: A poor woman loses a diamond necklace borrowed from a rich friend, buys her the same one, lives in poverty for ten years, paying off debt, and then finds out that the stones in the necklace were fake.

Elegant and charming Matilda was the daughter of a poor official. She had no chance to marry a wealthy man from a good society, so "she accepted the proposal of the small official of the Ministry of Education" Luazel.

Matilda was forced to dress very simply, which made her feel miserable and rejected.

For women there is neither caste nor breed, - beauty, grace and charm replace them with birth rights and family privileges.

This girl, as if mistakenly born in a poor bureaucratic family, was created for a luxurious life. Looking at the bare walls and the wretched atmosphere of her home, she dreamed of “reception rooms draped with oriental fabrics,” spacious salons, and flirty living rooms. Sitting down to dine with cabbage soup, Matilda dreamed of gourmet dinners in tapestries decorated with tapestries, sparkling silver and fine china.

Occasionally, Matilda visited a rich friend, Mrs. Forestier, with whom she was brought up in a monastery.Returning home, she cried for days on end with self-pity, longing and despair.

One evening, Loiselle brought an invitation to a ball at the ministry, where all the highest officials would gather. Matilda was rather upset than pleased, because she did not have a suitable dress. She was ready to completely abandon the ball, and then her husband gave her the money that he was saving for a gun.

Soon the dress was ready, but Matilda was still sad - she had no jewelry to emphasize the grace of the new dress.

It is such a humiliation to look like a beggar among rich women.

Loisel advised me to borrow the decoration from Madame Forestier. She willingly agreed to help out her friend. Of the many jewels, Matilda chose “a magnificent diamond necklace in a black satin case”.

At the ball, Matilda was the most beautiful of all, “all the men looked at her, asked who she was, sought the honor of being introduced to her.” She was noticed by the minister himself. All evening Matilda danced “with enthusiasm, with passion ... reveling in the triumph of her beauty”, and her husband dozed in the company of three more officials whose wives had fun.

Spouses Luazel left the ball at only four in the morning. They had to get home on a wretched night cab. At home, wanting to finally admire herself, Matilda looked in the mirror and found that the diamond necklace had disappeared, apparently she had lost it on her way home.

For the rest of the night and the next day, Loisel searched for a necklace. He visited the cab stops, the police and the newspaper offices, where he advertised the loss.Returning home in the evening, he asked Matilda to write to Mrs. Forestier that the lock had broken on the necklace and they had it repaired.

The couple were afraid that Mrs. Forestier would consider them thieves, and decided to recover the loss. They went to the jeweler, whose name was on the case, but it turned out that the necklace was not made by him - only the case was bought from him. Then, “barely alive from grief”, they began to go around all the jewelers in a row and finally found a similar necklace, which they lost to them for 36 thousand francs.

Eighteen thousand francs, Luazel left his father, the rest he took, enslaved to the end of his life. He had to meet with usurers and give ruinous obligations. Finally, the required amount was collected, and the necklace was returned to Madame Forestier. She did not even open the case, and the substitution was not detected.

Now Loiselles had to pay this terrible debt. They calculated a maid and moved to a cheap attic under the roof. Matilda “recognized hard domestic work”, and her husband worked in the evenings and rewritten manuscripts at night.

Ten years later, they paid the debt. Matilda grew old, rang out in the shoulders, became tougher and rougher, went disheveled, like a mistress from a poor family.

How changeable and capricious is life! How little is needed in order to save or destroy a person.

One Sunday, walking along the Champs Elysees, Matilda met Mrs. Forestier, who was still young and charming. She first did not recognize her friend, and then in horror asked what had happened to her.

Now Matilda could tell everything without fear that she would be considered a thief. After listening to the story of the unfortunate friend, Mrs. Forestier “grabbed her hands in excitement” and said that the diamonds in the lost necklace were fake, and it cost no more than five hundred francs.