 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 blood, shivering with ague and breaking out into cries 
 of rage ; those who were brought there to die were not 
 separated from the rest. Sometimes, on hearing the 
 sound of a detonation, they believed that they were all 
 going to be shot. Then they dashed themselves 
 against the \valls, and after that fell back again into 
 their places, so much stupefied by suffering that it 
 seemed to them that they were living in a nightmare, 
 an awful hallucination. The lamp, suspended from 
 the arched roof, looked like a stain of blood, and little 
 green and yellow flames fluttered about, caused by the 
 emanations from the vault. Through fear of epi- 
 demics, a commission was appointed. When he had 
 advanced a few steps, the President recoiled, fright- 
 ened by the stench from the excrements and from the 
 corpses. 
 
 As soon as the prisoners drew near a vent-hole, 
 the National Guards who were on sentry, in order to 
 prevent them from shaking the bars of the grating, 
 prodded them indiscriminately with their bayonets. 
 
 As a rule they showed no pity. Those who were 
 not beaten wished to signalise themselves. There was 
 a regular panic of fear. They avenged themselves at 
 the same time on newspapers, clubs, mobs, speech- 
 making everything that had exasperated them during 
 the last three months, and in spite of the victory that 
 had been gained, equality (as if for the punishment 
 of its defenders and the exposure of its enemies to 
 ridicule) manifested itself in a triumphal fashion 
 an equality of brute beasts, a dead level of sangui- 
 nary vileness ; for the fascination of self-interest 
 equalled the madness of want, aristocracy had the same 
 fits of fury as low debauchery, and the cotton cap did 
 not show itself less hideous than the red cap. The 
 public mind was agitated just as it would be after
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 77 
 
 great convulsions of nature. Sensible men were ren- 
 dered imbeciles by it for the rest of their lives. 
 
 Pere Roque had become very courageous, almost 
 foolhardy. Having arrived on the 26th at Paris with 
 some of the inhabitants of Xogent, instead of return- 
 ing with them, he had offered his assistance to the Na- 
 tional Guard encamped at the Tuileries ; and he was 
 quite satisfied to be placed on sentry in front of the 
 terrace at the water's side. There, at any rate, he had 
 these brigands under his feet ! He was delighted to 
 see them beaten and humiliated, and he could not re- 
 frain from uttering invectives against them. 
 
 One, a young lad with long fair hair, pressed his 
 face to the bars, and asked for bread. M. Roque or- 
 dered him to hold his tongue. But the young man 
 repeated in a mournful tone: 
 
 " Bread ! " 
 
 "Have I any to give you?" 
 
 Other prisoners presented themselves at the vent- 
 hole, with their bristling beards, their burning eye- 
 balls, all pushing forward, and yelling: 
 
 " Bread ! " 
 
 Pere Roque was indignant at seeing his authority 
 slighted. In order to frighten them he took aim at 
 them ; and, borne backward into the vault by the crush 
 that nearly smothered him, the young man, with his 
 eyes staring upward, once more exclaimed: 
 
 " Bread ! " 
 
 " Hold on ! here it is ! " said Pere Roque, firing a 
 shot from his gun. There was a fearful howl then, 
 silence. At the side of the trough something white 
 could be seen lying. 
 
 After this, M. Roque returned to his abode, for he 
 had a house in the Rue Saint-Martin, which he used 
 as a temporary residence; and the injury done to the
 
 78 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 front of the building during the riots had in no slight 
 degree contributed to his rage. It seemed to him, 
 when he next looked at it, that he had exaggerated 
 the amount of damage. His recent act had a sooth- 
 ing effect on him, as if it indemnified him for his loss. 
 
 His daughter opened the door for him. She imme- 
 diately made the remark that she had felt uneasy at 
 his excessively prolonged absence. She was afraid 
 that he had met with some misfortune. 
 
 This manifestation of filial love softened Pere 
 Roque. He was astonished that she should have set 
 out on a journey without Catherine. 
 
 " I sent her out on a message," was Louise's reply. 
 
 And she inquired about his health, about one thing 
 or another ; then, with an air of indifference, she asked 
 him whether he had come across Frederick: 
 
 " No ; I have not seen him ! " 
 
 It was on his account alone that she had come up 
 from the country. 
 
 Some one was heard walking in the lobby. 
 
 " Oh ! excuse me " 
 
 And she disappeared. 
 
 Catherine had not found Frederick. He had been 
 several days away, and his intimate friend, M. Des- 
 lauriers, was now living in the provinces. 
 
 Louise once more presented herself, trembling all 
 over, unable to speak. She leaned against the furniture. 
 
 " What's the matter with you ? Tell me what's 
 the matter with you ? " exclaimed her father. 
 
 She indicated by a wave of her hand that it was 
 nothing, and with a great effort she regained her com- 
 posure. 
 
 The keeper of the restaurant at the opposite side 
 of the street brought them soup. But Pere Roque 
 had passed through too exciting an ordeal to be able
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 79 
 
 to control his emotions. " He is not likely to die ; " 
 and at dessert he had a sort of fainting fit. A doctor 
 came, and he prescribed a potion. Then, when M. 
 Roque was in bed, he was well wrapped up in order 
 to bring on perspiration. He gasped ; he moaned. 
 
 " Thanks, my good Catherine ! Kiss your poor 
 father, my dear ! Ah ! those revolutions ! " 
 
 And, when his daughter scolded him for making 
 himself ill by worrying over her, he replied: 
 
 " Yes ! perhaps so ! But I couldn't help it. I am 
 verv sensitive ! "
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 LOUISE IS DISILLUSIONED 
 
 MROQUE described the severe military duties 
 he had performed to Madame Dambreuse, in 
 * her boudoir, as she sat between her niece and 
 Miss John. 
 
 She was biting her lips, as if in pain. 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis nothing ! it will pass away ! " 
 
 And, with a gracious air: 
 
 " We are going to have an acquaintance of yours 
 to dine with us Monsieur Moreau." 
 
 Louise gave a start. 
 
 " Oh ! we'll just have a few intimate friends there 
 amongst others, Alfred de Cisy." 
 
 And she spoke in terms of high praise about his 
 manners, his personal appearance, and especially his 
 moral character. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse was nearer to a correct esti- 
 mate of the state of affairs than she imagined; the 
 Vicomte was contemplating marriage. He said so 
 to Martinon, adding that Mademoiselle Cecile would 
 surely like him, and that her parents would be agree- 
 able. 
 
 To justify him in going so far as to confide to an- 
 other his intentions on the point, he required satisfac- 
 tory information with regard to her dowry. Now 
 Martinon suspected that Cecile was M. Dambreuse's 
 natural daughter ; and it is probable that it would have 
 been a very daring step on his part to ask for her hand
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION gl 
 
 at any risk. Such audacity, of course, was not unac- 
 companied by danger; and for this reason Martinon 
 had, so far, acted in a way that could not compromise 
 him. Besides, he did not see how he could well get 
 rid of the aunt. Cisy's confidence induced him to 
 make up his mind ; and he had formally made his 
 proposal to the banker, who, seeing no objection to 
 it, had just informed Madame Dambreuse about the 
 matter. 
 
 Cisy presently made his appearance. She arose and 
 said : 
 
 '"' You have been forgetting us. Cecile, shake 
 hands ! " 
 
 At the same moment Frederick entered the room. 
 
 " Ha ! at last we have found you again ! " exclaimed 
 Pere Roque. " I called with Cecile on you three times 
 this week ! " 
 
 Frederick had carefully avoided them. He pleaded 
 by way of excuse that he had been spending all his 
 days beside a wounded comrade. 
 
 For a long time, however, a heap of misfortunes 
 had happened to him, and he tried to invent stories 
 to explain his conduct. Luckily the guests arrived in 
 the midst of his explanation. First of all M. Paul de 
 Gremonville, the diplomatist whom he rnet at the ball ; 
 then Fumichon, that manufacturer whose conservative 
 zeal had scandalised him one evening. After them 
 came the old Duchesse de Montreuil Nantua. 
 
 Two loud voices in the anteroom reached his 
 ears. They were that of M. de Nonancourt, an old 
 beau with the air of a mummy preserved in cold 
 cream, and that of Madame de Larsillois, the wife of 
 a prefect of Louis Philippe. She was terribly fright- 
 ened, for she had just heard an organ playing a polka 
 which was known to be a signal amongst the insur-
 
 82 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 gents. Many of the wealthy class of citizens had 
 similar apprehensions; they thought that men in the 
 catacombs were going to blow up the Faubourg Saint- 
 Germain. Noises escaped from cellars, and suspicious 
 looking things were passed up to windows. 
 
 Everyone in the meantime made an effort to calm 
 Madame de Larsillois. Order was reestablished. 
 There was no longer cause for fear. 
 
 " Cavaignac has saved us ! " 
 
 As if the horrors of the insurrection had not been 
 sufficiently numerous, they exaggerated them. There 
 had been twenty-three thousand convicts on the side 
 of the Socialists no less ! 
 
 They were certain that food had been poisoned, 
 that Gardes Mobiles had been sawn between two 
 planks, and that there had been inscriptions on flags in- 
 citing the people to pillage and incendiarism. 
 
 " Aye, and more than that ! " added the ex-prefect. 
 
 " Oh, dear ! " said Madame Dambreuse, whose 
 modesty was shocked, while she indicated the three 
 young girls with a glance. 
 
 M. Dambreuse came forth from his study accom- 
 panied by Martinon. She turned her head and re- 
 sponded to a bow from Pellerin, who was advancing 
 toward her. The artist gazed in a restless fashion 
 toward the walls. The banker took him aside, and 
 told him that it was desirable for the present to con- 
 ceal his revolutionary picture. 
 
 " No doubt," said Pellerin, the rebuff which he re- 
 ceived at the Club of Intellect having modified his 
 opinions. 
 
 M. Dambreuse hinted very politely that he would 
 give him orders for other works. 
 
 " But excuse me. Ah ! my dear friend, what a 
 pleasure ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 83 
 
 Arnoux and Madame Arnoux stood before Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 He had a sort of vertigo. Rosanette had been irri- 
 tating him all the afternoon with her display of ad- 
 miration for soldiers, and the old passion was re- 
 awakened. 
 
 The steward announced that dinner was on the 
 table. With a look she directed the Vicomte to take 
 in Cecile, while she said in a low tone to Martinon, 
 " You wretch! " And then they passed into the din- 
 ing-room. 
 
 Under the green leaves of a pineapple, in the centre 
 of the table-cloth, a dorado stood, with its snout reach- 
 inging toward a quarter of roebuck and its tail just 
 grazing a bushy dish of crayfish. Figs, huge cherries, 
 pears, and grapes (the first fruits of Parisian culti- 
 vation) rose like pyramids in baskets of old Saxe. 
 Here and there a bunch of flowers mingled with the 
 shining silver plate. The white silk blinds, in front 
 of the windows, filled the apartment with a mellow 
 light. It was cooled by two fountains, in which there 
 were pieces of ice ; and tall men-servants, in short 
 breeches, waited on them. All these luxuries seemed 
 the more precious for the emotion of the past few 
 days. There was a fresh delight at possessing things 
 which they had been afraid of losing ; and Nonancourt 
 voiced the general sentiment when he said: 
 
 " Ah ! let us hope that these Republican gentle- 
 men will allow us to dine ! " 
 
 " In spite of their fraternity ! " Pere Roque added, 
 with an attempt at wit. 
 
 These two personages were placed respectively at 
 the right and at the left of Madame Dambreuse, her 
 husband being exactly opposite her, between Madame 
 Larsillois, at whose side was the diplomatist and the
 
 84 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 old Duchesse, whom Fumichon elbowed. Then came 
 the painter, the dealer in faience, and Mademoiselle 
 Louise ; and, thanks to Martinon, who had carried her 
 chair to enable her to take a seat near Louise, Fred- 
 erick found himself beside Madame Arnoux. 
 
 She wore a black barege gown, a gold hoop en- 
 circled her wrist, and, as on the first day that he dined 
 at her house, there was something red in her hair, 
 a branch of fuchsia twisted round her chignon. He 
 could not help saying: 
 
 " It is a long time since we saw each other." 
 
 " Ah ! " she returned coldly. 
 
 He continued, in a mild tone, which mitigated the 
 impertinence of his question : 
 
 "Have you thought of me now and then?" 
 
 " Why should I think of you ? " 
 
 Frederick was hurt by these words. 
 
 " You are right, perhaps, after all." 
 
 But very soon, regretting what he had said, he 
 swore that he had not lived a single day without be- 
 ing ravaged by the remembrance of her. 
 
 " I don't believe a single word you are saying, Mon- 
 sieur." 
 
 "H owever, you know that I love you ! " 
 
 Madame Arnoux made no reply. 
 
 " You know that I love you ! " 
 
 She still remained silent. 
 
 " Well, then, go be hanged ! " said Frederick to 
 himself. 
 
 And, as he raised his eyes, he perceived Mademoi- 
 selle Roque at the other side of Madame Arnoux. 
 
 She imagined it gave her a coquettish look to dress 
 entirely in green, a colour which contrasted horribly 
 with her red hair. The buckle of her belt was too 
 large and her collar cramped her neck. This lack
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 85 
 
 of elegance had, no doubt, contributed to the coldness 
 which Frederick at first displayed toward her. She 
 watched him from where she sat, some distance away, 
 with curious glances; and Arnoux, by her side, in 
 vain lavished his gallantries he could not get her to 
 utter three words, so that, finally abandoning all hope 
 of making himself agreeable to her, he listened to the 
 conversation. She now began rolling about a slice 
 of Luxembourg pine-apple in her pea-soup. 
 
 Louis Blanc, according to Fumichon, owned a large 
 house in the Rue Saint-Dominique, which he refused 
 to let to the workmen. 
 
 " I think it rather a funny thing," said Nonancourt, 
 " to see Ledru-Rollin hunting over the Crown lands." 
 
 " He owes twenty thousand francs to a goldsmith ! " 
 Cisy interposed, " and 'tis maintained " 
 
 Madame Dambreuse interrupted him. 
 
 " Ah ! how nasty it is to be getting hot about poli- 
 tics ! and for such a young man, too ! fie, fie ! Pay 
 attention rather to your fair neighbour ! " 
 
 After this, those who were of a grave turn of mind 
 attacked the newspapers. Arnoux took it on himself 
 to defend them. Frederick mixed himself up in the 
 discussion, describing them as commercial establish- 
 ments just like any other house of business. Those 
 who wrote for them were, as a rule, imbeciles or 
 humbugs ; he led his listeners to believe that he was 
 acquainted with journalists, and he combated with 
 sarcasms his friend's generous sentiments. 
 
 Madame Arnoux did not realise that this was said 
 through a feeling of spite against her. 
 
 Meanwhile the Vicomte was torturing his brain in 
 the effort to make a conquest of Mademoiselle Cecile. 
 He commenced by criticising the shape of the de- 
 canters and the graving of the knives, in order to
 
 86 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 show his artistic tastes. Then he talked about his 
 stable, his tailor and his shirtmaker. Finally, he took 
 up the subject of religion, and seized the opportunity 
 of conveying to her that he fulfilled all his duties. 
 
 Martinon set to work in a better fashion. With 
 his eyes fixed on her continually, he praised, in a 
 monotonous fashion, her birdlike profile, her dull fair 
 hair, and her hands, which were unusually short. The 
 plain-looking young girl was charmed at this shower 
 of flatteries. 
 
 It was impossible to hear anything, as all present 
 were talking at the tops of their voices. M. Roque 
 wanted " an iron hand " to govern France. Nonan- 
 court regretted that the political scaffold was abol- 
 ished. All these scoundrels should be put to death to- 
 gether. 
 
 " Now that I think of it, what about Dussardier ? " 
 said M. Dambreuse, turning toward Frederick. 
 
 The worthy shopman was now a hero, like Sallesse, 
 the brothers Jeanson, the wife of Pequillet, etc. 
 
 Frederick, without waiting to be asked, related his 
 friend's history ; it threw around him a kind of halo. 
 
 This naturally led to a discussion on different traits 
 of courage. 
 
 According to the diplomatist, it was not hard to 
 face death, witness the case of men who fight duels. 
 
 " We might take the Vicomte's testimony on that 
 point," said Martinon. 
 
 The Vicomte's face got very red. 
 
 The guests stared at him, and Louise, more aston- 
 ished than the rest, murmured : 
 
 " What is it, pray ? " 
 
 " He sank before Frederick," returned Arnoux, in 
 a very low tone. 
 
 " Do you know anything of rt, Mademoiselle ? " said
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 87 
 
 Nonancourt presently, and he repeated her answer to 
 Madame Dambreuse, who, bending forward a little, 
 fixed her gaze on Frederick. 
 
 Martinon did not wait for Cecile's questions. He 
 informed her that the affair had reference to a woman 
 of improper character. The young girl drew back 
 slightly in her chair, as if to escape from contact 
 with such a libertine. 
 
 The conversation was renewed. The great wines of 
 Bordeaux were passed round, and the guests became 
 animated. Pellerin had a dislike to the Revolution, 
 because he attributed to it the loss of the Spanish 
 Museum. 
 
 This is what grieved him most as a painter. 
 
 As he made the latter remark, M. Roque asked: 
 
 " Are you not yourself the painter of a very nota- 
 ble picture? " 
 
 "Perhaps! What is it?" 
 
 " It depicts a lady in a costume faith ! a little 
 light, with a purse, and a peacock in the background." 
 
 Frederick, in his turn, reddened. Pellerin pre- 
 tended that he did not understand. 
 
 " Nevertheless, it is certainly by you ! For your 
 name is written at the bottom of it, and there is also 
 a line on it stating that it is Monsieur Moreau's prop- 
 erty." 
 
 One day, when Pere Roque and his daughter were 
 waiting for him at his residence, they saw the Mare- 
 chale's portrait. The old gentleman had taken it for 
 " a Gothic painting." 
 
 " No," said Pellerin rudely, " 'tis a woman's por- 
 trait." 
 
 Martinon added : 
 
 " And a living woman's, too, and no mistake ! Isn't 
 that so, Cisy ? "
 
 88 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Oh ! I know nothing about it." 
 
 " I thought you were acquainted with her. But, 
 since it causes you pain, I must beg a thousand par- 
 dons ! " 
 
 Cisy lowered his eyes, proving by his embarrass- 
 ment that he must have played a discreditable part in 
 connection with this portrait. As for Frederick, the 
 model could only be his mistress. It was one of those 
 convictions which are immediately formed, and the 
 faces of the assembly revealed it with the utmost 
 clearness. 
 
 " How he lied to me ! " said Madame Arnoux to 
 herself. 
 
 " It is for that woman, then, that he left me," 
 thought Louise. 
 
 Frederick had an idea that these two stories might 
 compromise him ; and when they were in the garden, 
 he reproached Martinon. Mademoiselle Cecile's wooer 
 laughed in his face. 
 
 "Oh, not at all! 'twill benefit you! Go ahead!" 
 
 What did he mean? Besides, what was the cause 
 of this good nature, so contrary to his usual conduct? 
 Without giving any explanation, he proceeded toward 
 the lower end, where the ladies were seated. The 
 men were standing round them, and, in their midst, 
 Pellerin was giving vent to his ideas. The form of 
 government most favourable for the arts was an en- 
 lightened monarchy. He was disgusted with modern 
 times, " if it were only on account of the National 
 Guard " he regretted the Middle Ages and the days 
 of Louis XIV. M. Roque congratulated him on his 
 opinions, acknowledging that they overcame all his 
 prejudices against artists. But almost without a mo- 
 ment's delay he went off when he heard the voice of 
 Fumichon.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 89 
 
 Arnoux tried to prove that there were two Social- 
 isms a good and a bad. The manufacturer saw no 
 difference whatever between them, his head becoming 
 dizzy with rage at the utterance of the word " prop- 
 erty." 
 
 " Tis a law written on the face of Nature ! Chil- 
 dren cling to their toys. AH peoples, all animals have 
 the same instinct. The lion even, if he were able to 
 speak, would declare himself a proprietor! I myself, 
 messieurs, began with a capital of fifteen thousand 
 francs. Would you be surprised to hear that for 
 thirty years I used to get up at four o'clock every 
 morning? I've had as much pain as five hundred 
 devils in making my fortune ! And people want to 
 tell me I'm not the master, that my money is not my 
 money ; in short, that property is theft ! " 
 
 " But Proudhon 
 
 " Don't bother me with your Proudhon ! if he were 
 here I think I'd strangle him ! " 
 
 He would have strangled him. After the intoxica- 
 ting drink he had swallowed Fumichon did not know 
 what he was talking about any longer, and his apoplec- 
 tic face was on the point of bursting like a bombshell. 
 
 " Good morrow, Arnoux," said Hussonnet, who 
 was walking briskly over the grass. 
 
 He brought M. Dambreuse the first leaf of a 
 pamphlet, entitled The Hydra, the Bohemian defend- 
 ing the interests of a reactionary club, and in that ca- 
 pacity he was presently introduced by the banker to his 
 guests. 
 
 Hussonnet amused them by relating how the dealers 
 
 in tallow hired three hundred and ninety-two street 
 
 boys to bawl out every evening " Lamps," * and then 
 
 turning into ridicule the principles of '89, the emanci- 
 
 *The word may also be translated "grease-pots. TRANSLATOR.
 
 90 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 pation of the negroes, and the orators of the Left; 
 he even went so far as to do Prudhomme on a Barri- 
 cade, perhaps under the influence of a kind of jeal- 
 ousy of these rich people who had enjoyed a good 
 dinner. The caricature did not appeal to them. Their 
 faces grew long. 
 
 This was no time for joking, so Nonancourt ob- 
 served, as he recalled the death of Monseigneur Afire 
 and that of General de Brea. These events were being 
 constantly alluded to, and arguments were constructed 
 out of them. M. Roque described the archbishop's end 
 as " everything that one could call sublime." Fumi- 
 chon gave the palm to the military personage, and 
 instead of simply expressing regret for these two mur- 
 ders, they disputed with a view to determining which 
 ought to excite the greatest indignation. A second 
 comparison was next instituted, namely, between La- 
 moriciere and Cavaignac, M. Dambreuse glorifying 
 Cavaignac, and Nonancourt, Lamoriciere. 
 
 Not one of those present, with the exception of 
 Arnoux, had ever seen either of them engaged in the 
 exercise of his profession. None the less, everyone 
 spoke decisively with reference to their operations. 
 
 Frederick, however, declined to express an opinion 
 on the matter, confessing that he had not served as a 
 soldier. The diplomatist and M. Dambreuse gave him 
 an approving nod of the head. In fact, to have fought 
 against the insurrection was to have defended the 
 Republic. The result, although favourable, consoli- 
 dated it ; and now they had rid themselves of the van- 
 quished, they wanted to be conquerors. 
 
 As soon as they got out into the garden, Madame 
 Dambreuse, taking Cisy aside, chided him for his awk- 
 wardness. When she caught sight of Martinon, she 
 sent him away, and then tried to find out from her
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 91 
 
 future nephew the cause of his witticisms at the Vi- 
 comte's expense. 
 
 " There's nothing of the kind." 
 
 " And all this, as it were, for the glory of Monsieur 
 Moreau. What is the object of it?" 
 
 " There's no object. Frederick is a delightful fel- 
 low. I am very fond of him." 
 
 " And so am I, too. Let him come here. Go and 
 bring him ! " 
 
 After a few commonplace phrases, she began by 
 lightly disparaging her guests, and in this way she 
 placed him on a higher level than the others. He did 
 not omit to sneer at the ladies more or less, which 
 was an ingenious way of paying her compliments. 
 She left his side from time to time, as it was a re- 
 ception-night, and ladies were every moment arriving; 
 then she returned to her seat, and the entirely acci- 
 dental arrangement of the chairs prevented their being 
 overheard. 
 
 She was playful and yet grave, melancholy and yet 
 quite rational. Her daily occupations interested her 
 very little there were depths of sentiments of a less 
 transitory kind. She complained of the poets, who 
 misrepresent the facts of life, then she raised her eyes 
 toward heaven, asking him what was the name of a 
 certain star. 
 
 Two or three Chinese lanterns had been suspended 
 from the trees; the wind shook them, and lines of 
 coloured light quivered on her white dress. She sat 
 after her usual style, a little back in her armchair, 
 with a footstool in front of her. The tip of a black 
 satin shoe could be seen ; and at intervals Madame 
 Dambreuse allowed a louder word than usual, and 
 sometimes even a laugh, to escape her. 
 
 These coquetries did not disturb Martinon, who was
 
 92 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 occupied with Cecile ; but they were bound to make 
 an impression on M. Roque's daughter, who was chat- 
 ting with Madame Arnoux. She was the only member 
 of her own sex present whose manners were not dis- 
 dainful. Louise came and sat beside her; then, yield- 
 ing to the desire to give an immediate vent to her 
 emotions : 
 
 " Does he not talk well Frederick Moreau, I 
 mean ? " 
 
 " Do you know him ? " 
 
 " Oh ! very well ! We are neighbours ; he used to 
 amuse himself with me when I was quite a little girl." 
 
 Madame Arnoux cast at her a sidelong glance, 
 which meant: 
 
 " I suppose you are not in love with him ? " 
 
 The young girl's face replied with an untroubled 
 look: 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " You see him quite often, then ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! only when he comes to his mother's house. 
 'Tis ten months now since he was there. He prom- 
 ised, however, to be more particular." 
 
 " The promises of men are not to be too much re- 
 lied on, my child." 
 
 " But he has never deceived me ! " 
 
 " As he has others ! " 
 
 Louise shivered : " Could it be by any chance that 
 he promised something to her ; " and her features be- 
 came distracted with distrust and hate. 
 
 Madame Arnoux felt almost afraid of her; she 
 would have gladly withdrawn what she had said. 
 Then both became silent. 
 
 As Frederick was seated opposite them on a fold- 
 ing-stool, they kept looking at him, the one with pro- 
 priety out of the corner of her eye, the other boldly,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 93 
 
 with parted lips, so that Madame Dambreuse said to 
 him: 
 
 '' Come, now, turn round, and let her have a good 
 look at you ! " 
 
 " Whom do you mean ? " 
 
 " Why, Monsieur Roque's daughter ! " 
 
 And she chaffed him on having won the heart of 
 this young girl from the provinces. He denied that 
 it was so, and tried to make a laugh of it. 
 
 " Is it likely, I ask you? Such an ugly creature 
 as that ! " 
 
 However, he experienced an intense feeling of grati- 
 fied vanity. He recalled to mind the reunion from 
 which he had returned one night, some time before, 
 his heart filled with bitter humiliation, and he drew a 
 long breath, for it seemed to him that he was now 
 in the environment that really suited him ; he felt as if 
 all these things, including the Dambreuse mansion, be- 
 longed to himself. The ladies formed a semicircle 
 around him while they listened to what he was saying, 
 and in order to create an effect, he declared that he 
 was in favor of the reestablishment of divorce, which 
 he maintained should be easily procurable, so as to 
 enable people to leave one another and come back to 
 one another without any limit and as often as they 
 liked. They uttered loud protests ; a few of them be- 
 gan to talk in whispers. Little exclamations every 
 now and then burst forth from the place where the 
 wall was overshadowed with aristolochia. It sounded 
 like a mirthful cackling of hens ; and he developed his 
 theory with that self-complacency which is generated 
 by the consciousness of success. A man-servant 
 brought into the arbour a tray laden with ices. The 
 gentlemen drew close together and began to chat about 
 the recent arrests.
 
 94 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Thereupon Frederick revenged himself on the Vi- 
 comte by making him believe that he might be prose- 
 cuted as a Legitimist. The other urged by way of 
 reply that he had not stirred - outside his own room. 
 His adversary enumerated in a heap the possible mis- 
 chances. MM. Dambreuse and Gremonville were 
 much amused at the discussion. Then they paid Fred- 
 erick compliments, expressing regret at the same time 
 that he did not employ his abilities in the defence of or- 
 der. They grasped his hand with the utmost warmth ; 
 he might for the future count on their support. At 
 last, just as everyone was leaving, the Vicomte made a 
 low bow to Cecile : 
 
 " Mademoiselle, I have the honour of wishing you a 
 very good evening." 
 
 She replied coldly: 
 
 " Good evening." But she gave Martinon a parting 
 smile. 
 
 Pere Roque, desiring to continue his conversation 
 with Arnoux, offered to see him home, " as well as 
 Madame " they were going the same way. Louise 
 and Frederick walked in front of them. She had taken 
 his arm ; and, when she was some distance away from 
 the others she said : 
 
 "Ah!, at last! at last! I've had enough to bear all 
 the evening ! How nasty those women were ! What 
 haughty airs they had ! " 
 
 He made an effort to defend them. 
 
 " First of all, you might certainly have spoken to 
 me the moment you came in, after being away a whole 
 year!" 
 
 " It was not a year," said Frederick, glad to be able 
 to make some sort of rejoinder on this point in order 
 to avoid the other questions. 
 
 " Be it so ; the time appeared very long to me, that's
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 95 
 
 all. But, during- this horrid dinner, one would think 
 you were ashamed of me. Ah ! I understand I don't 
 possess what is necessary to please as they do." 
 
 " You are mistaken," said Frederick. 
 
 " Really ! Swear to me that you don't love any- 
 one else ! " 
 
 He did swear. 
 
 " You love nobody but me alone ? " 
 
 " I assure you, I do not." 
 
 This assurance filled her with delight. She would 
 have liked to lose her way in the streets, so that they 
 might walk about together the whole night. 
 
 " I have been so much tormented down there ! 
 Nothing was talked about but barricades. I imagined 
 I say you lying on your back covered with blood ! 
 Your mother was confined to her bed with rheumatism. 
 She knew nothing about what was happening. I had 
 to hold my tongue. I could bear it no longer, so I 
 came with Catherine." 
 
 And she related to him all about her departure, her 
 journey, and the lie she told her father. 
 
 " He's taking me back in two days. Come to-mor- 
 row evening, as if you were merely paying a casual 
 visit, and take advantage of the opportunity to ask 
 for my hand in marriage." 
 
 Never had Frederick been further from the idea of 
 marriage. Besides, Mademoiselle Roque appeared to 
 him a rather absurd young person. How unlike she 
 was to a woman like Madame Dambreuse ! A very 
 different future was in store for him. He had found 
 reason to-day to feel perfectly certain on that point ; 
 and, therefore, this was not the time to involve himself, 
 from mere sentimental motives, in a step of such mo- 
 mentous importance. It was necessary now to be de- 
 cisive a nd then he had seen Madame Arnoux again.
 
 96 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Nevertheless he was rather embarrassed by Louise's 
 candour. 
 
 He said in reply to her last words : 
 
 " Have you thoroughly considered this matter ? " 
 
 " How is that ? " she exclaimed, frozen with aston- 
 ishment and indignation. 
 
 He said that to marry at such a time as this would 
 be absolute folly. 
 
 " So you don't want to have me? " 
 
 " Nay, you don't understand me ! " 
 
 And he plunged into a confused mass of verbiage 
 in order to impress upon her that he was kept back 
 by serious considerations ; that he had business on 
 hand which it would take a long time to dispose of; 
 that even his inheritance had been placed in jeopardy 
 (Louise cut all this explanation short with one plain 
 word) ; that, last of all, the present political situation 
 made the thing undesirable. So, then, the most rea- 
 sonable course was to wait patiently. Matters would, 
 no doubt, right themselves at least, he hoped so; 
 and, as he could think of no further excuses to offer 
 just at that moment, he pretended to have suddenly 
 remembered that he should have been with Dussar- 
 dier two hours ago. 
 
 Then, bowing to the others, he darted down the Rue 
 Hauteville, took a turn round the Gymnase, returned 
 to the boulevard, and quickly rushed up Rosanette's 
 four flights of stairs. 
 
 M. and Madame Arnoux left Pere Roque and his 
 daughter at the entrance of the Rue Saint-Denis. 
 Husband and wife returned home without exchanging 
 a word, as he was worn out and unable to continue 
 chattering any longer. She even leaned against his 
 shoulder. He was the only man who had displayed 
 any honourable sentiments during the evening. She
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 97 
 
 entertained toward him feelings of the utmost indul- 
 gence. Meanwhile, he cherished a certain degree of 
 spite against Frederick. 
 
 " Did you notice his face when a question was asked 
 about the portrait? When I told you that he was 
 her lover, you would not believe what I said ! " 
 
 " Oh ! yes, I was wrong ! " 
 
 Arnoux, gratified with his triumph, pressed the mat- 
 ter even further. 
 
 " I'd even make a bet that when he left us, a little 
 while ago, he went straight to see her. He's with 
 her at this moment, you may be sure ! He's finishing 
 the evening with her ! " 
 
 Madame Arnoux had pulled down her hat very low. 
 
 " Why, you're trembling all over ! " 
 
 " I feel cold ! " was her reply. 
 
 As soon as her father was asleep, Louise made her 
 way into Catherine's room, and catching her by the 
 shoulders, shook her. 
 
 " Get up quick, as quick as ever you can ! and go 
 and fetch a cab for me ! " 
 
 Catherine replied that there was not one to be had 
 at such an hour. 
 
 "Will you come with me yourself there, then?" 
 
 "Where, might I ask?" 
 
 " To Frederick's house ! " 
 
 " Impossible ! Why do you want to go there ? " 
 
 It was in order to have a talk with him. She could 
 not wait. She must see him at once. 
 
 *' Just think of what you're about to do ! To pre- 
 sent yourself this way at a house in the middle of the 
 night ! Besides, he's asleep by this time ! " 
 
 " I'll wake him up ! " 
 
 " But this is not a proper thing for a young girl 
 to do ! "
 
 98 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " I am not a young girl I'm his wife ! I love him ! 
 Come put on your shawl ! " 
 
 Catherine, standing at the side of the bed, was try- 
 ing to decide how to act. She said at last: 
 
 " No ! I won't go ! " 
 
 " Well, stay behind then! I'll go by myself! " 
 
 Louise glided like an adder toward the staircase. 
 Catherine rushed after her, and came up with her on 
 the footpath outside the house. Her remonstrances 
 were fruitless ; so she followed the girl, fastening her 
 undervest as she hurried along in the rear. The walk 
 appeared to her exceedingly tedious. She complained 
 that her legs were getting weak from age. 
 
 " I'll go on after you faith, I haven't the same 
 thing to drive me on that you have ! " 
 
 Then she softened. 
 
 " Pool soul ! You haven't anyone now but your 
 Catau, don't you see ? " 
 
 From time to time scruples took hold of her mind. 
 
 " Ah, this is a nice thing you're making me do ! 
 Suppose your father happened to miss you ! Lord 
 God, let us hope no misfortune will happen ! " 
 
 In front of the Theatre des Varietes, a patrol of 
 National Guards stopped them. 
 
 Louise immediately explained that she was going 
 with her servant to look for a doctor in the Rue Rum- 
 fort. The patrol allowed them to pass. 
 
 At the corner of the Madeleine they met a second 
 patrol, and, Louise having given the same explanation, 
 one of the National Guards asked: 
 
 "Is it for a nine months' ailment, ducky?" 
 
 " Oh, damn it ! " exclaimed the captain, " no black- 
 guardisms in the ranks ! Pass on, ladies ! " 
 
 Despite the captain's orders, they still kept cracking 
 jokes.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 99 
 
 " I wish you much joy ! " 
 
 " My respects to the doctor ! " 
 
 "Mind the wolf!" 
 
 ;< They like laughing," Catherine remarked in a loud 
 tone. " That's what it is to be young." 
 
 At length they reached Frederick's house. 
 
 Louise gave the bell a vigorous pull, which she re- 
 peated several times. The door opened a little, and, 
 in answer to her inquiry, the porter said : 
 
 " No ! " 
 
 " But he must be in bed ! " 
 
 " I tell you he's not. Why, for nearly three months 
 he has not slept at home ! " 
 
 And the little pane of the lodge fell down sharply, 
 like the blade of a guillotine. 
 
 They stood in the darkness under the archway. 
 
 An angry voice cried out to them: 
 
 "Be off!" 
 
 The door was again opened ; they went away. 
 
 Louise sat down on a boundary-stone; and clasp- 
 ing her face with her hands, she wept copious tears 
 welling up from her full heart. The day was break- 
 ing, and market carts were making their way into the 
 city. 
 
 Catherine led her back home, holding her up, kiss- 
 ing her, and offering every sort of consolation that 
 she could extract from her own experience. Why 
 trouble so much about one lover? There were plenty 
 more.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THREE CHARMING WOMEN 
 
 ROSANETTE became more charming than ever 
 when her enthusiasm for the Gardes Mobiles 
 had died down, and Frederick gradually fell 
 into the habit of living with her. 
 
 The best part of the day was the morning on the 
 terrace. In a light cambric dress, and with her stock- 
 ingless feet thrust into slippers, she kept moving about 
 him cleaned her canaries' cage, gave her gold-fishes 
 some water, and, with a fire-shovel did a little amateur 
 gardening in the box filled with clay, from which arose 
 a trellis of nasturtiums, brightening the wall. Then, 
 resting, with their elbows on the balcony, they stood 
 side by side, gazing at the vehicles and the passers- 
 by; and they basked in the sunlight, and made plans 
 for spending the evening. He absented himself only 
 for two hours at most, and, after that, they would go 
 to some theatre, where they would get seats near the 
 stage ; and Rosanette, with a large bouquet of flowers 
 in her hand, would listen to the instruments, while 
 Frederick, leaning close to her ear, would tell her 
 comic or amatory stories. At other times they would 
 drive in an open carriage to the Bois de Boulogne. 
 They walked about slowly until the middle of the 
 night. At last they made their way home through the 
 Arc de Triomphe and the grand avenue, inhaling the 
 breeze, with the stars above their heads, and with all 
 the gas-lamps ranged in the background of the per- 
 spective like a double string of luminous pearls.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 101 
 
 Frederick always waited for her when they were 
 going out together. She took a very long time fas- 
 tening the two ribbons of her bonnet; and she smiled 
 at herself in the mirror set in the wardrobe ; then she 
 would draw her arm through his, and, making him 
 look at himself in the glass beside her: 
 
 " We look well this way, the two of us side by side. 
 Ah ! my darling, I could eat you ! " 
 
 He was now her chattel, her property. She wore 
 on her face a continuous radiance, while at the same 
 time she appeared more languishing in manner, more 
 rounded in figure ; and, without being able to explain 
 the difference, he found her altered. 
 
 One day she informed him, as if it were a very im- 
 portant bit of news, that my lord Arnoux had lately 
 set up a linen-draper's shop for a woman who was 
 formerly employed in his pottery-works. He used 
 to go there every evening " he spent a lot on it no 
 later than a week ago; he had even given her a set 
 of rosewood furniture." 
 
 " How do you know that ? " said Frederick. 
 
 " Oh ! I'm 'sure of it." 
 
 Delphine, while carrying out some orders for her, 
 had made enquiries about the matter. She must, then, 
 be much attached to Arnoux to take such a deep in- 
 terest in his movements. He contented himself with 
 saying to her in reply: 
 
 "What does this signify to you?" 
 
 Rosanette looked surprised at the question. 
 
 " Why, the rascal owes me money. Isn't it atro- 
 cious to see him supporting beggars ? " 
 
 Then, with a look of triumphant hate in her face: 
 
 " Besides, she is only laughing at him. She has 
 three others on hand. So much the better; and I'll 
 be glad if she eats him up, even to the last farthing ! "
 
 102 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Arnoux had, in fact, let himself be used by the girl 
 from Bordeaux with the indulgence which charac- 
 terises senile attachments. His manufactory no longer 
 existed. The entire state of his affairs was pitiable ; so 
 that, in order to set them afloat again, he projected 
 the establishment of a cafe chantant, at which only 
 patriotic pieces would be sung. With a grant from 
 the Minister, this establishment would become at the 
 same time a focus for the purpose of propagandism 
 and a source of profit. Now that power had been di- 
 rected into a different channel, the thing was impos- 
 sible. 
 
 His next idea was a big military hat-making busi- 
 ness. He lacked capital, however, to open it. 
 
 He was not more fortunate in his domestic life. 
 Madame Arnoux was less agreeable in manner toward 
 him, sometimes even a little rude. Berthe always took 
 her father's part. This increased the discord, and 
 the house was becoming intolerable. He often set 
 forth in the morning, passed his day in making long 
 excursions out of the city, in order to divert his 
 thoughts, then dined at a rustic tavern, abandoning 
 himself to his reflections. 
 
 The prolonged absence of Frederick disturbed his 
 habits. He presented himself one afternoon, begged 
 of him to come and see him as in former days, and 
 obtained from him a promise to do so. 
 
 Frederick did not feel sufficient courage within him 
 to go back to Madame Arnoux's house. He felt as 
 if he had betrayed her. But this conduct was very 
 pusillanimous. There was no excuse for it. There 
 was only one way of ending the matter, and so, one 
 evening, he set out for her house. 
 
 As the rain was falling, he had just turned up the 
 Passage Jouffroy, when, under the light shed from the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 103 
 
 shop-windows, a fat little man accosted him. Fred- 
 erick had no difficulty in recognising Compain, that 
 orator whose motion had excited so much laughter 
 at the club. He was leaning on the arm of an indi- 
 vidual whose head was muffled in a zouave's red 
 cap, with a very long upper lip, a complexion as yel- 
 low as an orange, a tuft of beard under his jaw, and 
 big staring eyes glistening with wonder. 
 
 Compain seemed to be proud of him, for he said i 
 
 " Let me introduce you to this jolly dog ! He is 
 a bootmaker whom I include amongst my friends. 
 Come and let us take something ! " 
 
 Frederick having thanked him, he immediately thun- 
 dered against Rateau's motion, which he described as 
 a manoeuvre of the aristocrats. In order to put an 
 end to it, it would be necessary to begin '93 over again ! 
 Then he inquired about Regimbart and some others, 
 who were also well known, such as Masselin, Sonson, 
 Lecornu, Marechal, and a certain Deslauriers, who 
 had been inplicated in the case of the carbines lately 
 intercepted at Troyes. 
 
 All this was new to Frederick. Compain knew 
 nothing further about the subject. He left the young 
 man with these words : 
 
 "You'll come soon, will you not? for you belong 
 to it." 
 
 "To what?" 
 
 "The calf's head!" 
 
 "What calf's head?" 
 
 " Ha, you rogue ! " returned Compain, giving him 
 a nudge in the ribs. 
 
 And the two terrorists plunged into a cafe. 
 
 Ten minutes later Frederick had forgotten Deslau- 
 riers. He was on the footpath of the Rue de Para- 
 dis in front of a house ; and he was staring at the
 
 104 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 light which came from a lamp in the second floor be- 
 hind a curtain. 
 
 At length he ascended the stairs. 
 
 " Is Arnoux in ? " 
 
 The chambermaid answered: 
 
 " No ; but come in all the same." 
 
 And, abruptly opening a door : 
 
 " Madame, it is Monsieur Moreau ! " 
 
 She arose, whiter than the collar round her neck. 
 
 '' To what do I owe the honour of a visit so un- 
 expected ? " 
 
 " Merely the pleasure of seeing old friends once 
 more." 
 
 And as he took a seat: 
 
 " How is the worthy Arnoux ? " 
 
 " Very well. He has gone out." 
 
 " Ah, I understand ! still following his old nightly 
 practices. A little distraction ! " 
 
 " And why not ? After a day spent in making cal- 
 culations, the head needs a rest." 
 
 She even praised her husband as a hard-working 
 man. Frederick was irritated at this eulogy ; and 
 pointing toward a piece of black cloth with a nar- 
 row blue braid which lay on her lap : 
 
 " What is it you are doing there ? " 
 
 " A jacket which I am trimming for my daughter." 
 
 " Now that you remind me of it, I have not seen her. 
 Where is she, pray ? " 
 
 " At a boarding-school," was the reply. 
 
 Tears came into her eyes. She held them back, 
 while she rapidly plied her needle. To compose him- 
 self, he took up a number of L' Illustration which had 
 been lying on the table close to where she sat. 
 
 " These caricatures of Cham are very funny, are 
 they not ? "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 105 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 Then they relapsed into silence once more. 
 
 All of a sudden a fierce gust of wind shook the 
 window-panes. 
 
 " What weather ! " said Frederick. 
 
 " It was very good of you; indeed, to come here 
 in the midst of this dreadful rain." 
 
 "Oh! what do I care about that? I'm not like 
 some, whom it prevents, no doubt, from keeping their 
 appointments." 
 
 "What appointments?" she asked ingenuously. 
 
 " Don't you remember? " 
 
 A shudder ran through her frame and she hung 
 down her head. 
 
 He gently laid his hand on her arm. 
 
 " You have given me great pain." 
 
 She replied, with a sort of wail in her voice: 
 
 " But I was frightened about my child." 
 
 She told him about Eugene's illness, and all the 
 tortures \vhich she had suffered on that day. 
 
 " Thanks ! thanks ! I doubt you no longer. I love 
 you as much as ever." 
 
 " Ah ! no ; that is not true ! " 
 
 "Why so?" 
 
 She glanced at him coldly. 
 
 " You forget the other ! the one you took with you 
 to the races ! the woman whose portrait you have 
 your mistress ! " 
 
 " Well, yes ! " exclaimed Frederick, " I don't deny 
 anything ! I am a wretch ! Just listen to me ! " 
 
 He had done this through despair, as one commits 
 suicide. However, he had made her very unhappy in 
 order to avenge himself on her with his own shame. 
 
 " What mental anguish ! Do you not realise what 
 it means ? "
 
 106 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Madame Arnoux turned away her beautiful face 
 while she held out her hand to him; and they closed 
 their eyes, absorbed in an intoxication that was like 
 a sweet, ceaseless rocking. Then they stood face to 
 face, gazing at each other. 
 
 " Could you believe it possible that I no longer loved 
 you ? " 
 
 She replied in a low voice, full of caressing ten- 
 derness : 
 
 " No ! in spite of everything, I felt at the bottom of 
 my heart that it was impossible, and that some day 
 the obstacle between us two would be removed ! " 
 
 " So did I ; and I was dying to see you again." 
 
 " I once passed close to you in the Palais-Royal ! " 
 
 "Did you really?" 
 
 And he spoke to her of the happiness he experi- 
 enced at meeting her again at the Dambreuses' house. 
 
 " But how I hated you that evening as I was leav- 
 ing the place ! " 
 
 " Poor boy ! " 
 
 " My life is so sad ! " 
 
 " And mine, too. If it were only the vexations, the 
 anxieties, the humiliations, all that I endure as wife 
 and as mother, seeing that one must die, I would not 
 complain ; the frightful part of it is my solitude, with- 
 out anyone." 
 
 " But you have me here with you ! " 
 
 "Oh! yes!" 
 
 A sob of deep emotion made her bosom swell. She 
 opened her arms, and they strained each other, while 
 their lips met in a long kiss. 
 
 A creaking sound on the floor not far from them 
 reached their ears. There was a woman standing 
 close to them; it was Rosanette. Madame Arnoux 
 recognised her. Her eyes, opened to their widest,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 107 
 
 scanned this woman, full of astonishment and in- 
 dignation. At length Rosanette said to her : 
 
 " I have come to see Monsieur Arnoux about a 
 matter of business." 
 
 " You see he is not here." 
 
 " Ah ! that's true," returned the Marechale. " Your 
 nurse was right ! A thousand apologies ! " 
 
 And turning toward Frederick: 
 
 " So here you are you? " 
 
 The familiar tone in which she addressed him, and 
 in her own presence, too, made Madame Arnoux 
 flush as if she had received a slap right across the face. 
 
 " I tell you once more, he is not here ! " 
 
 Then the Marechale, who was looking around, said 
 quietly : 
 
 " Let us go back together ! I have a cab waiting 
 below." 
 
 He pretended not to hear. 
 
 " Come ! let us go ! " 
 
 " Ah ! yes ! this is a good opportunity ! Go ! go ! " 
 said Madame Arnoux. 
 
 They left together, and she stooped over the head 
 of the stairs in order to see them once more, and a 
 laugh piercing, heart-rending, reached them from 
 the place where she stood. Frederick pushed Rosa- 
 nette into the cab, sat down opposite her, and during 
 the entire drive did not utter a word. 
 
 The infamy, which it outraged him to see once more 
 flowing back on him, had been occasioned by himself 
 alone. He experienced at the same time the dis- 
 honour of a crushing humiliation and the remorse 
 caused by the loss of his new-found happiness. Just 
 when, at last, he had it in his grasp, it had for ever 
 more become impossible, and that through the fault 
 of this girl of the town, this harlot. He would have
 
 108 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 liked to strangle her. He was choking with rage. 
 When they got into the house he flung his hat on a 
 piece of furniture and tore off his cravat. 
 
 " Ha ! you have just done a nice thing confess it ! " 
 
 She planted herself boldly in front of him. 
 
 " Well, what of that ? Where's the harm ? " 
 
 "What! You are playing the spy on me?" 
 
 " Is that my fault? Why do you go to amuse your- 
 self with virtuous women ? " 
 
 " Never mind ! I don't wish you to insult them." 
 
 " How have I insulted them ? " 
 
 He could not answer this, and in a more spiteful 
 tone : 
 
 " But on the other occasion, at the Champ de 
 Mars 
 
 " Ah ! you bore me to death with your old women ! " 
 
 " Wretch ! " 
 
 He raised his fist. 
 
 " Don't kill me ! I'm pregnant ! " 
 
 Frederick staggered back. 
 
 " You are lying ! " 
 
 " Wny, just look at me! " 
 
 She seized a candlestick, and pointing at her face : 
 
 " Don't you recognise the fact there ? " 
 
 Little yellow spots dotted her skin, which was 
 strangely swollen. Frederick could not deny the evi- 
 dence. He opened the window, took a few steps up 
 and down the room, and then sank into an armchair. 
 
 This event was a calamity which, in the first place, 
 put off their rupture, and, in the next place, upset all 
 his plans. The notion of being a father, moreover, 
 appeared to him grotesque, inadmissible. But why? 
 If, in place of the Marechale And his reverie be- 
 came so deep that he had a kind of hallucination. He 
 could see, on the carpet, in front of the chimney-piece,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 109 
 
 a little girl. She resembled Madame Arnoux and 
 himself a little dark, and yet fair, with black eyes, 
 very thick eyebrows, and a red ribbon in her curling 
 hair. (Oh, how he would have loved her!) And he 
 seemed to hear her voice saying : " Papa ! papa ! " 
 
 Rosanette, who had just undressed herself, came 
 across to him, and seeing a tear in his eyelids, kissed 
 him gravely on the forehead. 
 
 He arose, saying: 
 
 " By Jove, we mustn't kill this little one ! " 
 
 Then she talked a lot of nonsense. To be sure, it 
 would be a boy, and its name would be Frederick. She 
 must begin making its clothes ; and, seeing her so 
 happy, a feeling of pity took possession of him. As 
 he no longer cherished any anger against her, he de- 
 sired to know the reason of the step she had recently 
 taken. She said it was because Mademoiselle Vatnaz 
 had sent her that day a bill which had been protested 
 for some time past ; and so she hastened to Arnoux 
 to get the money from him. 
 
 " I'd have given it to you ! " said Frederick. 
 
 " It is a simpler course for me to get over there 
 what belongs to me, and to pay back to the other one 
 her thousand francs." 
 
 "Is that really all you owe her?" 
 
 She answered: 
 
 " Certainly ! " 
 
 On the following day, at nine o'clock in the evening 
 (the hour specified by the doorkeeper), Frederick re- 
 paired to Mademoiselle Vatnaz's residence. 
 
 In the anteroom, he jostled against the furniture, 
 which was heaped together. But the sound of voices 
 and of music guided him. He opened a door, and 
 found himself in the middle of a rout. Standing up 
 before a piano, which a young lady in spectacles was
 
 110 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 playing, Delmar, as serious as a pontiff, was declaim- 
 ing a humanitarian poem on prostitution ; and his hol- 
 low voice rolled to the accompaniment of the metallic 
 chords. A row of women sat close to the wall, at- 
 tired, as a rule, in dark colours without neckbands or 
 cuffs. Five or six men, all people of culture, occu- 
 pied seats here and there. In an armchair was seated 
 a former writer of fables, a mere wreck now ; and the 
 pungent odour of the two lamps was intermingled with 
 the aroma of the chocolate which filled a number of 
 bowls placed on the card-table. 
 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz, with an Oriental shawl 
 thrown over her shoulders, was seated at one side of 
 the chimney-piece. Dussardier faced her at the other 
 side. He seemed to feel himself in an embarrassing 
 position. Besides, he was rather intimidated by his 
 artistic surroundings. Had the Vatnaz, then, broken 
 off with Delmar ? Perhaps not. However, she seemed 
 jealous of the worthy shopman ; and Frederick, having 
 asked permission to exchange a word with her, she 
 made a sign to him to go with them into her own 
 apartment. When the thousand francs were paid, she 
 asked, in addition, for interest. 
 
 " 'Tisn't worth while," said Dussardier. 
 
 " Pray hold your tongue ! " 
 
 This want of moral courage on the part of so brave 
 a man was agreeable to Frederick as a justification of 
 his own conduct. He took away the bill with him, and 
 never again referred to the scandal at Madame Ar- 
 noux's house. But from that time forth he observed 
 clearly all the defects in the Marechale's character. 
 
 She had incurable bad taste, incomprehensible lazi- 
 ness, the ignorance of a savage, so much so that she 
 regarded Dr. Derogis as a person of great celebrity, 
 and she felt proud of entertaining himself and his
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION HI 
 
 wife, because they were " married people." She lec- 
 tured with a pedantic air on the affairs of daily life 
 to Mademoiselle Irma, a helpless little creature en- 
 dowed with a weak voice, who had as a protector a 
 gentleman " very well off," an ex-clerk in the Custom- 
 house, who had a rare talent for card tricks. Rosa- 
 nette used to call him " My big- Loulou." Frederick 
 could no longer endure the repetition of her stupid 
 words, such as " Some custard," " To Chaillot," " One 
 could nevei know," etc. ; and she insisted on wiping 
 off the dust in the morning from her trinkets with a 
 pair of old white gloves. He was above all disgusted 
 by her treatment of her servant, whose wages were 
 constantly in arrears, and from whom she even bor- 
 rowed money. On the days when they settled their 
 accounts, they used to wrangle like two fish-women ; 
 and then, on becoming reconciled, used to embrace 
 each other. It was a relief to him when Madame Dam- 
 breuse's evening parties began again. 
 
 There, at any rate, he found something to amuse 
 him. She was well versed in the intrigues of society, 
 the changes of ambassadors, the personal character 
 of dressmakers; and, if commonplaces escaped her 
 lips, they did so in such a becoming fashion, that her 
 language might be regarded as the expression of re- 
 spect for propriety or of polite irony. It was interest- 
 ing to watch the way in which, in the midst of twenty 
 persons chatting around her, she would, without ne- 
 glecting any of them, bring about the answers she de- 
 sired and avoid those that were dangerous. Things 
 of a very simple nature, when related by her, assumed 
 the aspect of confidences. Her slightest smile gave 
 rise to dreams ; in short, her charm, like the exquisite 
 scent which she usually carried about with her, was 
 complex and indefinable.
 
 112 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 While he was in her presence, Frederick experi- 
 enced on each occasion the pleasure of a new discov- 
 ery, nevertheless, he always found her equally serene 
 the next time they met, like the reflection of limpid 
 waters. 
 
 But why was there such coldness in her manner 
 toward her niece? At times she even darted strange 
 looks at her. 
 
 As soon as the question of marriage was started, 
 she had urged as an objection to it, when discussing 
 the matter with M. Dambreuse, the condition of " the 
 dear child's " health, and had at once taken her off 
 to the baths of Balaruc. On her return fresh obsta- 
 cles were raised by her that the young man was not 
 in a good position, that this ardent passion did not 
 appear to be a very serious attachment, and that no 
 risk would be run by waiting. Martinon had replied, 
 when the suggestion was made to him, that he would 
 wait. His conduct was sublime. He lectured Fred- 
 erick. He did more. He enlightened him as to the 
 best method of pleasing Madame Dambreuse, even 
 giving him to understand that he had ascertained from 
 the niece the sentiments of her aunt. 
 
 As for M. Dambreuse, far from exhibiting jealousy, 
 he treated his young friend with the utmost attention, 
 consulted him about different things, and even ex- 
 pressed anxiety about his future, so that one day, 
 when they were talking about Pere Roque, he whis- 
 pered with a sly air: 
 
 " You have done well." 
 
 Cecile, Miss John, the servants and the porter, every 
 one of them exercised a fascination over him in this 
 house. He came there every evening, leaving Rosa- 
 nette for that purpose. Her approaching maternity 
 rendered her graver in manner, and even a little mel-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 113 
 
 ancholy, as if she were troubled by anxieties. To 
 every question put to her she replied : 
 
 " You are mistaken ; I am quite well." 
 
 She had, as a matter of fact, signed five notes in 
 her previous transactions, and not having the courage 
 to tell Frederick after the first had been paid, she had 
 returned to the abode of Arnoux, who had promised 
 her, in writing, the third part of his profits in the light- 
 ing of the towns of Languedoc by gas (a marvellous 
 undertaking!), while requesting her not to make use 
 of this letter at the meeting of shareholders. The 
 meeting was postponed from week to week. 
 
 Meanwhile the Marechale wanted money. She 
 would have died sooner than ask Frederick for any. 
 She did not wish to get it from him; it would have 
 spoiled their love. He contributed a great deal to the 
 household expenses ; but a little carriage, which he 
 hired by the month, and other sacrifices, which were 
 indispensable since he had begun to visit the Dam- 
 breuses, prevented him from doing more for his mis- 
 tress. On two or three occasions, when he got back 
 to the house at a different hour from his usual time, 
 he fancied he could see men's backs disappearing be- 
 hind the door, and she often went out without saying 
 where she was going. Frederick did not attempt to 
 inquire minutely into these matters. One of these days 
 he would make up his mind as to his future course of 
 action. He dreamed of another life which would be 
 more amusing and more noble. It was having such 
 an ideal before his mind that rendered him indulgent 
 toward the Dambreuse mansion. 
 
 It was an establishment in the neighbourhood of the 
 Rue de Poitiers. There he met the great M. A., 
 the illustrious B., the profound C, the eloquent Z., 
 the immense Y., the old terrors of the Left Centre,
 
 114 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the paladins of the Right, the burgraves of the golden 
 mean ; the eternal good old men of the comedy. He 
 was astonished at their abominable style of talking, 
 their meannesses, their rancours, their dishonesty all 
 these personages, after voting for the Constitution, 
 were now striving to destroy it; a-nd they got into a 
 state of great agitation, and launched forth mani- 
 festoes, pamphlets, and biographies. Hussonnet's bi- 
 ography of Fumichon was a masterpiece. Nonancourt 
 confined himself to the work of propagandism in the 
 country districts; M. de Gremonville worked up the 
 clergy ; and Martinon brought together the young men 
 of the wealthy class. Each exerted himself accord- 
 ing to his resources, including Cisy. With his 
 thoughts now all day long absorbed in matters of 
 grave moment, he kept making excursions here and 
 there in a cab in the interests of the party. 
 
 M. Dambreuse, like a barometer, constantly gave 
 expression to its latest variation. Lamartine could 
 not be mentioned without eliciting from this gentle- 
 man the quotation of a famous phrase of the man of 
 the people : " Enough of poetry ! " Cavaignac was, 
 from this time forth, nothing better in his eyes than a 
 traitor. The President, whom he had admired for a 
 period of three months, was beginning to fall off in 
 his esteem (as he did not appear to exhibit the " nec- 
 essary energy ") ; and, as he always wanted a saviour, 
 his gratitude, since the affair of the Conservatoire, 
 belonged to Changarnier : " Thank God for Chan- 
 garnier. . . Let us place our hope on Changarnier. 
 . . . Oh, there's nothing to fear as long as Chan- 
 garnier " 
 
 M. Thiers was lauded, above all, for his book 
 against Socialism, in which he showed that he was 
 quite as much of a thinker as a writer. There was an
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 115 
 
 Immense laugh at Pierre Leroux, who had quoted 
 passages from the philosophers in the Chamber. Jokes 
 were made about the phalansterian tail. The " Mar- 
 ket of Ideas " came in for a measure of applause, 
 and its authors were compared to Aristophanes. 
 Frederick patronised the work as well as the rest. 
 
 Political verbiage and good living had an enervating 
 effect on his morality. Mediocre in capacity as these 
 persons appeared to him, he felt proud of knowing 
 them, and internally longed for the respectability that 
 attached to a wealthy citizen. A mistress like Madame 
 Dambreuse would assure him a position. 
 
 He set about taking the necessary steps for achiev- 
 ing that object. 
 
 He made it his business to cross her path, never 
 failed to greet her with a bow in her box at the theatre, 
 and, knowing the hours she went to church, he would 
 plant himself behind a pillar in a melancholy attitude. 
 There was a continual interchange of little notes be- 
 tween them with regard to items to which they drew 
 each other's attention, preparations for a concert, or 
 the borrowing of books or reviews. In addition to 
 his visit each evening, he sometimes made a call just 
 as the day was closing; and he experienced a pro- 
 gressive succession of pleasures in passing through 
 the large front entrance, through the courtyard, 
 through the anteroom, and through the two reception- 
 rooms. Finally, he reached her boudoir, which was as 
 still as a tomb, as warm as an alcove, and in which 
 one jostled against the upholstered edging of furni- 
 ture in the midst of numerous objects placed here and 
 there chiffoniers, screens, bowls, and trays made of 
 lacquer, or shell, or ivory, or malachite, expensive 
 trifles, to which fresh additions were frequently made. 
 Amongst single specimens of these rarities might be
 
 116 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 noticed three Etretat rollers which were used as pa- 
 per-presses, and a Frisian cap hung from a Chinese 
 folding-screen. Nevertheless, all these things har- 
 monised, and one was impressed* by the noble aspect 
 of the entire place, due, no doubt, to the loftiness of 
 the ceiling, the richness of the portieres, and the long 
 fringes that floated over the gold legs of the stools. 
 
 She invariably sat on a little sofa, close to the flower- 
 stand, which garnished the recess of the window. 
 Frederick, seating himself on the edge of a large 
 wheeled ottoman, addressed to her compliments of 
 the most appropriate kind that he could conceive ; and 
 she looked at him, with her head a little on one side, 
 and a smile playing round her mouth. 
 
 He read aloud to her poetry, into which he threw 
 his whole soul in order to move her and excite her 
 admiration. She would now and then interrupt him 
 with a disparaging remark or a practical comment; 
 and their conversation relapsed incessantly into the 
 eternal question of Love. They discussed the cir- 
 cumstances that produced it, whether women felt it 
 more than men, and what was the difference of feel- 
 ing between them. Frederick tried to express his 
 opinion, and, at the same time, avoid anything like 
 coarseness or insipidity. This became at length a 
 species of contest between them, sometimes agreeable 
 and at other times tedious. 
 
 While at her side, he did not experience that rav- 
 ishment of his entire being which drew him toward 
 Madame Arnoux, nor the feeling of voluptuous de- 
 light with which Rosanette had, at first, inspired him. 
 But he felt a passion for her as a thing that was ab- 
 normal and difficult of attainment, because she was of 
 aristocratic rank, because she was wealthy, because 
 she was a devotee imagining that she had a delicacy
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION H7 
 
 of sentiment as rare as the lace and the amulets she 
 wore, and instincts of modesty even in her depravity. 
 
 He made some use of his old passion for Madame 
 Arnoux, uttering in his new flame's hearing all those 
 amorous sentiments which the other had caused him 
 to feel earnestly, and pretending that it was Madame 
 Dambreuse herself who had occasioned them. She 
 received these avowals like one accustomed to such 
 things, and, without giving him a formal repulse, did 
 not yield in the slightest degree; and he came no 
 nearer to seducing her than Martinon did to being 
 married. In order to end matters with her niece's 
 suitor, she accused him of having money for his ob- 
 ject, and even begged of her husband to put the young 
 man to the test. M. Dambreuse then declared to him 
 that Cecile, being the orphan child of poor parents, 
 had neither expectations nor a dowry. 
 
 Martinon, not believing this, or feeling that he had 
 gone too far to draw back, or through one of those 
 outbursts of idiotic infatuation which may be described 
 as acts of genius, replied that his patrimony, amount- 
 ing to fifteen thousand francs a year, would be suffi- 
 cient for both of them. The banker was touched by 
 this unexpected display of disinterestedness. He 
 promised the young man a tax-collectorship, under- 
 taking to obtain the post for him; and in the month 
 of May, 1850, Martinon married Mademoiselle Cecile. 
 There was no ball to celebrate the event. The young 
 people left the same evening for Italy. Frederick 
 came next day to visit Madame Dambreuse. She ap- 
 peared to him paler than usual. She sharply contra- 
 dicted him about several matters of no importance. 
 However, she observed, all men were egoists. 
 
 There were, however, some devoted men, though 
 he might happen himself to be the only one.
 
 118 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Pooh, pooh! you're just like the rest of them!" 
 
 Her eyelids were red ; she had been weeping. 
 
 Then, forcing a smile : 
 
 " Pardon me ; 1 am in the wrong. Sad thoughts 
 have taken possession of my mind." 
 
 He could not understand what she meant to con- 
 vey by the last words. 
 
 " No matter ! she is not so difficult to overcome as 
 I imagined," he thought. 
 
 She rang for a glass of water, drank a mouthful, 
 sent it away again, and then began to complain of 
 the wretched way in which her servant attended on 
 her. In order to amuse her, he offered to become her 
 servant himself, pretending that he knew how to hand 
 round plates, dust furniture, and announce visitors 
 in fact, to do the duties of a valet-de-chambre, or, 
 rather, of a running-footman, although the latter was 
 now out of fashion. He would be charmed to cling 
 on behind her carriage wearing a hat adorned with 
 cock's feathers. 
 
 " And how I would follow you with majestic stride, 
 carrying your pug on my arm ! " 
 
 " You are facetious," said Madame Dambreuse. 
 
 Was it not folly, he returned, to take everything 
 seriously? There were enough miseries in the world 
 without creating fresh ones. Nothing was worth the 
 cost of a single pang. Madame Dambreuse raised her 
 eyes with a sort of vague appproval. 
 
 This agreement in their views of life encouraged 
 Frederick to take a bolder course. His former mis- 
 calculations now gave him insight. He went on: 
 
 " Our grandsires lived better. Why not obey the 
 impulse that urges us onward? After all, love is 
 not of such importance in itself." 
 
 " But that is immoral ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION H9 
 
 She had resumed her seat on the little sofa. He 
 sat at the side of it, near her feet. 
 
 " Don't you see that I am lying? For in order to 
 please women, one must exhibit the thoughtlessness 
 of a buffoon or all the wild passion of tragedy ! They 
 only laugh at us when we simply tell them that we 
 love them ! For my part. I consider those hyperboli- 
 cal phrases which tickle their fancy a profanation of 
 true love, so that it is no longer possible to thus ex- 
 press oneself, especially when addressing women who 
 possess more than ordinary intelligence." 
 
 She gazed at him from under her drooping eyelids. 
 He lowered his voice, while he bent his head closer to 
 her face. 
 
 " Yes ! you frighten me ! Perhaps I am offending 
 you? Forgive me! I did not intend to say all that 
 I have said ! 'Tis not my fault ! You are so beauti- 
 ful ! " 
 
 Madame Dambreuse closed her eyes, and he was 
 astonished at his easy victory. The tall trees in the 
 garden ceased their gentle quivering. Motionless 
 clouds streaked the sky with long strips of red, and 
 on every side there seemed to be a suspension of vital 
 movements. Then he recalled to mind, in a confused 
 sort of way, evenings like this, filled with the same un- 
 broken silence. Where was it that he had known 
 them? 
 
 He sank upon his knees, seized her hand, and s\vore 
 that he would love her for ever. Then, as he was leav- 
 ing, she beckoned to him to come back, and said to 
 him in a low tone: 
 
 " Come by-and-by and dine with us ! We shall be 
 all alone." 
 
 It seemed to Frederick, as he descended the stairs, 
 that he had become a different man, that he was sur T
 
 120 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 rounded by the balmy temperature of hot-houses, and 
 that he was now entering into the higher sphere of 
 patrician adulteries and lofty intrigues. In order to 
 occupy the first rank there all he required was a 
 woman of this stamp. Greedy, no doubt, of power 
 and of success, and married to a man of inferior cal- 
 ibre, for whom she had done prodigious services, she 
 longed for some one of ability to guide. Nothing was 
 impossible now. He felt himself capable of riding 
 two hundred leagues on horseback, of travelling for 
 several nights in succession without fatigue. His 
 heart overflowed with pride. 
 
 Just in front of him, on the footpath, a man 
 wrapped in a seedy overcoat was walking with down- 
 cast eyes, and w'ith such an air of dejection that Fred- 
 erick, as he passed, turned to have a better look at him. 
 The other raised his head. It was Deslauriers. He 
 hesitated. Frederick fell upon his neck. 
 
 " Ah ! my poor old friend ! 'Tis you ! " 
 
 And he dragged Deslauriers into his house, at the 
 same time asking him a heap of questions. 
 
 Ledru-Rollin's ex-commissioner began by describing 
 the tortures to which he had been subjected. As he 
 preached fraternity to the Conservatives, and respect 
 for the laws to the Socialists, the former tried to shoot 
 him, and the latter brought cords to hang him with. 
 After June he had been brutally dismissed. He found 
 himself involved in a charge of conspiracy that which 
 was connected with the seizure of arms at Troyes. He 
 had subsequently been released for want of evidence 
 to sustain the charge. Then the acting committee had 
 sent him to London, where his ears had been boxed 
 during a banquet at which he and his colleagues were 
 being entertained. On his return to Paris 
 
 " Why did you not call here, then, to see me ? "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 121 
 
 " You were always out ! Your porter had myste- 
 rious airs I did not know what to think; and, then, 
 I had no desire to reappear before you in the charac- 
 ter of a defeated man." 
 
 He had knocked at the portals of Democracy, offer- 
 ing to serve it with his pen, with his tongue, with all 
 his energies. He had been everywhere repelled. They 
 had mistrusted him. He had sold his watch, his book- 
 case, and even his linen. 
 
 " It would be better to be breaking one's back on 
 the pontoons of Belle Isle with Senecal ! " 
 
 Frederick, who had been fastening his cravat, did 
 not appear to be much affected by this news. 
 
 "Ha! so he is transported, this good Senecal?" 
 
 Deslauriers replied, while he surveyed the walls 
 with an envious air: 
 
 " Not everybody has your luck ! " 
 
 " Excuse me," said Frederick, without noticing the 
 allusion to his own circumstances, " but I am dining 
 in the city. You must have something to eat; order 
 whatever you like. Take even my bed ! " 
 
 This cordial reception dissipated Deslauriers' bitter- 
 ness. 
 
 "Your bed? But that might inconvenience you!" 
 
 " Oh, no ! I have others ! " 
 
 " Oh, all right ! " returned the advocate, with a 
 laugh. " Pray, where are you dining ? " 
 
 " At Madame Dambreuse's." 
 
 " Can it be that you are perhaps ? " 
 
 " You are too inquisitive," said Frederick, with a 
 smile, which confirmed this hypothesis. 
 
 Then, after a glance at the clock, he resumed his 
 seat. 
 
 " So that's how it is ! but we mustn't despair, my 
 ex-defender of the people ! "
 
 122 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Pardon me ; let others bother themselves about the 
 people henceforth ! " 
 
 The advocate detested the working-men, because 
 he had suffered so much on their account in his prov- 
 ince, a coal-mining district. Every pit had appointed 
 a provisional government, from which he received 
 orders. 
 
 '' Besides, their conduct has been everywhere charm- 
 ing at Lyons, at Lille, at Havre, at Paris ! For, in 
 imitation of the manufacturers, who would fain ex- 
 clude the products of the foreigner, these gentlemen 
 call on us to banish the English, German, Belgian, and 
 Savoyard workmen. As for their intelligence, what 
 was the use of that precious trades' union of theirs 
 which they established under the Restoration? In 
 1830 they joined the National Guard, without having 
 the common sense to get in control of it. Was it not a 
 fact that, since the morning when 1848 dawned, the 
 various trade-bodies had not reappeared with their 
 banners? They have even demanded popular repre- 
 sentatives for themselves, who are not to speak ex- 
 cept in their own behalf. All this is the same as if 
 the deputies who represent beetroot were to concern 
 themselves about nothing save beetroot. Ah ! I've had 
 enough of these dodgers who in turn prostrate them- 
 selves before the scaffold of Robespierre, the boots of 
 the Emperor, and the umbrella of Louis Philippe a 
 rabble yielding allegiance to the person that flings 
 bread into their mouths. They cry out against the 
 venality of Talleyrand and Mirabeau ; but the messen- 
 ger down below there would sell his country for fifty 
 centimes if they'd only promise to fix a tariff of three 
 francs on his walk. Ah ! what a wretched state of 
 affairs ! We ought to set the four corners of Europe 
 on fire ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 123 
 
 Frederick said in reply to the bitter tirade of his 
 friend : 
 
 ' The spark is what you lack ! You were simply a 
 lot of shopboys, and even the best of you were noth- 
 ing better than penniless students. As for the work- 
 men, no wonder they complain ; for, with the exception 
 of a million taken out of the civil list, and of which 
 you made a grant to them with the meanest expressions 
 of flattery, you have done nothing for them, save to 
 talk in stilted phrases ! The workman's certificate re- 
 mains in^the hands of the employer, and the person 
 who" is paid wages remains (even in the eye of the 
 law), the inferior of his master, because his word is 
 not credited. In short, the Republic seems to me a 
 worn-out institution. Who knows? Perhaps Prog- 
 ress can be realised only through an aristocracy or 
 through a single man? The initiative always comes 
 from the top, and whatever may be the people's pre- 
 tensions, they are always lower than those placed over 
 them ! " 
 
 According to Frederick, the vast majority of citi- 
 zens aimed only at a life of peace (he had been im- 
 proved by his visits to the Dambreuses), and the 
 chances were all on the side of the Conservatives. 
 That party, however, needed new men. 
 
 " If you came forward, I am sure " 
 
 He did not complete the sentence. Deslauriers saw 
 what Frederick meant, and passed his two hands over 
 his head; then, all of a sudden: 
 
 "But what about yourself? Is there anything to 
 prevent you presenting yourself? Why would you 
 not be a deputy ? " 
 
 In consequence of a double election there was in the 
 Aube a vacancy for a candidate. M. Dambreuse, who 
 had been reflected as a member of the Legislative As-
 
 12 4 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 sembly, lived in and belonged to a different arrondis- 
 sement. 
 
 " \Yould you like me to interest myself on your be- 
 half?" He was acquainted with many publicans, 
 schoolmasters, doctors, notaries' clerks and their mas- 
 ters. " Besides, you can make the peasants believe 
 anything you like ! " 
 
 Frederick felt his ambition rekindling. 
 
 Deslauriers added : 
 
 " You would have no difficulty in getting a situa- 
 tion for me in Paris." 
 
 " Oh ! I could manage that through Monsieur Dam- 
 breuse." 
 
 " Talking of coal-mines," the advocate went on, 
 " what has become of his big company ? This is the 
 sort of employment that would suit me, and I could 
 make myself useful to them while preserving my own 
 independence." 
 
 Frederick promised that he would introduce him to 
 the banker before three days had passed. 
 
 The dinner, which he enjoyed alone with Madame 
 Dambreuse, was a delightful affair. She sat opposite 
 him with a smile on her countenance. On the table 
 was a basket of flowers, while a lamp suspended above 
 their heads shed its light on the scene ; and, as the 
 window was open, they could see the stars. They 
 talked very little, distrusting themselves, no doubt ; 
 but, the moment the servants had turned their backs, 
 they sent a kiss across to each other from the tips 
 of their lips. He told her about his idea of becoming 
 a candidate. She approved of the project, promising 
 even to get M. Dambreuse to use every effort in his 
 behalf. 
 
 As the evening advanced, some of her friends called 
 to congratulate her, at the same time expressing sym-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 125 
 
 pathy with her; she must be so much pained at the 
 loss of her niece. It was all very well for newly-mar- 
 ried people to go on a trip; by-and-by would come 
 incumbrances, children. But really, Italy did not real- 
 ise one's expectations. They had not as yet passed 
 the age of illusions ; and, of course, the honeymoon 
 made everything look beautiful. The last two who 
 remained behind were M. de Gremonville and Fred- 
 erick. The diplomatist was not inclined to leave. At 
 last he departed at midnight. Madame Dambreuse 
 signed to Frederick to go with him, and thanked him 
 for this compliance with her wishes by giving him a 
 gentle pressure with her hand more delightful than 
 anything that had gone before. 
 
 The Marechale uttered an exclamation of joy on 
 seeing him again. She had been expecting him for 
 the last five hours. He gave as an excuse for the 
 delay an indispensable step which he had to take in 
 the interests of Deslauriers. His face wore a look of 
 triumph, and was surrounded by an aureole which daz- 
 zled Rosanette. 
 
 " It is perhaps because of your black coat, which 
 fits you well ; but I never have seen you look so hand- 
 some ! How handsome you are ! " 
 
 In a transport of tenderness, she vowed internally 
 never again to belong to any other man, no matter 
 what might be the consequence, even if she were to 
 die of starvation. 
 
 Her pretty eyes sparkled with such intense passion 
 that Frederick taking her upon his knees thought to 
 himself that he was playing a very rascally part. All 
 the same, he admired his own perversity.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 FREDERICK'S BETROTHAL 
 
 DESLAURIERS presented himself to M. Dam- 
 breuse, who was thinking of reviving his coal- 
 mining speculation. But this fusion of all the 
 companies into one was looked upon unfavourably ; 
 there was prejudice against monopolies, as if immense 
 capital were not necessary for carrying out enterprises 
 of this kind ! 
 
 Deslauriers, who had studied for the purpose the 
 work of Gobet and the articles of M. Chappe in the 
 Journal des Mines, understood the question perfectly. 
 He demonstrated that the law of 1810 established for 
 the benefit of the guarantee a privilege which could 
 not be transferred. Besides, a democratic colour 
 might be given to the transaction. To interfere with 
 the formation of coal-mining companies was against 
 the principle even of association. 
 
 M. Dambreuse intrusted to him some notes for the 
 purpose of drawing up a memorandum. As for the 
 way in which he meant to pay for the work, he was 
 all the more profuse in his promises from the fact that 
 they were not very definite. 
 
 Deslauriers called again at Frederick's house, and 
 gave him an account of the interview. Moreover, he 
 had caught a glimpse of Madame Dambreuse at the 
 foot of the stairs, just as he was going out. 
 
 " I wish you joy upon my soul, I do! " 
 
 Then they had a chat about the election. They 
 would have to plan how to carry it.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 127 
 
 Three days later Deslauriers reappeared with a sheet 
 of paper covered with handwriting, intended for the 
 Paris newspapers, which was nothing less than a 
 friendly letter from M. Dambreuse, expressing ap- 
 proval of their friend's candidature. Supported by a 
 Conservative and praised by a Red, he ought to suc-~ 
 ceed. How had the capitalist come to put his signa- 
 ture to such a lucubration? The advocate had, of his 
 own motion, and without the least appearance of em- 
 barrassment, gone and shown it to Madame Dam- 
 breuse, who, thinking it quite appropriate, had taken 
 the rest of the business on her own shoulders. 
 
 Frederick was astonished at this proceeding. Nev- 
 ertheless, he approved of it; then, as Deslauriers was 
 to have an interview with M. Roque, his friend ex- 
 plained to him his delicate position with regard to 
 Louise. 
 
 ;< Tell them anything you like ; that my affairs are 
 in an unsettled state, that I am putting them in order. 
 She is young enough to wait ! " 
 
 Ueslauriers set forth, and Frederick looked upon 
 himself as a very able man. He experienced, more- 
 over, a feeling of gratification, a profound satisfac- 
 tion. His delight at being the possessor of a rich 
 woman was not spoiled by any contrast. The senti- 
 ment harmonised with the surroundings. His life now 
 would be full of happiness in every sense. 
 
 Perhaps the most delicious sensation of all was to 
 gaze at Madame Dambreuse in the midst of a num- 
 ber of other ladies in her drawing-room. The pro- 
 priety of her manners made him dream of other situa- 
 tions. While she was talking in a tone of coldness, he 
 would recall the loving words which she had mur- 
 mured in his ear. All the respect which he felt for her 
 virtue gave him a thrill of pleasure, as if it were a
 
 128 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 homage which was reflected back on himself; and at 
 times he felt a longing to exclaim : 
 
 " But I know her better than yon ! She is mine ! " 
 
 It was not long ere their relations came to be so- 
 cially recognised as an established fact. Madame 
 Dambreuse, during the whole winter, had Frederick 
 accompany her into fashionable society. 
 
 He nearly always arrived before her; and he 
 watched her as she entered with her arms uncovered, a 
 fan in her hand, and pearls in her hair. She would 
 pause on the threshold (the lintel of the door formed a 
 framework round her head), and she would open and 
 close her eyes with a certain air of indecision, in or- 
 der to see whether he was there. 
 
 She drove him back in her carriage ; the rain lashed 
 the carriage-blinds. The passers-by seemed merely 
 shadows wavering in the mire of the street ; and, 
 pressed close to each other, they observed all these 
 things vaguely with a calm disdain. Under various 
 pretexts, he would linger in her room for an addi- 
 tional hour. 
 
 It was chiefly through a feeling of ennui that Ma- 
 dame Dambreuse had yielded. But this latest ex- 
 perience was not to be wasted. She desired to give 
 herself up to an absorbing passion ; and so she be- 
 gan to heap on his head adulations and caresses. 
 
 She sent him flowers ; she had an upholstered chair 
 made for him. She presented him with a cigar-holder, 
 an inkstand, a thousand little things for daily use, 
 so that every act of his life should recall her to his 
 memory. These kind attentions charmed him at first, 
 and in a little while appeared to him quite natural. 
 
 She would step into a cab, discharge it at the open- 
 ing into a by-way, and come out at the other end ; and 
 then, gliding along by the walls, with a double veil
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 129 
 
 on her face, she would reach the street where Fred- 
 erick, who had been keeping watch, would take her 
 arm quickly and lead her toward his house. His two 
 men-servants would have gone out for a walk, and 
 the doorkeeper been sent on some errand. She would 
 throw a glance around her nothing to fear! and 
 she would breathe forth the sigh of an exile who be- 
 holds his country once more. Their good fortune em- 
 boldened them. Their appointments became more fre- 
 quent. One evening, she presented herself, suddenly, 
 in full ball-dress. These surprises might have perilous 
 consequences. He reproached her for her impru- 
 dence. He was not taken with her appearance. The 
 low-cut waist of her dress exposed her thinness too 
 much. 
 
 It was then that he discovered what had hitherto 
 been hidden from him the disillusion of his senses. 
 None the less did he make professions of ardent love ; 
 but in order to call up the necessary emotions he had 
 to evoke the images of Rosanette and Madame Ar- 
 noux. 
 
 This sentimental atrophy left his intellect entirely 
 untrammelled ; and he was more ambitious than ever 
 of attaining a high position in society. Inasmuch as 
 he had such a stepping-stone, the very least he could 
 do was to make use of it. 
 
 One morning, about the middle of January, Sene- 
 cal entered his study, and in response to his exclama- 
 tion of astonishment, announced that he was Deslau- 
 riers' secretary. He brought Frederick a letter. It 
 contained good news, and yet it took him to task for 
 his negligence ; he would have to appear on the scene 
 of action at once. The future deputy said he would set 
 out on his way there in two days' time. 
 
 Senecal gave no opinion on the other's merits as a
 
 130 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 candidate. He spoke about his own concerns and the 
 affairs of the country. 
 
 Miserable as the state of things was, it gave him 
 pleasure to see that they were advancing in the di- 
 rection of Communism. In the first place, the Admin- 
 istration led toward it of its own accord, since every 
 day a greater number of things were under Govern- 
 ment control. As for Property, the Constitution of '48, 
 in spite of its weaknesses, had not spared it. The State 
 might, in the name of public utility, henceforth take 
 whatever it thought suitable. Senecal declared him- 
 self in favour of authority ; and Frederick noticed in 
 his remarks the exaggeration which characterised 
 what he had said himself to Deslauriers. The Repub- 
 lican even inveighed against the masses for their in- 
 adequacy. 
 
 " Robespierre, by upholding the right of the minor- 
 ity had brought Louis XVI to acknowledge the Na- 
 tional Convention, and saved the people. Things were 
 rendered legitimate by the end toward which they 
 were directed. A dictatorship is sometimes indispen- 
 sable. Long live tyranny, provided that the tyrant 
 promotes the public welfare ! " 
 
 Their discussion lasted a long time ; and, as he took 
 his departure, Senecal confessed (perhaps it was the 
 real object of his visit) that Deslauriers was getting 
 very impatient at the silence of M. Dambreuse. 
 
 But M. Dambreuse was ill. Frederick saw him 
 every day, his character of an intimate friend enabling 
 him to obtain admission to the invalid's bedside. 
 
 General Changarnier's recall had strongly affected 
 the capitalist's mind. He was, on the evening of the 
 occurrence, seized with a burning sensation in his 
 chest, together with an oppression that prevented 
 him from lying down. The application of leeches gave
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 131 
 
 him immediate relief. The dry cough disappeared; 
 the respiration became easier; and, eight days later, 
 he said, while swallowing some broth: 
 
 " Ah ! I'm better now but I was near going on 
 the last long journey ! " 
 
 " Xot without me ! " exclaimed Madame Dam- 
 breuse, intending by this remark to convey that she 
 would not be able to outlive him. 
 
 Instead of replying, he cast upon her and upon her 
 lover a singular smile, indicating at the same time, 
 resignation, indulgence, irony, and even, as it were, 
 a touch of humour, a sort of secret satisfaction al- 
 most amounting to actual joy. 
 
 Frederick wished to start for Nogent. Madame 
 Dambreuse objected to this ; and he unpacked and re- 
 packed his luggage by turns according to the varia- 
 tions in the invalid's condition. 
 
 One day M. Dambreuse spat forth considerable 
 blood. The " princes of medical science," on being 
 consulted, could not think of any fresh remedy. His 
 legs swelled, and his weakness increased. He had 
 several times expressed a desire to see Cecile, who 
 was at the other end of France with her husband, now 
 a collector of taxes, a position to which he had been 
 appointed a month ago. M. Dambreuse gave orders 
 to send for her. Madame Dambreuse wrote three 
 letters, which she showed him. 
 
 Without trusting him even to the care of the nun, 
 she did not leave him for one second, and no longer 
 went to bed. The ladies who had their names en- 
 tered at the door-lodge made inquiries about her with 
 feelings of admiration, and the passers-by were filled 
 with respect on seeing the quantity of straw which 
 was placed on the street under the windows. 
 
 On the 1 2th of February, at five o'clock, a fright-
 
 132 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 ful haemoptysis came on. The doctor who had charge 
 of the case pointed out that it had assumed a dan- 
 gerous aspect. They sent in hot haste for a priest. 
 
 While M. Dambreuse was making his confession, 
 Madame gazed curiously at him from some distance. 
 After this, the young doctor applied a blister, and 
 awaited the result. 
 
 The flame of the lamps, obscured by some of the 
 furniture, lighted up the apartment irregularly. Fred- 
 erick and Madame Dambreuse, at the foot of the bed, 
 watched the dying man. In the recess of a window 
 the priest and the doctor chatted in low tones. The 
 good sister on her knees kept mumbling prayers. 
 
 At last came a rattling in the throat. The hands 
 grew cold ; the face began to turn white. Now and 
 then he drew a deep breath ; but gradually this became 
 rarer and rarer. Two or three confused words escaped 
 him. He turned his eyes upward, and at the same 
 moment his respiration became so feeble that it was 
 almost imperceptible. Then his head sank on one 
 side on the pillow. 
 
 For a minute, all present remained motionless. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse advanced toward the dead 
 body of her husband, and, without an effort with 
 the unaffectedness of one discharging a duty she 
 drew down the eyelids. Then she spread out her 
 two arms, her figure writhing as if in a spasm of re- 
 pressed despair, and left the room, supported by the 
 physician and the nun. 
 
 A quarter of an hour afterward, Frederick entered 
 her apartment. 
 
 There was in it an indefinable odour, emanating 
 from some delieate substances with which it was filled. 
 In the middle of the bed lay a black dress, which 
 formed a glaring contrast with the pink coverlet.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 133 
 
 Madame Dambreuse was standing at the corner of 
 the mantelpiece. Without attributing to her any pas- 
 sionate regret, he thought she looked a little sad; and, 
 in a mournful voice, he said : 
 
 " You are suffering pain ? " 
 
 "I? No not at all." 
 
 As she turned, her eyes fell on the dress, which 
 she inspected. Then she told him not to stand on 
 ceremony. 
 
 " Smoke, if you like ! You can make yourself at 
 home here ! " 
 
 And, with a great sigh : 
 
 " Ah ! Blessed Virgin ! what a riddance ! " 
 
 Frederick was astonished at this exclamation. He 
 replied, as he kissed her hand : 
 
 " All the same, you were free ! " 
 
 This allusion to the ease with which the intrigue 
 between them had been carried on hurt Madame Dam- 
 breuse. 
 
 " Ah ! you don't know all I did for him, or the mis- 
 ery in which I lived ! " 
 
 " What ! " 
 
 " Why, certainly ! Was it a safe thing to have always 
 near him that bastard, a daughter, whom he brought 
 into the house at the end of five years of married life, 
 and who, were it not for me, might have led him into 
 some act of folly ? " 
 
 Then she explained how her affairs stood. The ar- 
 rangement on the occasion of her marriage was that 
 the property of each party should be separate and 
 under his and her own control. The amount of her 
 inheritance was three hundred thousand francs. M. 
 Dambreuse had guaranteed by the marriage contract 
 that in the event of her surviving him, she should 
 have an income of fifteen thousand francs a year, to-
 
 134 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 gather with the ownership of the mansion. But later 
 he had made a will by which he gave her all he pos- 
 sessed, and this she estimated, so far as it was possible 
 to ascertain just at present, at over three millions of 
 francs. 
 
 Frederick's eyes opened widely. 
 
 " It was worth the trouble, wasn't it? However, I 
 contributed to it! It was my own property I was 
 protecting; Cecile would have unjustly robbed me of 
 it." 
 
 "Why did she not come to see her father?" 
 
 As he asked her this question Madame Dambreuse 
 eyed him attentively ; then, in a dry tone : 
 
 " I have'n't the least idea ! Want of affection, prob- 
 ably ! Oh ! I know what she is ! And for that reason 
 she won't get a farthing from me ! " 
 
 She had not been very troublesome, he pointed out; 
 at any rate, since her marriage. 
 
 " Ha ! her marriage ! " said Madame Dambreuse, 
 with a sneer. And she repented having treated only 
 too well this stupid creature, who was jealous, self- 
 interested, and hypocritical. "All the faults of her 
 father ! " She disparaged him more and more. There 
 was never a person with such profound duplicity, and 
 with such a merciless disposition into the bargain, as 
 hard as a stone " a bad man, a bad man ! " 
 
 Even the wisest people fall into errors. Madame 
 Dambreuse had just made a serious one by this over- 
 flow of hatred. Frederick, sitting opposite her in an 
 easy chair, was reflecting deeply, scandalised by the 
 language she had used. 
 
 She arose and knelt down beside him. 
 
 '' To be with you is my only real pleasure ! You 
 are the only one I love ! " 
 
 While she gazed at him her heart softened, a nerv-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 135 
 
 ous reaction brought tears into her eyes, and she mur- 
 mured : 
 
 "Will you marry me?" 
 
 For a moment he thought he had not understood 
 what she said. He was stunned by this wealth. 
 
 She repeated in a louder tone: 
 
 " Will you marry me? " 
 
 He answered with a smile: 
 
 " Have you any doubt about it ? " 
 
 Then the thought forced itself on his mind that his 
 conduct was infamous, and in order to make some 
 kind of reparation to the dead man, he offered to 
 watch by his side himself. But, feeling ashamed of 
 this pious sentiment, he added, in a flippant tone: 
 
 " It would be perhaps more seemly." 
 
 " Perhaps so, indeed," she said, " on account of the 
 servants." 
 
 The bed had been drawn completely out of the al- 
 cove. The nun was near the foot of it, and at the 
 head of it sat a priest, a different one, a tall, spare 
 man, with the look of a fanatical Spaniard. On the 
 night-table, covered with a white cloth, three wax- 
 tapers were burning. 
 
 Frederick seated himself, and gazed at the corpse. 
 
 The face was as yellow as straw. At the corners 
 of the mouth there were traces of blood-stained foam. 
 A silk handkerchief was tied around the head, and 
 on the breast, covered with a knitted waistcoat, lay a 
 silver crucifix between the two crossed hands. 
 
 It was over, this life of anxieties. How many jour- 
 neys had he not made? How many rows of figures 
 had he not added together? How many speculations 
 had he not hatched? How many reports had he not 
 heard read? What quackeries, what smiles and cur- 
 vets! For he had acclaimed Napoleon, the Cossacks,
 
 136 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Louis XVIII, 1830, the working-men, every regime, 
 loving power so dearly that he would have paid, if 
 necessary, to have the opportunity of selling himself. 
 
 He had left behind him the estate of La Fortelle, 
 three factories in Picardy, the woods of Crance in 
 the Yonne, a farm near Orleans, and much personal 
 property in the form of bills and papers. 
 
 Frederick thus estimated her fortune; and it would 
 soon belong to him ! First of all, he thought of " what 
 people would say " ; then he asked himself what pres- 
 ent he ought to make to his mother, and he was con- 
 cerned about his future equipages, and about employ- 
 ing an old coachman belonging to his own family as 
 the doorkeeper. Of course, the livery would not re- 
 main the same. He would convert the large reception- 
 room into his own study. There was nothing to pre- 
 vent him, by knocking down three walls, from making 
 a picture-gallery on the second-floor. Perhaps there 
 might be an opportunity for introducing into the lower 
 portion of the house a hall for Turkish baths. As for 
 M. Dambreuse's office, a disagreeable place, what use 
 could he make of it? 
 
 These reflections were from time to time rudely in- 
 terrupted by the sounds made by the priest in blow- 
 ing his nose, or by the good sister in settling the fire. 
 
 But the actual facts showed that his thoughts rested 
 on a solid foundation. The corpse was there. The 
 eyelids had reopened, and the pupils, although steeped 
 in clammy gloom, had an enigmatic, intolerable ex- 
 pression. 
 
 Frederick fancied that he saw there a judgment di- 
 rected against himself, and he experienced a sort of 
 remorse, for he had never any grievance against this 
 man, who, on the contrary 
 
 " Come, now ! an old wretch ! " and he looked at
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 137 
 
 the dead man more closely in order to strengthen his 
 mind, mentally addressing him thus: 
 
 "Well, what? Have I killed you?" 
 
 The priest still read his breviary; the nun, who sat 
 motionless, had fallen asleep. The wicks of the three 
 wax-tapers had grown longer. 
 
 For two houirs nothing could be hfeard but the 
 heavy rolling of carts making their way to the mar- 
 kets. The window-panes began to admit streaks of 
 white. A cab passed ; then a group of donkeys trotted 
 over the pavement. Then came strokes of hammers, 
 cries of itinerant vendors of wood and blasts of horns. 
 Already every other sound was blended with the 
 great voice of awakening Paris. 
 
 Frederick went out to perform the duties assigned 
 to him. He first repaired to the Mayor's office to make 
 the necessary declaration ; then, when the medical of- 
 ficer had given him a certificate of death, he called a 
 second time at the municipal buildings in order to 
 name the cemetery which the family had selected, and 
 to make the final arrangements for the funeral cere- 
 monies. 
 
 The clerk in the office showed him a plan which 
 indicated the mode of interment adopted for the vari- 
 ous classes, and a programme giving full particulars 
 respecting the spectacular portion of the funeral. 
 Would he like to have an open funeral-car or a hearse 
 with plumes, plaits on the horses, and aigrettes on 
 the footmen, initials or a coat-of-arms, funeral-lamps, 
 a man to display the family distinctions? and what 
 number of carriages would he require? 
 
 Frederick did not economise in the slightest detail. 
 Madame Dambreuse was determined to spare no ex- 
 pense. 
 
 After this he made his way to the church.
 
 138 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 The curate who had charge of burials criticised the 
 waste of money on funeral pomps. For instance, 
 the officer for the display of armorial distinctions was 
 really useless. It would be far more satisfactory to 
 have a goodly display of wax-tapers. A low mass ac- 
 companied by music would be appropriate. 
 
 Frederick gave written directions on everything 
 agreed upon, with a joint undertaking to defray all 
 the expenses. 
 
 He went next to the Hotel de Ville to purchase a 
 piece of ground. A grant of a piece two metres in 
 length and one in breadth cost five hundred francs. 
 Did he want a grant for fifty years or forever? 
 
 " Oh, forever ! " said Frederick. 
 
 He took the whole thing seriously and got into a 
 state of intense anxiety about it. In the courtyard of 
 the mansion a marble-cutter was waiting to show 
 him estimates and plans of Greek, Egyptian, and 
 Moorish tombs; but the family architect had already 
 been in consultation with Madame; and on the table 
 in the vestibule there were all sorts of prospectuses 
 with reference to the cleaning of mattresses, the dis- 
 infection of rooms, and the various processes of em- 
 balming. 
 
 After dining, he went to the tailor's shop to order 
 mourning for the servants; and he had still to dis- 
 charge another function, for the gloves that he had 
 ordered were of beaver, whereas the right kind for a 
 funeral were floss-silk. 
 
 When he arrived next morning, at ten o'clock, the 
 large reception-room was crowded with people, and 
 nearly everyone said, on encountering the others, in 
 a melancholy tone : 
 
 " It is only a month ago since I saw him ! Good 
 heavens ! it will be the same way with us all ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 139 
 
 " Yes ; but let us try to keep it as far away from us 
 as possible ! " 
 
 Then there were little smiles of satisfaction ; and 
 they even engaged in conversations entirely unsuited 
 to the occasion. At length, the master of the cere- 
 monies, in a black coat and short breeches, with a 
 cloak, cambric mourning-bands, a long sword by his 
 side, and a three-cornered hat under his arm, gave ut- 
 terance, with a bow, to the customary words : 
 
 " Messieurs, when it shall be your pleasure." 
 
 The funeral procession started. It was the market- 
 day for flowers on the Place de la Madeleine. It was 
 a fine day with brilliant sunshine ; and the breeze, 
 which shook the canvas tents, swelled out at the edges 
 the enormous black cloth which was hung over the 
 church-gate. The escutcheon of M. Dambreuse, 
 which covered a square piece of velvet, was repeated 
 there three times. It was: Sable, ztrith an arm sin- 
 ister or and a clenched hand with a glove argent; with 
 the coronet of a count, and this device : By every path. 
 
 The bearers lifted the heavy coffin to the top of the 
 staircase, and they entered the church. The six 
 chapels, the hemicycles, and the seats were hung with 
 black. The catafalque at the end of the choir formed, 
 with its large wax-tapers, a single point of yellow 
 lights. At the two corners, over the candelabra, 
 flames of spirits of wine were burning. 
 
 The persons of highest rank occupied places in the 
 sanctuary, and the rest in the nave; and then the 
 Office for the Dead began. 
 
 With a few exceptions, the religious ignorance of 
 all was so profound that the master of the ceremonies 
 had, from time to time, to make signs to them to rise, 
 to kneel, or to resume their seats. The organ and 
 the two double-basses could be heard alternately with
 
 140 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the voices. In the intervals of silence, the only 
 sounds that reached the ear were the mumblings of 
 the priest at the altar; then the music and the chant- 
 ing began again. 
 
 The light of day shone dimly through the three 
 cupolas, but the open door let in, as it were, a stream 
 of white radiance, which, entering in a horizontal di- 
 rection, fell on every uncovered head; and in the air, 
 half-way toward the ceiling of the church, floated 
 a shadow, which was penetrated by the reflection of 
 the gildings that decorated the ribbing of the penden- 
 tives and the foliage of the capitals. 
 
 Frederick, in an effort to distract his attention, lis- 
 tened to the Dies iroc. He gazed at those around 
 him, or tried to catch a glimpse of the pictures hang- 
 ing far above his head, wherein the life of the Mag- 
 dalen was represented. Luckily, Pellerin came to sit 
 down beside him, and immediately plunged into a long 
 dissertation on the subject of frescoes. The bell be- 
 gan to toll. They left the church. 
 
 The hearse, adorned with hanging draperies and 
 tall plumes, set out for Pere-Lachaise drawn by four 
 black horses, with their manes plaited, their heads 
 decked with tufts of feathers, and with large trap- 
 pings embroidered with silver flowing down to their 
 shoes. The driver of the vehicle, in Hessian boots, 
 wore a three-cornered hat with a long piece of crape 
 hanging down from it. The cords were held by four 
 personages: a questor of the Chamber of Deputies, a 
 member of the General Council of the Aube, a dele- 
 gate from the coal-mining company, and Fumichon, as 
 a friend. The carriage of the deceased and a dozen 
 mourning-coaches followed. The persons attending 
 at the funeral followed in the rear, rilling up the mid- 
 dle of the boulevard.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 141 
 
 The passers-by stopped to look at the mournful 
 procession. Women, with their children in their 
 arms, got up on chairs, and people, who had been 
 drinking beer in the cafes, presented themselves at 
 the windows with billiard-cues in their hands. 
 . The way was long, and, as at formal meals at which 
 people are at first reserved and then expansive, the 
 general deportment speedily relaxed. They all talked 
 of the refusal of an allowance by the Chamber to the 
 President. M. Piscatory had shown him'self harsh ; 
 Montalembert had been " magnificent, as usual/' and 
 MM. Chamballe, Pidoux, Creton, in short, the entire 
 committee would probably be compelled to follow the 
 advice of MM. Quentin-Bauchard and Dufour. 
 
 This conversation was continued as they passed 
 through the Rue de la Roquette, with shops on each 
 side, in which could be seen only chains of coloured 
 glass and black circular tablets covered with drawings 
 and letters of gold making them resemble grottoes 
 full of stalactites and crockery-ware shops. When 
 they had reached the cemetery-gate, everyone ceased 
 speaking. 
 
 The tombs stood among the trees : broken columns, 
 pyramids, temples, dolmens, obelisks, and Etruscan 
 vaults with doors of bronze. In some of them might 
 be seen funereal boudoirs, so to speak, with rustic 
 arm-chairs and folding-stools. Spiders' webs hung 
 like rags from the little chains of the urns ; and the 
 bouquets of satin ribbons and the crucifixes were cov- 
 ered with dust. Everywhere, between the balusters on 
 the tombstones, w r ere crowns of immortelles and chan- 
 deliers, vases, flowers, black discs set off with gold 
 letters, and plaster statuettes little boys or little girls 
 or angels suspended in the air by brass wires ; sev- 
 eral of them having even a roof of zinc overhead.
 
 142 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Huge cables made of glass strung together, black, 
 white, or azure, descended from the tops of the monu- 
 ments to the ends of the flagstones with long folds, 
 like boas. The rays of the sun, striking on them, 
 made them scintillate in the midst of the black wooden 
 crosses. The hearse advanced along the broad paths, 
 paved like the streets of a city. From time to time the 
 axletrees cracked. Women, kneeling down, with their 
 dresses trailing in the grass, addressed the dead in 
 tones of tenderness. Little white fumes arose from 
 the green leaves of the yew trees. These came from 
 offerings that had been left behind, waste material that 
 had been burnt. 
 
 M. Dambreuse's grave was close to the graves of 
 Manuel and Benjamin Constant. The soil in this 
 part slopes with an abrupt decline. Beneath one are 
 the tops of green trees, further down the chimneys of 
 steam-pumps, then the entire great city. 
 
 Frederick found an opportunity of admiring the 
 scene while the various addresses were being deliv- 
 ered. 
 
 The first was in the name of the Chamber of 
 Deputies, the second in the name of the General Coun- 
 cil of the Aube, the third in the name of the coal- 
 mining company of Saone-et-Loire, the fourth in the 
 name of the Agricultural Society of the Yonne, and 
 there was another in the name of a Philanthropic So- 
 ciety. Finally, just as everyone was departing, a 
 stranger began reading a sixth address, in the name of 
 the Amiens Society of Antiquaries. 
 
 They all took advantage of the occasion to denounce 
 Socialism, of which M. Dambreuse had died a victim. 
 It was the effect produced on his mind by the exhi- 
 bitions of anarchic violence, together with his devo- 
 tion to order, that had shortened his days. They
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 143 
 
 praised his intellectual powers, his integrity, his gen- 
 erosity, and even his silence as a representative of the 
 people, '' for, if he was not an orator, he possessed in- 
 stead those solid qualities a thousand times more use- 
 ful," etc., with all the requisite phrases " Premature 
 end ; eternal regrets ; the better land ; farewell, or 
 rather no, au revoir!" 
 
 The clay, mingled with stones, fell on the coffin, 
 and he would never again be a subject for discussion 
 in society. 
 
 However, there were a few allusions to him as the 
 persons who had followed his remains left the ceme- 
 tery. Hussonnet, who would have to give an account 
 of the interment in the newspapers, spoke of all the 
 addresses in a chaffing style, for, in truth, the worthy 
 Dambreuse had been one of the most notable pots-de- 
 vin of the last reign. Then the mourners were driven 
 in the coaches to their various places of business ; the 
 ceremony had not lasted very long; they congratu- 
 lated themselves on the circumstance. 
 
 Frederick returned to his own abode quite worn 
 out. 
 
 When he presented himself next day at Madame 
 Dambreuse's residence, he was informed that she was 
 below stairs in the room where M. Dambreuse had 
 kept his papers. 
 
 The cardboard receptacles and the different drawers 
 had been hurriedly opened, and the account-books 
 had been flung about right and left A roll of papers 
 on which were endorsed the words " Repayment hope- 
 less " lay on the ground. He was near falling over it, 
 and picked it up. Madame Dambreuse had sunk back 
 in the armchair, so that he did not see her. 
 
 " Well? where are you? What is the matter? " 
 
 She jumped to her feet with a bound.
 
 144 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 "What is the matter? I am ruined, ruined! do 
 you understand ? " 
 
 M. Adolphe Langlois, the notary, had sent her a 
 message to call at his office, and had informed her of 
 the contents of a will made by her husband before 
 their marriage. He had bequeathed everything to Ce- 
 cile ; and the other will could not be found. Frederick 
 turned very pale. No doubt she had not made suffi- 
 cient search. 
 
 "Well, then, look for yourself!" said Madame 
 Dambreuse, pointing at the various objects in the 
 room. 
 
 The two strong-boxes were gaping wide, having 
 been broken open with blows of a cleaver, and she had 
 turned up the desk, rummaged in the cupboards, and 
 shaken the straw-mattings. All of a sudden, utter- 
 ing a piercing cry, she dashed into a corner where she 
 had just noticed a little box with a brass lock. She 
 opened it nothing! 
 
 " Ah ! the wretch ! I, who took such devoted care 
 of him!" 
 
 Then she burst into tears. 
 
 " Perhaps it is somewhere else ? " said Frederick. 
 
 " Oh ! no ! it was there ! in that strong-box. I saw 
 it there recently. It is burned ! I'm certain of it ! " 
 
 One day, in the early stage of his illness, M. Dam- 
 breuse had gone down to this room to sign some doc- 
 uments. 
 
 " It was then he must have done the trick ! " 
 
 And she fell back on a chair, crushed. A mother 
 grieving beside an empty cradle could not be more 
 woeful than Madame Dambreuse at the sight of the 
 open strong-boxes. Indeed, her sorrow, in spite of 
 the baseness of the motive which inspired it, appeared 
 so deep that he tried to console her by reminding her
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 145 
 
 that, after all, she was not reduced to sheer poverty. 
 
 " It is poverty, when I am not in a position to offer 
 you a large fortune ! " 
 
 She had not more than thirty thousand lires a year, 
 without taking into account the mansion, which was 
 worth from eighteen to twenty thousand, perhaps. 
 
 Although to Frederick this would have been opu- 
 lence, he felt, none the less, a certain amount of dis- 
 appointment. Farewell to his dreams and to the 
 splendid life on which he had intended to enter! 
 Honour compelled him to marry Madame Dambreuse. 
 For a minute he reflected; then, in a tone of tender- 
 ness: 
 
 " I shall always have yourself ! " 
 
 She threw herself into his arms, and he clasped her 
 to his breast with an emotion in which there was a 
 certain element of admiration for himself. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse, whose tears had ceased to 
 flow r , raised her face, beaming all over with happi- 
 ness, and seizing his hand : 
 
 " Ah ! I never doubted you ! I knew I could rely 
 on you ! " 
 
 The young man did not like this tone of anticipated 
 certainty with regard to what he was pluming him- 
 self on as a noble action. 
 
 Then she brought him into her own apartment, and 
 they began to arrange their plans for the future. 
 Frederick should now consider the best way of ad- 
 vancing himself in life. She even gave him excellent 
 advice with reference to his candidature. 
 
 The first step was to be familiar with two or three 
 phrases borrowed from political economy. It was 
 necessary to take up a specialty, such as the stud sys- 
 tem, for example ; to write a number of notes on ques- 
 tions of local interest, to have always at his disposal
 
 146 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 post-offices or tobacconists' shops, and to do numer- 
 ous little services. In this respect M. Dambreuse had 
 shown himself a true model. Thus, on one occasion, 
 in the country, he had drawn up his waggonette, full 
 of friends of his, in front of a cobbler's stall, and had 
 bought a dozen pairs of shoes for his guests, and for 
 himself a dreadful pair of boots, which he had not 
 the courage to wear even for a fortnight. This anec- 
 dote restored their good humour. She related others, 
 and that with a renewal of grace, youthfulness, and 
 wit. 
 
 She approved of his idea of taking a trip immedi- 
 ately to Nogent. Their parting was an affectionate 
 one ; then, on the threshold, she murmured once more : 
 
 " You love me do you not ? " 
 
 " Eternally," was his reply. 
 
 A messenger was waiting for him at his own house 
 with a line written in lead-pencil informing him that 
 Rosanette was about to be confined. He had been 
 so much preoccupied for the past few days that he 
 had not given a thought to the matter. 
 
 She had been placed in a special establishment at 
 Chaillot. 
 
 Frederick took a cab and set out for this institution. 
 
 At the corner of the Rue de Marbeuf he read on a 
 board in big letters : " Private Lying-in-Hospital, kept 
 by Madame Alessandri, first-class midwife, ex-pupil 
 of the Maternity, author of various works, etc." 
 Then, in the centre of the street, over the door a 
 little side-door there was another sign-board : " Pri- 
 vate Hospital of Madame Alessandri," with all her 
 titles. 
 
 Frederick knocked. A chambermaid, with the 
 figure of an Abigail led him into the reception-room, 
 which was adorned with a mahogany table and arm-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 147 
 
 chairs of garnet velvet, and with a clock under a globe. 
 
 Almost immediately Madame appeared. She was 
 a tall brunette of forty, with a slender waist, fine eyes, 
 and the manners of good society. She apprised 
 Frederick of the mother's happy delivery, and brought 
 him up to her apartment. 
 
 Rosanette gave him a smile of unutterable bliss, and, 
 as if drowned in the floods of love that were suffocat- 
 ing her, she said in a low tone : 
 
 " A boy there, there ! " pointing toward a cradle 
 close to her bed. 
 
 He opened the curtains, and saw, wrapped up in 
 linen, a yellowish-red object, exceedingly shrivelled- 
 looking, which had a bad smell, and was bawling lust- 
 ily. 
 
 " Embrace him ! " 
 
 He replied, in order to hide his repugnance : 
 
 " But I am afraid of hurting him." 
 
 "No! no!" 
 
 Then, with the tips of his lips, he kissed his child. 
 
 " How like you he is ! " 
 
 And with her two weak arms, she clung to his neck 
 with an outburst of feeling which he had never' wit- 
 nessed on her part before. 
 
 The remembrance of Madame Dambreuse came 
 back to him. He reproached himself as a brute for 
 having deceived this poor creature, who loved and 
 suffered with all the sincerity of her nature. For 
 several days he remained with her till night. 
 
 She was happy in this quiet place ; the window - 
 shutters in front of it remained always closed. Her 
 room, hung with bright chintz, looked out on a large 
 garden. Madame Alessandri, whose only weakness 
 was that she liked to talk about her intimate acquaint- 
 anceship with eminent physicians, showed her the tit-
 
 148 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 most attention. Her associates, nearly all provincial 
 young ladies, were exceedingly bored, as nobody came 
 to see them. Rosanette saw that they regarded her 
 with envy, and told this proudly to Frederick. It was 
 desirable to speak low, nevertheless. The partitions 
 were thin, and everyone was listening at hiding- 
 places, in spite of the constant thrumming of the 
 pianos. 
 
 At last, he was about to take his departure for 
 Nogent, when he got a letter from Deslauriers. Two 
 new candidates had offered themselves, the one a Con- 
 servative, the other a Red ; a third, whoever he might 
 be, would have no chance. It was all Frederick's 
 fault ; he had let the lucky moment pass by ; he should 
 have come sooner and stirred himself. 
 
 " You have not even been seen at the agricultural 
 assembly ! " The advocate blamed him for not having 
 any newspaper connection. 
 
 " Ah ! if you had only followed my advice long ago ! 
 If we had only a public print of our own ! " 
 
 He laid special stress on this point. However, many 
 who would have voted for him out of consideration 
 for M. Dambreuse, abandoned him now. Deslauriers 
 was one of the number. Not having anything more 
 to expect from the capitalist, he had deserted his pro- 
 tege. 
 
 Frederick showed the letter to Madame Dambreuse. 
 
 " You have not been to Nogent, then ? " said she. 
 
 " Why do you ask ? " 
 
 " Because I saw Deslauriers three days ago." 
 
 Having learned that her husband was dead, the 
 advocate had come to make a report about the coal- 
 mines, and to offer his services to her as a man of 
 business. This seemed strange to Frederick ; and what 
 was his friend doing down there ?
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 149 
 
 Madame Dambreuse wanted to know what he had 
 been doing since they parted. 
 
 " I have been ill," he replied. 
 
 " You ought at least to have told me about it." 
 
 " Oh ! it wasn't worth while ; " besides, he had to 
 settle a heap of things, to keep appointments, and to 
 pay visits. 
 
 From that time forth he led a double life, sleeping 
 religiously at the Marechale's abode and spending the 
 afternoon with Madame Dambreuse, so that there was 
 scarcely a single hour of freedom left to him in the 
 middle of the day. 
 
 The infant was in the country at Andilly. They 
 went to see it once a week. 
 
 The wet-nurse's house was on rising ground in 
 the village, at the end of a little yard as dark as a pit, 
 with straw on the ground, hens here and there, and a 
 vegetable-cart under the shed. 
 
 Rosanette would frantically kiss her baby, and, 
 seized with a kind of delirium, would keep moving to 
 and fro, trying to milk the goat, eating big pieces of 
 bread, and inhaling the odour of manure ; she even 
 wanted to put a little of it into her handkerchief. 
 
 Then they took long walks, in the course of which 
 she went into the nurseries, tore off branches from 
 the lilac-trees which hung down over the walls, and 
 exclaimed, " Gee ho, donkey ! " to the asses that were 
 drawing cars along, and stopped to gaze through the 
 gate into the interior of one of the lovely gardens ; or 
 else the wet-nurse would take the child and place it 
 under the shade of a walnut-tree ; and for hours the 
 two women would talk the most tiresome nonsense. 
 
 Frederick, not far away, gazed at the beds of vines 
 on the slopes, with here and there a clump of trees; 
 at the dusty paths resembling strips of grey ribbon ;
 
 150 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 at the houses, which showed white and red spots in 
 the midst of the greenery; and sometimes the smoke 
 of a locomotive stretched out horizontally to the bases 
 of the hills, covered with foliage, like a gigantic os- 
 trich's feather, the thin end of which was disappearing 
 from view. 
 
 Frederick's eyes would rest on his son. He imag- 
 ined the child grown into a young man; he would 
 make a companion of him ; but perhaps he would be 
 a blockhead, a wretched creature, in any event. He 
 felt oppressed by the illegality of the infant's birth ; it 
 would have been better if he never had been born ! 
 And Frederick would murmur, " Poor child ! " his 
 heart throbbing with feelings of unutterable sadness. 
 
 They often missed the last train. Then Madame 
 Dembreuse would scold him for his want of punctu- 
 ality. He would invent some falsehood. 
 
 It was necessary to make explanations, too, to sat- 
 isfy Rosanette. She could not understand where he 
 spent all his evenings ; and when she sent a messen- 
 ger to his house, he was never there ! One day, when 
 he chanced to be at home, the two women made their 
 appearance almost at the same time. He persuaded 
 the Marechale to go away, and concealed Madame 
 Dambreuse, pretending that his mother was coming up 
 to Paris. 
 
 Ere long, he found these lies amusing. He would 
 repeat to one the oath which he had just uttered to 
 the other, send them bouquets of the same sort, write 
 to them at the same time, and then would institute a 
 comparison between them. There was a third always 
 present in his thoughts. The impossibility of posses- 
 sing her seemed to him a justification of his perfidies, 
 which were intensified by the fact that he had to 
 practise them alternately; and the more he deceived,
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 151 
 
 no matter which of the two, the fonder of him she 
 grew, as if the love of one of them added heat to 
 that of the other, and, as if by a sort of emulation, 
 each was seeking to make him forget the other. 
 
 " Admire my confidence in you ! " said Madame 
 Dambreuse one day to him, opening a sheet of pa- 
 per, in which she was informed that M. Moreau and 
 a certain Rose Bron were living together as husband 
 and wife. 
 
 " Can it be that this is the lady of the races ? " 
 
 " How absurd ! " he returned. " Let me have a 
 look at it ! " 
 
 The letter, written in Roman characters, had no sig- 
 nature. Madame Dambreuse, in the beginning, had 
 tolerated this mistress, who furnished a cloak for their 
 adultery. But, as her passion became stronger, she 
 had insisted on a rupture a thing which had been 
 effected long since, according to Frederick's account ; 
 and when he had ceased to protest, she said, half 
 closing her eyes, in which shone a look like the point 
 of a stiletto under a muslin robe: 
 
 "Well and the other?" 
 
 "What other?" 
 
 " The earthenware-dealer's wife ! " 
 
 He shrugged his shoulders disdainfully. She did 
 not press the matter. 
 
 But, a month later, while they were talking about 
 honour and loyalty, and he was boasting about his 
 own (in a casual sort of way, for the sake of pre- 
 caution), she said to him: 
 
 " It 'is true you are acting uprightly you don't 
 go there any more ? " 
 
 Frederick, who was at the moment thinking of the 
 Marechale, stammered : 
 
 "Where, pray?"
 
 152 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " To Madame Arnoux's." 
 
 He implored her to tell him from whom she got 
 the information. It was through her second dress- 
 maker, Madame Regimbart. 
 
 So, she knew all about his life, and he knew noth- 
 ing about hers ! 
 
 He had found in her dressing-room the miniature 
 of a gentleman with long moustaches was this the 
 same person about whose suicide a vague story had 
 been told him at one time? But there was no way 
 of learning any more about it ! However, what did 
 it matter? The hearts of women are like little pieces 
 of furniture wherein things are secreted, full of 
 drawers fitted into each other; one hurts himself, 
 breaks his nails in opening them, and then finds with- 
 in only some withered flower, a few grains of dust or 
 emptiness ! And perhaps he feared to learn too much 
 about the matter. 
 
 She made him refuse invitations where she was un- 
 able to accompany him, stuck to his side, was afraid 
 of losing him ; and, in spite of this union which was 
 every day becoming stronger, all of a sudden, abysses 
 would disclose themselves between the pair about the 
 most trifling questions an estimate of an individual 
 or a work of art. 
 
 She had a style of playing on the piano which was 
 correct but hard. Her spiritualism (Madame Dam- 
 breuse believed in the transmigration of souls into 
 the stars) did not prevent her from taking the utmost 
 care of her cash-box. She was haughty toward her 
 servants; her eyes remained dry at the sight -of the 
 rags of the poor. Amongst her habitual expressions 
 were : " What concern is that of mine ? I should be 
 very silly ! What need have I ? " and a thousand little 
 acts incapable of analysis revealed hateful qualities in
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 153 
 
 her. She would have listened behind doors ; she could 
 not help lying to her confessor. Through a spirit of 
 despotism, she made Frederick accompany her to 
 church on Sunday. He obeyed, and carried her 
 prayer-book. 
 
 The loss of the property she had expected to inherit 
 had changed her considerably. These marks of grief, 
 which people attributed to the death of M. Dambreuse, 
 rendered her interesting, and, as in former times, 
 she had a great number of visitors. Since Frederick's 
 defeat at the election, she was ambitious of obtaining 
 for both of them an embassy in Germany ; therefore, 
 it was important that they should submit to the reign- 
 ing ideas. 
 
 Some persons favoured the Empire, others the Or- 
 leans family, and others the Comte de Chambord ; but 
 they were all of one opinion as to the importance of 
 decentralisation, and several expedients were pro- 
 posed with that view, such as to cut up Paris into 
 many large streets in order to establish villages there, 
 to transfer the seat of government to Versailles, to 
 have the schools set up at Bourges, to suppress the 
 libraries, and to entrust everything to the generals of 
 division ; and they glorified a rustic existence on the 
 assumption that the uneducated man had naturally 
 more sense than other men ! Hatreds increased 
 hatred of primary teachers and wine-merchants, of 
 the classes of philosophy, of the courses of lectures 
 on history, of novels, red waistcoats, long beards, of 
 independence in any shape, or any manifestation of 
 individuality, for it was necessary " to restore the 
 principle of authority " let it be exercised in the 
 name of no matter whom ; let it come from no matter 
 where, as long as it was Force, Authority ! The Con- 
 servatives now talked on the very same lines as Sene-
 
 154 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 cal. Frederick was no longer able to understand their 
 drift, and once more he found at the house of his 
 former mistress the same remarks uttered by the same 
 men. 
 
 The salons of the unmarried women (it was from 
 this period that their importance dates) were a sort of 
 neutral ground where reactionaries of all kinds met. 
 Hussonnet, who depreciated contemporary glories (a 
 good thing for the restoration of Order), inspired 
 Rosanette with a longing to have evening parties like 
 the others. He undertook to publish accounts of 
 them, and first of all he brought a man of grave de- 
 portment, Fumichon ; then came Nonancourt, M. de 
 Gremonville, the Sieur de Larsilloix, ex-prefect, and 
 Cisy, who was now an agriculturist in Lower Brit- 
 tany, and more Christian than ever. 
 
 In addition, men who had at one time been the 
 Marechale's lovers, such as the Baron de Comaing, 
 the Comte de Jumillac, and others, presented them- 
 selves ; and Frederick was resentful of their free-and- 
 easy behaviour. 
 
 In order that he might assume the attitude of mas- 
 ter in the house, he increased the rate of expenditure 
 there. Then he went in for keeping a groom, took 
 a new habitation, and got a fresh supply of furniture. 
 These displays of extravagance were for the purpose 
 of making his alliance appear less out of proportion 
 with his pecuniary position. As a result his means 
 were soon terribly reduced and Rosanette was en- 
 tirely ignorant of the fact! 
 
 One of the lower middle-class, who had lost caste, 
 she adored a domestic life, a quiet little home. How- 
 ever, it gave her pleasure to have an " at home day." 
 In speaking of persons of her own class, she called 
 them " Those women ! " She wished to be a society
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 155 
 
 lady, and believed herself to be one. She requested 
 him not to smoke in the drawing-room any more, and 
 for the sake of good form she tried to make herself 
 look thin. 
 
 She played her part badly, after all ; for she grew 
 serious, and even before going to bed always ex- 
 hibited a little melancholy, just as there are cypress 
 trees at the door of a tavern. 
 
 He found out the cause of it ; she was dreaming of 
 marriage she, too ! Frederick was exasperated at 
 this. Besides, he had not forgotten her appearance 
 at Madame Arnoux's house, and then he cherished a 
 certain spite against her for having held out against 
 him so long. 
 
 He inquired none the less as to who her lovers had 
 been. She denied having had any relations with any 
 of the persons he mentioned. A sort of jealous feel- 
 ing took possession of him. He irritated her by ask- 
 ing questions about presents that had been made to 
 her, and were still being made to her; and in propor- 
 tion to the exciting effect which the lower portion of 
 her nature produced upon him, he was drawn toward 
 her by momentary illusions which ended in hate. 
 
 Her words, her voice, her smile, all had an antag- 
 onistic effect on him, and especially her glances with 
 that woman's eye forever limpid and foolish. Some- 
 times he felt so tired of her that he would have wil- 
 lingly seen her die. But how could he get into a pas- 
 sion with her? She was so mild that there was no 
 hope of quarrelling. 
 
 Deslauriers reappeared, and explained his sojourn at 
 Nogent by saying that he was making arrangements 
 to buy a lawyer's office. Frederick was glad to see 
 him again. It was somebody! and as a third person 
 in the house, he helped to break the monotony.
 
 156 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 The advocate dined with them occasionally, and 
 whenever any little disputes arose, always took Rosa- 
 nette's part, so that Frederick, on one occasion, said 
 to him : 
 
 " Ah ! you may have her, if it amuses you ! " so 
 much did he desire some chance of getting rid of her. 
 
 About the middle of the month of June, she was 
 served with an order made by the law courts by which 
 Maitre Athanase Gautherot, sheriff's officer, called on 
 her to pay him four thousand francs due to Mademoi- 
 selle Clemence Vatnaz; if not, he would make a seiz- 
 ure on her. 
 
 Of the four bills which she had at various times 
 signed, only one had been paid ; the money which she 
 happened to get since then having been spent on other 
 things that she required. 
 
 She rushed off at once to see Arnoux. He lived 
 now in the Fauborg Saint-Germain, and the porter 
 was unable to tell her the name of the street. She 
 went next to the houses of several friends of hers, 
 but did not find one of them at home, and came back 
 in a state of utter despair. 
 
 She did not wish to tell Frederick anything about it, 
 fearing lest this new trouble might prejudice the 
 chance of a marriage between them. 
 
 On the following morning, M. Athanase Gautherot 
 presented himself with two assistants close behind 
 him, one of them sallow with a mean-looking face and 
 an expression of devouring envy in his glance, the 
 other wearing a collar and straps drawn very tightly, 
 with a sort of thimble of black taffeta on his index- 
 finger and both ignobly dirty, with greasy necks, and 
 the sleeves of their coats too short. 
 
 Their employer, a very good-looking man, on the 
 contrary, began by apologising for the disagreeable
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 157 
 
 duty he had to perform, while at the same time he 
 glanced round the room, " full of pretty things, upon 
 my word of honour ! " he added, " Not to speak of 
 the things that can't be seized." At a gesture the 
 two bailiff's men disappeared. 
 
 Then he redoubled his politeness. Could anyone 
 believe that a lady so charming would not have a gen- 
 uine friend ! A sale of her goods under an order of 
 the courts would be a real misfortune. One does not 
 get over a thing like that. He tried to excite her 
 fears ; then, seeing that she was very much agitated, 
 suddenly assumed a paternal tone. He knew the 
 world. He had been brought into business relations 
 with all these ladies and as he mentioned their names, 
 he examined the frames of the pictures on the walls. 
 They were old pictures of the worthy Arnoux, 
 sketches by Sombary, water-colours by Burieu, and 
 three landscapes by Dittmer. It was evident that 
 Rosanette knew nothing of their value. Maitre Gauth- 
 erot turned round to her: 
 
 " Look here ! to show that I am a decent fellow ; give 
 me up those Dittmers here and I am ready to pay all. 
 Do you agree ? " 
 
 At that moment Frederick, who had been informed 
 about the matter by Delphine in the anteroom, and 
 who had just seen the two assistants, came in with 
 his hat on his head, in a rude fashion. Maitre Gauth- 
 erot resumed his dignity; and, as the door had been 
 left open: 
 
 " Come on, gentlemen write down ! In the second 
 room, let us say an oak table with its two leaves, 
 two sideboards ' 
 
 Frederick here stopped him, asking whether there 
 was not some way of preventing the seizure. 
 
 "Oh! certainly! Who paid for the furniture?"
 
 158 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " I did." 
 
 " Well, draw up a claim there is still time for you 
 to do it." 
 
 Maitre Gautherot did not take long in writing out 
 his official report, wherein he directed that Mademoi- 
 selle Bron should attend at an inquiry in chambers 
 with reference to the ownership of the furniture, and 
 having done this he withdrew. 
 
 Frederick uttered no reproach. He gazed at the 
 traces of mud left on the floor by the bailiff's shoes, 
 and, speaking to himself : 
 
 " It will soon be necessary to make some money ! " 
 
 " Ah ! my God, how stupid I am ! " said the Mare- 
 chale. 
 
 She ransacked a drawer, took out a letter, and 
 made her way rapidly to the Languedoc Gas Lighting 
 Company, in order to get the transfer of her shares 
 of stock. 
 
 She returned an hour later. The interest in the 
 shares had been sold to another. The clerk had said, 
 in answer to her demand, while examining the sheet 
 of paper containing Arnoux's written promise to her: 
 " This document in no way constitutes you the pro- 
 prietor of the shares. The company has no cogni- 
 sance of the matter." In short, he dismissed her un- 
 ceremoniously, while she choked with rage ; and Fred- 
 erick must go to Arnoux's house at once to have the 
 matter cleared up. 
 
 But Arnoux would perhaps imagine that he had 
 come to recover in an indirect fashion the fifteen 
 thousand francs due on the mortgage which he had 
 lost; and then this claim on a man who had been his 
 mistress's lover seemed to him a piece of baseness. 
 
 Selecting a middle course, he went to the Dambreuse 
 mansion to get Madame Regimbart's address, sent a
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 159 
 
 messenger to her residence, and in this way ascer- 
 tained the name of the cafe which the Citizen now 
 haunted. 
 
 It was the little cafe on the Place de la Bastille, 
 where he sat all day in the corner to the right at 
 the lower end of the establishment, as motionless as 
 if he were a portion of the building. 
 
 After having gone successively through the half- 
 cup of coffee, the glass of grog, the " bishop," the 
 glass of mulled wine, and even the red wine and 
 water, he fell back on beer, and every half hour he 
 called out, " Bock ! " having reduced his language to 
 what was actually indispensable. Frederick asked him 
 if he ever saw Arnoux. 
 
 " No ! " 
 
 "Look here why?" 
 
 " An imbecile ! " 
 
 Politics, perhaps, kept them apart, and so Frederick 
 thought it a judicious thing to inquire about Corn- 
 pain. 
 
 " What a brute ! " said Regimbart. 
 
 "How is that?" 
 
 " His calf's head ! " 
 
 " Ha ! explain to me what the calf's head is ! " 
 
 Regimbart's face took on a contemptuous smile. 
 
 " Some tomfoolery ! " 
 
 After a long interval of silence, Frederick said: 
 
 " So, then, he has changed his address ? " 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " Arnoux ! " 
 
 " Yes Rue de Fleurus ! " 
 
 "What number?" 
 
 " Do I associate with the Jesuits ? " 
 
 " What, Jesuits ! " 
 
 The Citizen replied angrily:
 
 160 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " With the money of a patriot whom I introduced 
 to him, this pig has set up as a dealer in beads ! " 
 
 " It isn't possible ! " 
 
 " Go there, and find out for yourself ! " 
 
 It was perfectly true ; Arnoux, enfeebled by a fit 
 of sickness, had become religious ; besides, he had 
 always had a stock of religion in his composition, and 
 (with that mixture of commercialism and ingenuity 
 which was natural to him), in order to obtain salva- 
 tion and fortune at the same time, he had begun to 
 traffic in religious objects. 
 
 Frederick had no difficulty in discovering his estab- 
 lishment, on whose signboard appeared these words: 
 "Emporium of Gothic Art Restoration of articles 
 used in ecclesiastical ceremonies Church ornaments 
 Polychromatic sculpture Frankincense of the Magi, 
 Kings, &c., &c." 
 
 At the two corners of the shop-window were two 
 wooden statues, streaked with gold, cinnabar, and 
 azure, a Saint John the Baptist with his sheepskin, and 
 a Saint Genevieve with roses in her apron and a dis- 
 taff under her arm ; next, groups in plaster, a sister 
 teaching a little girl, a mother on her knees beside a 
 little bed, and three collegians before the holy table. 
 The prettiest object there 'was a kind of chalet repre- 
 senting the interior of a crib with the ass, the ox, and 
 the child Jesus stretched on straw real straw. From 
 the top to the bottom of the shelves were medals by 
 the dozen, every variety of beads, holy-water basins 
 in the form of shells, and portraits of ecclesiastical 
 dignitaries, amongst whom Monsignor Affre and our 
 Holy Father appeared with smiling faces. 
 
 Arnoux sat at his counter asleep, with his head 
 bent. He had aged terribly. He had round his tem- 
 ples a wreath of rosebuds, and the reflection of the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 161 
 
 gold crosses touched by the rays of the sun fell over 
 him. 
 
 Frederick was filled with sadness at this spectacle 
 of decay. Through devotion to the Marechale he, 
 however, submitted to the ordeal, and stepped for- 
 ward. At the end of the shop Madame Arnoux sud- 
 denly stepped forward ; thereupon, he turned on his 
 heel. 
 
 " I couldn't see him," he said, when -he came back 
 to Rosanette. 
 
 And in vain he promised that he would write at 
 once to his notary at Havre for some money she 
 flew into a rage. She had never seen a man so weak, 
 so flabby. While she was enduring a thousand pri- 
 vations, other people were enjoying themselves. 
 
 Frederick was thinking about poor Madame Ar- 
 noux, and picturing to himself the heart-rending im- 
 poverishment of her surroundings. He had seated 
 himself before the writing-desk; and, as Rosanette's 
 voice still kept up its bitter railing: 
 
 " Ah ! in the name of Heaven, hold your tongue ! " 
 
 " Perhaps you are going to defend them ? " 
 
 " Well, yes ! " he exclaimed ; " for what's the cause 
 of this fury?" 
 
 " But why is it that you don't want to make them 
 pay up? Tis for fear of vexing your old flame 
 confess it ! " 
 
 He felt an inclination to smash her head with the 
 timepiece. Words failed him. He relapsed into si- 
 lence. 
 
 Rosanette, as she walked up and down the room, 
 continued : 
 
 " I am going to hurl a writ at this Arnoux of yours. 
 Oh! I shall not need your assistance. I'll get legal 
 advice."
 
 162 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Three days later, Delphine rushed abruptly into the 
 room where her mistress sat. 
 
 " Madame ! Madame ! there's a man here with a pot 
 of paste who has given me such a fright ! " 
 
 Rosanette went clown to the kitchen, and saw there 
 a vagabond whose face was pitted with smallpox. 
 Moreover, one of his arms was paralysed, and he was 
 three fourths drunk, and hiccoughed every time he 
 attempted to speak. 
 
 This was Maitre Gautherot's bill-sticker. The ob- 
 jections raised against the seizure having been over- 
 ruled, the sale followed as a matter of course . 
 
 For his trouble in getting up the stairs he de- 
 manded, in the first place, a half-glass of brandy ; 
 then he wanted another favour, namely, tickets for the 
 theatre, assuming that the lady of the house was an 
 actress. After this he indulged for some minutes in 
 winks, whose import was perfectly incomprehensible. 
 Finally, he declared that for forty sous he would tear 
 off the corners of the poster which he had already 
 affixed to the door below stairs. Rosanette found her- 
 self referred to by name in it a piece of harshness 
 which showed the spite of the Vatnaz. 
 
 She had at one time exhibited sensibility, and had 
 even, while suffering from thte effects of a heartache, 
 written to Beranger for his advice. But under the 
 ravage of life's storms, her spirit had soured, for she 
 had been forced, in turn, to give lessons on the piano, 
 to act as manageress of a table d'hvte, to assist others 
 in writing for the fashion journals, to sublet apart- 
 ments, and to traffic in lace in the world of light 
 women, her relations with whom enabled her to make 
 herself useful to many persons, and amongst others 
 to Arnoux. She had at one time been employed in 
 a commercial establishment.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 163 
 
 There it was one of her duties to pay the work- 
 women ; and for each of them there were two livres, 
 one of which always remained in her hands. Dussar- 
 dier, who, through kindness, kept the amount pay- 
 able to a girl named Hortense Baslin, presented him- 
 self one day at the cash-office at the moment when 
 Mademoiselle Vatnaz was presenting this girl's ac- 
 count, 1,682 francs, which the cashier paid her. Now, 
 on the same evening, Dussardier had entered down 
 the sum as 1,082 in the girl Baslin's book. He made 
 some pretext for having it given back to him; then, 
 anxious to bury out of sight the story of this theft, he 
 stated that he had lost it. The workgirl ingenuously 
 repeated this falsehood to Mademoiselle Vatnaz, and 
 the latter, to satisfy her mind about the matter, came 
 with a show of indifference to talk to the shopman on 
 the subject. He contented himself with the answer: 
 " I have burned it ! " that was all. She left the 
 house, without believing that the book had been really 
 destroyed, and filled with the idea that Dussardier had 
 kept it. 
 
 On hearing that he had been wounded, she rushed 
 to his abode, with the object of getting the book. 
 Then, having discovered nothing, in spite of the 
 closest search, she was seized with respect, and pre- 
 ently with love, for his youth, so loyal, so gentle, so 
 heroic and so strong! At her age such good fortune 
 in an affair of the heart was unusual. She threw her- 
 self into it with the appetite of an ogress ; and she 
 had given up literature, Socialism, " the consoling 
 doctrines and the generous Utopias," the course of 
 lectures which she had organised on the " Desubal- 
 ternisation of Woman " everything, even Delmar 
 himself; finally she offered to unite herself to Dus- 
 sardier in marriage.
 
 164 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Although she was his mistress, he was not at all 
 in love with her. Besides, he had not forgotten her 
 theft. Then she was too wealthy for him. He re- 
 fused her offer. Thereupon, with tears in her eyes, 
 she told him what she had hoped it was to have for 
 both of them a confectioner's shop. She possessed 
 the capital that was required for the purpose, and next 
 week this would be increased to the extent of four 
 thousand francs. By way of explanation, she referred 
 to the proceedings she had taken against the Mare- 
 chale. 
 
 Dussardier was annoyed at this on account of his 
 friend. He remembered the cigar-holder that had 
 been presented to him at the guard-house, the even- 
 ings spent in the Quai Napoleon, the many pleasant 
 chats, the books lent to him, the thousand acts of 
 kindness which Frederick had done in his behalf. He 
 begged of Mademoiselle Vatnaz to abandon the pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 She rallied him on his good nature, while exhibiting 
 an antipathy against Rosanette which he could not un- 
 derstand. She longed for wealth, in order to crush 
 her, by-and-by, with her four-wheeled carriage. 
 
 Dussardier was terrified by these black abysses of 
 hate, and when he had ascertained the exact day fixed 
 for the sale, he hurried out. On the following mor- 
 ning he made his appearance at Frederick's house with 
 an embarrassed countenance. 
 
 " I owe you an apology." 
 
 " For what, pray ? " 
 
 " You must take me for an ingrate, I, whom she 
 is the " He faltered. 
 
 " Oh ! I'll see no more of her. I am not going to 
 be her accomplice ! " And as the other gazed at him 
 in astonishment:
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION '' 
 
 " Isn't your mistress's furniture to be sold in three 
 days' time ? " 
 
 "Who told you that?" 
 
 " Herself the Vatnaz ! But I am afraid of offend- 
 ing you 
 
 " Impossible, my dear friend ! " 
 
 " Ah ! that is true you are so good ! " 
 
 And he held out to him, nervously, a hand in which 
 he clasped a little pocket-book made of sheep-leather. 
 
 It contained four thousand francs all his savings. 
 
 "What! Oh! no! no! 
 
 " I knew well I should wound your feelings," re- 
 turned Dussardier, with a tear in the corner of his 
 eye. 
 
 Frederick pressed his hand, and the honest fellow 
 went on in a piteous tone: 
 
 " Take the money ! Give me that much happiness ! 
 I am in such a state of despair. Can it be that all is 
 over? I thought we should be happy when the Rev- 
 olution had come. Do you remember what a beautiful 
 thing it was ? how freely we breathed ! But here we ^ 
 are flung back into a worse condition of things than 
 ever. 
 
 " Now, they are destroying our Republic, just as 
 they destroyed the other one the Roman ! ay, and - 
 poor Venice ! poor Poland ! poor Hungary ! What 
 abominable deeds ! First of all, they knocked down 
 the trees of Liberty, then they restricted the right to 
 vote, shut up the clubs, reestablished the censorship 
 and surrendered to the priests the power of teaching, 
 so that we might look out for the inquisition. Why 
 not? The Conservatives want to give us a taste of 
 the stick. The newspapers are fined merely for print- 
 ing an opinion in favour of abolishing the death- 
 penalty. Paris is overflowing with bayonets ; sixteen
 
 166 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 departments are in a state of siege ; and then the de- 
 mand for amnesty is again rejected ! " 
 
 He placed both hands on his forehead, then, spread 
 out his arms as if his mind were in a distracted state: 
 
 " If, however, we only made the effort! if we were 
 only sincere, we might understand each other. But 
 no ! The workmen are as bad as the capitalists, you 
 see ! At Elboeuf recently they refused to help at a 
 fire ! There are wretches who profess to regard 
 Barbes as an aristocrat ! In order to make the people 
 ridiculous, they want Nadaud nominated for the pres- 
 idency, a mason just imagine ! And there is no way 
 out of it no remedy ! Everybody is against us ! 
 I have never done any harm ; and yet this is like 
 a weight pressing down on my stomach. If this state 
 of things continues, I'll go mad. I have a mind to 
 do away with myself. I tell you I want no money for 
 myself! You'll pay it back to me, deuce take it! I 
 am lending it to you." 
 
 Frederick, who felt himself constrained by neces- 
 sity, ended by taking the four thousand francs from 
 him. And so they had no more disquietude so far as 
 the Vatnaz was concerned. 
 
 But it was not long ere Rosanette was defeated in 
 her action against Arnoux; and through sheer obsti- 
 nacy she wished to appeal. 
 
 Deslauriers exhausted his energies in trying to con- 
 vince her that Arnoux's promise constituted neither a 
 gift nor a regular transfer. She did not pay the 
 slightest attention to him, her notion being that the 
 law was unjust it was because she was a woman ; 
 men supported one another among themselves. In the 
 end, however, she followed his advice. 
 
 He made himself so much at home in the house, 
 that on several occasions he brought Senecal to dine
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 167 
 
 there. Frederick, who had advanced him money, and 
 even got his own tailor to supply him with clothes, did 
 not like this unceremoniousness ; and the advocate 
 gave his old clothes to the Socialist, whose means of 
 existence were now of an exceedingly precarious 
 character. 
 
 He was, however, anxious to be of service to Rosa- 
 
 nette. One day, when she showed him a dozen shares 
 
 in the Kaolin Company (that enterprise which led to 
 
 Arnoux being cast in damages to the extent of thirty 
 
 thousand francs), he said to her: 
 
 " But this is a shady transaction, and you have now 
 a grand chance ! " 
 
 She would be justified in calling on him to pay her 
 debts. In the first place, she could prove that he was 
 jointly bound to pay all the company's liabilities, since 
 he had certified personal debts as collective debts 
 in short, he had embezzled sums which were payable 
 only to the company. 
 
 " All this renders him guilty of fraudulent bank- 
 ruptcy under articles 586 and 587 of the Commercial 
 Code, and you may be sure, my pet, we'll send him 
 packing." 
 
 Rosanette threw herself on his neck. He entrusted 
 her case next day to his former master, not having 
 time to devote to it himself, as he had business at 
 Nogent. In case of any urgency, Senecal could write 
 to him. 
 
 His negotiations for the purchase of an office were 
 a mere pretext. He spent his time at M. Roque's 
 house, where he had begun not only by sounding the 
 praises of Frederick, but by imitating his manners 
 and language as much as possible ; and in this way he 
 had gained Louise's confidence, while he won over 
 her father by attacking Ledru-Rollin.
 
 168 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 If Frederick did not return, it was because he 
 mingled in aristocratic society, and gradually Deslau- 
 riers gave them to understand that he was in love, 
 that he had a child, and that he was keeping a fallen 
 creature. 
 
 Louise's despair was intense. The indignation of 
 Madame Moreau was not less strong. She saw her 
 son whirling toward the bottom of a gulf the depth 
 of which could not be determined, was wounded in 
 her religious ideas as to propriety, and as it were, ex- 
 perienced a sense of personal dishonour; then all of. 
 a sudden her attitude underwent a change. To the 
 questions which people put to her with regard to 
 Frederick, she replied in a sly fashion : 
 
 " He is well, quite well." 
 
 She was aware that he was about to be married to 
 Madame Dambreuse. 
 
 The date of the event had been fixed, and he was 
 trying to think of some way of making Rosanette 
 swallow the thing. 
 
 About the middle of autumn she won her action 
 with reference to the kaolin shares. Frederick was 
 told about it by Senecal, whom he met at his own 
 door, on his way back from the courts. 
 
 It had been held that M. Arnoux was privy to all 
 the frauds, and the ex-tutor had such an air of making 
 merry over it that Frederick stopped him from coming 
 further, informing Senecal that he would convey the 
 intelligence to Rosanette. He presented himself be- 
 fore her with a look of irritation on his face. 
 
 " Well, now you are satisfied ! " 
 
 But, without minding what he had said : 
 
 " Look there ! " 
 
 And she pointed toward her child, which was lying 
 in a cradle close to the fire. She had found it so ill
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 169 
 
 at the house of the wet-nurse that morning that she 
 had brought it back with her to Paris. 
 
 The infant's limbs were exceedingly thin, and the 
 lips were covered with white specks, which in the in- 
 terior of the mouth became, so to speak, clots of blood- 
 stained milk. 
 
 " What did the doctor say? " 
 
 " Oh ! the doctor ! He pretends that the journey 
 has increased his I don't know what it is, some name 
 in ' ite ' in short, that he has the thrush. Do you 
 know what that is ? " 
 
 Frederick replied without hesitation: "Certainly," 
 adding that it was not serious. 
 
 But in the evening he was alarmed by the child's 
 debilitated look and by the progress of these whitish 
 spots, resembling mould, as if life, already abandon- 
 ing the little frame, had left nothing but matter from 
 which vegetation was sprouting. His hands were 
 cold ; he was no longer able to drink ; and the nurse, 
 another woman, whom the porter had taken on chance 
 from an office, kept repeating: 
 
 " It seems to me he's very low, very low ! " 
 
 Rosanette was up all night with the child. 
 
 In the morning she went for Frederick. 
 
 " Just come and look at him. He doesn't move any 
 longer." 
 
 He was dead. She took him up, shook him, clasped 
 him in her arms, calling him most tender names, cov- 
 ered him with kisses, broke into sobs, rocked from 
 side to side in a state of distraction, tore her hair, ut- 
 tered a number of shrieks, and then sank on the edge 
 of the divan, where she lay with her mouth open and 
 a flood of tears rushing from her wildly-glaring eyes. 
 
 Then a torpor fell upon her, and all became still in 
 the apartment. The furniture was overturned. Two
 
 170 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 or three napkins were lying on the floor. It struck six. 
 The night-light had gone out. 
 
 Frederick, as he gazed at the scene, could almost 
 believe that he was dreaming. His heart was op- 
 pressed with anguish. It seemed to him that this 
 death was only a beginning, and that behind it was a 
 worse calamity, which was just about to overwhelm 
 him. 
 
 Suddenly, Rosanette said in an appealing tone: 
 
 " We'll preserve the body shall we not ? " 
 
 She wished to have the dead child embalmed. 
 There were many objections to this. The principal 
 one, in Frederick's opinion, was that the thing was 
 impracticable in the case of children so young. A 
 portrait would be better. She adopted this idea. He 
 wrote a line to Pellerin, and Delphine hastened to de- 
 liver it. 
 
 Pellerin arrived at once, anxious by this display of 
 zeal to efface all recollection of his former conduct. 
 The first thing he said was : 
 
 " Poor little angel ! Ah, my God, what a misfor- 
 tune ! " 
 
 But gradually (the artist in him getting the upper 
 hand) he declared that nothing could be made out of 
 those yellowish eyes, that livid face, that it was a real 
 case of still-life, and would, therefore, require very 
 great talent to treat it effectively; and so he mur- 
 mured : 
 
 " Oh, it isn't easy it isn't easy ! " 
 
 " No matter, as long as it is life-like," urged Rosa- 
 nette. 
 
 Pooh! what do I care about a picture being life- 
 like ? Down with Realism ! Tis the spirit that must 
 be portrayed by the painter! Let me alone! I am 
 going to try to conjure up what it ought to be ! "
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 171 
 
 He reflected, with his left hand clasping his brow, 
 and his right hand clutching his elbow ; then, all of a 
 sudden : 
 
 " Ha, I have an idea ! a pastel ! With coloured 
 mezzotints, almost spread out flat, a lovely model 
 could be obtained with the outer surface alone ! " 
 
 He sent the chambermaid for his box of colours ; 
 then, having a chair under his feet and another by his 
 side, he began to make great touches with as much 
 complacency as if he had drawn them in accordance 
 with the bust. He praised the little Saint John of 
 Correggio, the Infanta Rosa of Velasquez, the milk- 
 white flesh-tints of Reynolds, the distinction of Law- 
 rence, and especially the child with long hair that sits 
 in Lady Gower's lap. 
 
 " Besides, could you find anything more charming 
 than these little toads? The type of the sublime (Ra- 
 phael has proved it by his Madonnas) is probably a 
 mother with her child ! " 
 
 Rosanette, who felt herself stifling, went away ; and 
 presently Pellerin said: 
 
 " Well, about Arnoux ; you know what has hap- 
 pened? " 
 
 "No! What?" 
 
 " It was bound to end that way ! " 
 
 " What has happened, might I ask? " 
 
 " Perhaps by this time he is Excuse me ! " 
 
 The artist got up in order to raise the head of the 
 little corpse higher. 
 
 " You were saying " Frederick resumed. 
 
 And Pellerin, half-closing his eyes, in order to take 
 his dimensions better: 
 
 " I was saying that our friend Arnoux is probably 
 by this time locked up ! " 
 
 Then, in a tone of satisfaction:
 
 172 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 "Just give a glance at it. Is that the thing?" 
 
 "Yes, 'tis quite right. But about Arnoux?" 
 
 Pellerin laid down his pencil. 
 
 " As far as I could understand, he was sued by one 
 Mignot, an intimate friend of Regimbart a long- 
 headed fellow that, eh? What an idiot! Just imag- 
 ine ! one day " 
 
 " What ! it's not Regimbart that's in question, is it? " 
 
 " It is, indeed ! Well, yesterday evening, Arnoux 
 had to produce twelve thousand francs ; if not, he was 
 a ruined man." 
 
 " Oh ! that must be exaggerated," said Frederick. 
 
 " Not a bit. It looked to me a very serious business." 
 
 At that moment Rosanette reappeared, with red 
 spots under her eyes, which glowed like dabs of paint. 
 She seated herself near the drawing and gazed at it. 
 Pellerin made a sign to the other to hold his tongue 
 on account of her. But Frederick said : 
 
 " Nevertheless, I can't believe " 
 
 " I tell you I met him yesterday," said the artist, 
 " at seven o'clock in the evening, in the Rue Jacob. 
 He had even taken the precaution to have his pass- 
 port with him; and he spoke about embarking from 
 Havre, he and his whole camp." 
 
 "What! with his wife?" 
 
 " No doubt. He is too much of a family man to 
 live by himself." 
 
 "And are you certain of this?" 
 
 " Certain, faith ! WTiere do you suppose he would 
 find twelve thousand francs ? " 
 
 Frederick took two or three turns round the room. 
 He panted for breath, bit his lips, and then snatched 
 up his hat. 
 
 " Where are you off to now ? " said Rosanette. 
 
 He made no reply as he left the room.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 UNDER THE HAMMER 
 
 BETWEEN Frederick and Madame Arnoux stood 
 twelve thousand francs. Without that amount 
 he would see her no more and there yet lin- 
 gered in his heart an unconquerable hope. Did she 
 not, as it were, constitute the very substance of his 
 heart, the very foundation of his life? For some 
 minutes he went staggering along the footpath, his 
 mind tortured with anxiety, and nevertheless glad- 
 dened by the thought that he was away from the other. 
 
 Where was he to get the money? Frederick was 
 well aware from his own experience how hard it was 
 to obtain it immediately, no matter at what cost. 
 There was only one person who could help him in the 
 matter Madame Dambreuse. She always kept a 
 good supply of bank-notes in her escritoire. He called 
 at her house : and in an unblushing fashion : 
 
 "Have you twelve thousand francs to lend me?" 
 
 "What for?" 
 
 That was another person's secret. She asked who 
 this person was. He would not give way on this point. 
 They were equally determined not to yield. Finally, 
 she declared that she would give nothing until she 
 knew the purpose for which it was intended. 
 
 Frederick's face became very flushed ; and he stated 
 that one of his comrades had committed a theft. It 
 was necessary to replace the sum this very day. 
 
 "' Let me know his name ? His name ? Come ! 
 what's his name ? "
 
 174 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Dussardier ! " 
 
 And he threw himself on his knees, imploring of 
 her not to say a word about it. 
 
 " What idea have you got into your head about 
 me?" Madame Dambreuse replied. "One would im- 
 agine that you were the guilty party yourself. Pray, 
 have done with your tragic airs ! Hold on ! here's the 
 money ! and much good may it do him ! " 
 
 He hurried off to see Arnoux. That worthy mer- 
 chant was not in his shop. But he was still residing 
 in the Rue de Paradis, for he had two domiciles. 
 
 In the Rue de Paradis, the porter said that M. Ar- 
 noux had been away since the evening before. As 
 for Madame, he could say nothing ; and Frederick, 
 having rushed like an arrow up the stairs, laid his 
 ear against the keyhole. At length, the door was 
 opened. Madame had gone out with Monsieur. The 
 servant did not know when they would be back; her 
 wages had been paid, and she was leaving herself. 
 
 Suddenly he heard the door creaking. 
 
 " But is anyone in the room ? " 
 
 " Oh, no, Monsieur ! it is the wind." 
 
 Thereupon he withdrew. There was something in- 
 explicable in such a rapid disappearance. 
 
 Regimbart, being Mignot's intimate friend, could 
 perhaps enlighten him? And Frederick got himself 
 driven to that gentleman's house at Montmartre in the 
 Rue 1'Empereur. 
 
 In front of the house there was a small garden shut 
 in by a grating which was stopped up with iron plates. 
 Three steps before the hall-door set off the white 
 front ; and a person passing along the foot-path could 
 see the two rooms on the ground-floor, the first of 
 which was a parlour with ladies' dresses lying on 
 the furniture, and the second the workshop in which
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 175 
 
 Madame Regimbart's female assistants were accus- 
 tomed to sit. 
 
 They were all convinced that Monsieur had im- 
 portant occupations, distinguished connections, that 
 he was a man altogether beyond comparison. When 
 he passed through the lobby with his hat cocked up 
 at the sides, his long grave face, and his green frock- 
 coat, the girls stopped in the midst of their work. He 
 never failed to address to them a few words of encour- 
 agement, some observation which showed his cere- 
 monious courtesy; and afterward in their own homes 
 they felt unhappy at not having been able to preserve 
 him as their ideal. 
 
 No one, however, was so devoted to him as Ma- 
 dame Regimbart, an intelligent little woman, who 
 maintained him by her handicraft. 
 
 As soon as M. Moreau had sent in his name, she 
 came out quickly to meet him, knowing through the 
 servants what his relations were with Madame Dam- 
 breuse. Her husband would be back in a moment; 
 and Frederick, while he followed her, admired the 
 appearance of the house and the profusion of oil-cloth 
 that was displayed in it. Then he waited a few min- 
 utes in a kind of office, into which the Citizen was in 
 the habit of retiring, in order to be alone with his 
 thoughts. 
 
 When they met Regimbart's manner was less ec- 
 centric than usual. 
 
 He related Arnoux's recent history. The ex-manu- 
 facturer of earthenware had excited the vanity of 
 Mignot, a patriot who owned a hundredd shares in the 
 Siccle, by professing to show that it would be neces- 
 sary from the democratic standpoint to change the 
 management and the editorship of the newspaper. 
 Under the pretext of making his views prevail in
 
 176 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the next meeting of shareholders, he had given the 
 other fifty shares, telling him that he could pass them 
 on to reliable friends who would back up his vote. 
 Mignot w r ould have no personal responsibility, and 
 need not worry himself about anyone ; then, when he 
 had achieved success, he would be able to secure a 
 good place in the administration of at least from five 
 to six thousand francs. The shares had been de- 
 livered. But Arnoux had at once sold them, and with 
 the money had entered into partnership with a dealer 
 in religious articles. Thereupon came complaints 
 from Mignot, to which Arnoux sent evasive answers. 
 At last the patriot had threatened to bring against 
 him a charge of cheating if he did not restore his 
 share-certificates or pay an equivalent sum fifty thou- 
 sand francs. 
 
 Frederick's expression was despondent. 
 
 " That is not all," said the Citizen. " Mignot, who 
 is an honest fellow, has reduced his claim to one 
 fourth. New promises on the part of the other, and, 
 of course, new evasions. In short, on the morning of 
 the day before yesterday Mignot sent him a written 
 application to pay up, within twenty-four hours, twelve 
 thousand francs, without prejudice to the balance." 
 
 " I have the amount ! " said Frederick. 
 
 The Citizen slowly turned round: 
 
 "Humbug!" 
 
 " Excuse me ! I have the money in my pocket. I 
 brought it with me." 
 
 " How you do go at it ! By Jove, you do ! How- 
 ever, 'tis too late now the complaint has been lodged, 
 and Arnoux is gone." 
 
 "Alone?" 
 
 " No, with his w ; fe. They were seen at the Havre 
 terminus."
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 177 
 
 Frederick grew exceedingly pale. Madame Regim- 
 bart thought he was going to faint. He regained his 
 composure with an effort, and had . even sufficient 
 presence of mind to ask two or three questions about 
 the matter. Regimbart was grieved at the affair, con- 
 sidering that it would injure the cause of Democ- 
 racy. Arnoux had always been lax in his conduct and 
 disorderly in' his life. 
 
 " A regular hare-brained fellow ! He burned the 
 candle at both ends. The petticoat has ruined him! 
 Tis not himself that I pity, but his poor wife ! " For 
 the Citizen admired virtuous women, and held Ma- 
 dame Arnoux in high esteem. 
 
 " She must have suffered much ! " 
 
 Frederick felt grateful to him for his sympathy ; 
 and, as if Regimbart had done him a service, pressed 
 his hand effusively. 
 
 " Have you done all that's necessary in the mat- 
 ter?" was Rosanette's greeting to him when he re- 
 turned. 
 
 He replied that he had not been able to pluck up 
 courage to do it, and he walked about the streets at 
 random to divert his thoughts. 
 
 At eight o'clock, they went into the dining-room; 
 but they remained seated face to face in silence, giv- 
 ing vent each to a deep sigh every now and then, and 
 finally pushed away their plates. 
 
 Frederick drank some brandy. He felt quite shat- 
 tered, crushed, annihilated, no longer conscious of any- 
 thing save a sensation of extreme fatigue. 
 
 She went to look at the portrait. The red, the 
 yellow, the green, and the indigo made glaring stains 
 that jarred with each other, so that it looked a hide- 
 ous thing almost ridiculous. 
 
 The dead child was now unrecognisable. The
 
 178 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 purple hue of his lips made the whiteness of his skin 
 more remarkable. His nostrils were drawn, his eyes 
 hollow ; and his head rested on a pillow of blue taf- 
 feta, surrounded by petals of camelias, autumn roses, 
 and violets. This was an idea suggested by the cham- 
 bermaid, and both of them had thus with pious care 
 decorated the little corpse. The mantelpiece, covered 
 with a cloth of guipure, supported silver-gilt candle- 
 sticks with bunches of consecrated box in the spaces 
 between them. At the corners were a pair of vases 
 in which pastilles were burning. All these things, 
 viewed in conjunction with the cradle, presented the 
 aspect of an altar; and Frederick recalled to mind 
 the night when he had watched beside M. Dambreuse's 
 death-bed. 
 
 Nearly every quarter of an hour Rosanette drew 
 aside the curtains to take a look at her child. She 
 saw him in imagination, a few months hence, begin- 
 ning to walk; then at college, in the middle of the 
 recreation-ground, playing a game of base; then at 
 twenty years a full-grown young man; and all these 
 pictures conjured up by her brain created for her, 
 as it were, the son she would have had, if only he 
 had lived, the excess of her grief intensifying in her 
 maternal instinct. 
 
 Frederick, sitting silent in another armchair, was 
 thinking of Madame Arnoux. 
 
 Probably, at that moment, she was in a train, with 
 her face leaning against a carriage window, while she 
 watched the country disappearing behind her in the 
 direction of Paris ; or else on the deck of a steamboat, 
 as on the occasion when they first met; but this ves- 
 sel was carrying her away into distant countries, from 
 which she would never return. He next saw her in 
 a room at an inn, with trunks covering the floor, the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 179 
 
 wallpaper hanging in shreds, and the door shaking in 
 the wind. And after that to what would she be 
 compelled to turn ? Would she have to become a 
 school-mistress or a lady's companion, or perhaps a 
 chambermaid? She was exposed to all the vicissi- 
 tudes of poverty. His utter ignorance as to what 
 might become of her tortured his mind. He ought 
 either to have prevented her departure or to have 
 followed her. Was he not her real husband? And 
 as the thought impressed itself on his consciousness 
 that he would never meet her again, that it was all 
 over forever, that she was lost to him beyond recall, 
 he felt a rending of his entire being, and the tears 
 that had been gathering since morning in his heart 
 overflowed. 
 
 Rosanette noticed this. 
 
 " Ah! you are crying just like me! You are griev- 
 ing, too? " 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! I am " 
 
 He pressed her to his heart, and they both sobbed, 
 locked in each other's arms. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse was weeping too, as she lay, 
 face downward, on her bed, with her hands clasped 
 over her head. 
 
 Olympe Regimbart having come that evening to 
 try on her first coloured gown after mourning, had 
 told her about Frederick's visit, and about the twelve 
 thousand francs which he had with him ready to trans- 
 fer to M. Arnoux. 
 
 So, then, this money, the very money which he had 
 got from her, was intended to be used simply for the 
 purpose of keeping the other in Paris for the pur- 
 pose, in fact, of preserving a mistress ! 
 
 At first, she broke into a violent rage, and deter- 
 mined to drive him from her door, as she would have
 
 180 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 driven a lackey. A copious flow of tears had a sooth- 
 ing effect upon her. It was better to keep it all to 
 herself, and say nothing about it. 
 
 Frederick brought her back the twelve thousand 
 francs on the following day. 
 
 She begged of him to keep the money lest he might 
 require it for his friend, and she asked a number of 
 questions about this gentleman. Who, then, had 
 tempted him to such a breach of trust? A woman, 
 no doubt! Women drag men into every kind of 
 crime. 
 
 This bantering tone discomposed Frederick. He 
 felt deep remorse for the calumny he had invented. 
 He was reassured by the reflection that Madame Dam- 
 breuse could not be aware of the facts. All the same, 
 she was very persistent about the subject; for, two 
 days later, she again made inquiries about his young 
 friend, and, after that, about another Deslauriers. 
 
 "Is this young man trustworthy and intelligent?" 
 
 Frederick spoke highly of him. 
 
 " Ask him to call on me one of these mornings ; 
 I want to consult him about a matter of business." 
 
 She had found a roll of old papers in which there 
 were some bills of Arnoux, which had been duly pro- 
 tested, and which had been signed by Madame Ar- 
 noux. It was relative to these very bills Frederick 
 had called on M. Dambreuse on one occasion while 
 the latter was at breakfast; and, although the capi- 
 talist had not enforced repayment of this outstanding 
 debt, he had not only got judgment on foot of them 
 from the Tribunal of Commerce against Arnoux, but 
 also against his wife, who knew nothing about the 
 matter, as her husband had not given her any infor- 
 mation on the point. 
 
 Here was a weapon placed in Madame Dambreuse's
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 181 
 
 hands she had no doubt about it. But her notary 
 advised her to take no step in the affair. She would 
 have preferred to act through some obscure person, 
 and she thought of that big fellow with such an im- 
 pudent expression of face, who had offered her his 
 services. 
 
 Frederick ingenuously performed this commission 
 for her. 
 
 The advocate was enchanted at the idea of having 
 business relations with such an aristocratic lady. 
 
 He hurried to Madame Dambreuse's house. 
 
 She informed him that the inheritance belonged to 
 her niece, a further reason for liquidating those debts 
 which she should repay, her object being to over- 
 whelm Martinon's wife by a display of greater at- 
 tention to the deceased's affairs. 
 
 Deslauriers surmised that there was some hidden 
 design underlying all this. He reflected while he was 
 examining the bills. Madame Arnoux's name, writ- 
 ten by her own hand, brought once more before his 
 eyes her entire person, and the insult which he had 
 received from her. Since vengeance was offered to 
 him, why should he not snatch at. it ? 
 
 He accordingly advised Madame Dambreuse to have 
 the bad debts which went with the inheritance sold 
 by auction. A man of straw, whose name would not 
 be divulged, would buy them up, and would exercise 
 the legal rights thus given him to realise them. He 
 would undertake to provide a man to discharge this 
 function. 
 
 Toward the end of the month of November, Fred- 
 erick, happening to pass through the street in which 
 Madame Arnoux had lived, raised his eyes toward the 
 windows of her house, and saw posted on the door a 
 placard on which was printed in large letters:
 
 182 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Sale of valuable furniture, consisting of kitchen 
 utensils, body and table linen, shirts and chemises, 
 lace, petticoats, trousers, French and Indian cash- 
 meres, an Erard piano, two Renaissance oak chests, 
 Venetian mirrors, Chinese and Japanese pottery." 
 
 " Tis their furniture ! " said Frederick to himself, 
 and his suspicions were confirmed by the door-keeper. 
 
 As for who had given instructions for the sale, he 
 could get no information on that matter. But per- 
 haps the auctioneer, Maitre Berthelmot, might be able 
 to throw light on the subject. 
 
 The functionary did not at first want to tell what 
 creditor was having the sale carried out. Frederick 
 pressed him on the point. It was a gentleman named 
 Senecal, an agent ; and Maitre Berthelmot even car- 
 ried his politeness so far as to lend his newspaper 
 the Petit cs Affiches to Frederick. 
 
 The latter, on reaching Rosanette's house, flung 
 down this paper wide open on the table. 
 
 " Read that ! " 
 
 " Well, what ? " said she \vith a face so calm that 
 it roused up in him a feeling of revolt. 
 
 " Ah ! keep up that air of innocence ! " 
 
 " I don't understand what you are talking about." 
 
 " It is you who are selling out Madame Arnoux 
 yourself ! " 
 
 She re-read the announcement. 
 
 " Where is her name ? " 
 
 " Oh ! 'tis her furniture. You know that as well 
 as I do." 
 
 "What does that signify to me?" said Rosanette, 
 shrugging her shoulders. 
 
 "What does it signify to you? You are taking 
 your revenge, that's all. This is the consequence of 
 your persecutions. Haven't you outraged her suffi-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 183 
 
 ciently by calling at her house? you, a worthless 
 creature ! and this the most saintly, the most charm- 
 ing, the best woman that ever lived ! Why do you 
 set your heart on ruining her ? " 
 
 " I assure you, you are mistaken ! " 
 
 " Come now ! As if you had not incited Senecal to 
 do this ! " 
 
 " What nonsense ! " 
 
 Then he was carried away with rage. 
 
 " You lie ! you lie ! you wretch ! You are jealous of 
 her! You have got a judgment against her husband! 
 Senecal is already mixed up in your affairs. He de- 
 tests Arnoux; and your two hatreds have combined. 
 I saw how delighted he was when you won that action 
 of yours about the kaolin shares. Are you going to 
 deny this ? " 
 
 " I give you my word " 
 
 " Oh, I know what that's worth your word ! " 
 
 And Frederick reminded her of her lovers, giving 
 their names and circumstantial details. Rosanette 
 drew back, all the colour fading from her face. 
 
 " You are astonished at this. You thought I was 
 blind because I kept my eyes shut. Now I have had 
 enough of it. We do not die through the treacheries 
 of a woman of your sort. W'hen they become too 
 monstrous we get out of the way. To inflict punish- 
 ment on account of them would be only to degrade 
 oneself." 
 
 She twisted her arms about. 
 
 " My God, who can it be that has changed him ? " 
 
 " Nobody but yourself." 
 
 " And all this for Madame Arnoux ! " exclaimed 
 Rosanette, weeping. 
 
 He replied coldly: 
 
 " I have never loved any other woman ! "
 
 184 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 At this insult her tears ceased to flow. 
 
 " That shows your good taste ! A woman of ma- 
 ture years, with a complexion like liquorice, a thick 
 waist, big eyes like the ventholes of a cellar, and just 
 as empty ! As you think so much of her, go and join 
 her!" 
 
 "This is just what I expected. Thank you!" 
 
 Rosanette remained motionless, stupefied by this 
 extraordinary behaviour. 
 
 She even allowed the door to be shut ; then, with a 
 bound, she pulled him back into the anteroom, and 
 flinging her arms around him: 
 
 " Why, you are mad ! you are mad ! this is absurd ! 
 I love you ! " Then she changed her tone to one of 
 entreaty : 
 
 " Good heavens ! for the sake of our dead infant ! " 
 
 " Acknowledge that it was you who did this trick ! " 
 said Frederick. 
 
 She still protested that she was innocent. 
 
 " You will not acknowledge it? " 
 
 " No ! " 
 
 " Well, then, farewell ! and forever ! " 
 
 " Listen to me ! " 
 
 Frederick turned round : 
 
 " If you understood me better, you would Know 
 that my decision is irrevocable ! " 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! you will come back to me again ! " 
 
 " Never as long as I live ! " 
 
 And he slammed the door behind him violently. 
 
 Rosanette wrote to Deslauriers saying that she 
 wished to see him at once. 
 
 He called one evening, about five days later; and, 
 when she told him about the rupture : 
 
 '" That's all ! A nice piece of bad luck ! " 
 
 She thought at first that he would have been able
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 185 
 
 to bring back Frederick ; but now all was lost. She 
 learned through the doorkeeper that he was about to 
 be married to Madame Dambreuse. 
 
 Deslauriers gave her a lecture, and showed him- 
 self an exceedingly gay fellow, quite a jolly dog; and, 
 as it was very late, asked permission to pass the night 
 in an armchair. 
 
 Then, next morning, he set out again for Nogent, 
 telling her that he was unable to say when they would 
 meet again. In a little while, there would perhaps 
 be a great change in his life. 
 
 Two hours after his return, the town was in a 
 state of revolution. The news went round that M. 
 Frederick was going to marry Madame Dambreuse. 
 At length the three Mesdemoiselles Auger, unable to 
 stand it any longer, made their way to the house of 
 Madame Moreau, who with an air of pride confirmed 
 this intelligence. Pere Roque became quite ill when 
 he heard it. Louise locked herself up; it was even 
 rumoured that she had gone mad. 
 
 Meanwhile, Frederick was unable to hide his de- 
 jection.. Madame Dambreuse, in order to divert his 
 mind from gloomy thoughts, redoubled her attentions. 
 Every afternoon they went driving in her carriage ; 
 and, on one occasion, as they were passing along the 
 Place de la Bourse, she took the idea into her head 
 to pay a visit to the public auction-rooms for the sake 
 of amusement. 
 
 It was the first day of December, the very day on 
 which the sale of Madame Arnoux's furniture was to 
 take place. He remembered the date, and expressed 
 repugnance, declaring that this place was intolerable 
 on account of the crush and the noise. She only 
 wanted to get a peep at it. The brougham drew up. 
 He had no alternative but to accompany her.
 
 186 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 In the open space could be seen washhand-stands 
 without basins, the wooden portions of armchairs, old 
 hampers, pieces of porcelain, empty bottles, mattresses ; 
 and men in blouses or in dirty frock-coats, all grey 
 with dust, and mean-looking faces, some with can- 
 vas sacks over their shoulders, were chatting in sep- 
 arate groups or hailing each other in a disorderly 
 fashion. 
 
 Frederick urged that they had better not go any 
 further. 
 
 " Pooh ! " 
 
 They ascended the stairs. In the first room, at the 
 right, gentlemen, with catalogues in their hands, were 
 examining pictures ; in another, a collection of Chi- 
 nese weapons were being sold. Madame Dambreuse 
 wanted to go down again. She looked at the numbers 
 over the doors, and led him to the end of the corridor 
 toward an apartment which was blocked up with 
 people. 
 
 Frederick immediately noticed the two whatnots be- 
 longing to the office of L 'Art Industriel, her work- 
 table, all her furniture. Heaped up at the end of the 
 room according to their respective heights, they 
 formed a long slope from the floor to the windows, and 
 at the other sides of the apartment, the carpets and the 
 curtains hung straight along the walls. There were, 
 underneath, steps occupied by old men who had fallen 
 asleep. At the left rose a sort of counter at which the 
 auctioneer, in a white cravat, was Hghtly swinging a 
 little hammer. By his side a young man was writing, 
 and below him stood a sturdy fellow, between a com- 
 mercial traveller and a vendor of countermarks, cry- 
 ing out : " Furniture for sale." Three attendants 
 placed the articles on a table, at the sides of which sat 
 in a row second-hand dealers and old-clothes women.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 187 
 
 The general public at the auction kept walking in a 
 circle behind them. 
 
 As Frederick entered, the petticoats, the necker- 
 chiefs, and even the chemises were being passed on 
 from hand to hand, and then given back. Sometimes 
 they were flung some distance, and strips of white- 
 ness went flying through the air. After that her 
 gowns were sold, and then one of her hats, the broken 
 feather of which was hanging down, then her furs, 
 and then three pairs of boots ; and the selling of these 
 relics, wherein he could trace in a confused sort of way 
 the very outlines of her form, appeared to him an 
 atrocity, as if he had seen carrion crows mangling her 
 corpse. The atmosphere of the room, heavy with so 
 many breaths, made him feel sick. Madame Dam- 
 breuse offered him her smelling-bottle. She said that 
 she found the sale of this strange collection highly 
 amusing. 
 
 The bedroom furniture was now exhibited. Maitre 
 Berthelmot named a price. The crier immediately re- 
 peated it in a louder voice, and the three auctioneer's 
 assistants quietly waited for the stroke of the ham- 
 mer, and then removed the article sold to an adjoining 
 apartment. In this way disappeared, one after the 
 other, the large blue carpet spangled with camellias, 
 which her dainty feet used to touch so lightly as she 
 advanced to meet him, the little upholstered easy- 
 chair, in which he used to sit facing her when they 
 were alone together, the two screens belonging to the 
 mantelpiece, the ivory of which had been rendered 
 smoother by the touch of her hands, and a velvet pin- 
 cushion, which was still bristling with pins. It was as 
 if portions of his heart had been carried away with 
 these things ; and the monotony of the same voices and 
 the same gestures benumbed him with fatigue, and
 
 188 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 caused within him a mournful torpor, a sensation like 
 that of death itself. 
 
 There was a rustle of silk near by. Rosanette 
 touched him. 
 
 It \vas through Frederick himself that she had 
 learned about this auction. When her first feelings of 
 vexation were over, the idea of profiting by it occurred 
 to her mind. She had come to see it in a white satin 
 vest with pearl buttons, a furbelowed gown, tight-fit- 
 ting gloves on her hands, and a look of triumph on her 
 face. 
 
 He grew pale with anger. She stared at the woman 
 who was by his side. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse had recognised her, and for a 
 minute each examined the other from head to foot 
 minutely, in order to discover the defect, the blemish 
 the one perhaps envying the other's youth, and the 
 other filled with spite at the extreme good form, the 
 aristocratic simplicity of her rival. 
 
 At last Madame Dambreuse turned her head away 
 with a smile of inexpressible insolence. 
 
 The crier had opened a piano her piano ! While 
 he remained standing before it he ran the fingers of 
 his right hand over the keys, and put up the instru- 
 ment at twelve hundred francs ; then he brought down 
 the figures to one thousand, then to eight hundred, and 
 finally to seven hundred. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse laughed at the appearance of 
 some socket that was out of gear. 
 
 The next thing placed before the second-hand 
 dealers was a little chest with medallions and silver 
 corners and clasps, the same one which he had seen 
 at the first dinner in the Rue de Choiseul, which had 
 subsequently been 'in Rosanette's house, and again 
 transferred to Madame Arnoux's residence. Often
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 189 
 
 during their conversations his eyes had wandered 
 toward it. He was bound to it by the dearest memo- 
 ries, and his soul was melting with tender emotions 
 about it, when suddenly Madame Dambreuse said : 
 
 " I am going to buy that ! " 
 
 " But it is not a very rare article," he returned. 
 
 She considered it, on the contrary, very pretty, and 
 the appraiser commended its delicacy. 
 
 " A gem of the Renaissance ! Eight hundred francs, 
 Messieurs ! Almost entirely of silver ! With a little 
 whiting it can be made to shine brilliantly." 
 
 And, as she was pushed forward through the crush 
 of people : 
 
 " What an odd idea ! " said Frederick. 
 
 " Does it annoy you ? " 
 
 . " No ! But what use can be made of a fancy article 
 of that sort ? " 
 
 " Who knows ? Love-letters might be kept in it, 
 perhaps ! " 
 
 She gave him a look which made the significance 
 very clear. 
 
 " A reason the more for not robbing the dead of 
 their secrets." 
 
 " I did not imagine she was dead." And then in a 
 loud voice she went on to bid: 
 
 " Eight hundred and eighty francs ! " 
 
 " What you're doing is not right," murmured Fred- 
 erick. 
 
 She began to laugh. 
 
 " But this is the first favour, dear, that I have ever 
 asked from you." 
 
 " Come, now ! doesn't it strike you that at this rate 
 you won't be a very considerate husband?" 
 
 Some one had just at that moment made a higher 
 bid.
 
 190 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 " Nine hundred francs ! " 
 
 " Nine hundred francs ! " repeated Maitre Berthel- 
 mot. 
 
 " Nine hundred and ten fifteen twenty thirty ! " 
 squeaked the auctioneer's crier, with jerks of his head 
 as he cast a sweeping glance at those assembled around 
 him. 
 
 " Show me that I am to have a wife who is amen- 
 able to reason/' said Frederick. 
 
 And he gently drew her toward the door. 
 
 The auctioneer proceeded : 
 
 " Come, come, Messieurs ; nine hundred and thirty. 
 Is there any bidder at nine hundred and thirty?" 
 
 Madame Dambreuse, who had just reached the door, 
 stopped, and raising her voice to a high pitch : 
 
 " One thousand francs ! " 
 
 There was a murmur of astonishment, and then a 
 dead silence. 
 
 " A thousand francs, Messieurs, a thousand francs ! 
 Is nobody advancing on this bid ? Is that clear? Very 
 well, then one thousand francs ! going ! gone ! " 
 
 And down came the ivory hammer. She passed in 
 her card, and the little chest was handed to her. She 
 thrust it into her muff. 
 
 Frederick felt a great chill penetrating his heart. 
 
 Madame Dambreuse was still holding his arm ; and 
 she had not the courage to look up at his face in the 
 street, where her carriage was awaiting her. 
 
 She flung herself into it, like a thief flying away 
 after a robbery, and then turned toward Frederick. 
 He had his hat in his hand. 
 
 " Are you not coming? " 
 
 " No, Madame ! " 
 
 And, bowing to her frigidly, he shut the carriage- 
 door, and signed to the coachman to drive away.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 191 
 
 The first feeling that he experienced was one of 
 joy at having regained his independence. He was 
 filled with pride at the thought that he had avenged 
 Madame Arnoux by sacrificing a fortune to her ; then, 
 he was astounded at his own act, and he felt doubled 
 up with extreme physical exhaustion. 
 
 Next morning his man-servant brought him the 
 news. 
 
 The city had been declared to be in a state of siege ; 
 the Assembly had been dissolved ; and a number of 
 the representatives of the people had been imprisoned 
 at Mazas. Public affairs had become utterly unim- 
 portant to him, so deeply preoccupied was he by his 
 private troubles. 
 
 He wrote to several tradesmen countermanding 
 various orders which he had given for the purchase of 
 articles in connection with his projected marriage, 
 which now appeared to him in the light of a rather 
 mean speculation ; and he execrated Madame Dam- 
 breuse, because, on her account, he had been very 
 near perpetrating a vile action. He had forgotten the 
 Marechale, and did not even bother himself about Ma- 
 dame Arnoux absorbed only in one thought lost 
 amid the wreck of his dreams, sick at heart, full of 
 grief and disappointment, and in his abhorrence of the 
 artificial atmosphere wherein he had suffered so much, 
 he longed for the freshness of green fields, the repose 
 of provincial life, a sleeping existence spent beneath 
 his natal roof in the midst of ingenuous hearts. When 
 Wednesday evening arrived, he made his way out 
 into the open air. 
 
 On the boulevard numerous groups had gathered. 
 From time to time a patrol came and dispersed them ; 
 they got together again in regular order behind it. 
 They talked freelv and in loud tones, made chaffing
 
 192 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 remarks. about the soldiers, without anything further 
 happening. 
 
 " What ! are they not going to fight ? " said Fred- 
 erick to a workman. 
 
 " They're not such fools as to get themselves killed 
 for the well-off people ! Let them look after them- 
 selves ! " 
 
 And a gentleman muttered, as he glanced across at 
 the inhabitants of the faubourgs: 
 
 " Socialist rascals ! If it were only possible, this 
 time, to exterminate them ! " 
 
 Frederick could not, for the life of him, understand 
 the necessity of so much rancour and vituperative 
 language. His feeling of disgust against Paris was in- 
 tensified by these occurrences. Two days later he 
 set out for Nogent by the first train. 
 
 The houses were soon lost to view ; the country 
 stretched out before his gaze. Alone in his carriage, 
 with his feet on the seat in front of him, he pondered 
 over the events of the last few days, and then on his 
 entire past. The recollection of Louise came back 
 to his mind. 
 
 " She, indeed, loved me truly ! I was wrong not 
 to grasp at that chance of happiness. Pooh! let us 
 not think any more about it ! " 
 
 Then, five minutes afterward : " Who knows, after 
 all? Why not, later?" 
 
 His reverie, like his eyes, wandered afar toward 
 vague horizons. 
 
 " She was artless, a peasant girl, almost a savage ; 
 but so good ! " 
 
 As he drew nearer to Nogent, her image seemed 
 closer to him. As they were passing through the 
 meadows of Sourdun, he saw her once more in imag- 
 ination under the poplar-trees, as in the old days, cut-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 193 
 
 ting rushes on the edges of the pools. He reached 
 his destination and stepped out of the train. 
 
 Then he leaned with his elbows on the bridge, to 
 gaze again at the isle and the garden where they had 
 walked together one sunshiny day, and the dizzy sen- 
 sation caused by travelling, together with the weak- 
 ness engendered by his recent emotions, arousing in 
 his breast a sort of exaltation, he said to himself: 
 
 " She has gone out, perhaps ; suppose I were to 
 go and meet her ! " 
 
 The bell of Saint-Laurent was ringing, and in the 
 square in front of the church there was a crowd of 
 poor people around an open carriage, the only one in 
 the district the one which was always hired for wed- 
 dings. All of a sudden, under the church-gate, ac- 
 companied by a number of well-dressed persons in 
 white cravats, a newly-married couple appeared. 
 
 He thought he must be labouring under some delu- 
 sion. But no ! It was, indeed, Louise ! covered with 
 a white veil which flowed from her red hair down to 
 her heels; and with her was no other than Deslau- 
 riers, attired in a blue coat embroidered with silver 
 the costume of a prefect. 
 
 How was this? 
 
 Frederick concealed himself behind the corner of a 
 house to let the procession pass. 
 
 Shamefaced, vanquished, crushed, he retraced his 
 steps to the railway-station, and returned to Paris. 
 
 The cabman who drove him assured him that the 
 barricades were erected from the Chateau d'Eau to 
 the Gymnase, and turned down the Faubourg Saint- 
 Martin. At the corner of the Rue de Provence, Fred- 
 erick stepped out in order to reach the boulevards. 
 
 It was five o'clock. A thin shower was falling. A 
 number of citizens blocked up the footpath close to
 
 194 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the Opera House. The houses opposite were closed. 
 Not a face at any of the windows. All along the 
 boulevard, dragoons were galloping behind a row of 
 waggons, leaning with drawn swords over their 
 horses ; and the plumes of their helmets, and their 
 large white cloaks, rising up behind them, could be 
 seen under the glare of the gas-lamps, which shook 
 in the wind in the midst of a haze. The crowd, mute 
 with fear, gazed at them. 
 
 In the intervals between the cavalry-charges, squads 
 of policemen arrived to keep back the people in the 
 streets. 
 
 But on the steps of Tortoni's, a man Dussardier 
 who could be recognised at a distance by his great 
 height, remained standing as motionless as a carya- 
 tide. 
 
 One of the police-officers, marching at the head of 
 his men, with his three-cornered hat drawn over his 
 eyes, threatened him with his sword. 
 
 The other thereupon advancing one step, shouted : 
 
 " Long live the Republic ! " 
 
 The next instant he fell on his back with his arms 
 crossed. 
 
 A yell of horror arose from the crowd. The police- 
 officer, with a look of command, made a circle around 
 him ; and Frederick, gazing up at him in open-mouthed 
 astonishment, recognised Senecal.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 AFTER MANY YEARS 
 
 FREDERICK travelled a long time. 
 He experienced the melancholy associated with 
 packet-boats, the chill feeling on waking up 
 under tents, the dizzy effect of mountains and ruins, 
 and the bitterness of broken sympathies. 
 
 He returned home. 
 
 He mingled in society, and he conceived attach- 
 ments to many women. But the constant recollection 
 of his first love made them all appear insipid ; and 
 besides, the vehemence of desire, the bloom of the 
 sensation had gone. In like manner, his intellectual 
 ambitions had grown weaker. Years passed ; and he 
 was merely supporting the burthen of a life in which 
 his mind was unoccupied and his heart bereft of 
 energy. 
 
 Toward the end of March, 1867, just as the day 
 was drawing to a close, he was sitting all alone in 
 his study, when a woman suddenly entered. 
 
 " Madame Arnoux ! " 
 
 " Frederick ! " 
 
 She caught hold of his hands, and drew him gently 
 toward the window. As she gazed into his face, she 
 kept repeating: 
 
 " 'Tis he ! Yes, indeed^-'tis he ! " 
 
 In the lengthening shadows of the twilight, only 
 her eyes were visible under the black lace veil that 
 hid her face.
 
 196 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 She laid down on the edge of the mantelpiece a 
 little pocket-book bound in garnet velvet; she seated 
 herself in front of him, and they both remained silent, 
 unable to utter a word, smiling at each other. 
 
 At last he asked her a number of questions about 
 herself and her husband. 
 
 They were living in a remote part of Brittany for 
 the sake of economy, so as to be able to pay their 
 debts. Arnoux, now almost a chronic invalid, had 
 become quite an old man. Her daughter had been 
 married and was living at Bordeaux, and her son was 
 in garrison at Mostaganem. 
 
 Then she raised her head to look at him again : 
 
 " But I see you once more ! I am happy ! " 
 
 He did not fail to let her know that, as soon as he 
 heard of their misfortune, he had hastened to their 
 house. 
 
 " I knew it ! " 
 
 "How?" 
 
 She had seen him in the street outside the house, 
 and had hidden herself. 
 
 "Why did you do that?" 
 
 Then, in a trembling voice, and with long pauses 
 between her words : 
 
 " I was afraid ! Yes afraid of you and of my- 
 self!" 
 
 This confession gave him a shock of voluptuous 
 joy. His heart began to throb wildly. She went on : 
 
 " Forgive me for not having come sooner." And, 
 pointing toward the little pocket-book covered with 
 golden palm-branches: 
 
 " I embroidered it on your account expressly. It 
 contains the amount for which the Belleville property 
 was given as security." 
 
 Frederick thanked her, while chiding her at the
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 197 
 
 same time for having given herself any trouble about 
 it. 
 
 " No ! 'tis not for this I came ! I was determined 
 to pay you this visit then I would go back there 
 again." 
 
 And she spoke about the place where they had 
 taken up their abode. 
 
 It was a low-built house of only one story; and 
 there was a garden full of huge box-trees, and a 
 double avenue of chestnut-trees, reaching up to the 
 top of the hill, from which there was a view of the 
 sea. 
 
 " I go there and sit on a bench, which I have called 
 ' Frederick's bench.' " 
 
 Then she gazed at the furniture, the objects of 
 virtu, the pictures, with eager intentness, so that she 
 might be able to carry away the impressions of them 
 in her memory. The Marechale's portrait was almost 
 hidden behind a curtain. But the gilding and the 
 white spaces of the picture, which showed their out- 
 lines through the midst of the surrounding darkness, 
 attracted her attention. 
 
 " It seems to me I knew that woman ? " 
 
 " Impossible ! " said Frederick. " It is an old Italian 
 painting." 
 
 She said that she would like to take a walk through 
 the streets on his arm. 
 
 They went out. 
 
 The light from the shop-windows fell, now and 
 then, on her pale profile ; then once more she was 
 wrapped in shadow, and in the midst of the carriages, 
 the crowd, and the din, they walked on heedless to 
 what was happening around them, hearing nothing, 
 like those who walk across the fields over beds of dead 
 leaves.
 
 198 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 They talked about the days which they had for- 
 merly spent in each other's society, the dinners at the 
 time when L' Art Industricl flourished, Arnoux's fads, 
 his habit of drawing up the ends of his collar and of 
 using cosmetic on his moustache, and other matters 
 of a more intimate and serious character. What de- 
 light he experienced when he first heard her sing- 
 ing ! How lovely she looked on her feast-day at Saint- 
 Cloud ! He recalled to her memory the little garden 
 at Auteuil, evenings at the theatre, a chance meeting 
 on the boulevard, and some of her old servants, includ- 
 ing the ne'gress. 
 
 She was astonished at his vivid recollection of 
 these things. 
 
 " Sometimes your words come back to me like a 
 distant echo, like the sound of a bell carried by the 
 wind, and when I read love passages in books, it 
 seems to me that it is you about whom I am reading." 
 
 " All that people have criticised as exaggerated in 
 fiction you have made me feel," said Frederick. " I 
 can understand Werther, who felt no disgust at his 
 Charlotte for eating bread and butter." 
 
 " Poor, dear friend ! " 
 
 She heaved a sigh; and, after a prolonged silence: 
 
 " No matter ; we shall have loved each other truly ! " 
 
 "And still without having ever belonged to each 
 other ! " 
 
 '' That perhaps is all the better," she replied. 
 
 " No, no ! What happiness we might have en- 
 joyed ! " 
 
 And it must have been very strong to endure after 
 so long a separation. 
 
 Frederick wished to know how she first discovered 
 that he loved her. 
 
 " It was when you kissed my wrist one evening
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 199 
 
 between the glove and the cuff. I said to myself, 
 ' Ah ! yes, he loves me he loves me ; ' nevertheless, I 
 was afraid of being assured of it. So charming- was 
 your reserve, that I felt myself the object, as it were, 
 of an involuntary and continuous homage." 
 
 He regretted nothing now. He was compensated 
 for all he had suffered in the past. 
 
 When they returned to the house, Madame Arnoux 
 removed her bonnet. The lamp, placed on a bracket, 
 threw its light on her white hair. Frederick felt as 
 if some one had struck him in the middle of the chest. 
 
 In order to conceal from her his sense of disillusion, 
 he flung himself on the floor at her feet, and seizing 
 her hands, whispered in her ear words of tenderness : 
 
 " Your person, your slightest movements, seemed 
 to me to have a more than human importance in the 
 world. My heart was like dust under your feet. You 
 produced on me the effect of moonlight on a summer's 
 night, when around us we find nothing but perfumes, 
 soft shadows, gleams of whiteness, infinity; and all 
 the delights of the flesh and of the spirit were for me 
 embodied in your name, which I kept repeating to 
 myself while I tried to kiss it with my lips. I thought 
 of nothing else. It was Madame Arnoux such as you 
 were with your two children, tender, grave, dazzingly 
 beautiful, and yet so good ! This image effaced 
 every other. Did I not dream of it alone ? for always, 
 in the very depths of my soul, were the music of your 
 voice and the brightness of your eyes ! " 
 
 She accepted with transports of joy these tributes 
 of adoration to the woman whom she could no longer 
 claim to be. Frederick, becoming intoxicated with 
 his own words, came to believe himself in the reality 
 of what he said. Madame Arnoux, with her back to 
 the light of the lamp, stooped toward him. He felt
 
 200 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 the caress of her breath on his forehead, and the un- 
 defined touch of her entire body through the garments 
 that kept them apart. Their hands were clasped ; the 
 tip of her shoe peeped out from beneath her gown, 
 and he said to her, as if ready to faint : 
 
 " The sight of your foot makes me lose my self- 
 possession." 
 
 An impulse of modesty caused her to rise. Then, 
 without any further movement, she said, with the 
 strange intonation of a sonambulist: 
 
 " At my age ! he Frederick ! Ah ! no woman 
 has ever been loved as I have been. No! Where is 
 the use in being young? What do I care about them, 
 indeed? I despise them all those women who come 
 here ! " 
 
 " Oh ! very few women come to this place," he re- 
 turned, in a complaisant fashion. 
 
 Her face brightened, and then she asked him 
 whether he ever meant to marry. 
 
 He swore that he never would. 
 
 " Are you perfectly sure ? Why should you not ? " 
 ! 'Tis on your account ! " said Frederick, clasping 
 her in his arms. 
 
 She remained thus pressed to his heart, with her 
 head thrown back, her lips parted, and her eyes raised. 
 Suddenly she pushed him away from her with a look 
 of despair, and when he implored of her to say some- 
 thing to him in reply, she whispered : 
 
 " I would have liked to make you happy ! " 
 
 Frederick had a suspicion that Madame Arnoux 
 had come to offer herself to him, and once more he 
 was seized with a desire to possess her stronger, 
 fiercer, more desperate than he had ever experienced 
 before. And yet he felt, the next moment, an unac- 
 countable repugnance to the thought of such a thing.
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 201 
 
 and, as it were, a dread of incurring the guilt of incest. 
 Another fear, too, affected him lest disgust might 
 afterward take possession of him. Besides, how em- 
 barrassing it would be! and, abandoning the idea, 
 partly through prudence, and partly through a resolve 
 not to degrade his ideal, he walked away and pro- 
 ceeded to roll a cigarette between his fingers. 
 
 She watched him with admiration. 
 
 " How dainty you are ! There is no one like you ! 
 No one ! " 
 
 It struck eleven. 
 
 " Already ! " she exclaimed ; " at a quarter-past I 
 must go." 
 
 She sat down again, but she kept looking at the 
 clock, and he walked up and down the room, puffing 
 at his cigarette. Neither could think of anything 
 further to say. There is a moment at the hour of part- 
 ing when the person that we love is with us no longer. 
 
 At last, When the hands of the clock passed the 
 twenty-five minutes, she slowly took up her bonnet, 
 holding it by the strings. 
 
 " Good-bye, my friend my dear friend ! I shall 
 never see you again ! This is the last page in my 
 life as a woman. My soul shall remain with you even 
 when you see me no more. May all the blessings of 
 Heaven be yours ! " 
 
 And she kissed him on the forehead, like a mother. 
 
 But she appeared to be looking for something, and 
 presently she asked him for a pair of scissors. 
 
 She unfastened her comb, and all her white hair 
 fell down. 
 
 With a quick movement of the scissors, she cut off 
 a long lock from the roots. 
 
 " Keep it ! Good-bye ! " 
 
 When she was gone, Frederick rushed to the win-
 
 202 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 dovv and threw it open. On the footpath he saw Ma- 
 dame Arnoux beckoning a passing cab. She stepped 
 into it. The vehicle was soon out of sight. 
 And all was over.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 WHEN A MAN'S FORTY 
 
 FREDERICK and Deslauriers were talking by the 
 fireside one evening about the beginning oi 
 winter. They were once more reconciled by 
 the fatality of their nature, which seemed to force 
 them to reunite and be friends again. 
 
 Frederick briefly explained his quarrel with Ma- 
 dame Dambreuse, who had married again, her second 
 husband being an Englishman. 
 
 Deslauriers, without telling how he had come to 
 marry Mademoiselle Roque, related how his wife had 
 one day eloped with a singer. In order to expunge 
 to some extent the ridicule that this brought upon 
 him, he had compromised himself by an excess of gov- 
 ernmental zeal in the exercise of his functions as 
 prefect. He had been dismissed. After that, he had 
 been an agent for colonisation in Algeria, secretary 
 to a pasha, editor of a newspaper, and canvasser for 
 advertisements, his latest employment being the set- 
 tling of disputed cases for a manufacturing company. 
 
 Frederick, having squandered two thirds of his 
 means, was now living like a citizen of comparatively 
 humble rank. 
 
 Then they questioned each other about their mutual 
 friends. 
 
 Martinon was now a member of the Senate. 
 
 Hussonnet occupied a high position, in which he 
 was fortunate enough to have all the theatres and en- 
 tire press dependent upon him.
 
 204 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 Cisy, given up to religion, and the father of eight 
 children, was living in the chateau of his ancestors. 
 
 Pellerin, after turning his hand to Fourierism, 
 homoeopathy, table-turning, Gothic art, and humani- 
 tarian painting, had become a photographer; and he 
 might be seen on every dead wall in Paris, where he 
 was represented in a black coat with a very small body 
 and a big head. 
 
 " And what about your chum, Senecal ? " asked 
 Frederick. 
 
 " Disappeared I don't know where ! And your- 
 self what about the woman you were so passionately 
 attached to, Madame Arnoux ? " 
 
 " She is probably at Rome with her son, a lieu- 
 tenant of chasseurs." 
 
 "And her husband?" 
 
 " He died a year ago." 
 
 " You don't say so ? " exclaimed the advocate. 
 Then, striking his forehead: 
 
 " Now that I think of it, the other day, in a shop, 
 I met that worthy Marechale, holding by the hand a 
 little boy whom she has adopted. She is the widow 
 of a certain Monsieur Oudry, and is now very stout. 
 What a change! she who formerly had such a slen- 
 der waist ! " 
 
 Deslauriers acknowledged that he had taken ad- 
 vantage of the other's despair to satisfy himself of 
 that fact by personal experience. 
 
 " As you gave me permission, however." 
 
 This avowal was a compensation for the silence he 
 had maintained with reference to his attempt with 
 Madame Arnoux. 
 
 Frederick would have forgiven him, inasmuch as he 
 had not succeeded. 
 
 Although a little annoyed at the discovery, he pre-
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 205 
 
 tended to laugh at it ; and the allusion to the Mare- 
 chale recalled the Vatnaz. 
 
 Deslauriers had not seen her, nor any of the others 
 who used to come to the Arnoux's house; but he re- 
 membered Regimbart perfectly. 
 
 " Is he still living? " 
 
 " He is barely alive. Every evening regularly he 
 drags himself from the Rue de Grammont to the Rue 
 Montmartre, to the cafes, enfeebled, bent in two, ema- 
 ciated, a spectre ! " 
 
 "Well, and what about Compain?" 
 
 Frederick uttered a cry of joy, and begged of the 
 ex-delegate of the provisional government to explain 
 to him the mystery of the calf's head. 
 
 "' 'Tis an English importation. In order to parody 
 the ceremony which the Royalists celebrated on the 
 thirtieth of January, some Independents founded an 
 annual banquet, at which they have been accustomed 
 to eat calves' head, and at which they drank red wine 
 out of calves' skulls while giving toasts in favour of 
 the extermination of the Stuarts. After Thermidor, 
 the Terrorists organised a brotherhood of a similar 
 description, which proves how universally prolific 
 folly is." 
 
 " You appear to be dispassionate about politics? " 
 
 " Effect of age," said the advocate. 
 
 Then they each proceeded to summarise their lives. 
 
 They had both failed in their objects the one who 
 dreamed only of love, and the other of power. 
 
 What was the reason of this ? 
 
 " 'Tis perhaps on account of not having taken up 
 the proper line," said Frederick. 
 
 " In your case that may be so. I, on the contrary, 
 have sinned through excess of rectitude, without giv- 
 ing due weight to a thousand secondary things more
 
 206 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 important than any. I had too much logic, and you 
 too much sentiment." 
 
 Then they blamed luck, circumstances, the epoch 
 at which they were born. 
 
 Frederick went on : 
 
 " We have never done what we thought of doing 
 long ago at Sens, when you wished to write a critical 
 history of Philosophy and I a great mediaeval ro- 
 mance about Nogent, the subject of which I had 
 found in Froissart : ' How Messire Brokars de Fene- 
 stranges and the Archbishop of Troyes attacked Mes- 
 sire Eustache d'Ambrecicourt.' Do you remember?" 
 
 And, exhuming their youth with every sentence, 
 they continually said to each other: 
 
 " Do you remember ? " 
 
 They saw once more the college playground, the 
 chapel, the parlour, the fencing-school at the bottom 
 of the staircase, the faces of the ushers and of the 
 pupils one named Angelmare, from Versailles, who 
 used to cut off trousers-straps from old boots, M. Mir- 
 bal and his red whiskers, the two professors of linear 
 drawing and large drawing, who were always wran- 
 gling, and the Pole, the fellow-countryman of Coper- 
 nicus, with his planetary system on pasteboard, an 
 itinerant astronomer whose lecture had been paid for 
 by a dinner in the refectory, then a terrible debauch 
 while they were out on a walking excursion, the first 
 pipes they had smoked, the distribution of prizes, and 
 the delightful sensation of going home for the holi- 
 days. 
 
 It was during the vacation of 1837 that they had 
 called at the house of the Turkish woman. 
 
 This was a phrase used to designate a woman whose 
 real name was Zoraide Turc ; and many persons be- 
 lieved her to be a Mohammedan, a Turk; this added
 
 SENTIMENTAL EDUCATION 207 
 
 to the poetic character of her establishment, situated 
 at the water's edge behind the rampart. Even in the 
 middle of summer there was a shadow around her 
 house, which was distinguished by a glass bowl of 
 goldfish near a pot of mignonette at a window. 
 Women in white negligees, with painted cheeks and 
 long earrings, used to tap at the panes as the stu- 
 dents passed; and as it grew dark, their custom was 
 to hum softly in their hoarse voices as they stood on 
 the doorsteps. 
 
 This home of perdition spread its fantastic notoriety 
 over all the arrondissement. References were made 
 to it in a circumlocutory style : " The place you know 
 a certain street at the bottom of the Bridges." It 
 made the farmers' wives of the district tremble for 
 their husbands, and the ladies grow apprehensive as 
 to their servants' virtue, inasmuch as the sub-prefect's 
 cook had been found there ; and, of course, it exercised 
 a fascination over the minds of all the young lads of 
 the place. 
 
 One Sunday, during vesper-time, Frederick and 
 Deslauriers, having previously curled their hair, gath- 
 ered some flowers in Madame Moreau's garden, then 
 went out through the gate leading into the fields, and, 
 after taking a wide circuit round the vineyards, came 
 back through the Fishery, and stole into the Turkish 
 woman's house with their big bouquets in their hands. 
 
 Frederick presented his as a lover does to his be- 
 trothed. But the heat, the fear of the unknown, and 
 even the very pleasure of seeing at one glance so 
 many women at his disposal, excited him so strangely 
 that he turned exceedingly pale, and stood there with- 
 out advancing a single step or uttering a word. All 
 the girls burst out laughing, amused at his embar- 
 rassment. Fancying that they were ridiculing him,
 
 208 GUSTAVE FLAUBERT 
 
 he ran away; and, as Frederick had the money, Des- 
 lauriers was obliged to follow him. 
 
 They were observed leaving the house ; and the epi- 
 sode furnished material for a bit of local gossip which 
 was remembered three years later. 
 
 They related the story to each other in a proh> 
 fashion, each supplementing the narrative where the 
 other's memory failed ; and, when they had finished 
 
 the tale : . 
 
 " I believe that was the best time we ever had ! 
 
 said Frederick. 
 
 " Well, perhaps ! Yes, I, too, believe that was the 
 best time we ever had," said Deslauriers.
 
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