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A husband and wife are living together in 1888. They are not super wealthy so they can't dress very well. Mathilde Loisel is invited to a ball but she is scared because she only has clothes that aren't very good.
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Her husband gave her 400 thousand francs that he had saved up to buy a gun and go shooting. She spent the money on a dress to make her feel apart of the upper class. She also borrowed a necklace from one of rich friends.
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She goes to the ball and everyone is admiring her and her clothes. After leaving the ball, she went out into the streets. She then notices that she is missing the diamond necklace. They search all night trying to find this necklace. The next day she writes to her friend saying she broke it and it is getting fixed.
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This gives them more time. They found a similar necklace at the jeweler but it was forty thousand francs. They had 18 thousand francs which the husbands father had left him. He borrowed the rest from different people. They bought the necklace and gave it to her friend. She put it away and didn't even look at it.
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For the next ten years, they had to do everything they could to make money back. They got rid of the servant and started doing all the jobs around the house by them selves. At the end of the ten years they finally payed everyone back.
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A few years later Mathilde found her friend that she borrowed the necklace from. She didn't remember Mathilde. Mathilda told her that they were friends and she borrowed the necklace from her. She then remembered her. Mathilde told her that she lost the necklace and had been working the last ten years to pay it off. She felt so bad because the necklace was a fake and it was only five thousand francs