necklace

This girl is the kind of beautiful and charming young man, and sometimes it seems that she was born in a clerk's family by fate. She has no dowry, no expectation, and no way to be known, understood, loved and married by any rich and outstanding man; So she married herself to a small clerk in the Ministry of Public Education.

She dresses simply because she can't dress well, but she is not happy, as if she really stood from a higher position; Because for women, there is neither caste nor rank, because beauty, elegance and charm replace family and birth. Natural intelligence, instinct for elegance and flexible mind are their only grades, and often make people's women equal to the greatest ladies.

Mathilde kept suffering and felt that she was born to enjoy all the delicious food and all the luxuries. She was distressed by her humble residence, bare walls, worn-out chairs and ugly curtains. All these things, another woman in her position will never realize, torture her and make her angry. Seeing little Brittany farmers doing her humble housework aroused her desperate regrets and confused dreams. She thought of the silent front hall hung with oriental tapestries and illuminated by tall bronze candlesticks, and of two strong men in knee-length breeches sleeping in big armchairs, who were sleepy by the heat of the stove. She thought of the long reception room with ancient silk hanging, the exquisite cupboard with priceless treasures, and the small reception room with charming fragrance used to chat with close friends at five o'clock. These friends are famous and sought after men, and all women envy them and are eager to get their attention.

When she sat down to eat at the round table covered with a tablecloth that had been used for three days, the husband opposite opened the soup bowl and announced with joy: "Ah, good soup! I don't know anything better than this, "she thought of delicious dinner, shiny silverware, tapestries of ancient figures and strange birds flying in the fairy tale forest; She remembered the delicious food on a wonderful plate, and the low praise you listened to with a sphinx smile when you ate the pink meat of trout or the wings of quail

She has no dress, no jewelry and nothing. Other than that, she loves nothing. She thinks it's natural. How much she wants to please, be envied, be charming and be pursued.

She has a friend, a former classmate in the monastery, who is very rich. She doesn't want to see her again because she feels very sad when she comes home.

But one night, her husband came home with a triumphant look, with a big envelope in his hand.

"Well," he said, "I have something for you."

She quickly tore open the paper and pulled out a printed card that read:

Minister of Public Education and Mrs. George Lamponau

Ask Mr. and Mrs. Loisel to come

18 years 1 month 1 evening.

Instead of being as happy as her husband hoped, she angrily threw the invitation on the table and muttered:

"What do you want me to do?"

"Why, dear, I thought you would be happy. You never go out. This is a good opportunity. I had a hard time getting it. Everyone wants to go; It's very selective, and they don't give many invitations to the staff. The whole official world will be there. "

She looked at him with angry eyes and said impatiently:

"What do you want me to put on my back?"

He didn't think of it. He stammered:

"Why, you go to the theatre to wear that gown. It seems very good to me. "

He stopped, upset and saw his wife crying. Two huge tears slowly flowed from the corner of her eye to the corner of her mouth.

"What's the matter? What's wrong? " He replied.

She tried to control her sadness, wiping her wet cheeks and answering in a calm voice:

"Nothing. I just don't have a dress, so I can't go to the dance. Give your business card to a colleague whose wife is more qualified than me. "

He was desperate. He continued:

"Come, let's see, Mathilde. A suitable dress, you can use it on other occasions-very simple things, how much does it cost? "

She thought for a few seconds, calculated, and wondered how much money she could ask without causing the thrifty staff to immediately refuse and scream in horror.

At last she replied hesitantly:

"I don't know the exact amount, but I think I can get by with 400 francs."

His face turned a little pale, because he only saved enough money to buy a gun, so that he could shoot for a while on the Nanterre Plain next summer and shoot larks with some friends on Sunday.

But he said:

"Very well. I'll give you four hundred francs. Try to have a beautiful dress. "

The day of the dance is getting closer and closer, and Mrs. Loisel looks sad, uneasy and anxious. However, her dress has been made. One night her husband said to her:

"What's the matter? Come on, you seem strange these three days. "

She replied:

"Not a piece of jewelry, not an ornament, not a thing to wear, which makes me very angry. I will look poor. I almost prefer not to go. "

"You can wear natural flowers," said her husband. "At this time of year, they are very fashionable. You can get two or three beautiful roses for ten francs. "

She was not persuaded.

"no; Nothing is more humiliating than being poor among other rich women. "

"You are so stupid!" Her husband cried. "Go and see your friend, Mrs. Frais Festival, and ask her to lend you some jewels. You are close enough to her to do this. "

She let out a cry of joy:

"really! I never thought about it. "

The next day, she went to her friend and told her about her troubles.

Mrs. Frais Festival went to a wardrobe with a mirror, took out a big jewelry box, took it back, opened it and said to Mrs. Loisel:

"Choose, dear."

First she saw some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, and then a Venetian gold cross inlaid with precious stones, which was beautifully made. She tried on the jewelry in front of the mirror, hesitating whether to send them back or not. She kept asking:

"Don't you have it?"

"Why, yes. See further; I don't know what you like. "

Suddenly, she found an excellent diamond necklace in a black satin box, and her heart was beating with a strong desire. She took it with trembling hands. She tied it around her neck, outside her high-necked waist, and looked at herself in the mirror with ecstasy.

Then she asked, hesitating, full of anxious questions:

"Can you lend me this, just this?"

"Why, yes, of course."

She put her arms around her friend's neck, kissed her warmly, and ran away with her treasure.

It's prom night. Mrs Loisel was a great success. She is more beautiful, elegant and generous than any woman present, smiling and ecstatic. All the men looked at her and asked her name, seeking to be introduced. All cabinet members want to dance Waltz with her. The minister commented on her personally.

She danced ecstatically, passionately, intoxicated with happiness, in her beautiful victory, in the glory of her success, in a happy cloud, including all these respects, admiration, these awakened desires and feelings of victory, which is so sweet to women's hearts.

She left the dance at about four o'clock in the morning. Her husband has been sleeping in an abandoned small reception room with three other gentlemen since midnight, and their wives are enjoying the dance.

He put his own coat on her shoulder, which is a simple coat of ordinary life, and its poverty is in sharp contrast with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this and wanted to escape so as not to be noticed by other women, who wrapped themselves in expensive fur.

Loisel grabbed her and said, "Wait a minute. You will catch cold outside. I'll call a taxi. "

But she didn't listen to him and quickly went downstairs. When they walked into the street, they couldn't find a carriage, so they began to look for it and shouted at the driver who had chased them from a distance.

They walked towards the Seine River in despair, shivering with cold. Finally, they found an old night taxi on the dock, which seems to be ashamed to show its shabby appearance during the day and can only be seen in Paris after dark.

They were taken to the residence of Martyrs Street and sadly climbed the stairs back to the apartment. Everything is over for her. As for him, it occurred to him that he had to go to the Ministry at ten o'clock that morning.

She took off her coat in front of the mirror so that she could see all her glory again. But she suddenly let out a cry. The necklace around her neck is gone!

"What's the matter with you?" Asked the husband who had taken off half his clothes.

She turned to him distractedly.

"I, I, I lost Mrs Frais's necklace," she cried.

He stood up in confusion.

"what! -How? Impossible! "

They looked everywhere for her skirt, her cloak and her pocket, but they couldn't find it anywhere.

"Are you sure you were wearing it when you left the dance?" He asked.

"Yes, I felt it in the front hall of the priest's house."

"But if you lose it in the street, we should hear it fall. It must be in the cab. "

"Yes, probably. Did you write down his number? "

"No. You-didn't you notice? "

"No."

They looked at each other in shock. Finally, Loisel put on his clothes.

"I'm going back on foot," he said. "Walk the whole distance and see if I can find it."

He's out. She sat in a chair waiting in a prom dress, unable to sleep, at a loss, without fire or thoughts.

Her husband came back at about seven o'clock. He found nothing.

He went to the police headquarters and offered a reward to the newspaper office; He went to the taxi company-in fact, as long as there is a little hope, he will go there.

Before this terrible disaster came, she waited in fear all day.

Loisel came back at night, pale and depressed. He found nothing.

"You must write to your friend," he said, "and say that you broke the clasp of her necklace and are repairing it. This will give us time to look back. "

She wrote it according to his dictation.

A week later, they lost all hope. Loisel, five years old, declared:

"We must consider how to replace that ornament."

The next day, they took the box with it to the jeweler and found his name in the box. He consulted his book.

"Not me, madam, selling necklaces; I must have just provided information. "

Then they went from one jeweler to another, looking for a necklace the same as the other, trying to remember it, both annoyed and sad.

They found a string of diamonds in a shop in the palace. In their opinion, this string of diamonds is exactly the same as the one they lost. It's worth forty thousand francs. They can buy it for 36 pounds.

So they begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days. They reached an agreement that he should buy back 34 thousand francs if they should find the lost necklace before the end of February.

Loisel has eighteen thousand francs left to him by his father. He will borrow the rest.

He did borrow it, borrowing 1000 francs from one, 500 francs from another, five Louis here and three Louis there. He issued bills, took on devastating debts, and dealt with usurers and lenders of all races. He spent the rest of his life compromising, risking signing a note and not even knowing if he could cash it; Afraid of the coming trouble, the misfortune that will befall him, the physical poverty and mental torture that he will suffer, he went to get the new necklace and put 36 thousand francs on the jeweler's counter.

When Mrs. Loisel took back the necklace, Mrs. Frais said coldly to her:

"You should return it early; I may need it. "

As her friend was worried, she didn't open the box. What would she think and say if she found this replacement? Won't she regard Mrs. Loisel as a thief?

After that, Mrs. Loisel knew the terrible existence of the poor. However, she assumed her role with sudden heroism. This terrible debt must be paid. She'll pay. They fired their servants; They changed their residence; They rented an attic under the roof.

She began to know what heavy housework meant and the annoying trouble in the kitchen. She washed dishes on greasy pots and pans with delicate fingers and rosy nails. She washed the dirty linen, shirts and dishcloths, and then dried them on the rope; She takes her feet to the street every morning, then brings the water up and stops at every stop to catch her breath. Dressed like a woman of the people, with a basket on her arm, she went to fruit shops, grocery stores and butcher shops to bargain and rudely defend her poor money.

Every month they have to meet some notes, update others and get more time.

Her husband works at night, making up a businessman's account, and he often copies manuscripts late at night, with five sous per page.

This life lasted for ten years.

By the end of the decade, they have paid everything, everything, and accumulated usury interest rate and compound interest.

Mrs Loisel looks old now. She became a woman from a poor family-strong, hard and rough. Her hair was unkempt, her skirt was askew and her hands were red. She spoke loudly and brushed the floor with huge water. But sometimes, when her husband is in the office, she sits by the window and thinks of that happy night a long time ago and that dance. She is so beautiful and admired.

What would have happened if she hadn't lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How strange and changeable life is! What a small thing we need to achieve or destroy!

However, one Sunday, after a week's work, she went for a walk on the Champs Elysé es to relax and suddenly saw a woman with a child. That's Mrs. Frais's Day, still young, still beautiful, still charming.

Mrs Loisel was very moved. Should she talk to her? Yes, of course. Now that she has paid the money, she will tell her everything. Why not?

She went up.

"Hello, Jenny."

The other, surprised by the intimate address of this ordinary good wife, didn't recognize her at all and stammered:

"But-madam! I don't know. You must be mistaken. "

"No, I'm mathilde loisel."

Her friend let out a cry.

"Oh, my poor Mathilde! How have you changed! "

"Yes, since I last saw you, I've had a hard time and I'm very poor-it's all because of you!"

"My! How did this happen? "

"Do you remember the diamond necklace you lent me to wear at the Minister's Ball?"

"yes. How about it? "

"Well, I lost it."

"What do you mean? You brought it back. "

"I brought you back another identical one. We have spent ten years on this. You can understand that this is not easy for us, for those of us who have nothing. I am very happy that it is finally over. "

Mrs. Frais stopped.

"You said you bought a diamond necklace instead of mine?"

"yes. You never noticed it, and then! They are very similar. "

She smiled with pride and naive joy.

Mrs Frais was deeply moved and took her hand.

"Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace is burnt! It's only worth five hundred francs at most! "