The Art of Elaborate Deception — Madame Bovary

Léon ignores his office work and waits for Emma's letters. He reads them again and again. On Saturday he sneaks away and visits Yonville. From the hill he sees the church spire and feels proud, like a rich man coming home. He walks around her house but cannot meet her easily. Charles keeps him waiting downstairs and will not leave. They meet secretly at night in the lane during a storm, talking under an umbrella by lightning flashes.

They cry and promise to see each other at least once a week. Emma expects money from an inheritance and spends more with Lheureux on yellow curtains and a carpet. She sends for the shopkeeper twenty times a day. Mère Rollet visits often to help with the secret letters.

Emma pretends she needs piano lessons to go to Rouen. She plays the same piece badly four times while Charles applauds. She complains lessons cost twenty francs. Charles finds cheaper teachers in Rouen for fifty sous. Homais lectures Charles about mothers teaching children and music. Emma says lessons only help if you keep going weekly. Charles agrees she may go to town once a week. At the end of the month everyone thinks she is making great progress on the piano.