Page 358 - madame-bovary

her ears tingled as if gold pieces, bursting from their bags,
rang all round her on the floor. At last Lheureux explained
that he had a very good friend, Vincart, a broker at Rouen,
who would discount these four bills. Then he himself would
hand over to madame the remainder after the actual debt
was paid.
But instead of two thousand francs he brought only eigh-
teen hundred, for the friend Vincart (which was only fair)
had deducted two hundred francs for commission and dis-
count. Then he carelessly asked for a receipt.
‘You understand—in business—sometimes. And with
the date, if you please, with the date.’
A horizon of realisable whims opened out before Emma.
She was prudent enough to lay by a thousand crowns, with
which the first three bills were paid when they fell due; but
the fourth, by chance, came to the house on a Thursday, and
Charles, quite upset, patiently awaited his wife’s return for
an explanation.
If she had not told him about this bill, it was only to spare
him such domestic worries; she sat on his knees, caressed
him, cooed to him, gave him a long enumeration of all the
indispensable things that had been got on credit.
‘Really, you must confess, considering the quantity, it
isn’t too dear.’
Charles, at his wit’s end, soon had recourse to the eter-
nal Lheureux, who swore he would arrange matters if the
doctor would sign him two bills, one of which was for sev-
en hundred francs, payable in three months. In order to
arrange for this he wrote his mother a pathetic letter. In-