On arrival at the notary to sign the “promesse”, I saw Monsieur, but not Madame. I asked him where she was and he indicated with his thumb. Madame was sitting 5 seats down in the entrance hall with the agent. Having only seen me in wellies and a rain coat Madame pronounced me to be “chic” and shook my hand warmly.
When we got into the notary’s office Monsieur refused to sit at the table with the rest of us and sat at the back sulking. As we went through the purchase contract the notary pointed out that the house belonged equally to Monsieur and Madame since they were married. To this Madame pronounced “and that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done”.
There was some discussion about the small road leading to the house, as it appeared to be private, but on the map belonged to the village. Monsieur cleared things up by saying that Madame’s father had illegally moved the road in 1920 so that it went past the house.
We finally managed to get through the contract after much discussion and waving of arms and everybody signed and left, with Madame leaving the way. When the agent and I exited the building we saw Monsieur waiting outside in the car for Madame. Since it was dark and pouring with rain we were concerned as to the whereabouts of Madame, but after a long search we couldn’t find her anywhere and decided to leave. Afterwards the agent explained that Madame had caught a lift home with someone else without telling Monsieur as punishment for his behaviour at the notary’s.