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Mme. Loisel marries a minor clerk in the Ministry of Education.
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M. Loisel gifts Mme. Loisel the invitation from the Minister of Education and Mme. Georges Ramponneau. She refuses at first but accepts to go only if her husband gives her money for the appropriate attire. She is given 400 francs to buy a dress.
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Unsatisfied with the lack of jewelry her outfit includes, she borrows a diamond necklace from her friend, Mme. Forestier.
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At the party, she gains a lot of attention and admiring glances. Somewhere along the way, she loses the borrowed necklace and searches for it with her husband but never finds it.
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To keep from being seen as a thief, Mme. Loisel spends forty thousand francs on a replacement necklace. Mme. Forestier accepts the necklace without noticing the replacement.
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The next 10 years are spent doing hard housework and bargaining, doing anything she can to get the money back.
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Running into Mme. Forestier, Mme. Loisel brings up the incident with her. Mme. Forestier admits that the necklace was only 500 francs instead of the thirty six thousand francs she had spent on the replacement necklace.