The Necklace
by Guy de Maupassant
The girl was one of tho pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no way of being known, understood, loved, married by any rich and distinguished man; so she let herlf be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction.
She dresd plainly becau she could not dress well, but she was unhappy as if she had really fallen from a higher station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth. Natural ingenuity, instinct for what is elegant, a supple mind are their sole hierarchy, and often make of women of the people the equals of the very greatest ladies.
Mathilde suffered cealessly, feeling herlf born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. She was distresd at the poverty of her dwelling, at the bareness of the walls, at the shabb
y chairs, the ugliness of the curtains. All tho things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry. The sight of the little Breton peasant who did her humble houwork aroud in her despairing regrets and bewildering dreams. She thought of silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, illumined by tall bronze candelabra, and of two great footmen in knee breeches who sleep in the big armchairs, made drowsy by the oppressive heat of the stove. She thought of long reception halls hung with ancient silk, of the dainty cabinets containing priceless curiosities and of the little coquettish perfumed reception rooms made for chatting at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy and who attention they all desire.
When she sat down to dinner, before the round table covered with a tablecloth in u three days, opposite her husband, who uncovered the soup tureen and declared with a delighted air, "Ah, the good soup! I don't know anything better than that," she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry that peopled the walls with ancient personages and with strange birds flying in the midst of a fairy forest; and she thought of
delicious dishes rved on marvellous plates and of the whispered gallantries to which you listen with a sphinxlike smile while you are eating the pink meat of a trout or the wings of a quail.
She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that. She would have liked so much to plea, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after.
She had a friend, a former schoolmate at the convent, who was rich, and whom she did not like to go to e any more becau she felt so sad when she came home.
lsattrBut one evening her husband reached home with a triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand.
"There," said he, "there is something for you."
She tore the paper quickly and drew out a printed card which bore the words:
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The Minister of Public Instruction and Madame Georges Ramponneau request the honor of M. and Madame Loil's company at the palace of the Ministry on Monday evening, January 18th.
Instead of being delighted, as her husband had hoped, she threw the invitation on the table crossly, muttering:
"What do you wish me to do with that?"
"Why, my dear, I thought you would be glad. You never go out, and this is such a fine opportunity. I had great trouble to get it. Every one wants to go; it is very lect, and they are not giving many invitations to clerks. The whole official world will be there."
She looked at him with an irritated glance and said impatiently:
"And what do you wish me to put on my back?"
He had not thought of that. He stammered:
"Why, the gown you go to the theatre in. It looks very well to me."
He stopped, distracted, eing that his wife was weeping. Two great tears ran slowly from the corners of her eyes toward the corners of her mouth.
"What's the matter? What's the matter?" he answered.
By a violent effort she conquered her grief and replied in a calm voice, while she wiped her wet cheeks:
"Nothing. Only I have no gown, and, therefore, I can't go to this ball. Give your card to some colleague who wife is better equipped than I am."
He was in despair. He resumed:
"Come, let us e, Mathilde. How much would it cost, a suitable gown, which you could u on other occasions--something very simple?"
龙头渚She reflected veral conds, making her calculations and wondering also what sum she could ask without drawing on herlf an immediate refusal and a frightened exclamation from the economical clerk.
Finally she replied hesitating:
"I don't know exactly, but I think I could manage it with four hundred francs."
He grew a little pale, becau he was laying aside just that amount to buy a gun and treat himlf to a little shooting next summer on the plain of Nanterre, with veral friends who went to shoot larks there of a Sunday.
太极拳是谁创造的But he said:
海尔洗衣机故障代码"Very well. I will give you four hundred francs. And try to have a pretty gown."
The day of the ball drew near and Madame Loil emed sad, uneasy, anxious. Her frock was ready, however. Her husband said to her one evening:
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"What is the matter? Come, you have emed very queer the last three days."
