The Final Reckoning — Madame Bovary

After Emma dies, little Berthe asks for her mother, then forgets. Her happy play breaks Charles's heart again and again. Creditors keep coming. They charge for fake piano lessons, library fees, and postage bills Charles cannot explain. He says he does not know; it was for her business affairs. Charles will not sell Emma's things. His mother leaves. Felicite wears the gowns until she runs away with Theodore. In the attic Charles finds Rodolphe's letter saying courage, Emma, courage. He decides maybe they loved in a pure way. Then he copies Emma's tastes and signs notes until she seems to ruin him even from the grave.

Homais puts the blind beggar in an asylum and writes proud newspaper stories. He plans a fancy tombstone and grows rich while Charles's house is stripped bare. Charles dreams Emma is rotting when he gets near her. He opens a secret drawer and finds Leon's letters and Rodolphe's portrait. He meets Rodolphe at Argueil and says it is the fault of fate. Rodolphe thinks the line is funny. The next evening Berthe finds Charles in the garden with a lock of hair. She pushes him gently and he falls dead.

The doctor finds nothing wrong. Twelve francs and seventy-five centimes send Berthe to a grandmother, then to work in a cotton factory. Homais destroys three rival doctors, wins a huge practice, and the book ends with him receiving the Legion of Honour.