No Earthly Remedy
Charles cannot pay Homais. He still does not know the scale. Lheureux gets his name on the bill because Emma has kept the household failure off the marriage's books. Partners cannot restructure what they are not allowed to see. Each week of silence narrows the list of people who could help without extracting a price. The signer is in the house. He is being used as a signature, not as a witness.
Key Insight
Hiding the problem from the person who shares the liability is not protection. It is choosing a worse audience later. The later audience will have leverage. The partner, told in time, might only have had grief.
