And he went off.
Charles fastened his horse to a tree; he ran into
the road and waited. Half an hour passed, then
he counted nineteen minutes by his watch. Suddenly
a noise was heard against the wall; the shutter had
been thrown back; the hook was still swinging.
The next day by nine o’clock he was at the farm.
Emma blushed as he entered, and she gave a little
forced laugh to keep herself in countenance.
Old Rouault embraced his future son-in-law. The
discussion of money matters was put off; moreover,
there was plenty of time before them, as the marriage
could not decently take place till Charles was out
of mourning, that is to say, about the spring of the
next year.
The winter passed waiting for this. Mademoiselle
Rouault was busy with her trousseau. Part of
it was ordered at Rouen, and she made herself chemises
and nightcaps after fashion-plates that she borrowed.
When Charles visited the farmer, the preparations
for the wedding were talked over; they wondered in
what room they should have dinner; they dreamed of
the number of dishes that would be wanted, and what
should be entrees.
Emma would, on the contrary, have preferred to have
a midnight wedding with torches, but old Rouault could
not understand such an idea. So there was a wedding
at which forty-three persons were present, at which
they remained sixteen hours at table, began again the
next day, and to some extent on the days following.
The guests arrived early in carriages, in one-horse
chaises, two-wheeled cars, old open gigs, waggonettes
with leather hoods, and the young people from the
nearer villages in carts, in which they stood up in
rows, holding on to the sides so as not to fall, going
at a trot and well shaken up. Some came from
a distance of thirty miles, from Goderville, from
Normanville, and from Cany.
All the relatives of both families had been invited,
quarrels between friends arranged, acquaintances long
since lost sight of written to.
From time to time one heard the crack of a whip behind
the hedge; then the gates opened, a chaise entered.
Galloping up to the foot of the steps, it stopped
short and emptied its load. They got down from
all sides, rubbing knees and stretching arms.
The ladies, wearing bonnets, had on dresses in the
town fashion, gold watch chains, pelerines with the
ends tucked into belts, or little coloured fichus fastened
down behind with a pin, and that left the back of
the neck bare. The lads, dressed like their papas,
seemed uncomfortable in their new clothes (many that
day hand-sewed their first pair of boots), and by their
sides, speaking never a work, wearing the white dress
of their first communion lengthened for the occasion
were some big girls of fourteen or sixteen, cousins
or elder sisters no doubt, rubicund, bewildered, their
hair greasy with rose pomade, and very much afraid
