When she got home, Félicité showed her behind the clock a grey paper. She read⁠—

“In virtue of the seizure in execution of a judgment.”

“In virtue of the seizure in execution of a judgment.”

What judgment? As a matter of fact, the evening before another paper had been brought that she had not yet seen, and she was stunned by these words⁠—

“By order of the king, law, and justice, to Madame Bovary.” Then, skipping several lines, she read, “Within twenty-four hours, without fail⁠—” But what? “To pay the sum of eight thousand francs.” And there was even at the bottom, “She will be constrained thereto by every form of law, and notably by a writ of distraint on her furniture and effects.”