Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-02-11

crate desire. Her hands trembled a,
she took it up. She fastened it abou,
her throat over her high dress, ant
| stood in ecstasy before herself.
Then she asked, hcsitating, full of ny
ony:
Gould you lend me this, nothing but
thisp"
"Oh, yes, certainly
She threw herself on her friends
neck, kissed her passionately, then fed
with her treasure.
The date of the fete arrived Mime.
Loisel was a success. She was pretticr
than any--elegant, gracious, smiling and
mad with joy. All the men looked at
her, asked her name. sought to be pre-
scented to her. All the attaches of the
cabinet wished to waltz with her. The
minister noticed her.
She danced with frenzy, with passion,
intoxicated with pleasure, thinking Of
nothing in the triumph of her beauty,
in the glory of her success, in a kind OF
cloud of happiness made of all this HON.
age, of all this admiration, of all these
awakened desires, Of this victory so
complete and SO sweet to the hearts of
women.
She left about 4 in the morning.
Since midnight her husband had slept in
a little deserted salon with three other
gentlemen whose wives were amusing
themselves very much.
He threw over her shoulders her wrap
that he had brought for her to go home
in, quiet, every day garment; its pow
erty-stricken look contrasted with the
elegance of her ball costume. She felt
it and wished to flee, so as not to be re-
marked by the other women who wrap
ped themselves in rich furs.
Loisel held her back.
"Wait then. You will catch cold out
side; will call cab"
But she would not listen and rapidly
descended the stairs. When they were
in the street they found no carriage, and
they began to look for one, crying after
the coachman whom they saw in the
distance.
They went towards the Seine in de-
spair, shivering At last they found on
the quay one Of those old noctambulist
coupes that are seen only in Paris as the
night comes on, as if they were asham-
ed of their wretchedness during the day.
He took them to their door on the
street of Martyrs, and sadly they went
up to their room. 1t was ended for her.
And he was thinking that he must be at
the ministry at 10 o'clock.
She took off her wraps that she had
thrown over her shoulders, before the
glass, in order to see herself once more
in her glory. But suddenly she utter
ed cry. She had no longer the neck
lace about her neck!
Her husband, already half undressed,
asked: What is the matter?"
She turned towards him IN fright:
81 have-I have-I lave no longer
Nine. Foresticr's necklacen'
He stood up distracted: WHAT
How'll is not possibler'
And they looked in the folds of her
dress, in her pockets, everywhere.
They did not find it.
II asked: you are sure you still
had it when you left the ballp"
Yes. | touched it in the Minister 8
vestibule."
But if you had lost it in the street,
we should have heard it fall. 1t must
be in the cab"
Yes; it is probable. Have you the
numbcr?"
No. And you, did not you look at
No"
And they looked at each other in
CONSERVATION. At last Loisel dressed
himself again.
Il am going" he said, "over the
track that we went on foot, to see if |
can not find it again"
And he left. She remained dressed
just as she was, without the strength
to 60 to bed, overcome, on n chair,
without fire, without thought.
Her husband came back about seven.
He had found nothing.
He went to the Prefecture of Police,
to the papers, to offer n reward, to the
the cab companies, finally everywhere
where suspicion of hope impelled him.
She waited all day in the same state
of fright before this frightful disaster.
Loisel came back in the evening,
with his face pale and sunken; he had
discovered nothing.
you must write to your friend"
he said, THAT you have broken the
clasp of her necklace, and that you
are having it repaired. That will give
us time to return it."
She wrote as he dictated.
At the end of week they had lost all
hope.
And Loisel, five years older, declared:
I'VE must think how to replace the
jewel"
Next day they took the box in which
it had been kept and went to the jewel
er's, whose name they found inside.
He consulted his books.
ut was not |, madame, who sold that
necklace; l must have furnished the
casket."
Then they went from jeweler to jew
eler, seeking for another necklace like
it, consulting their recollections, both
of them i'll with grief and despair.
They found in a shop of the Palais
Royal, a chaplet of diamonds that APP
peared to them exactly like the one
they were looking for. 1t was worth
about forty thousand francs. They
could have it for thirty-six thousand.
Then they begged the jeweler not to
sell it for three days. And they made
a condition that they would give it back
for thirty-four thousand francs if the
first was found again before the LIST of
February.
Loisel possessed eighteen thousand
francs, left him by his father. He bor-
rowed the rest
He borrowed, asking thousand
francs of one, five hundred of another,
five louis here, three louis there. He
gave notes, took up ruinous contracts.
did business with the userers, with
every kind of lenders. He compromis-
ed the whole end of his existence, risked
his signature, without knowing even il
he could do SO honorably. and appalled,
by the distress of the future, by the
black misery that was to strike him
down. by the prospect of every kind Of
physical privation, and every kind Of
moral fortune, he went for the new
necklace, placing on the counter of the
merchant thirty-six thousand francs.
When Nine. Loisel brought back the
parure to Nine. Forester, the latter
said with CALLING manner:
you should have returned it sooner
for / might have wanted it.
She did not open the casket, which
her friend was in dread of. If she hat
seen the substitution, what would sh,
! bova saidp Would she not have take,