Maupassant

She is also a beautiful and moving girl, as if fate had arranged for her to be born in the home of a small clerk. She has no dowry assets, and a rich and decent person cannot know, understand, love and marry her; Finally, I had to marry a small secretary of the Ministry of Education.

She can't make do with dressing up, so she has to dress simply, but she feels very bad, as if this lowers her status. Because in women, beauty, charm and charm are their origins; Natural intelligence, beautiful qualifications and gentle temperament are their only qualifications.

She feels that she was born to live an elegant and luxurious life, so she is constantly suffering. The shabby house, dim walls, shabby furniture and rough materials all bothered her. These things may not be on the minds of other women who are in the same position as her, but she is so painful and sad. She looked at Meidochan, who did chores for her in Brayda, and her heart aroused sad feelings and frantic dreams. She dreamed of an elegant hall decorated with oriental curtains, a bronze lamp with high feet, and two servants in shorts, lying in spacious chairs, being smoked by the heat of the heater and dozing off. She dreams of those spacious living rooms, where ancient wall clothes are hung and exquisite woodwork and rare antiques are displayed. She dreamed of those small rooms with gorgeous fragrance, where at five o'clock in the afternoon, she chatted with her closest boyfriend, or with men whom most women admired and wanted to meet.

Whenever she sits at a round table with a tablecloth that hasn't been washed for three days, her husband uncovers the lid of the soup pot and says, "Ah! What a delicious broth! There is nothing better than this! ..... "At this moment, she dreamed of those exquisite dinners and shiny silverware; Dream of those wall clothes hanging on the wall, embroidered with ancient costume figures, fairyland-like gardens and grotesque birds; Dreaming of holding delicious food on expensive plates; Dream of eating pink perch or grouse wings, listening to the charming smile of the guests.

She has no beautiful clothes, no jewelry and nothing. However, she just loves these things, and she feels that she was born for them. She always wanted to be liked, admired, attracted and pursued.

She has a rich girlfriend who teaches students in a girls' school, but she doesn't want to see her again because she will feel very painful when she comes back. Because of sadness, regret, disappointment and pain, she often cried all day for days.

However, one night, her husband went home triumphantly with a big envelope in his hand.

"Look," he said, "this is something for you."

She happily opened the envelope and took out an invitation with the words:

"Minister of education George? Mr. and Mrs. Longbono sincerely invite Mr. and Mrs. Loizai to attend the party in the auditorium of the Ministry of Education on Monday 1 Month 18. "

She is not as happy as her husband expected. She threw the invitation on the table with regret and muttered:

"What should I do with this thing?"

"But, my dear, I thought you would like it. You never go out, this is an opportunity, this is a good opportunity! I managed to get it. Everyone wants it, but it is hard to get it and rarely distributed to staff. You can see all the officials there. "

He looked at him with angry eyes and said impatiently:

"What are you going to make me wear?"

He didn't expect this, stammered:

"I think that dress you are wearing in the theater is very good. In my opinion ... he stopped and panicked, because he saw his wife crying, and two big tears slowly flowed down the corner of his eyes to his mouth. He giggled and said:

"What's the matter with you? What's wrong with you? "

With great effort, she suppressed her grief, wiped her wet cheeks and answered in a calm voice:

"Nothing. It's just that I can't attend the party without a decent dress. Your colleague, his wife is better dressed than me, give this invitation to others. "

He felt sick and went on to say:

"Well, Mathilde. Make a suitable dress that can be worn on other occasions. It's simple. How much does it cost? "

She thought for a few seconds and came up with a number. Considering that the number can be mentioned, it will not cause the thrifty secretary to refuse immediately and scream in horror.

Finally, she slowly replied:

"I don't know the exact amount, but I think it can be done with 400 francs."

His face turned a little pale. He has just saved such a sum of money to buy a shotgun. Fortunately, one Sunday in summer, he and some friends went to shoot larks in Nandale Plain.

However, he said:

"Just let it be, I'll give you four hundred francs. But you have to make this long dress look better. "

The day of the party is coming, but Mrs. Loizai looks depressed, upset and sad. Her clothes are ready. One night her husband said to her:

"What's the matter with you? Look, you've been strange for three days. "

She replied:

"I'm worried about a pearl. There are no gems and nothing to wear. I am poor everywhere and really don't want to attend this party. "

He said:

"Put on some flowers. This is something very new this season. Ten francs can buy two or three flower roses. "

She still refused.

"No ... it wouldn't be more embarrassing to show your poverty among rich wives."

Her husband loudly said:

"You are so stupid! Go to your friend Mrs. Frais Festival and borrow some jewels from her. You have a good relationship with her, this is ok. "

She let out a cry of surprise.

"really! Why didn't I think of this? "

The next day, she went to a friend's house and talked about her boredom.

Mrs. Frais approached her wardrobe with a mirror, took out a big box, brought it here and opened it, and said to Mrs. Loire:

"Choose, dear."

She looked at several bracelets first, then at a pearl collar and a Venice gold cross inlaid with jewels. It was very light in workmanship. She tried on these jewels in front of the mirror and hesitated, not knowing which to pick up and which to put down. She kept asking:

"Nothing else?"

"What else? Find it yourself, I don't know which one suits you. "

Suddenly, she found a beautiful diamond necklace in a blue satin box, and her happy heart was pounding. She was trembling with a necklace. She hung the necklace around her neck on a long high collar and stood in front of the mirror, immersed in her own shadow for a long time.

Then, she hesitated and anxiously asked:

"Can you lend me this? I only borrow this one. "

"Of course."

She jumped up, put her arms around her friend's neck, kissed her warmly, and then ran away with the jewels.

The day of the party came, and Mrs. Loizai succeeded. She is more beautiful, elegant and charming than all the female guests. She was all smiles and in high spirits. All the male guests stared at her, asking for her name and asking for introduction; Everyone in the confidential department of the Ministry wants to dance for her, and the minister pays attention to her.

She danced excitedly, immersed in joy and thought nothing. She is intoxicated with her beauty above all the female guests, with the glory of success, with the clouds of happiness formed by people's praise and envy, and with the most beautiful and sweet victory locked up by women.

She left around four o'clock in the morning. Her husband has been sleeping in an abandoned small room with three male guests since midnight. At that time, the wives of three male guests were dancing happily.

Her husband put the clothes he brought from home before he left on his shoulders. This is a simple and plain dress. The shabby taste of this dress doesn't match the luxurious style of the clothes at the party. She felt this, and in order to avoid being seen by those women wearing precious fur coats, she ran away quickly.

Loire planted pulling her and said:

"Wait a minute, you will catch a cold outside. I'll call a carriage. "

But she didn't listen at all and hurried down the steps. When they got to the street, they didn't see a car. When they saw the driver from a distance, they looked around and shouted.

They walked along the Seine in disappointment, shivering with cold, and finally found a broken carriage on the river bank. This kind of car can only be seen in Paris at night; During the day, they seem to feel ashamed and don't come out.

The car pulled them all the way to the door of Martin Street apartment, and they entered the door gloomily. For her, a big event is over. Where is her husband? He just wants to go to the Ministry at ten o'clock.

She took off her clothes over her shoulders and stood in front of the mirror, looking at herself in order to take advantage of this radiant dress. However, she suddenly gave a cry. The diamond necklace around her neck is missing.

Her husband has taken off half his clothes and asked:

"What is it?"

She turned to him expectantly and said:

"I ... I ... I lost Mrs. Frais's necklace."

He straightened up in panic and said:

"what! ..... What's the matter! ..... where there will be such a thing! "

They searched in the folds of long skirts and coats, in all their pockets, but found nothing.

He asked, do you really believe it was still there when you left the dance? "

"Yes, I met it in the corridor of the Ministry of Education."

"But if it gets lost in the street, we can always hear voices. I must have left it in the car. "

"Yes, probably. Do you remember the car number? "

"I don't remember. What about you? Have you noticed? "

"No."

They looked at each other in horror. Finally, Loire dressed again.

"I will go," he said. "Go back along the road we walked and see if we can find it."

He's out. She doesn't even have the strength to wear that dress to the dance. She just fell into a daze in her chair, feeling listless and thinking nothing.

At about seven o'clock, my husband came back. Nothing was found.

Later, he went to the police station, the newspaper, the reward and all the car dealers. In short, he has been to every place where there is a glimmer of hope.

In the face of this unfortunate disaster, he waited all day and was in fear all day.

In the evening, Loire came back, thin and pale, and found nothing.

"You should write to your friend," he said. "Tell him that you have broken the structure of the necklace and are repairing it. In this way, we have time to turn around. "

She wrote a letter as he said.

Week after week passed and all their hopes were dashed.

Loire planted, like five years old, he said decisively:

"We should try to compensate these jewels."

The next day, they took the box with the necklace and found the jewelry store according to the signboard on the box. The boss read a lot of books and said:

"Madam, we didn't sell this necklace; I only sell this box. "

So they walked from this jewelry store to that jewelry store and searched for the same necklace by memory. Both of them were depressed and almost fell ill.

In a shop in Palace Street, they saw a diamond necklace exactly like what they were looking for, which cost 40,000 francs. The price given by the boss is only 36 thousand.

They begged the boss not to sell for three days. They made an appointment again. If the original is found before the end of February, the boss can get the one with 34,000 yuan back.

Loisel's father left him eighteen thousand francs. He had to borrow the rest.

He began to borrow money. Borrow five hundred francs from here, five Louis from there and three Louis from there. He signed many bonds and contracts, which made him bankrupt. He deals with money lenders of different nationalities for many loan sharks. He forgot his life for the rest of his life and risked his signature everywhere, but he didn't know whether he could keep his credit. Under various threats, he put 36,000 francs on the counter of the shop and got the new necklace.

When Mrs. Loire planted it back, Mrs. Foucault said to her with a dissatisfied look:

"You should give it back to me earlier. Maybe I used it long ago. "

Mrs Frais didn't open the box. Her friends are worried that she will open the box. What would she think if he found it was a substitute? What would you say? Won't she treat her friends as thieves?

Mrs. Loizai understands the hard life of the poor. She suddenly showed heroism and made up her mind. He wants to pay off this terrible debt. She tried to pay back. She dismissed the maid, moved to a new place and rented a small attic.

She knows all the chores at home and the dirty work in the kitchen. She scrubbed cups and plates and rubbed her pink fingers on the greasy sides and bottom of the pot. She washes clothes with soap, washes rags and cools them on the rope. Every morning, she moves the garbage from upstairs to the street, then moves the water from downstairs to upstairs, walks up a floor and stops to catch her breath. Dressed like a poor woman, she went to the fruit shop, grocery store and butcher shop with a basket on her arm, and was laughed at for bargaining, saving a copper coin for hard money.

Yue Yue had to repay a batch of old debts and borrow some new ones to delay repayment.

As soon as her husband arrives at night, he will do accounts for a businessman, often copying five coppers a page late at night.

This life lasted for ten years.

At the end of the tenth year, all the debts were paid off, even the high interest rate and the accumulated amount in Galilee.

Mrs. Loisov looks old now. She changed from a poor family to a strong and hardworking woman. She rolled up her hair at random, tied her skirt askew, revealing a pair of red hands, talking loudly and scrubbing the floor with a bucket. But sometimes, when her husband goes to work and she sits by the window alone, she will think of the dance that year. How beautiful and charming she was that night!

If she hadn't lost that necklace, what situation would she be in now? Who knows? Who knows? How strange and changeable life is. The smallest thing can ruin you and make you perfect!

One Sunday, she went for a walk in Blissful Park to relax her fatigue for a week. Just then, she suddenly saw a woman walking with a child. It was Mrs Fleischer. She is still young and beautiful.

Madame Loire is full of infinite emotions. Will she talk to Mrs. Frais Day? Of course, you must go. And now that she has paid off all her debts, she can tell her. Why not?

She stepped forward.

"Hello, Jenny."

That one doesn't know her at all. She was very surprised that an ordinary woman called her so kindly. She stammered:

"But madam, I don't know that you must be mistaken."

"There is nothing wrong. I'm Mathilde? Luwa was planted. "

Her friend let out a cry:

"ah! My poor Mathilde, how did you become like this! "

"Yes, I haven't seen you for many years. I have suffered a lot in these years, all because of you! "

"Because of me? How do you say this? "

"You must remember the necklace you lent me. I wore it to the party of the Ministry of Education. "

"Remember. How about it? "

"how about it? I lost it. "

"where! You have returned it to me. "

"I gave you another one, just like yours. You see, it took us ten years to pay for it. You know, it's not easy for people like us who have nothing! But I'm glad it's over. "

Mrs Buddha to think section stopped and said:

"You mean you bought a diamond necklace to make it up to me?"

"Yes. Didn't you see it then? Exactly the same. "

So she smiled with an innocent and complacent expression.

Mrs. Forestier was moved, grabbed her hand and said:

"alas! My poor Mathilde! But my hanging is fake, worth 500 francs at most! "