fall upon him, by the prospect of all the physical privations and of all the moral tortures which he
was to suffer, he went to get the new necklace, putting down upon. the merchant’s counter thirty-
six thousand francs.
When Mine. Loisel took back the necklace, Mme. Forestier said to her, with a chilly manner:
“You should have returned it sooner, I might have needed it.”
She did not open the case, as her friend had so much feared. If she had detected the
substitution, what would she have thought, what would she have said? Would she not have taken
Mine. Loisel for a thief?
Mine. Loisel now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover, all on
a sudden, with heroism. That dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their
servant; they changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof.