The Art of Self-Deception — Madame Bovary

Rodolphe goes home and sits at his desk to write Emma a goodbye letter. At first he cannot think of anything. He opens an old biscuit tin where he keeps letters and gifts from women he has loved. Emma's things mix with hair, garters, and old notes until she seems just like all the others. He decides to end the affair.

He writes a long letter that sounds kind but really blames fate and tells her to forget him. He signs it Your friend and fakes a tear stain with water. The next day he sends his worker Girard with a basket of apricots hiding the letter inside. Emma gets the basket, finds the letter, and runs upstairs to read it in the hot attic. For a moment she almost throws herself out the window.

Charles calls her down to supper. He talks about Rodolphe's trip and eats apricots while Emma chokes with pain. She faints when she sees Rodolphe drive through the square in his carriage. Homais the chemist rushes over with smelling salts. Emma refuses to kiss her daughter Berthe. That night she cries for the letter again and falls into a fever. For forty-three days Charles watches over her without knowing why she is really sick. When she seems better they walk in the garden, but she refuses to sit in their old arbour and grows ill again.