Chapter 14

Not only has Charles been neglecting his practice but he is deeply in debt to Monsieur Homais for Emma's medicine.  Also, Félicité in the role of mistress of the house has been overspending.  Monsieur Lheureux is especially insistent upon being paid and at the height of Emma's illness delivers the cloak and bags she ordered.  Eventually he convinces Charles to sign a six-month promissory note which he compounds by loaning him one thousand francs at six percent interest due in one year.  Lheureux's fortunes are on the rise during this period and he looks forward to sapping the Bovary's for every franc he can.  Although Charles despairs of raising so large a sum in one year's time he spends the severe winter doting on his sick wife.  Emma's recovers slowly and settles into a monotonous routine.  During the peak of her illness she sent for the priest for Communion and experienced a splendid vision of God.  She became enchanted with religious symbols and wished for an emerald-studded reliquary.  The abbé Bournisien is pleased by her new religiosity but fears the extent of her passion borders on heresy.  He sends for an assortment of books including some religious novels which Emma reads but finds lacking in any connection to the passions of the real world.  She comes away convinced that "hers was the most exquisite Catholic melancholy that had ever entered an ethereal soul."  She buries Rodolphe's memory deep inside her though it affects everything she does particularly her religious ardor.  She becomes extravagantly charitable.  Charles' mother arrives for an extended visit and is pleased at the changes in her daughter-in-law.  Emma has many other visitors including the Homais children and Justin who, watching her comb her hair one day is overcome by new and marvelous feelings.  That spring the abbé stops by every afternoon for cider with Charles and sometimes Binet in the arbor.  One day Homais proposes that Charles take Emma to the opera in Rouen to hear the famous singer Lagardy.  To the pharmacist's surprise the abbé does not object and this sparks a heated debate as to whether music or drama is considered more sinful by the church.  Bovary is taken with the idea of the opera and convinces Emma that they should go.  So on the appointed day they go to Rouen where Charles has arranged for a cheap hotel.  He immediately sets out to procure the tickets, becomes confused by the arrangement of the seats and finally is so nervous about missing the beginning that when they arrive the theater doors are not yet open.