She would pay it (Maupassant 50).
Maupassant does not report the response of Mathilde when she learns from her rich friend that the necklace she had lost ten years before was a cheap imitation. Possibly, like Louise when she learned her controlling husband was alive, Mathilde dropped dead. In any case, it would be interesting to learn if she maintained her heroic attitude toward the ten years of hard labor she endured in order to pay back a debt she never owed. The lesson for Mathilde in the end remains what it was in the beginning: do not live according to false and superficial values and do not judge yourself or others by material standards.
Louise has a much more subtle character than Mathilde. Mathilde is a simple woman who lives according to superficial standards. Mathilde is a woman who is transparent despite her desire to be something she is not; Louise is revealed as a complex woman whose true character is revealed only
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