Page 360 - madame-bovary

Emma opened the window, called Charles, and the poor
fellow was obliged to confess the promise torn from him by
his mother.
Emma disappeared, then came back quickly, and majes-
tically handed her a thick piece of paper.
‘Thank you,’ said the old woman. And she threw the
power of attorney into the fire.
Emma began to laugh, a strident, piercing, continuous
laugh; she had an attack of hysterics.
‘Oh, my God!’ cried Charles. ‘Ah! you really are wrong!
You come here and make scenes with her!’
His mother, shrugging her shoulders, declared it was ‘all
put on.’
But Charles, rebelling for the first time, took his wife’s
part, so that Madame Bovary, senior, said she would leave.
She went the very next day, and on the threshold, as he was
trying to detain her, she replied—
‘No, no! You love her better than me, and you are right.
It is natural. For the rest, so much the worse! You will see.
Good day—for I am not likely to come soon again, as you
say, to make scenes.’
Charles nevertheless was very crestfallen before Emma,
who did not hide the resentment she still felt at his want of
confidence, and it needed many prayers before she would
consent to have another power of attorney. He even accom-
panied her to Monsieur Guillaumin to have a second one,
just like the other, drawn up.
‘I understand,’ said the notary; ‘a man of science can’t be
worried with the practical details of life.’