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Speaker 1: The necklace by Gui di Moposson. She was one of

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those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes as if

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by mistake of destiny. Born in a family of clerks,

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she had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved,

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wedded by any rich and distinguished man, and she let

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herself be married to a little clerk at the ministry

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of public instruction. She dressed plainly because she could not

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dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she

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had really fallen from her proper station. Since with women

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there is neither caste, nor rank, and beauty, grace and

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charm act instead of family and birth, natural fineness instinct,

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for what is elegant suppleness of wit, are their sole hierarchy,

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and make from women of the people the equals of

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the very greatest ladies. She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born

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for all the delicacies and all the luxuries. She suffered

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from the poverty of her dwelling, from the wretched look

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of the walls, from the worn out chairs, from the

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ugliness of the curtains, all those things of which another

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woman of her rank would never even have been conscious.

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Tortured her and made her angry. The sight of the

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little Breton peasant who did her humble housework aroused in

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her regrets, which were despairing and distracted dreams. She thought

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of the silent antechambers hung with oriental tapestry, lit by

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tall bronze candelabra, and of the two great footmen in

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knee breeches who sleep in the big arm chairs, made

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drowsy by the heavy warmth of the hot air stove.

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She thought of the long salons fatted up with ancient silk,

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of the delicate furniture carrying priceless curiosities, and of the coquettish,

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perfumed boudoirs made for talks at five o'clock with intimate friends,

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with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy

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and whose attention they all desire. When she sat down

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to dinner before the round table covered with a tablecloth

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three days old, opposite her husband, who uncovered the soup

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tureen and declared with an enchanted air, ah, the good

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pole of fui, I don't know anything better than that.

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She thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry

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which peopled the walls with ancient personages, and with strange

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birds flying in the midst of a fairy forest. And

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she thought of delicious dishes served on marvelous plates, and

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of the whispered gallantries which you listened to with a

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sphinx like smile while you are eating the pink flesh

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of a trout or the wings of a quail. She

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had no dresses, no jewels, nothing, and she loved nothing

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but that she felt made for that. She would so

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have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming,

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to be sought after. She had a friend, a former

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schoolmate at the convent, who was rich, and whom she

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did not like to go to sea any more because

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she suffered so much when she came back. But one

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evening her husband returned home with a triumphant air and

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holding a large envelope in his hand. There said he

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here is something for you. She tore the paper sharply

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and drew out a printed card which bore these words.

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The Minister of Public Instruction and Madame George Ropinnaud requests

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the honor of Monsieur and Madame Lussell's company at the

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Palace of the Ministry on Monday evening, January eighteenth. Instead

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of being delighted as her husband hoped, she threw the

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invitation on the table with disdain, murmuring, what do you

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want me to do with that? But, my dear, I

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thought you would be glad you never go out. And

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this is such a fine opportunity. I had awful trouble

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to get it. Everyone wants to go. It is very

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select and they are not giving many in vations to clerks.

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The whole official world will be there. She looked at

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him with an irritated eye, and she said, impatiently, and

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what do you want me to put on my back?

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He had not thought of that. He stammered, why the

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dress you go to the theater in? It looks very

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well to me. He stopped, distracted, seeing that his wife

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was crying. Two great tears descended slowly from the corners

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of her eyes toward the corners of her mouth. He stuttered,

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what's the matter, what's the matter. But by a violent

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effort she had conquered her grief, and she replied with

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a calm voice while she wiped her wet cheeks. Nothing.

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Only I have no dress, and therefore I can't go

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to this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose

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wife is better equipped than I. He was in despair.

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He resumed, Come let us see, matild, how much would

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it cost a suitable dress which you could use on

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other occasions? Something very simple? She reflected several seconds, making

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your calculations, and wondering also what sum she could ask

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without drawing on herself, an immediate refusal and a frightened

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exclamation from the economical clerk. Finally, she replied, hesitatingly, I

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don't know exactly, but I think I could manage it

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with four hundred francs. He had grown a little pale

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because he was laying aside just that amount to buy

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a gun and treat himself to a little shooting next

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summer on the plain of Nanterre, with several friends who

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went to shoot larks down there of a Sunday. But

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he said, all right, I will give you four hundred

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francs and try to have a pretty dress. The day

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of the ball drew near, and Madame Loiselle seemed sad, uneasy, anxious.

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Her dress was ready. However, her husband said to her

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one evening, what is the matter? Come, you've been so

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queer these last three days? And she answered, it annoys

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me not to have a single jewel, not a single stone,

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nothing to put on. I shall look like distress. I

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should almost rather not go at all. He resumed, you

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might wear natural flowers. It's very stylish at this time

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of the year. For ten francs, you can get two

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or three magnificent roses. She was not convinced. No, there's

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nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women

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who are rich. But her husband cried, how stupid you are.

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Go look up your friend, Madame Fororestier and ask her

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to lend you some jewels. You're quite thick enough with

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her to do that. She uttered a cry of joy.

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It's true, I never thought of it. The next day

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she went to her friend and told of her distress.

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Madame Forestier went to a wardrobe with a glass door,

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took out a large jewel box, brought it back, opened it,

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and said to Madame Loiselle, choose, my dear. She saw,

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first of all some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then

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a Venetian cross, gold and precious stones of admirable workmanship.

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She tried on the armaments before the glass hesitated, could

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not make up her mind. To part with them, to

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give them back. She kept asking, haven't you any more? Why? Yes, Look,

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I don't know what you like. All of a sudden

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she discovered in a black satin box a superb necklace

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of diamonds, and her heart began to beat with an

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immoderate desire. Her hands trembled as she took it. She

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fastened it at her throat, outside her high necked dress,

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and remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of herself.

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Then she asked, hesitating, filled with anguish, can you lend

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me that? Only that? Why? Yes, certainly? She sprang upon

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the necklace of her friend, kissed her passionately, then fled

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with her treasure. The day of the ball arrived, Madame

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Loiselle made a great success. She was prettier than them, all, elegant, gracious, smiling,

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and crazy with joy. All the men looked at her,

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asked her name, endeavored to be introduced. All the attaches

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of the cabinet wanted to waltz with her. She was

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remarked by the minister himself. She danced with intoxication, with passion,

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made drunk by pleasure, forgetting all in the triumph of

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her beauty. In the glory of her success, in a

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sort of cloud of happiness, composed of all this homage,

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of all this admiration, of all these awakened desires, and

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of that sense of complete victory which is so sweet

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to a woman's heart. She went away about four o'clock

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in the morning. Her husband had been sleeping since midnight

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in a little deserted ante room with three other gentlemen

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whose wives were having a very good time. He threw

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over her shoulders the wraps which he had brought, modest

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raps of common life, whose poverty contrasted with the elegance

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of the ball dress. She felt this and wanted to

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escape so as not to be remarked by the other women,

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who were enveloping themselves in costly furs. Lazelle held her back,

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Wait a bit, you will catch cold outside. I will

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go and call a cab. But she did not listen

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to him, and rapidly descended the stairs. When they were

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in the street, they did not find a carriage, and

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they began to look for one, shouting after the cabmen,

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whom they saw passing by at a distance. They went

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down toward the sin in despair, shivering with cold. At last,

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they found on the quay one of those ancient noctambulant coupets, which,

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exactly as if they were ashamed to show their misery

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during the day, are never seen round Paris until after nightfall.

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It took them to their door in the Rue des Martyrs,

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and once more sadly they climbed up homeward. All was

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ended for her, and as to him, he reflected that

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he must be at the ministry at ten o'clock. She

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removed the wraps which covered her shoulders before the glass,

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so as once more or to see herself in all

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her glory. But suddenly she uttered a cry. She had

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no longer the necklace around her neck. Her husband, already

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half undressed, demanded, what is the matter with you? She

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turned madly toward him. I have, I have I've lost

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Madame Fortier's necklace. He stood up, distracted, What how impossible?

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And they looked in the folds of her dress, in

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the folds of her cloak, in her pockets, everywhere they

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did not find it. He asked, you're sure you had

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it on when you left the ball Yes, I felt

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it in the vestibule of the palace. But if you

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had lost it in the street. We should have heard

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it fall. It must be in the cab, yes, probably

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did you take his number? No? And you didn't you

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notice it? No? They looked thunderstruck at one another. At last,

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Laiselle put on his clothes. I shall go back on foot,

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said he, over the whole route which we have taken

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to see if I can't find it, And he went out.

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She sat waiting on a chair in her ball dress,

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without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, without fire, without

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a thought. Her husband came back about seven o'clock. He

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had found nothing. He went to police headquarters, to the

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newspaper offices to offer a reward. He went to the

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cab company's everywhere in fact whither he was urged by

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the least suspicion of hope. She waited all day in

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the same condition of mad fear before this terrible calamity.

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Lozel returned at night with a hollow, pale face. He

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had discovered nothing. You must write to your friends, said he,

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that you have broken the clasp of her necklace, and

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that you are having it mended. That will give us

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time to turn round, she wrote at his dictation. At

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the end of a week, they had lost all hope,

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and Loiselle, who had aged five years to declared, we

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must consider how to replace that ornament. The next day

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they took the box which had contained it, and they

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went to the jeweler, whose name was found within. He

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consulted his books. It was not I, madame, who sold

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that necklace. I must simply have furnished the case. Then

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they went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for a necklace

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like the other, consulting their memories sick both of them

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with chagrin and with anguish. They found in a shop

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at the Palais Royal a string of diamonds which seemed

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to them exactly like the one they looked for. It

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was worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for

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thirty six, so they begged the jeweler not to sell

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it for three days yet, and they made a bargain

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that he should buy it back for thirty four thousand

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francs in case they found the other one before the

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end of February. Loiselle possessed eighteen thousand francs, which his

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father had left him. He would borrow the rest. He

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did borrow, asking a thousand francs of one five hundred,

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of another. Five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes,

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took up ruinous obligations, dealt with usurers, and all the

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race of lenders. He compromised all the rest of his life,

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risked a signature without even knowing if he could meet it.

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And frightened by the pains yet to come, by the

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black misery which was about to fall upon him, by

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the prospect of all the physical privations and of all

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the moral tortures which he was about to suffer, he

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went to get the new necklace, putting down upon the

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merchant's counter thirty six thousand francs. When Madame Bloiselle took

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back the necklace, Madame Fortier said to her, with a

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chilly manner, you should have returned it sooner I might

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have needed it. She did not open the case, as

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her friend had so much feared. If she had detected

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the substitution, what would she have thought? What would she

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have said? Would she not have taken Madame Loisel for

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a thief? Madame Bloiselle now knew the horrible existence of

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the new She took her part moreover all on a

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sudden with heroism that dreadful debt must be paid. She

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would pay it. They dismissed their servant, They changed their lodgings.

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They rented a garret under the roof. She came to

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know what heavy housework meant, and the odious cares of

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the kitchen. She washed the dishes, using her rosy nails

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on the greasy pots and pans. She washed the dirty linen,

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the shirts, and the dishcloths, which she dried up on

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a line. She carried the slops down to the street

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every morning, and carried up the water, stopping for breath

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at every landing, and dressed like a woman of the people.

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She went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, her

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basket on her arm, bargaining, insulted, defending her miserable money,

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soup by sous. Each month they had to meet some notes,

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renew others, obtain more time. Her husband worked in the

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evening makeing a fair copy of some tradesman's accounts, and

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late at night he often copied manuscript for five sous

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a page. And this life lasted ten years. At the

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end of ten years they had paid everything, everything, with

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the rates of usury and the accumulations of the compound interest.

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Madame Loiselle looked old now she had become the woman

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of impoverished households, strong and hard and rough, with frowsy hair,

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skirts askew and red hands. She talked loud while washing

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the floor with great swishes of water. But sometimes, when

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her husband was at the office, she sat down near

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the window, and she thought of that gay evening of

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long ago, of that ball where she had been so

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beautiful and so fetted. What would have happened if she

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had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How

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life is strange and changeful, how little a thing is

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needed for us to be lost or to be saved.

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But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk on

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the chend Lisee to refresh herself from the labors of

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the week, she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading

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a child. It was Madame Florestier, still young, still beautiful,

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still charming. Madame Loiselle felt moved. Was she going to

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speak to her? Yes, certainly, and now that she had paid,

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she was going to tell her all about it? Why not?

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She went up good da Jeanne the other astonished to

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be familiarly addressed by this plain good wife did not

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recognize her at all and stammered, But Madame, I do

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not know. You must have mistaken. No, I am Matilde Bloisell.

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Her friend uttered a cry, Oh my, poor Matilde, how

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you are changed? Yes, I have had days hard enough,

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since I have days wretched enough, and that because of you,

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of me. How so do you remember that diamond necklace

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which you lent me to wear at the ministerial ball? Yes? Well,

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well I lost it. What do you mean you brought

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it back? I brought you back another just like it,

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And for this we have been ten years paying. You

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can understand that it was not easy for us, us

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who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I

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am very glad. Madame Fforestier had stopped you say that

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you brought a necklace of diamonds to replace mine. Yes,

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you never noticed it. Then they were very like, and

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she smiled with a joy which was proud and naive.

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At once. Madame Forestier strongly moved took her two hands.

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Oh my, poor Matilde, why my necklace was paced? It

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was worth it most five hundred francs