The Necklace
Guy de Maupassant
Mathilde was one of those pretty, charming girls who are born, as if through a mistake of fate, into poor families,She had no wealth, no hopes, no way of finding a rich and distinguished husband, and so she had no choice but to agree to marry a little clerk in the Ministry of Public Education.
Her tastes should have been simple, because she had never possessed very much, and yet she was as unhappy as if she had once been rich and had lost everything. She felt in her heart that she had been born for luxury, and she sufferd bitterly from the misery of her life. She hated the dirty walls, the worn-out furniture, and the faded curtains in her home. Most other women in her station in life would not have noticed these things, but they made her miserable and angry. She spent hours dreaming of quiet, elegant rooms hung with painting, lighted by lamps in silver holders, where she would be waited upon by servants in expensive uniforms. She often imagained herself in agreat drawing room,conversing with clevered, important , and famous people.The walls would be coverd with sillk, the graceful furniture would be made of rare and costly woods, and there would be perfume in the air.