# The Greenhouse explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant. ## What happens M. and Mme. Lerebour, a married couple living in a country house near Mantes, endure a strained relationship marked by Madame's constant irritability and Monsieur's cheerful endurance. After two nights of mysterious noises, M. Lerebour investigates and discovers their maid Céleste having an assignation in the greenhouse. The revelation shocks Madame, but the shared secret unexpectedly rekindles their intimacy, transforming their marriage. ## Themes in this chapter ### Marriage and Domesticity The Lerebours' strained marriage is central, with Madame's constant nagging and Monsieur's cheerful endurance, ultimately transformed by a shared secret. ### Obsession and Delusion Madame Lerebour's obsessive suspicion of intruders and her delusional fears drive the plot, leading to the discovery of the maid's affair. ### Illusion vs. Reality The initial illusion of a burglar is replaced by the reality of a romantic tryst, which paradoxically revitalizes the couple's relationship. ## Character check-ins ### Monsieur Lerebour The jovial, fat husband who endures his wife's harsh treatment and later discovers the maid's secret in the greenhouse. ### Madame Lerebour The thin, discontented wife who constantly berates her husband and is shocked by the revelation of the maid's affair. ### Céleste The maid who has a secret rendezvous in the greenhouse, which becomes the catalyst for the couple's reconciliation. ## Key lines > M. Lerebour was short, fat, and jovial, with the manners of a convivial shopkeeper. His wife, thin, wilful, and always discontented, had not succeeded in conquering her husband’s good humour. Monsieur Lerebour is a short, cheerful, and rotund man with a shopkeeper's friendly demeanor, while his wife is slender, stubborn, and perpetually dissatisfied, unable to dampen his spirits. _Introduces the contrasting personalities of the couple._ > She made him get up on the slightest pretexts, sending him downstairs to get a newspaper she had forgotten, or the bottle of orange-flower water, which he could not find because she had hidden it. She would send him on trivial errands, like fetching a forgotten newspaper or a hidden bottle of orange-flower water, just to inconvenience him. _Illustrates Madame's petty cruelty and control over her husband._ > It was… it was… Céleste, who had a… a… an appointment in the greenhouse. If you only knew what… what… what I saw… He stammered that Céleste had a secret meeting in the greenhouse, hinting at what he witnessed. _The pivotal revelation that changes the couple's dynamic._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/the-greenhouse - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters