The necklace "is often studied as a short work of world literature The story by Guy de Maupassant, and infused the story with sorrow, with wounds of self-sacrifice -. The things we can never forget or be allowed to let go and so be it. happens when the infernal agony is over? Here's a story you can not forget.
The neck
The girl was one of the beautiful and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as it were a piece of fate, into a family of employees. She had no dowry, no expectations, no way to be known, understood, loved, married to a rich man and distinct, so he allows himself to be married to a little clerk 'of the Ministry of Education.
He dressed simply because he could not dress well, but she was not happy as if it had fallen really a senior season as the women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of the family and birth. Ingenuity natural instinct of what is elegant, flexible mind is the single hierarchy, and often the women in the population is equal to that of the great ladies of the same.
Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. She was shocked by the poverty of his home, at the bare walls, the chairs of evil, ugliness of the curtains. All these things, another woman of rank had not even been conscious, tortured and angry. The sight of the little Breton peasant who did her modest house she woke up in despair and regrets puzzling dreams. I thought of the silent antechambers adorned with Oriental tapestries, lit by brass chandeliers above, and two footmen in big pants that sleep in the big armchairs, sleep for the sweltering heat of the stove.
She thought of long reception halls decorated with silk antique curio cabinets containing precious and delicate perfumed reception rooms made little flirty chat for five with close friends, with men famous and sought after, that all women envy and attention that all we want.
When he sat down to dinner before the round table covered with a tablecloth in use three days in front of her husband, who uncovered the soup tureen and declared with a delighted air, "Ah, the good soup! I do not know any better that "thought of delicate foods, bright silver, tapestry that peopled the walls with ancient figures and strange birds flying in the midst of a forest of the fairies, and thought of delicious dishes served in wonderful dishes and whispered compliments heard with a smile while eating the pink meat sphinx of a trout or the wings of a quail.
She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing more than that. She felt made for that. She wanted so please, to envy, to be charming, to be sought.
I had a friend, a former classmate at the convent, which was rich and did not want to see because he felt so sad when she got home.
But one night her husband came home with a triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand.
"No," he said, "there's something for you."
She tore the paper quickly and drew out a printed card which bore these words:
State-Minister of Education and Madame Georges required Ramponneau company in honor of Mr. and Mrs. parasitic animals of the Ministry of the building on Monday evening, January 18
Instead of being delighted, as her husband had expected, threw the invitation on the table in a bad mood, murmuring:
"What can I do with it?"
"Well, my dear, I thought you were happy. You will never get out, and this is a great opportunity. I had great difficulty in obtaining it. Everybody wants to go, is a good choice, and that they do not let the many invitations to Clerks. The whole world is official there. "
She gave him an irritated look and said impatiently:
"And what do you put me on my back?"
I had not thought of that. He stammered:
"Why, you go to the theater in the locker room seems good to me."
He stopped, distracted, seeing that his wife was crying. Two big tears rolled slowly to the corners of the eyes toward the corners of his mouth.
"What, what's the problem?" He responded.
With a violent effort has captured the pain and said calmly, as she dried her wet cheeks:
"Nothing. But I did not dress, so I can not go to the ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I am. "
He was desperate. He continued:
"Come, come, Mathilde How much is the cost, adequate clothing, which can be used on other occasions -.? Something very simple"
He thought for a few seconds, making her calculations and wondering also how much may be asked to use it without an immediate refusal and an exclamation of fear of economic secretary.
Finally she replied hesitating:
"I do not know exactly, but I think I could do with 400 francs."
He turned pale, as he put aside just that amount to buy a gun and treat himself a little shooting next summer on the plain of Nanterre, with several friends who went to shoot larks there on a Sunday.
But he said:
"Very well. I'll give you 400 francs. And try to have a beautiful dress."
