第52章

“Itreallygrievesme，onmyword!toseeyoudeprivingyourselfallatonceofsuchabigsumasthat。“

Thenshelookedatthebank-notes，anddreamingoftheunlimitednumberofrendezvousrepresentedbythosetwothousandfrancs，shestammered——

“What!what!“

“Oh!“hewenton，laughinggood-naturedly，“oneputsanythingonelikesonreceipts。Don’tyouthinkIknowwhathouseholdaffairsare？“Andhelookedatherfixedly，whileinhishandheheldtwolongpapersthatheslidbetweenhisnails。Atlast，openinghispocket-book，hespreadoutonthetablefourbillstoorder，eachforathousandfrancs。

“Signthese，“hesaid，“andkeepitall!“

Shecriedout，scandalised。

“ButifIgiveyouthesurplus，“repliedMonsieurLheureuximpudently，“isthatnothelpingyou？“

Andtakingapenhewroteatthebottomoftheaccount，“ReceivedofMadameBovaryfourthousandfrancs。“

“Nowwhocantroubleyou，sinceinsixmonthsyou’lldrawthearrearsforyourcottage，andIdon’tmakethelastbillduetillafteryou’vebeenpaid？“

Emmagrewratherconfusedinhercalculations，andherearstingledasifgoldpieces，burstingfromtheirbags，rangallroundheronthefloor。AtlastLheureuxexplainedthathehadaverygoodfriend，Vincart，abrokeratRouen，whowoulddiscountthesefourbills。Thenhehimselfwouldhandovertomadametheremainderaftertheactualdebtwaspaid。

Butinsteadoftwothousandfrancshebroughtonlyeighteenhundred，forthefriendVincart(whichwasonlyfair)haddeductedtwohundredfrancsforcommissionanddiscount。Thenhecarelesslyaskedforareceipt。

“Youunderstand——inbusiness——sometimes。Andwiththedate，ifyouplease，withthedate。“

AhorizonofrealisablewhimsopenedoutbeforeEmma。Shewasprudentenoughtolaybyathousandcrowns，withwhichthefirstthreebillswerepaidwhentheyfelldue；butthefourth，bychance，cametothehouseonaThursday，andCharles，quiteupset，patientlyawaitedhiswife’sreturnforanexplanation。

Ifshehadnottoldhimaboutthisbill，itwasonlytosparehimsuchdomesticworries；shesatonhisknees，caressedhim，cooedtohim，gavehimalongenumerationofalltheindispensablethingsthathadbeengotoncredit。

“Really，youmustconfess，consideringthequantity，itisn’ttoodear。“

Charles，athiswit’send，soonhadrecoursetotheeternalLheureux，whosworehewouldarrangemattersifthedoctorwouldsignhimtwobills，oneofwhichwasforsevenhundredfrancs，payableinthreemonths。Inordertoarrangeforthishewrotehismotherapatheticletter。Insteadofsendingareplyshecameherself；andwhenEmmawantedtoknowwhetherhehadgotanythingoutofher，“Yes，“hereplied；“butshewantstoseetheaccount。“ThenextmorningatdaybreakEmmarantoLheureuxtobeghimtomakeoutanotheraccountfornotmorethanathousandfrancs，fortoshowtheoneforfourthousanditwouldb