《林贝卡》
Rebecca Lin
昨天读到雅歌在【美语世界】贴的【英文小说欣赏】《The Donkey》 By G.d. 莫泊桑, 我就想起了在国内读中学时，读过的莫泊桑写的【项链】，赶忙就去网上查询【项链】的中英版本，真高兴，总算都找到了。
【项链】讲的是美丽漂亮的玛蒂尔蒂，她和她的丈夫被邀参加由教育部长, 在本部大楼举办的晚会。为了参加这次晚会，玛蒂尔蒂买了高雅得体的裙子，借了好朋友伏来士洁太太的项链。他们如期前往了，那晚，她是晚会上最亮丽最迷人的女人，她陶醉了。然而，晚会结束后，正准备回家时，玛蒂尔蒂突然发现项链不见了。她和她的丈夫到处寻找项链，也没有找到。最后，他们不得不四处借钱，买了一条价值三万六千法郎，外观和伏来士洁太太的项链，一模一样的项链还给她。为了偿还买项链的债务，玛蒂尔蒂和丈夫从此开始了长达10年的艰辛生活和工作，总算把债务还清了。
10年后的一天，玛蒂尔蒂在街上再遇伏来士洁太太。伏来士洁太太已经认不出玛蒂尔蒂了。10年还债的艰辛，玛蒂尔蒂美丽不再，留下的只是沧桑。玛蒂尔蒂告诉了伏来士洁太太，她化了三万六千法郎买了一条项链还给她时，伏来士洁太太告诉玛蒂尔蒂，那项链是假的，才值五百金法郎，文章到此嘎然而止。读到这里，那份心痛真是不可言状。
莫泊桑简介
莫泊桑（1850年8月9日－1893年7月6日），法国作家。 莫泊桑的母亲是福楼拜的朋友，而且对经典作品如莎士比亚的戏剧感兴趣。十三岁前莫泊桑一直和母亲一起生活，他喜欢室外运动，尤其是钓鱼，并且深爱着自己的母亲。在去里昂上高中时，他表现出对诗歌和戏剧的浓厚兴趣。
1870年莫泊桑毕业后不久，普法战争爆发，他志愿入伍，作战勇敢。战后，他离开诺曼底前往巴黎，在海军部门作了十年的公务员。在这十年单调生活中，他唯一的娱乐就是周日在塞纳河上划船和假期。福楼拜指导莫泊桑的文学创作。在福楼拜家里，莫泊桑遇到了屠格涅夫、左拉和都德等人。随着短篇小说的发表和与名作家交流，莫泊桑名气日隆。
1880年莫泊桑转到公共教育部门任职，并担任一些有影响力刊物的编辑。他利用空闲时间继续创作短篇小说，完成了杰作《脂肪球》，获得巨大成功。福楼拜称之为“可以流传于世的杰作”，于1880年收录于《梅塘夜谭》。他的主要作品有：《一生》,《漂亮朋友》，《皮埃尔和让》，《脂肪球 》 《项链》。
莫泊桑喜欢隐居，孤独与沉思，他常常独自前往各地旅行。同时他也保持着和其他作家比如大仲马和泰纳等的联系。在1891年之后，莫泊桑越发喜欢孤独的生活，1893年病逝。（来源：维基百科 ）
请点击阅读：【英文小说欣赏】《The Donkey》 By G.d. 莫泊桑 来源 【美语世界】雅歌
The Necklace Author: Guy de Maupassant
SHE was one of those pretty and charming girls, born by a blunder of destiny in a family of employees. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, married by a man rich and distinguished; and she let them make a match for her with a little clerk in the Department of Education.
She was simple since she could not be adorned; but she was unhappy as though kept out of her own class; for women have no caste and no descent, their beauty, their grace, and their charm serving them instead of birth and fortune. Their native keenness, their instinctive elegance, their flexibility of mind, are their only hierarchy; and these make the daughters of the people the equals of the most lofty dames.
She suffered intensely, feeling herself born for every delicacy and every luxury. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the worn walls, the abraded chairs, the ugliness of the stuffs. All these things, which another woman of her caste would not even have noticed, tortured her and made her indignant. The sight of the little girl from Brittany who did her humble housework awoke in her desolated regrets and distracted dreams. She let her mind dwell on the quiet vestibules, hung with Oriental tapestries, lighted by tall lamps of bronze, and on the two tall footmen in knee breeches who dozed in the large armchairs, made drowsy by the heat of the furnace. She let her mind dwell on the large parlors, decked with old silk, with their delicate furniture, supporting precious bric-a-brac, and on the coquettish little rooms, perfumed, prepared for the five o’clock chat with the most intimate friends, men well known and sought after, whose attentions all women envied and desired.
When she sat down to dine, before a tablecloth three days old, in front of her husband, who lifted the cover of the tureen, declaring with an air of satisfaction, “Ah, the good pot-au-feu. I don’t know anything better than that,” she was thinking of delicate repasts, with glittering silver, with tapestries peopling the walls with ancient figures and with strange birds in a fairy-like forest; she was thinking of exquisite dishes, served in marvelous platters, of compliment whispered and heard with a sphinx-like smile, while she was eating the rosy flesh of a trout or the wings of a quail.
She had no dresses, no jewelry, nothing. And she loved nothing else; she felt herself made for that only. She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be seductive and sought after.
She had a rich friend, a comrade of her convent days, whom she did not want to go and see any more, so much did she suffer as she came away. And she wept all day long, from chagrin, from regret, from despair, and from distress.
But one evening her husband came in with a proud air, holding in his hand a large envelope. “There,” said he, “there’s something for you.” She quickly tore the paper and took out of it a printed card which bore these words:“The Minister of Education and Mme. Georges Rampouneau beg M. and Mme. Loisel to do them the honor to pass the evening with them at the palace of the Ministry, on Monday, January 18.”
Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw the invitation on the table with annoyance, murmuring“What do you want me to do with that?”
“But, my dear, I thought you would be pleased. You never go out, and here’s a chance, a fine one. I had the hardest work to get it. Everybody is after them; they are greatly sought for and not many are given to the clerks. You will see there all the official world.”
She looked at him with an irritated eye and she declared with impatience:“What do you want me to put on my back to go there?” He had not thought of that; he hesitated:
“But the dress in which you go to the theater. That looks very well to me” He shut up, astonished and distracted at seeing that his wife was weeping. Two big tears were descending slowly from the corners of the eyes to the corners of the mouth. He stuttered: What’s the matter? What’s the matter?” But by a violent effort she had conquered her trouble, and she replied in a calm voice as she wiped her damp cheeks:
“Nothing. Only I have no clothes, and in consequence I cannot go to this party. Give your card to some colleague whose wife has a better outfit than I.”
He was disconsolate. He began again:“See here, Mathilde, how much would this cost, a proper dress, which would do on other occasions; something very simple?” She reflected a few seconds, going over her calculations, and thinking also of the sum which she might ask without meeting an immediate refusal and a frightened exclamation from the frugal clerk. “At last, she answered hesitatingly:
“I don’t know exactly, but it seems to me that with four hundred francs I might do it.”
He grew a little pale, for he was reserving just that sum to buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting, the next summer, on the plain of Nanterre, with some friends who used to shoot larks there on Sundays. But he said:“All right. I will give you four hundred francs. But take care to have a pretty dress.”
The day of the party drew near, and Mme. Loisel seemed sad, restless, anxious. Yet her dress was ready. One evening her husband said to her:“What’s the matter? Come, now, you have been quite queer these last three days.” And she answered:
“It annoys me not to have a jewel, not a single stone, to put on. I shall look like distress. I would almost rather not go to this party.” He answered:“You will wear some natural flowers. They are very stylish this time of the year. For ten francs you will have two or three magnificent roses.” But she was not convinced. “No; there’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among a lot of rich women.” But her husband cried:“What a goose you are! Go find your friend, Mme. Forester, and ask her to lend you some jewelry. You know her well enough to do that.”
She gave a cry of joy:“That’s true. I had not thought of it.”
The next day she went to her friend’s and told her about her distress. Mme. Forester went to her mirrored wardrobe, took out a large casket, brought it, opened it, and said to Mme. Loisel:“Choose, my dear.” She saw at first bracelets, then a necklace of pearls, then a Venetian cross of gold set with precious stones of an admirable workmanship. She tried on the ornaments before the glass, hesitated, and could not decide to take them off and to give them up. She kept on asking:“You haven’t anything else?” “Yes, yes. Look. I do not know what will happen to please you.”
All at once she discovered, in a box of black satin, a superb necklace of diamonds, and her heart began to beat with boundless desire. Her hands trembled in taking it up. She fastened it round her throat, on her high dress, and remained in ecstasy before herself.
Then, she asked, hesitating, full of anxiety:“Can you lend me this, only this?” “Yes, yes, certainly.” She sprang to her friend’s neck, kissed her with ardor, and then escaped with her treasure.
The day of the party arrived. Mme. Loisel was a success. She was the prettiest of them all, elegant, gracious, smiling, and mad with joy. All the men were looking at her, inquiring her name, asking to be introduced. All the attaches of the Cabinet wanted to dance with her. The Minister took notice of her.
She danced with delight, with passion, intoxicated with pleasure, thinking of nothing, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness made up of all these tributes, of all the admirations, of all these awakened desires, of this victory so complete and so sweet to a woman’s heart. She went away about four in the morning. Since midnight—her husband has been dozing in a little anteroom with three other men whose wives were having a good time.
He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought to go home in, modest garments of every-day life, the poverty of which was out of keeping with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this, and wanted to fly so as not to be noticed by the other women, who were wrapping themselves up in rich furs. Loisel kept her back“Wait a minute; you will catch cold outside; I’ll call a cab.” But she did not listen to him, and went downstairs rapidly. When they were in the street, they could not find a carriage, and they set out in search of one, hailing the drivers whom they saw passing in the distance.
They went down toward the Seine, disgusted, shivering. Finally, they found on the Quai one of those old night-hawk cabs which one sees in Paris only after night has fallen, as though they are ashamed of their misery in the daytime. It brought them to their door, rue des Martyrs; and they went up their own stairs sadly. For her it was finished. And he was thinking that he would have to be at the Ministry at ten o’clock.
She took off the wraps with which she had covered her shoulders, before the mirror, so as to see herself once more in her glory. But suddenly she gave a cry. She no longer had the necklace around her throat! Her husband, half undressed already, asked“What is the matter with you?” She turned to him, terror-stricken:“I—I—I have not Mme. Forester’s diamond necklace!” He jumped up, frightened“What? How? It is not possible!” And they searched in the folds of the dress, in the folds of the wrap, in the pockets, everywhere. They did not find it. He asked:“Are you sure you still had it when you left the ball?” “Yes, I touched it in the vestibule of the Ministry.” “But if you had lost it in the street, we should have heard it fall. It must be in the cab.” “Yes. That is probable. Did you take the number?” “No. And you—you did not even look at it?” “No.” They gazed at each other, crushed. At last Loisel dressed himself again. “I’m going,” he said, “back the whole distance we came on foot, to see if I cannot find it.”
And he went out. She stayed there, in her ball dress, without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, on a chair, without a fire, without a thought.
Her husband came back about seven o’clock. He had found nothing.
Then he went to police headquarters, to the newspapers to offer a reward, to the cab company; he did everything, in fact, that a trace of hope could urge him to.
She waited all day, in the same dazed state in face of this horrible disaster.
Loisel came back in the evening, with his face worn and white; 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 turn around.” She wrote as he dictated. At the end of a week they had lost all hope. And Loisel, aged by five years, declared:“We must see how we can replace those jewels.”
The next day they took the case which had held them to the jeweler whose name was in the cover. He consulted his books. “It was not I, madam, who sold this necklace. I only supplied the case.” Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, looking for a necklace like the other, consulting their memory,—sick both of them with grief and anxiety.
In a shop in the Palais Royal, they found a diamond necklace that seemed to them absolutely like the one they were seeking. It was priced forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six. They begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days. And they made a bargain that he should take it back for thirty-four thousand, if the first was found before the end of February. Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He had to borrow the remainder.
He borrowed, asking a thousand francs from one, five hundred from another, five here, three louis there. He gave promissory notes, made ruinous agreements, dealt with usurers, with all kinds of lenders. He compromised the end of his life, risked his signature without even knowing whether it could be honored; and, frightened by all the anguish of the future, by the black misery which was about to settle down on him, by the perspective of all sorts of physical deprivations and of all sorts of moral tortures, he went to buy the new diamond necklace, laying down on the jeweler’s counter thirty-six thousand francs.
When Mme. Loisel took back the necklace to Mme. Forester, the latter said, with an irritated air:“You ought to have brought it back sooner, for I might have needed it.”
She did not open the case, which her friend had been fearing. If she had noticed the substitution, what would she have thought? What would she have said? Might she not have been taken for a thief?
Mme. Loisel learned the horrible life of the needy. She made the best of it, moreover, frankly, heroically. The frightful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed the servant; they changed their rooms; they took an attic under the roof. She learned the rough work of the household, the odious labors of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, wearing out her pink nails on the greasy pots and the bottoms of the pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and the towels, which she dried on a rope; she carried down the garbage to the street every morning, and she carried up the water, pausing for breath on every floor. And, dressed like a woman of the people, she went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, a basket on her arm, bargaining, insulted, fighting for her wretched money, sou by sou.
Every month they had to pay notes, to renew others to gain time. The husband worked in the evening keeping up the books of a shopkeeper, and at night often he did copying at five sous the page. And this life lasted ten years. At the end of ten years they had paid everything back, everything, with the rates of usury and all the accumulation of heaped-up interest. Mme. Loisel seemed aged now. She had become the robust woman, hard and rough, of a poor household. Badly combed, with her skirts awry and her hands red, her voice was loud, and she washed the floor with splashing water. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down by the window and she thought of that evening 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 singular life is, how changeable! What a little thing it takes to save you or to lose you.
Then, one Sunday, as she was taking a turn in the Champs Elysées, as a recreation after the labors of the week, she perceived suddenly a woman walking with a child. It was Mme. Forester, still young, still beautiful, still seductive. Mme. Loisel felt moved. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly. And now that she had paid up, she would tell her all. Why not? She drew near.
“Good morning, Jeanne.” The other did not recognize her, astonished to be hailed thus familiarly by this woman of the people.
She hesitated“But—madam—I don’t know—are you not making a mistake?” “No. I am Mathilde Loisel.” Her friend gave a cry“Oh!—My poor Mathilde, how you are changed.”
“Yes, I have had hard days since I saw you, and many troubles,—and that because of you.”
“Of me?—How so?”
“You remember that diamond necklace that you lent me to go to the ball at the Ministry?”
“Yes. And then?”
“Well, I lost it.”
“How can that be?—since you brought it back to me?”
“I brought you back another just like it. And now for ten years we have been paying for it. You will understand that it was not easy for us, who had nothing. At last, it is done, and I am mighty glad.”
Mme. Forester had guessed.
“You say that you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?”
“Yes. You did not notice it, even, did you? They were exactly alike?”
And she smiled with proud and joy.
Mme. Forester, much moved, took her by both hands:
“Oh, my poor Mathilde. But mine were fake. At most they were worth five hundred francs!” ( Source：http://bbs.tecn.cn/archiver/?tid-88869.html )
《项链》 作者： 莫泊桑
世上的漂亮动人的女子，每每像是由于命运的差错似地，出生在一个小职员的家庭；我们现在要说的这一个正是这样。她没有陪嫁的资产，没有希望，没有任何方法使得一个既有钱又有地位的人认识她，了解她，爱她，娶她；到末了，她将将就就和教育部的一个小科员结了婚。
不能够讲求装饰，她是朴素的，但是不幸得像是一个降了等的女人；因为妇女们本没有阶级，没有门第之分，她们的美，她们的丰韵和她们的诱惑力就是供她们做出身和家世之用的。她们的天生的机警，出众的本能，柔顺的心灵，构成了她们唯一的等级，而且可以把民间的女子提得和最高的贵妇人一样高。
她觉得自己本是为了一切精美的和一切豪华的事物而生的，因此不住地感到痛苦。由于自己房屋的寒伧，墙壁的粗糙，家具的陈旧，衣料的庸俗，她非常难过。这一切，在另一个和她同等的妇人心上，也许是不会注意的，然而她却因此伤心，又因此懊恼，那个替她照料琐碎家务的布列塔尼省的小女佣人的样子，使她产生了种种忧苦的遗憾和胡思乱想。她梦想着那些静悄悄的接待室，如何蒙着东方的帏幕，如何点着青铜的高脚灯檠，如何派着两个身穿短裤子的高个儿侍应生听候指使，而热烘烘的空气暖炉使得两个侍应生都在大型的圈椅上打盹。她梦想那些披着古代壁衣的大客厅，那些摆着无从估价的瓷瓶的精美家具；她梦想那些精致而且芬芳的小客厅，自己到了午后五点光景，就可以和亲切的男朋友在那儿闲谈，和那些被妇女界羡慕的并且渴望一顾的知名男子在那儿闲谈。
然而事实上，她每天吃晚饭的时候，就在那张小圆桌跟前和她的丈夫对面坐下了，桌上盖的白布要三天才换一回，丈夫把那只汤池的盖子一揭开，就用一种高兴的神气说道：“哈！好肉汤！世上没有比它更好的……”因此她又梦想那些丰盛精美的筵席了，梦想那些光辉灿烂的银器皿了，梦想那些满绣着仙境般的园林和其间的古装仕女以及古怪飞禽的壁衣了；她梦想那些用名贵的盘子盛着的佳肴美味了，梦想那些在吃着一份肉色粉红的鲈鱼或者一份松鸡翅膀的时候带着朗爽的微笑去细听的情话了。
而且她没有像样的服装，没有珠宝首饰，什么都没有。可是她偏偏只欢喜这一套，觉得自己是为了这一套而生的。她早就指望自己能够取悦于人，能够被人羡慕，能够有诱惑力而且被人追求。
她有一个有钱的女朋友，一个在教会女学里的女同学，可是现在已经不再想去看她，因为看了之后回来，她总会感到痛苦。于是她由于伤心，由于遗憾，由于失望并且由于忧虑，接连她要不料某一天傍晚，她丈夫带着得意扬扬的神气回来了，手里拿着一个大信封。“瞧吧，”他说：“这儿有点儿东西是专门为了你的。”她赶忙拆开了信封，从里面抽了一张印着这样语句的请帖：
“教育部长若尔日·郎波诺暨夫人荣幸地邀请骆塞尔先生和骆塞尔太太参加一月十八日星期一在本部大楼举办的晚会。”
她丈夫希望她一定快活得很，谁知她竟带着伤心而且生气的样子把请帖扔到桌上，冷冰冰地说：
“你叫我拿着这东西怎么办？”
“不过，亲人儿，我原以为你大概是满意的。你素来不出门，并且这是一个机会，这东西，一个好机会！我费了多少力才弄到手。大家都想要请帖，它是很难弄到手的，却又没有多少份发给同事们。将来在晚会上看得见政界的全部人物。”
她用一种暴怒的眼光瞧着他，后来她不耐烦地高声说：
“你叫我身上穿着什么到那儿去？”
他以前原没有想到这一层；支吾地说：
“不过，你穿了去看戏的那件裙袍。我觉得它很好，我……”
瞧见他妻子流着眼泪，他不说话了，吃惊了，心里糊涂了。两大滴眼泪慢慢地从她的眼角向着口角流下来；他吃着嘴说：
“你有点怎样？你有点怎样？”
但是她用一种坚强的忍耐心镇住了自己的痛苦，擦着自己那副润湿了的脸蛋儿，一面用一道宁静的声音回答：“没有什么。不过我没有衣裳，所以我不能够去赴这个晚会。你倘若有一个同事，他的妻子能够比我打扮得好些，你就把这份请帖送给他。”
他发愁了，接着说道：
“这么着吧，玛蒂尔蒂。要花多少钱，一套像样的衣裳，以后遇着机会你还可以再穿的，简单一些的？”
她思索了好几秒钟，确定她的盘算，并且也考虑到这个数目务必可以由她要求，不至于引起这个节俭科员的一种吃惊的叫唤和一个干脆的拒绝。
末了她迟迟疑疑地回答：
“细数呢，我不晓得，不过我估计，有四百金法郎，总可以办得到。”
他的脸色有点儿发青了，因为他手里正存着这样一个数目预备去买一支枪，使得自己在今年夏天的星期日里，可以和几个打猎的朋友们到南兑尔那一带平原地方去打鸟。 然而他却回答道：“就是这样吧。我给你四百金法郎。不过你要想法子去做一套漂亮的裙袍。”
晚会的日期已经近了，骆塞尔太太好像在发愁，不放心，心里有些焦躁不安。然而她的新裙袍却办好了。她丈夫某一天傍晚问她：“你有点怎样？想想吧，这三天以来，你是很异样的。”于是她说：“没有一件首饰，没有一粒宝石，插的和戴的，一点儿也没有，这件事真教我心烦。简直太穷酸了。现在我宁可不去赴这个晚会。”
他接着说道：
“你将来可以插戴几朵鲜花。在现在的时令里，那是很出色的。花十个金法郎，你可以买得到两三朵很好看的玫瑰花。”她一点也听不进去。
“不成……世上最教人丢脸的，就是在许多有钱的女人堆里露穷相。”
但是她丈夫高声叫唤起来：
“你真糊涂！去找你的朋友伏来士洁太太，问她借点首饰。你和她的交情，是可以开口的。”
她迸出了一道快活的叫唤： “这是真的。这一层我当初简直没有想过。”
第二天，她到她这位朋友家里去了，向她谈起了自己的烦闷。伏来士洁太太向着她那座嵌着镜子的大衣柜跟前走过去，取出一个大的盒子，带过来打开向骆塞尔太太说： “你自己选吧，亲爱的。”
她最初看见许多手镯，随后一个用珍珠镶成的项圈，随后一个威尼斯款式的金十字架，镶着宝石的，做工非常精巧。她在镜子跟前试着这些首饰，迟疑不决，舍不得丢开这些东西，归还这些东西。她老问着。
“你还有没有一点什么别的？”
“有的是，你自己找吧。我不晓得哪件合得上你的意思。”她忽然在一只黑缎子做的小盒子里，发现了一串用金刚钻镶成的项链，那东西真地压得倒一切；于是她的心房因为一种奢望渐渐跳起来。她双手拿着那东西发抖，她把它压着自己裙袍的领子绕在自己的颈项上面了，对着自己在镜子里的影子出了半天的神。
后来，她带看满腔的顾虑迟疑地问道：
“你能够借这东西给我吗，我只借这一件？”
“当然可以，当然可以。”
她跳起来抱着她朋友的颈项，热烈地吻了又吻，末后，她带着这件宝贝溜也似地走了。
晚会的日子到了，骆塞尔太太得到极大的成功，她比一般女宾都要漂亮，时髦，迷人，不断地微笑，并且乐得发狂。一般男宾都望着她出神，探听她的姓名，设法使人把自己引到她跟前作介绍。本部机要处的人员都想和她跳舞，部长也注意她。她用陶醉的姿态舞着，用兴奋的动作舞着，她沉醉在欢乐里，她满意于自己的容貌的胜利，满意于自己的成绩的光荣；满意于那一切阿谀赞叹和那场使得女性认为异常完备而且甜美的凯歌，一种幸福的祥云包围着她。所以她什么都不思虑了。
她是清晨四点钟光景离开的。她丈夫自从半夜十二点钟光景，就同着另外三位男宾在一间无人理会的小客厅里睡着了；这三位男宾的妻子也正舞得很快活。
他对她的肩头上披上了那些为了上街而带来的衣裳，家常用的俭朴的衣裳，这些东西的寒伧意味是和跳舞会里的服装的豪华气派不相称的。她感到了这一层，于是为了避免另外那些裹着珍贵皮衣的太太们注意，她竟想逃遁了。
骆塞尔牵住了她：
“等着吧。你到外面会受寒。我去找一辆出租的街车来吧。”
不过她绝不听从他，匆匆忙忙下了台阶儿。等到他俩走到街上竟找不着车了；于是他俩开始去寻觅，追着那些他们远远地望得见的车子。
他俩向着塞纳河的河沿走下去，两个人感到失望，浑身冷得发抖。末了，他俩在河沿上竟找着了一辆像是夜游病者一样的旧式轿车——这样的车子白天在巴黎如同感到自惭形秽，所以要到天黑以后才看得见它们。
车子把他俩送到殉教街的寓所大门外了，他俩惆怅地上了楼。在她，这算是结束了。而他呢，却想起了自己明天早上十点钟应当到部。
她在镜子跟前脱下了那些围着肩头的大氅之类，想再次端详端详无比荣耀的自己。但是陡然间她发出了一声狂叫。她已经没有那串围着颈项的金刚钻项链了！
她丈夫这时候已经脱了一半衣裳，连忙问：
“你有点怎样？”
她发痴似地转过身来向着他：
“我已经……我已经……我现在找不着伏来士洁太太那串项链了。”
他张皇失措地站起来：
“什么！……怎样！……哪儿会有这样的事！”
于是他俩在那件裙袍的衣褶里，大氅的衣褶里，口袋里，都寻了一个遍。到处都找不到它。
他问道：
“你能够保证离开舞会的时候还挂着那东西吗？”
“对呀，我在部里的过道里还摸过它。”
“不过，倘若你在路上失掉了它，我们可以听得见它落下去的声响。它应当在车子里。”
“对呀。这是可能的。你可曾记下车子的号码？”
“没有。你呢，你当初也没有注意？”
“没有。”
他俩口呆目瞪地互相瞧着。末了，骆塞尔重新着好了衣裳。
“我去，”他说，“我去把我俩步行经过的路线再走一遍，去看看是不是可以找得着它。”
于是他出街了。她呢，连睡觉的气力都没有，始终没有换下那套参加晚会的衣裳，就靠在一把围椅上面，屋子里没有生火，脑子里什么也不想。
她丈夫在七点钟回家。什么也没有找着。
他走到警察总厅和各报馆里去悬一种赏格，又走到各处出租小马车的公司，总而言之，凡是有一线希望的地方都走了一个遍。
她对着这种骇人的大祸，在惊愕状态中间整整地等了一天。
骆塞尔在傍晚的时候带着瘦削灰白的脸回来了；他一点什么也没有发现过。
“应当，”他说，“写信给你那个女朋友说你弄断了那串项链的搭钩，现在正叫人在那里修理。这样我们就可以有周转的时间。”
她在他的口授之下写了这封信。
一星期以后，他们任何希望都消失了。并且骆塞尔像是老了五年，高声说道：
“现在应当设法去赔这件宝贝了。”
第二天，他们拿了盛那件宝贝的盒子，照着盒子里面的招牌到了珠宝店里，店里的老板查过了许多账簿。
“从前，太太，这串项链不是我店里卖出去的，我只做了这个盒子。”
于是他俩到一家家的首饰店去访问了，寻觅一件和失掉的那件首饰相同的东西，凭着自己的记忆力做参考，他俩因为伤心和忧愁都快要生病了。
他们在故宫街一家小店里找到了一串用金刚钻镶成的念珠，他们觉得正像他们寻觅的那一串。它值得四万金法郎。店里可以作三万六千让给他俩。
他们所以央求那小店的老板在三天之内不要卖掉这东西。并且另外说好了条件：倘若原有的那串在二月底以前找回来，店里就用三万四千金当郎收买这串回去。
骆塞尔本存着他父亲从前留给他的一万八千金法郎。剩下的数目就得去借了。
他动手借钱了，向这一个借一千金法郎，向那个借五百，向这里借五枚鲁意金元，向另一处又借三枚。他签了许多借据，订了许多破产性的契约，和那些盘剥重利的人，各种不同国籍的放款人打交道。他损害了自己后半生的前程，他不顾成败利钝冒险地签上了自己的名姓，并且，想到了将来的苦恼，想到了就会压在身上的黑暗贫穷，想到了整个物质上的匮乏和全部精神上的折磨造成的远景，他感到恐怖了，终于走到那个珠宝商人的柜台边放下了三万六千金法郎，取了那串新项链。
在骆塞尔太太把首饰还给伏来士洁太太的时候，这一位用一种不高兴的神情向她说：
“你应当早点儿还给我，因为我也许要用它。”
她当时并没有打开那只盒子，这正是她的女朋友担忧的事。倘若看破了这件代替品，她将要怎样想？她难道不会把她当做一个贼？
骆塞尔太太尝到了穷人的困窘生活了。此外，突然一下用英雄气概打定了主意，那笔骇人的债是必须偿还的。她预备偿还它。他们辞退了女佣；搬了家；租了某处屋顶底下的一间阁楼下。
她开始做种种家务上的粗硬工作了，厨房里可厌的日常任务了。她洗濯杯盘碗碟，在罐子锅子的油垢底子上磨坏了那些玫瑰色的手指头。内衣和抹布都由她亲自用肥皂洗濯再晾到绳子上；每天早起，她搬运垃圾下楼，再把水提到楼上，每逢走完一层楼，就得坐在楼梯上喘口气。并且穿着得像是一个平民妇人了，她挽着篮子走到蔬菜店里、杂货店里和肉店里去讲价钱，去挨骂，极力一个铜元一个铜元地去防护她那点儿可怜的零钱。
每月都要收回好些借据，一面另外立几张新的去展缓日期。
她丈夫在傍晚的时候替一个商人誊清账目，时常到了深夜，他还得抄录那种五个铜元一面的书。
末后，这种生活延长到十年之久。
十年之末，他俩居然还清了全部债务，连同高利贷者的利钱以及由利上加利滚成的数目。
骆塞尔太太像是老了。现在，她已经变成了贫苦人家的强健粗硬而且耐苦的妇人了。乱挽着头发，歪歪地系着裙子，露着一双发红的手，高声说话，大盆水洗地板。但是有时候她丈夫到办公室里去了，她独自坐在窗前，于是就回想从前的那个晚会，那个跳舞会，在那里，她当时是那样美貌，那样快活。
倘若当时没有失掉那件首饰，她现在会走到什么样的境界？谁知道？谁知道？人生真是古怪，真是变化无常啊。无论是害您或者救您，只消一点点小事。
然而，某一个星期日，她正走到香榭丽舍大街兜个圈子去调剂一周之中的日常劳作，这时候忽然看见了一个带着孩子散步的妇人。那就是伏来士洁太太，她始终是年轻的，始终是美貌的，始终是有诱惑力的。
骆塞尔太太非常激动。要不要去和她攀谈？对的，当然。并且自己现在已经还清了债务，可以彻底告诉她。为什么不？她走近前去了。
“早安，约翰妮。”
那一位竟一点儿也不认识她了，以为自己被这个平民妇人这样亲热地叫唤是件怪事，她支支吾吾地说：
“不过……这位太太！……我不知道……大概应当是您弄错了。
“没有错。我是玛蒂尔德·骆塞尔呀。”
她那个女朋友狂叫了一声：
“噢！……可怜的玛蒂尔德，你真变了样子！……”
“对呀，我过了许多很艰苦的日子，自从我上一次见过你以后；并且种种苦楚都是为了你！……”
“为了我……这是怎样一回事？”
“从前，你不是借了一串金刚钻项链给我到部里参加晚会，现在，你可还记得？”
“记得，怎样呢？”
“怎样，我丢了那串东西。”
“哪儿的话，你早已还给我了。”
“我从前还给你的是另外一串完全相同的。到现在，我们花了十年工夫才付清它的代价。像我们什么也没有的人，你明白这件事是不容易的……现在算是还清了帐，我是结结实实满意的了。”
伏来士洁太太停住了脚步：
“你可是说从前买了一串金刚钻项链来赔偿我的那一串？”
“对呀，你从前简直没有看出来，是吗？那两串东西原是完全相同的。”
说完，她用一阵自负而又天真的快乐神气微笑了。
伏来士洁太太很受感动了，抓住了她两只手：
“唉。可怜的玛蒂尔德，不过我那一串本是假的，顶多值得五百金法郎！……”
(来源：http://www.clubsky.net/library/bookview_3498_3839.html)
来源: [ 美语世界 ]雅歌 于 07-07-06 17:03:16