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Updated: May 8, 2025
Pécuchet stepped out in double-quick time; and he said to Bouvard, who trotted by his side with equal speed: "One, two! one, two!" counting his steps regularly, like the chasseurs of Vincennes. The road which they took was a continuously uphill one; the sloping ground hid the horizon from their view. They reached a height close to La Butte, and at a single glance the disaster was revealed to them.
The fact was, he had planted some things beside others of a different species; and so the sweet melons got mixed up with the kitchen-garden melons, the big Portugal with the Grand Mogul variety; and this anarchy was completed by the proximity of the tomatoes the result being abominable hybrids that had the taste of pumpkins. Then Pécuchet devoted his attention to the flowers.
It is to be believed that Flaubert also had some quiet fun with the brothers and with Zola regarding their mania for note taking; read Bouvard et Pécuchet for confirmation of this idea of mine. Maupassant was paid one franc a line for his novels in the periodicals, and 500 francs for the newspaper rights of publication only; good prices twenty-five years ago in Paris.
Pécuchet drew a loud breath; and while he crammed several pinches of snuff into his nostrils, he reflected that, if fate had so willed it, he might now be a member of an agricultural society, might be delivering brilliant lectures, and might be referred to as an authority in the newspapers. Bouvard cast a gloomy look around him. "Faith!
The guests traced a resemblance between him and his son, and Madame Bordin added, glancing at Bouvard, that he must have been a very fine man. After an hour's waiting, Pécuchet announced that they might pass into the dining-room.
Bouvard kept in the background, and Pécuchet, turning his back to him, cast handfuls of sulphur into the fireplace. Before invoking a corpse the consent of the demons is required. Now, this day being a Friday a day which is assigned to Béchet they should occupy themselves with Béchet first of all.
Bouvard and Pécuchet gave utterance on other occasions to their scandalous paradoxes. They threw doubt on the honesty of men, the chastity of women, the intelligence of government, the good sense of the people in short, they sapped the foundations of everything. Foureau was provoked by their behaviour, and threatened them with imprisonment if they went on with such discourses.
The old dame, with her feet on a footwarmer, began by bending her neck; her eyes closed, and quite gently she began to snore. At the end of an hour, during which they had been staring at her, Pécuchet said in a low tone: "What do you feel?" She awoke. Later, no doubt, would come lucidity.
"They have given nothing," replied the schoolmaster. "That is your fault!" "I have done what I could." "Ha! really?" Bouvard and Pécuchet discreetly rose. Petit made them sit down again, and addressing the curé: "Is that all?" The Abbé Jeufroy hesitated. Then, with a smile which tempered his reprimand: "It is supposed that you are rather negligent about sacred history."
The task finished, Bouvard, who was on the steps, cried from a distance: "Here! you can see best!" "See best!" was repeated in the air. Pécuchet answered: "I am going there!" "Going there!" "Hold on! 'Tis an echo!" "Echo!" The linden tree had hitherto prevented it from being produced, and it was assisted by the pagoda, as it faced the barn, whose gables rose above the row of trees.
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