"the idea of marriage no longer struck him as fantastic. they would travel, they would go to italy, to the east! and he imagined her standing on a little hill, gazing at a landscape, or else leaning on his arm in a florentine gallery, and pausing in front of the pictures. what a joy it would be to see that dear little thing blossoming out at the sight of the splendours of art and nature! once she had been removed from her present environment, she would soon become a charming companion."

flaubert is brilliant