The course of the Loisel’ life changed due to the necklace. After replacing the lost necklace with a new one, they had to repay all the money that they had borrowed to buy the new necklace. They sent away the maid and changed their lodgings. They rented some rooms in an attic. Matilda learnt the odious work of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, soiled linen, their clothes and dishcloths. She even took down the refuse to the street each morning and brought up the water, stopping at each landing to catch her breath. She went to the grocer’, the butcher’, and the fruitier’, with a basket on her arm, shopping, haggling to save her money. Loisel worked in the evenings, putting the books of some merchants in order. At night, he did copy work at five sou a page. This lasted for ten years, and at the end of the said **, they were finally able to repay their lenders.
