Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-09-06

having it repaired. 1t will give us
time to turn around"
She wrote at his dictation.
At the end of a week they had lost
all hope.
And Loisel, looking five years old
er, declared:
I'VE must consider how to replace
the ornament"
| The next day they took the box which |
had contained it, and went to the place
of the jeweler whose name they found |
inside. He consulted his books.
1T was not |, madame, who sold the |
necklace: must simply have furnish
| ed the caSket
Then they went from jeweler to jew
eler, looking for an ornament like the |
other consulting their memories, both |
sick with chagrin and anguish
| They found, i'm the shop at the Pa
Iais-Roval, a string of diamonds which |
seemed to them exactly what they |
were looking for. 1t was worth forty |
thousand francs. They could have it |
for thirty-siX thousand.
| So they begged the jewcler not to |
sell il for three days. And they made |
an arrangement that he should take it
back for thirty y-four thousands francs
if the other were found before the |
end of of February.
| I.oisel had eighteen thousand francs
|
would borrow the rest
He did borrow, asking thousand
| francs of one. five hundred of another.
We louis here, three louis there. He
| gave notes. made ruinOus engage
ments, dealt with usurers, with all the |
| tribe of money-lenders. He c"mpro-
| missed the rest of his life. risked his
signature without knowing if he might
not he involving his honor and. terri
| fled by the anguish yet to come, by |
the black misery about to fall upon
him, by the prospect of every physical
privation and every mental torture. he
| went to get the new necklace. and laid |
down on the dealers counter thirty
six thousand francs.
When Madame I.oisel took the orna-
mont back To Madame Forester. the
latter said coldly:
You should have returned ii soon
er. for l might have needed it,"
She did not open the case, to the
relief of her friend If she had de-
| tected the substitution, what would
she have thought? What would she
have said? Would she have taken her
friend for a thief?
Madame I.oiscl now knew the horri-
| ble life of the needy, moreover, all at
once she took her part hcroically. They
must pay this frghtful debt. She
would pay it. They dismissed their
maid. they gave up their apartment,
they rented another under the roof.
She came to know the drudgcry OF
| housework. the odious cares "f the
kitchen. She washed the dishes, us
ing her rosy nails on the greasy pots
and the bottoms of the saucepans. she
| washed the dirty linen, the shirts ana
| the dishcloths, which she hung to dry
on a line, she carried the garbage t"
the street every morning, and carried
up the water, stopping at each landing
to rest. And, dressed like woman OF
the people, she went To the fruiterers'
the grocer'S, the butcher's her basket
on her arm, bargaining, abusing, d'-
Tending sou by sou her miserable mon
ey.
Each month they had to pay some
notes. renew others. obtain more time.
| The husband worked evenings neatly
footing up the account books "t som"
| tradcsman, and often far int" the night
he sat copying manuscript at five sous
page.
And this lasted ten years
At the end of ten years they had
paid evcrything-cv"rythin with the
cXactiuns Of usury and the accumuia-
| tionS of compound interest.
| Madame I.oiscl seemed old now. Sh"
had become the woman of an imp"Ner-
| ished houschuld-strung and hard ana
rough With hair half c"mb"d, win
skirts awry, and redeemed hands. she
talked loud as she washed the floor
with great Swishcs of water. hut
sometimes, when her husband was at
| the office, she sat down near tn" VIM
dow and thought Of that evening at
the ball So long ago, when sh" had
hccn SO beautiful and 81 feted.
| hnt,ninn1
had not lost that necklace. Nh"
knows. who knows? How strang" lif"
is. how changeful! How littl" thing
is needed for us to be lost or +" i"
saved!
Rut "m" Sunday. as she was going
for a walk in the Champs ElyS""S |"
refresh herself after the lah"rs OF th'
week. all at once Sh" SAW woman
walking with child. 1t WAS Madam"
Forester. still Young, still beautiful.
still charming.
Madam" Lnisrl was agitat"d. Should
she speak t" her" Why. of course.
And now that she had paid. sh" would
tell her all Why not?
She went up.
"Huninur. Jeanne.
The other. aStuniSh"d to j." address
ed So familiarly lay this woman al TN"
people. did not recognize her Sh'
stammrrrd:
"Hut-madam Il" not know N"m.
You must have mad" mistake.
No. | am Mathild" l-"is"l."
Her friend uttered Il cry.
"Uh. my poor Mathild" how chang
ed YOU are"
Yes. have had days hard enough
since saw you. days wr"tch"d enough
and all hrcaus" of r"u!'
Me" How So?
You remember that n"cklac" of dia-
m"nds that YOU lent m" t" wear L" tn"
| ministerial hail 49,