In "The Umbrella," what kind of woman is Madame Oreille?

In the story, Madame Oreille is a miserly woman. Her chief preoccupation in life is to save money, and she is a tyrant to her husband in this regard. Monsieur Oreille is hardly allowed to have any pocket money at all, and he lives in constant fear of his wife's shrewish temper.

Although Madame Oreille and her husband have no children and can live comfortably, Madame Oreille's fear of future want prevents her from fully enjoying her present circumstances. The author describes Madame Oreille as a "little woman of about forty, very active, rather hasty, wrinkled, very neat and tidy, and with a very short temper."

Madame Oreille's short temper is frequently trained on her husband. When Monsieur Oreille protests that he is tired of using the cheap and flimsy umbrella she bought to replace his old one, Madame Oreille becomes angry. She eventually buys him a new, more expensive one, albeit accompanied by a lecture that it will not be replaced in a hurry if his new one is ruined through carelessness on his part.

As time progresses, Monsieur Oreille's umbrella is soon mysteriously found to be burned in different places. As for his part, Monsieur Oreille cannot explain how the burns occurred. Madame Oreille, furious at her husband, refuses to replace the umbrella. There is a stalemate between the two until a family friend advises Madame Oreille to seek compensation from their fire insurance company.

Madame Oreille is reluctant to do so initially, but she soon relents. In the conversation between Madame Oreille and the insurance men, Madame Oreille is seen to be a calculating opportunist, who will resort to fabrications in order to save herself the expense of replacing a ruined umbrella; she is quite happy for her husband to have a newer, sturdier umbrella if someone else will foot the costs for what she considers a frivolous expense.