Page 250 - madame-bovary

Charles heard from afar the sharp noise of the wooden leg,
he at once went in another direction.
It was Monsieur Lheureux, the shopkeeper, who had un-
dertaken the order; this provided him with an excuse for
visiting Emma. He chatted with her about the new goods
from Paris, about a thousand feminine trifles, made him-
self very obliging, and never asked for his money. Emma
yielded to this lazy mode of satisfying all her caprices. Thus
she wanted to have a very handsome ridding-whip that was
at an umbrella-maker’s at Rouen to give to Rodolphe. The
week after Monsieur Lheureux placed it on her table.
But the next day he called on her with a bill for two hun-
dred and seventy francs, not counting the centimes. Emma
was much embarrassed; all the drawers of the writing-table
were empty; they owed over a fortnight’s wages to Lestibou-
dois, two quarters to the servant, for any quantity of other
things, and Bovary was impatiently expecting Monsieur
Derozeray’s account, which he was in the habit of paying
every year about Midsummer.
She succeeded at first in putting off Lheureux. At last he
lost patience; he was being sued; his capital was out, and
unless he got some in he should be forced to take back all
the goods she had received.
‘Oh, very well, take them!’ said Emma.
‘I was only joking,’ he replied; ‘the only thing I regret is
the whip. My word! I’ll ask monsieur to return it to me.’
‘No, no!’ she said.
‘Ah! I’ve got you!’ thought Lheureux.
And, certain of his discovery, he went out repeating to