“Do you remember that diamond necklace you lent me
to wear at the ministerial ball?”
“Yes. Well?”
“Well, I lost it.”
“What do you mean? You brought it back.”
“I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has
taken us ten years to pay for it. You can understand that it was
not easy for us, for us who had nothing. At last, it is ended and
I am very glad.”
Madame Forestier had stopped.
“You say that you bought a necklace of diamonds to
replace mine?”
“Yes. You never noticed it, then! They were very
similar.”
And she smiled with a joy that was at once proud and
ingenuous. Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands.
“Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It
was worth at most only five hundred francs!”
( a ) What does the word it in line 4 refer to? [1 mark]
( b ) How many years did the couple take to repay their debts? [1 mark]
( c ) What was Madame Forestier’s reaction when she discovered that the necklace was genuine? [1 mark]
( d ) You are Mr. Loisel and has come to know that the necklace is a fake. How will you react? [2 marks]
