A Letter to God

Story Analysis…

Have you ever walked on the thorny path of life? A certain situation where you have nobody to
lean on except God? You asked something from Him and told him the exact amount you need?

“A Letter to God” is a story written by Gregorio Lopez Y Fuentes, a Mexican writer, who was one
of the most important chroniclers of the Mexican Revolution and its effects. The story presents the
infinite faith of a man to God. Lencho, the main character of the story, even he experienced a great
turbulence in his livelihood which made him worry still believes that a help from God will come
and that his family will not go hungry despite what happened. The theme of the story, if I am going
to base it in biblical sense, “Whatever troubles you encounter always believe in God for He will
always carry you and never leave you”. However, the story is a satyr trying to tackle a reality
which really exists in the society.

The story is told in third person point of view. The story begins with a brief description of the
setting in which we could safely say that it happened in the rural area of Mexico. The setting
remotely talking about a house which is singled out in the entire valley, a hill, the river which is
seen on heights, the field of corn tilted by the family gives us an idea in the first part of the story
that Lencho, being the main character, is a farmer, who supports his family needs through farming.
The conflict of the story happens when a hailstorm struck the field and destroyed his farm. “All
our work, for nothing!” The entire land was wrecked by the catastrophe. “There is no one who can
help us!” This dialogue proves how terrible the aftermath of the calamity was. The type of conflict
dominating in the story is Man vs. Nature.

As the story progresses, the family was so distraught. They thought that there was no hope at all,
not a single one. “Don’t be so upset, even though this seems like a total loss. Remember no one
dies of hunger.” This line gives us a premise that the family has regained back their hope and that
hope is a help from God. The next thing that happened, Lencho, being described as an ox of a man
started to write a letter addressed to God. And he went to the post office to mail the letter to Him.
This action of Lencho suggests his all-out faith to the Heavenly Father. Such a prodigy of faith, he
is!

When the postman read the receiver of the letter, he laughed heartily and went to his boss. The
postmaster didn’t want to disillusion Lencho’s faith so they answered the letter but they were able
to raise an amount of money which is more than a little half of the amount he asked. This is now
the denouement of the story when Lencho received the letter which he thought God has sent to
him. But he was so disappointed of the amount of money he receives. But still his faith in Him is
still intact trying to send another letter telling Him not to send the letter to the post office because
those employees are a bunch of crooks.

If we will analyse the story in depth, we could say that it is a satyr of the reality happening in our
country. If we take Lencho’s character, someone who is very faithful to the creator but still very
malcontent of what he receives. If we take the characters of the postmen they are those people who
are willing to help and gave help but still they appear to be the antagonist. And if we take the
situation that someone gives what a person who is need but he used another person to give it to the
needy one there could be possibility that the aid he sends will not be fully received by the supposed
receiver. The situation which I mentioned is very rampant especially here in Philippine setting.

Nevertheless, even if you experienced harshness in life always remember you should not lose hope
and do something to overcome that problem by doing the best because remember God will do the
rest and He will send instruments that will help you. He will do it in his own best ways!
 A Letter to God
Gregorio Lopez y Fuentes
Translated by Donald A. Yates

The house – the only one in the entire valley – sat on the crest of a low hill. From this height one
could se the river and, next to the corral, the field of ripe corn dotted with the kidney bean flowers
that always promised a good harvest.
The only thing the earth needed was a rainfall, or at least a shower. Throughout the morning
Lencho – who knew his fields intimately – had done nothing else but scan the sky toward the
northeast.
“Now we’re really going to get some water, woman.”
The woman, who was preparing supper, replied: “Yes, God willing.”
The oldest boys were working in the field, while the smaller ones were playing near the house,
until the woman called to them all: “Come for dinner…”
It was during the meal that, just as Lencho had predicted, big drips of rain began to fall. In the
northeast huge mountains of clouds could be seen approaching. The air was fresh and sweet.
The man went out to look for something in the corral for no other reason than to allow himself the
pleasure of feeling the rain on his body, and when he returned he exclaimed: “those aren’t
raindrops falling from the sky, they’re new coins. The big drops are ten-centavo pieces and the
little ones are fives…”
With a satisfied expression he regarded the field of ripe corn with its kidney bean flowers, draped
in a curtain of rain. But suddenly a strong wind began to fall. These truly did resemble new silver
coins. The boys, exposing themselves to the rain, ran out to collect the frozen pearls.
“It’s really getting bad now,” exclaimed the man, mortified. “I hope it passes quickly.”
It did not pass quickly. For an hour the hail rained on the house, the garden, the hillside, the
cornfield, on the whole valley. The field was white, as if covered with salt. Not a leaf remained on
the trees. The corn was totally destroyed. The flowers were gone from the kidney bean plants.
Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. When the storm had passed, he stood in the middle of the
field and said to his sons: “A plague of locusts would have left more than this… the hail has left
nothing: this year we will have no corn or beans…”
That night was a sorrowful one: “All our work, for nothing!”
“There’s no one who can help us!”
But in the hears of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single
hope: help from God.
“Don’t be so upset, even though this seems like a total loss. Remember, no one dies of hunger!”
“That’s what they say: no one dies of hunger….”
All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hoe: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had
been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience.
Lencho was an ox of a man, working like an animal in the fields, but still he knew how to write.
The following Sunday, at day break, after having convinced, himself that there is a protecting spirit
he bgan to write a letter which he himself would carry to town and place in the mail.
It was nothing less than a letter to God.
“God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year. I need a hundred
pesos in order to resow the field and to live until the crop comes, because the hailstorm…”
He wrote “To God” on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town. At the
post office he placed a stamp on the letter and dropped it into the mailbox.
One of the employees, who was a postman and also helped at the post officer, went to his boss,
laughing heartily and showed him the letter to God. Never in his career as a postman had he known
that address. The postmaster – a fat amiable fellow – also broke out laughing, but almost
immediately he turned serious and, tapping the letter on his desk, commented: “what faith! I wish
I had the faith of the man who wrote this letter. To believe the way he believes. To hope with the
confidence that he knows how to hope with. Starting up a correspondence with God!”
So, in order not to disillusion that prodigy of faith, revealed by a letter that could not be delivered,
the postmaster cmae up with an idea: answer the letter. But when he opened it, it was evident that
to answer it he needed something more than good will, ink and paper. But he stuck to his resolution:
he asked for money from his employee, he himself gave part of his salary, and several friends of
his were obliged to give something “for an act of charity”.
It was impossible for him to gather together the hundred pesos requested by Lencho, so he was
able to send the farmer only a little more than half. He put the bills in an envelope addressed to
Lencho and with them a letter containing only a signature:
GOD

The following Sunday Lencho came a bit earlier than usual to ask if there was a letter for him. It
was the postman himself who handed the letter to him, while the postmaster, experiencing the
contentment of a man who ahs performed a good deed, looked on from the doorway of his office.
Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the bills – such was his confidence – but he
became angry when he counted the money. God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have
denied Lencho what he had requested!
Immediately, Lencho went up to the window to ask for paper and ink. On the public writing table,
he started to write with much wrinkling of his brow, caused by the effort he had to make to express
his ideas. When he finished, he went to the window to buy a stamp, which he licked and then
affixed to the envelope with a blow of his fist.
The moment that the letter fell into the mailbox the postmaster went to open it. It said;
“God: Of the money that I asked for only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest, since I need
it very much. But don’t send it to me through the mail, because the post office employees are a
bunch of crooks. Lencho.”
he Necklace Summary and Analysis of The Necklace
Summary
A young woman, Mathilde, is born to a low class family. With no money for a dowry, she is
married to Monsieur Loisel, a clerk from the Board of Education. Mathilde always felt like
she should have been born to the upper class and is unhappy in her married life, hating their
home, their food, and her lack of fine clothing and jewelry. One evening, her husband presents
her excitedly with an invitation to attend an event at the Minister of Public Instruction’s home.
To the surprise of M. Loisel, Mathilde–now Mme. Loisel–throws the invitation down in dismay,
weeping and complaining that she has nothing to wear to such an event. Her husband offers to
give her the money for something suitable, and she calculates the maximum amount she could
request without him refusing her immediately. When she requests this amount, her husband
pales, thinking of the hunting gun for which he has been saving that exact amount; nonetheless,
he agrees.
The day of the ball approaches and Mme. Loisel’s dress is made ready, but she is still dismayed.
When asked why, she replies that she is embarrassed to attend the ball without any jewels. Her
husband, after being chastised for suggesting she wear flowers in her hair instead, suggests that
she ask to borrow some jewels from her rich friend, Mme. Forestier. Mme Loisel agrees and
goes to see her friend the next day, greedily choosing one of Mme. Forestier’s finest necklaces.

At the ball, Madame Loisel is a hit - elegant, joyful, and desired for waltzes. She and M. Loisel
return home at nearly 4 o’clock in the morning. Once they are home, Mme. Loisel realizes that
she lost the necklace. She and her husband discuss the situation frantically; Mme. Loisel that she
felt it on her after leaving the ball, so it must be in the road somewhere. Her husband goes back
out to look on the ground the entire way they just walked, though he must be at work in only a
few hours. He returns empty-handed hours later.

The couple places a notice with the police department and, at the suggestion of her husband,
Madame Loisel writes a note to her friend saying the clasp of the necklace has broken and they
are having it repaired. After a week with no news, M. Loisel proclaims that they must replace it,
and the couple finds a replacement for 36,000 francs. M. Loisel had 18,000 francs from his
father’s will and borrows the remaining sum, making “ruinous promises”(p.36) in the process.
After all this, Madame Loisel puts the new necklace in the case belonging to the original
necklace; she returns it without arousing suspicion.

To pay off the debt, both Monsieur and Madame Loisel must work tirelessly. They rent rooms
and Madame Loisel learns to cook, clean for many, be “clothed like a woman of the
people”(p.36) and haggle at the market. Her husband works evenings and takes on side jobs
bookkeeping and copying. After ten years, they are finally able to pay off all of their debts.
Sitting at home, a hardened, old woman, Madame Loisel thinks back on how her life might have
been, had she not lost the necklace.

One day, while taking a walk, Mme. Loisel runs into Mme. Forestier. She approaches her old
friend, and Mme. Forestier almost doesn’t recognize her. In a sudden burst of emotion, Madame
Loisel reveals her entire story of losing the necklace, replacing it, and working off the cost of the
replacement ever since. In response, Madame Forestier replies that the original necklace did not
contain actual diamonds but rather fake diamonds, meaning the original necklace cost no more
than 500 francs.

Analysis
As writer in 19th-century France, Maupassant writes in a style called Literary Realism. The
clearest example of this style comes in the final third of the story, when he describes the poor,
working lives of the Loisels. Maupassant contrasts this with the almost romantic description of
the party that the Loisels attend, at which Mathilde wore the titular necklace.
As gender played an important role in 19th-century French society, so too does it in "The
Necklace." Women of the middle and upper classes did not work, instead being taken care of
by their husbands. Thus, many of the Loisels’ problems involve money. Not only is Mme. Loisel
bitter about her inability to improve her social class, but the Loisels also value different things,
with those values mapping along gender lines. When invited to the party, Mme. Loisel begins to
weep, asking her husband to lend her the money for a new dress, as clothing and jewelry were
especially important indicators of status for women. In contrast, M. Loisel thinks to himself that
he had wanted to save that money to buy a new gun, a manly pursuit that he could have used to
bond with male friends and relax from his busy work schedule.
Beauty is treated in "The Necklace" at times as objective and at times as quite subjective,
dependent on social class. On one hand, Maupassant writes that beauty was the way women
could advance their place in society. On the other hand, Mme. Loisel sees Mme. Forestier's
necklace as beautiful largely because of its supposed worth and the social capital it provides. At
the party, it is said that Mme. Loisel felt and looked quite beautiful, and that many men desired
to dance with her. In this case, the reader must ask whether this is because of her natural beauty,
the upper-class attire she was able to acquire for the event, or perhaps simply her confidence
from her clothing.

Until the end of the story, Mme. Loisel is not presented as a particularly likeable or sympathetic
character. One example of Mme. Loisel's flaws comes when the couple has just gotten home
from the party: Mme. Loisel says, "I have--I have--I no longer have Mrs. Forestier's
necklace."(p.35) In this moment, it seems that she is trying, even in her panicked state, not to
take the blame of what has happened, refusing to admit that she lost the necklace.
In setting up the eventual irony in one of his classic twist endings, Maupassant is careful to write
that the necklace "seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost"(p.36). This is not enough to
alert the reader to the eventual irony, but it points to the couple's inability to tell the two
necklaces apart precisely because they were not accustomed to lavish jewelry. This in turn raises
the question of whether Mme. Forestier would have recognized the substitution; though she does
not let on that she recognizes any difference upon seeing the replacement for the first time and
seems genuinely surprised when she hears Mme. Loisel's tale after ten years, it is suspicious that
a woman of a higher class would not be able to tell the difference.

Finally, the fact that the characters never find out what happened to the necklace points toward
the randomness of life and importance of circumstance. As Maupassant writes, "How would it
have been if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How singular is life, and
how full of changes! How small a thing will ruin or save one!"(p.37) This moral of the story may
be seen as a critique of the importance of social class, since the story demonstrates that a simple
accident or circumstance forced upon a person (since the necklace could have been stolen
purposefully) can doom a person to a completely different way of life. At the same time,
Maupassant demonstrates that social class does not correlate to happiness, as Mme. Loisel seems
more content in her life and her marriage when in the poor class than when behaving either as a
middle- or upper-class woman.
 The Necklace
(La Parure)
By Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
A Study Guide
“The Necklace," published in 1881, is a short story—among the finest surprise-ending stories in any language. It is a
compact, neat little package with just the right amount of character and plot development and nary a wasted word. It
is one of many of Maupassant’s short stories that earned him recognition as a master of the genre.

Setting

.......The action takes place in Paris, France, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Specific locales include
the residence of the Loisels, the home of Madame Jeanne Forestier, the palace of the Ministry of Education, Paris
shops, and the streets of Paris, including the Rue des Martyrs and the Champs Elysées.

Characters
Mathilde: Pretty young woman born into a common, middle-class family. She yearns for the wealth, privileges, and
fashions of highborn young ladies.
Monsieur Loisel: Government clerk whom Mathilde marries.
Madame Jeanne Forestier: Friend of Mathilde. She allows Mathilde to borrow a necklace to wear to a gala social
event.
Housemaid: Girl from Brittany who does the Loisels' housework. Her presence reminds Mathilde of her own status
as a commoner.
Jeweler: Dealer who provides a replacement necklace.
Monsieur and Madame Georges Rampouneau: Minister of Education and his wife, who invite the Loisels to a
party.
Child With Madame Forestier: See number 5 under "Unanswered Questions" for information about this character.

Plot Summary
By Michael J. Cummings...© 2006

.......Even though Mathilde is pretty and quite charming, she has none of the advantages of upper-class girls: a dowry,
a distinguished family name, an entree into society, and all the little fineries that women covet. Consequently, she
accepts a match made for her with a clerk, Monsieur Loisel, in the Department of Education.
.......Her home is common and plain, with well-worn furniture. The young girl from Brittany who does the housework is
a constant reminder to Mathilde of her own status as a commoner. But she dreams of having more: tapestries,
bronze lamps, footmen to serve her, parlors with silk fabrics, perfumed rooms, silver dinnerware, exotic food, jewelry,
the latest fashions.
.......One evening, her husband presents her an envelope containing a special surprise. He is sure it will please her.
Inside the envelope she finds a card inviting her and her husband to a social affair as guests of the Minister of
Education, Georges Rampouneau, and his wife at the palace of the Ministry of Education.
.......But Mathilde is not at all pleased, for she has nothing to wear. When her husband asks her what it would cost to
buy her suitable attire, she says four hundred francs—the exact amount he has set aside to buy a gun to shoot larks
at Nanterre with friends. However, he agrees to provide the money, and she buys a gown. When the day of the fête
draws near, Loisel notices that Mathilde is downcast and inquires into the cause of her low spirits. She tells him she
has no jewels to wear. As a result, others at the party will look down on her. But her spirits brighten when Monsieur
Loisel suggests that she borrow jewels from her friend, Madame Jeanne Forestier.
.......Wasting no time, Mathilde visits her friend the following day. Madame Forestier, only too willing to cooperate,
opens a box and tells Mathilde to choose. Inside are glittering jewels. Mathilde selects a diamond necklace so
beautiful that it quickens her heartbeat.
.......At the party, Mathilde is the center of attention. Handsome men of high station ask who she is and line up to
dance with her. Not until 4 a.m. do the Loisels leave the palace. On their way out, Mathilde’s husband puts a wrap on
her shoulders—an article of clothing from her everyday wardrobe. To avoid being seen in it, she hurries out against
her husband’s wishes. He wants to wait for a cab to arrive. Out in the cold, they search for transportation, wandering
toward the Seine. In time, they find a cab, and it takes them to their home on Rue des Martyrs. In her bedroom,
Mathilde stands before a mirror and removes her wrap to gaze upon the woman who has enchanted so many men.
Then she notices to her horror that the necklace is missing. She and her husband search through their belongings but
cannot find it. After they conclude that the necklace must have come off on their way home, Monsieur Loisel goes out
to search for the cab they rode in. He returns at 7 a.m. after failing to find it. Visits to the police and the cab company,
as well as other measures, also leave them empty-handed.

.......At her husband’s suggestion, Mathilde writes to Madame Forestier, telling her that the necklace clasp has broken
and that it is being repaired. This ploy will buy time. Next, they decide that their only recourse is to replace the
necklace. Going from jeweler to jeweler, they search for a facsimile. They find one in a shop in the Palais Royal. The
price: 36,000 francs. To raise the money, Loisel uses all of his savings and borrows the rest, writing promissory notes
and signing his name on numerous documents. Then the Loisels buy the replacement, and Mathilde takes it in a case
to Madame Forestier. The latter expresses annoyance that it was returned late, then takes the case without opening it
to check its contents.
.......Thereafter, the Loisels scrimp and save to pay their debt. After they dismiss their housemaid, Mathilde does the
work herself, washing dishes and linen, taking out the garbage, and performing other menial labors. She also wears
common clothes and haggles at the market. Monsieur Loisel moonlights as a bookkeeper and copyist.
.......Ten years later, they are out of debt. They have paid back every borrowed franc and sou. By this time, Mathilde
is fully a commoner, with rough hands, plain clothes, and disheveled hair. And she looks older than her years.
Occasionally, she thinks back to the day when she wore the necklace and when so many men admired her. What
would have happened if she had never lost the necklace?
.......One Sunday on the Champs Elysées, she encounters Madame Forestier walking with a child. When Mathilde
addresses her, her friend does not recognize her—so haggard does Mathilde look. After Mathilde identifies herself,
she decides to tell Madame Forestier everything. What could be the harm? After all, she has paid for the necklace,
working ten long years at honest, humble labor to fulfill her obligation. Madame Forestier then holds Mathilde’s hands
and says, “Oh, my poor Mathilde. But mine was false. At most, it was worth five hundred francs!"

. Style
.......In "The Necklace," Maupassant makes every word count, each one contributing to the overall effectiveness of
the story. He provides only minimal details to further the plot and describe the important characters. The result is a
simple, easy-to-understand story that moves smoothly and swiftly from beginning to end. Details that he leaves out
allow the reader to interpret the events and the characters in his or her own way. One may compare "The Necklace"
to a painting with subtle shades of meaning. Maupassant himself remains aloof from his characters, passing no
judgments on them, neither praising nor condemning them. For example, it is up to the reader to decide whether
Mathilde is a victim of bad luck (or fate) or of her own warped perception of the world as a place where success and
recognition result from wealth and status.

Fate vs Free Will

.......Is Mathilde a hapless victim of fate or a victim of her own desires and the choices she makes to fulfill them? In
the opening sentence of the story, Maupassant introduces the notion of fate as a controlling force:

Original French: C'était une de ces jolies et charmantes filles, nées, comme par une erreur du destin, dans
une famille d'employés.
Literal Translation: She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born, by a mistake of destiny, into a
family of employees (common middle-class workers).
He expands on this idea when Mathilde borrows a necklace of imitation diamonds in the mistaken belief that they are
real. Finally, comes the coup de grâce: She loses the necklace and replaces it with a lookalike necklace made of
genuine diamonds. She and her husband work ten years to pay for it only to discover that the original necklace was
fake in the first place. All of these developments suggest that Mathilde is the plaything of fate. However, Maupassant
also points out early on that Mathilde longed to live like the highborn. Fashionable clothes, jewels, a home with
spacious rooms and tapestries—all were badges of success, according to Mathilde's distorted view of the world. In
further developing this idea—that it was perhaps Mathilde's own yearnings, not fate, that got her into trouble, the
narrator says,
Original French: Elle eût tant désiré plaire, être enviée, être séduisante et recherchée.
Literal Translation: She had so much desire to please, to be envied, to be enticing, to be sought after.
In the end, the reader is left to decide for himself whether Mathilde's downfall was of her own making or fate's—or a
combination of both.
Translations by M.J. Cummings

Climax
.......The climax of a literary work, such as a short story or a novel, can be defined as (1) the turning point at which the
conflict begins to resolve itself for better or worse, or as (2) the final and most exciting event in a series of events. The
climax of "The Necklace" occurs, according to the first definition, when Mathilde discovers that she has lost the
necklace. According to the second definition, the climax occurs at the end of the story, when Madame Forestier
informs Mathilde that the lost necklace was a fake.

Themes
False Values

.......People should evaluate themselves and others on who they are intrinsically (that is, on their character and moral
fiber), not on what they possess or where they stand in society. Mathilde Loisel learns this lesson the hard way.
Real Values

.......Honesty, humility, and hard work are what shape character, not the clothes or jewels that a person wears or the
high station into which he or she is born.

Appearances Are Deceiving

.......Mathilde Loisel believed the necklace genuine the moment she saw it. Likewise, she believed that all the people
at the party were real, genuine human beings because of their social standing and their possessions. The necklace,
of course, was a fake. And, Maupassant implies, so were the people at the party who judge Mathilde on her outward
appearance.
The Necklace

by Guy de Maupassant

The Necklace (1884) is a famous short story and morality tale that is widely read in classrooms throughout
the world. Get more out of the story with our The Necklace Study Guide

The girl was one of those 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 herself be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of

Public Instruction.

She dressed plainly because 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 ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. She was

distressed at the poverty of her dwelling, at the bareness of the walls, at the shabby chairs, the ugliness of

the curtains. All those 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 housework

aroused 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 whose attention they all desire.

When she sat down to dinner, before the round table covered with a tablecloth in use 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 served 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 please, 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 see

any more because she felt so sad when she came home.

But 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 these words:

The Minister of Public Instruction and Madame Georges Ramponneau request the honor of M. and

Madame Loisel'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 select, 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, seeing 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

whose wife is better equipped than I am."

He was in despair. He resumed:

"Come, let us see, Mathilde. How much would it cost, a suitable gown, which you could use on other

occasions--something very simple?"

She reflected several seconds, making her calculations and wondering also what sum she could ask without

drawing on herself 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, because he was laying aside just that amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a little

shooting next summer on the plain of Nanterre, with several friends who went to shoot larks there of a

Sunday.

But he said:

"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 Loisel seemed sad, uneasy, anxious. Her frock was ready,

however. Her husband said to her one evening:

"What is the matter? Come, you have seemed very queer these last three days."

And she answered:

"It annoys me not to have a single piece of jewelry, not a single ornament, nothing to put on. I shall look

poverty-stricken. I would almost rather not go at all."

"You might wear natural flowers," said her husband. "They're very stylish at this time of year. For ten francs

you can get two or three magnificent roses."

She was not convinced.

"No; there's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich."

"How stupid you are!" her husband cried. "Go look up your friend, Madame Forestier, and ask her to lend

you some jewels. You're intimate enough with her to do that."

She uttered a cry of joy:

"True! I never thought of it."

The next day she went to her friend and told her of her distress.

Madame Forestier went to a wardrobe with a mirror, took out a large jewel box, brought it back, opened it

and said to Madame Loisel:

"Choose, my dear."

She saw first some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then a Venetian gold cross set with precious stones, of

admirable workmanship. She tried on the ornaments before the mirror, hesitated and could not make up her

mind to part with them, to give them back. She kept asking:

"Haven't you any more?"

"Why, yes. Look further; I don't know what you like."

Suddenly she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb diamond necklace, and her heart throbbed with an

immoderate desire. Her hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it round her throat, outside her high-

necked waist, and was lost in ecstasy at her reflection in the mirror.

Then she asked, hesitating, filled with anxious doubt:

"Will you lend me this, only this?"

"Why, yes, certainly."

She threw her arms round her friend's neck, kissed her passionately, then fled with her treasure.

The night of the ball arrived. Madame Loisel was a great success. She was prettier than any other woman

present, elegant, graceful, smiling and wild with joy. All the men looked at her, asked her name, sought to

be introduced. All the attaches of the Cabinet wished to waltz with her. She was remarked by the minister

himself.

She danced with rapture, with passion, intoxicated by pleasure, forgetting all in the triumph of her beauty,

in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness comprised of all this homage, admiration, these

awakened desires and of that sense of triumph which is so sweet to woman's heart.

She left the ball about four o'clock in the morning. Her husband had been sleeping since midnight in a little

deserted anteroom with three other gentlemen whose wives were enjoying the ball.
He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought, the modest wraps of common life, the poverty of

which contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this and wished to escape so as not to be

remarked by the other women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs.

Loisel held her back, saying: "Wait a bit. You will catch cold outside. I will call a cab."

But she did not listen to him and rapidly descended the stairs. When they reached the street they could not

find a carriage and began to look for one, shouting after the cabmen passing at a distance.

They went toward the Seine in despair, shivering with cold. At last they found on the quay one of those

ancient night cabs which, as though they were ashamed to show their shabbiness during the day, are never

seen round Paris until after dark.

It took them to their dwelling in the Rue des Martyrs, and sadly they mounted the stairs to their flat. All

was ended for her. As to him, he reflected that he must be at the ministry at ten o'clock that morning.

She removed her wraps before the glass so as to see herself once more in all her glory. But suddenly she

uttered a cry. She no longer had the necklace around her neck!

"What is the matter with you?" demanded her husband, already half undressed.

She turned distractedly toward him.

"I have--I have--I've lost Madame Forestier's necklace," she cried.

He stood up, bewildered.

"What!--how? Impossible!"

They looked among the folds of her skirt, of her cloak, in her pockets, everywhere, but did not find it.

"You're sure you had it on when you left the ball?" he asked.

"Yes, I felt it in the vestibule of the minister's house."

"But if you had lost it in the street we should have heard it fall. It must be in the cab."

"Yes, probably. Did you take his number?"

"No. And you--didn't you notice it?"

"No."

They looked, thunderstruck, at each other. At last Loisel put on his clothes.
"I shall go back on foot," said he, "over the whole route, to see whether I can find it."

He went out. She sat waiting on a chair in her ball dress, without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed,

without any fire, without a thought.

Her husband returned about seven o'clock. He had found nothing.

He went to police headquarters, to the newspaper offices to offer a reward; he went to the cab companies--

everywhere, in fact, whither he was urged by the least spark of hope.

She waited all day, in the same condition of mad fear before this terrible calamity.

Loisel returned at night with a hollow, pale face. He had discovered nothing.

"You must write to your friend," said he, "that you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are

having it mended. That will give us time to turn round."

She wrote at his dictation.

At the end of a week they had lost all hope. Loisel, who had aged five years, declared:

"We must consider how to replace that ornament."

The next day they took the box that had contained it and went to the jeweler whose name was found within.

He consulted his books.

"It was not I, madame, who sold that necklace; I must simply have furnished the case."

Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for a necklace like the other, trying to recall it, both sick

with chagrin and grief.

They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one

they had lost. It was worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six.

So they begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days yet. And they made a bargain that he should buy it

back for thirty-four thousand francs, in case they should find the lost necklace before the end of February.

Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He would borrow the rest.

He did borrow, asking a thousand francs of one, five hundred of another, five louis here, three louis there.

He gave notes, took up ruinous obligations, dealt with usurers and all the race of lenders. He compromised

all the rest of his life, risked signing a note without even knowing whether he could meet it; and, frightened

by the trouble yet to come, by the black misery that was about to fall upon him, by the prospect of all the
physical privations and moral tortures that he was to suffer, he went to get the new necklace, laying upon

the jeweler's counter thirty-six thousand francs.

When Madame Loisel took back the necklace Madame Forestier said to her with a chilly manner:

"You should have returned it sooner; I might have needed it."

She did not open the case, as her friend had so much feared. If she had detected the substitution, what would

she have thought, what would she have said? Would she not have taken Madame Loisel for a thief?

Thereafter Madame Loisel knew the horrible existence of the needy. She bore her part, however, with

sudden heroism. That dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their servant; they

changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof.

She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen. She washed the dishes,

using her dainty fingers and rosy nails on greasy pots and pans. She washed the soiled linen, the shirts and

the dishcloths, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every morning and

carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing. And dressed like a woman of the people, she

went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, a basket on her arm, bargaining, meeting with impertinence,

defending her miserable money, sou by sou.

Every month they had to meet some notes, renew others, obtain more time.

Her husband worked evenings, making up a tradesman's accounts, and late at night he often copied

manuscript for five sous a page.

This life lasted ten years.

At the end of ten years they had paid everything, everything, with the rates of usury and the accumulations

of the compound interest.

Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished households--strong and hard

and rough. With frowsy hair, skirts askew and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floor with great

swishes of water. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down near the window and

she thought of that gay evening of long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so admired.

What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? who knows? How strange and

changeful is life! How small a thing is needed to make or ruin us!

But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the Champs Elysees to refresh herself after the labors of the

week, she suddenly perceived a woman who was leading a child. It was Madame Forestier, still young, still

beautiful, still charming.

Madame Loisel felt moved. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly. And now that she had paid, she would

tell her all about it. Why not?

She went up.

"Good-day, Jeanne."

The other, astonished to be familiarly addressed by this plain good-wife, did not recognize her at all and

stammered:

"But--madame!--I do not know---- You must have mistaken."

"No. I am Mathilde Loisel."

Her friend uttered a cry.

"Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you are changed!"

"Yes, I have had a pretty hard life, since I last saw you, and great poverty--and that because of you!"

"Of me! How so?"

"Do you remember that diamond necklace you lent me to wear at the ministerial ball?"

"Yes. Well?"

"Well, I lost it."

"What do you mean? You brought it back."

"I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. You can understand

that it was not easy for us, for us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad."

Madame Forestier had stopped.

"You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to replace mine?"

"Yes. You never noticed it, then! They were very similar."

And she smiled with a joy that was at once proud and ingenuous.
Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands.

"Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It was worth at most only five hundred francs!"