She thought of quiet antechambers, with their Oriental hangings, lighted by high, bronze torches, and of the two great footmen in short trousers who sleep in the large armchairs, made sleepy by the heavy air from the heating apparatus. The sight of the little Breton, who made this humble home, awoke in her sad regrets and desperate dreams. All these things, which another woman of her station would not have noticed, tortured and angered her.

She suffered from the poverty of her apartment, the shabby walls, the worn chairs, and the faded stuffs. She suffered incessantly, feeling herself born for all delicacies and luxuries. Their inborn finesse, their instinctive elegance, their suppleness of wit are their only aristocracy, making some daughters of the people the equal of great ladies.

She was simple, not being able to adorn herself but she was unhappy, as one out of her class for women belong to no caste, no race their grace, their beauty, and their charm serving them in the place of birth and family. She had no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known, appreciated, loved, and married by a man either rich or distinguished and she allowed herself to marry a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. She was one of those pretty, charming young ladies, born, as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks.

Maupassant the necklace