At seven dinner was served. The men, who were in the majority, sat down

at the first table in the vestibule; the ladies at the second in the

dining room with the Marquis and Marchioness.

Emma, on entering, felt herself wrapped round by the warm air, a

blending of the perfume of flowers and of the fine linen, of the fumes

of the viands, and the odour of the truffles. The silver dish covers

reflected the lighted wax candles in the candelabra, the cut crystal

covered with light steam reflected from one to the other pale rays;

bouquets were placed in a row the whole length of the table; and in

the large-bordered plates each napkin, arranged after the fashion of a

bishop's mitre, held between its two gaping folds a small oval shaped

roll. The red claws of lobsters hung over the dishes; rich fruit in open

baskets was piled up on moss; there were quails in their plumage; smoke

was rising; and in silk stockings, knee-breeches, white cravat, and

frilled shirt, the steward, grave as a judge, offering ready carved

dishes between the shoulders of the guests, with a touch of the spoon

gave you the piece chosen. On the large stove of porcelain inlaid

with copper baguettes the statue of a woman, draped to the chin, gazed

motionless on the room full of life.

Madame Bovary noticed that many ladies had not put their gloves in their

glasses.

But at the upper end of the table, alone amongst all these women, bent

over his full plate, and his napkin tied round his neck like a child, an

old man sat eating, letting drops of gravy drip from his mouth. His eyes

were bloodshot, and he wore a little queue tied with black ribbon. He

was the Marquis's father-in-law, the old Duke de Laverdiere, once on

a time favourite of the Count d'Artois, in the days of the Vaudreuil

hunting-parties at the Marquis de Conflans', and had been, it was said,

the lover of Queen Marie Antoinette, between Monsieur de Coigny and

Monsieur de Lauzun. He had lived a life of noisy debauch, full of duels,

bets, elopements; he had squandered his fortune and frightened all his

family. A servant behind his chair named aloud to him in his ear the

dishes that he pointed to stammering, and constantly Emma's eyes

turned involuntarily to this old man with hanging lips, as to something

extraordinary. He had lived at court and slept in the bed of queens!

Iced champagne was poured out. Emma shivered all over as she felt

it cold in her mouth. She had never seen pomegranates nor tasted

pineapples. The powdered sugar even seemed to her whiter and finer than

elsewhere.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024