THE DIAMOND NECKLACE

GUY DE MAUPASSANT

Guy De Maupassant (1950-93) is a French short-story writer and novelist. He

was a master of the short story form, writing in a simple and precise style. He always
tried to present men and women just as he saw them in life, bringing out the essential
personality of each one and enhancing the effect by his description of the background
against which they move. His stories include ‘Boule de Suif,’ ‘Mademoiselle Fifi’
and ‘The Diamond Necklace.’ Among his novels are Une Vie and Bel Ami. He
was greatly influenced by Flaubert and Zola- two famous Frence novelists of the
time. His stories faithfully reflect the contemporary society and at the same time
attain a universality of significance and appeal.
She was pretty and charming young lady, born is a family of clerks. She had
no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known; and she married a petty clerk in
the office of the Board of Education.
She was simple, not being able to adorn herself; but she was unhappy. She
suffered from the poverty of her apartment, the shabby walls, the worn chairs, and
the faded stuffs. All these things, which another woman of her station would not
have noticed, tortured and angered her.
One evening her husband returned elated, bearing in his hand a large envelope.
“Here,” said he, “here is something for you.”
She quickly tore open the wrapper and drew out a printed card on which were
inscribed these words:
“The Minister of Public Instruction and Madame George Ramponneau ask the
honor of Mr. and Mrs. Loisel’s company Monday evening, January 18, at the
Minister’s residence.”
Instead of being delighted, as her husband had hoped, she threw the invitation
spitefully upon the table murmuring:
“What do you suppose I want with that?”
“But my dearie, I thought it would make you happy. You never go out, and
this is an occasion, and a fine one!
She looked at him with an irritated eve and declared impatiently:
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 “What do you suppose I have to wear to such a thing as that?”
He had not thought of that; he stammered:
“Why, the dress you wear when we go to the theatre. It seems very pretty to
me-”
He was silent, stupefied, in dismay, at the sight of his wife weeping. He
stammered:
“What is the matter? What is the matter?”
By a violent effort, she had controlled her vexation and responded in a clam
voice:
“Nothing. Only I have no dress and so I cannot go to this affair. Give your
card to some colleague whose wife is better fitted out than I.”
He was grieved. But answered:
“Let us see Matilda. How much would a suitable costume cost, something that
would serve for other occasions, something very simple?”
She reflected for some seconds, making estimates.
Finally she said, in a hesitating voice:
“I cannot tell exactly, but it seems to me that four hundred francs ought to
cover it.”
He turned a little pale, for he had saved just this sum. Nevertheless, he
answered:
“Very well. I will give you four hundred francs. But try to have a pretty dress.”
The day of the ball approached and Mme. Loisel seemed sad, disturbed,
anxious. Nevertheless, her dress was nearly ready. Her husband said to her one
evening:
“What is the matter with you? You have acted strangely for two or three days.”
And she responded: “I am vexed not to have a jewel not one stone, nothing to
adorn myself with. I would prefer not to go to this party.”
He replied: “You can wear some natural flowers. At this season they look very
chic. For ten francs you can have two or three magnificent roses.”

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 “She was not convinced. “No,” she replied, “there is nothing more humiliating
than to have a shabby air in the midst of rich women.”
Then her husband cried out: “How stupid we are! Go and find your friend
Mrs. Forestier and ask her to lend you her jewels.”
She uttered a cry of joy: “It is true!” she said. “I had not thought of that.”
The next day she took herself to her friend’s house and related her story of
distress. Mrs. Forestier went to her closet with the glass doors, took out a large jewel-
case, brought it, opened it, and said: “Choose, my dear.”
She saw at first some bracelets, then a collar of pearls, then a Venetian cross
of gold and jewels.
Suddenly she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb necklace of diamonds.
Then she asked, in a hesitating voice, full of anxiety:
“Could you lend me this? Only this?”
“Why, yes, certainly.”
She fell upon the neck of her friend, embraced her with passion, then went
away with her treasure.
The day of the ball arrived, Mme. Loisel was a great success. She was the
prettiest of all, elegant, gracious, smiling, and full of joy. All the men noticed her,
asked her name, and wished to dance with her. The Minister of Education paid her
some attention.
She danced with enthusiasm, with passion, in a kind of cloud of happiness that
came of all this.
She went home toward four o’clock in the morning. Before undressing, she
stood before the glass, for a final view of herself in her glory. Suddenly she uttered
a cry. Her necklace was not around her neck.
Her husband asked: “What is the matter?”
She turned toward him excitedly:
“I have-I have- I no longer have Mrs. Forestier’s necklace.”
He arose in dismay: “What! How is that? It is not possible.”
And they looked in the folds of the dress, in the pockets, everywhere. They
could not find it.
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 At the end of a week, they had lost all hope. And Loisel, older by five years,
declared:
“We must take measures to replace this jewel.”
In a shop of the Palais-Royal, they found a chaplet of diamonds which seemed
to them exactly like the one they had lost. It was valued at forty thousand francs.
They could get it for thirty-six thousand.
They bedded the jeweler not to sell it for three days. And they made an
arrangement by which they might return it for thirty-four thousand francs if they
found the other one before the end of February.
Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He
borrowed the rest.
He brrowed it, asking for a thousand francs of one five hundred of another,
five louis of this one, and three louis of that one. He gave notes, took money of
usurers and the whole race of landers.
When Mrs. Loisel took back the jewels to Mrs. Forestier, the latter said to her
in a frigid tone:
“You should have returned them to me sooner, for I might have needed them.”
Mrs. Loisel now knew the horrible life of necessity. They send away the maid;
they changed their lodgings; they rented some rooms under a mansard roof.
She learned the heavy cares of a household. She washed the dishes, the soiled
linen, she took down the refuse to the street each morning and brought up the water,
stopping at landing to breathe.
The husband worked evenings, putting the books of some merchants in order,
and nights he often did copying at five sous a page.
And this life lasted for ten years.
At the end of ten years, they had restored all.
Mrs. Loisel seemed old now. She had become a strong, hard woman, the crude
woman of the poor household. Her hair badly dressed, she spoke in a loud tone. But
sometimes when her husband was at the office, she would seat herself before the
window and think of that evening party of former times, of that ball where she was
so beautiful and so flattered.

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 How would it have been if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? How
singular is life, and how full of changes! How small a thing will ruin or save one!
One Sunday, as she was taking a walk in the Champs-Elysees to rid herself of
the cares of the week, she suddenly perceived a woman walking with a child. It was
Mrs. Forestier, still young, still pretty, still attractive. Mrs. Loisel was affected.
Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly. And now that she had paid, she would tell
her all. Why not? She approached her. “Good morning, Jeanne.”
Her friend did not recognize her and was astonished to be so familiarly
addressed by this common personage. She stammered:
“But Madame- I do not know- You must be mistaken-”
“No, I am Matilda Loisel.”
Her friend uttered a cry of astonishment: “Oh! My poor Matilda! How you
have changed-”
“Yes, I have had some hard days since I saw you; and some miserable ones-
and all because of you-”
“Because of me? How is that?”
“You recall the diamond necklace that you loaned me to wear to the
Commissioner’s ball?”
“Yes, very well.”
“Well, I lost it.”
“How is that, since you returned it to me?”
“I returned another to you exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay
for it.”
Madame Forestier stopped short. She said:
“You say that you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?”
“Yes. You did not perceive it then? They were just alike.”
And she smiled with a proud and simple joy. Madame Forestier was touched
and took both her hands as she replied:
“Oh! My poor Matilda! Mine were false. They were not worth over five
hundred francs!” (Adapted)