4. Bé kāng-khoán ê phoa̍h-liān khì hêng
Nn̄g-ê lâng sio-siòng, sim-chêng jû chháng-chháng. Lo̍h-bóe, Loisel koh kā saⁿ chhēng hó.
"Góa lâi khì," i kóng, "kō͘ kiâⁿ ê, iân-lō͘ sûn tò-tńg, khòaⁿ ē-tàng chhōe tio̍h bô."
Chū án-ne i kiâⁿ chhut-khì. Yi lâu tī hia, bú-hōe ê saⁿ iáu chhēng tio̍h, bô khùi-la̍t khì bîn-chhn̂g, gāng-gāng chē tī í-á, bô sim bô chiâⁿ, thâu-khak khang-khang.
Chhit-tiám chó-iū, yin ang tńg lâi, siáⁿ mā bô chhōe tio̍h.
Āu-lâi, i khì kéng-chhat-kio̍k, khì kúi-ā keng pò-siā thê-kiong siúⁿ-kim, mā khì bé-chhia-hâng; chóng-sī, jīm-hô ū chi̍t-sut-á hi-bāng ê só͘-chāi i lóng khì ah.
Bīn-tùi chit-ê khó-phà ê chai-lān, yi kāng-khoán kui-ji̍t kiaⁿ-hiâⁿ, tī chhù tán kui-kang.
Boeh-àm ê sî, Loisel tńg lâi, bīn-bah sán koh pe̍h; siang-chhiú khang-khang.
"Lí tio̍h siá-phe hō͘ lín pêng-iú," i kóng, "kóng lí kā phoa̍h-liān ê tah-kau chhòng pháiⁿ khì ah, tng-teh sàng khì siu-lí. Án-ne lán chiah ū sî-kan thang tńg-se̍h."
Yi chiàu i kóng ê khì siá.
Kòe chi̍t lé-pài, in sit-khì só͘-ū ê hi-bāng. Loisel ná-chhiūⁿ lāu gō͘-hòe ah, án-ne kóng:
"Lán tio̍h siūⁿ pān-hoat lâi pôe-sióng chit-kiāⁿ chu-pó."
Tē-jī kang, in the̍h goân-pún té phoa̍h-liān ê a̍p-á, chiàu téng-bīn ê tiàm-hō khì chhōe hit-keng chu-pó tiàm.
"Hu-jîn, chit-kōaⁿ phoa̍h-liān m̄-sī goán chia bē chhut-khì ê. Goán bē ê kan-ta sī chit-ê a̍p-á."
Chū án-ne, in ùi chit-keng chu-pó tiàm kàu hit-keng chu-pó tiàm, chiàu in ê kì-tî boeh chhōe chi̍t-kōaⁿ kāng-khoán ê phoa̍h-liān -- siang-lâng lóng iu-chhiû koh tio̍h-kip kah kiông boeh phòa-pēⁿ.
Tī Palais Royal (Hông-kiong) Ke ê chi̍t-keng tiàm, in chhōe tio̍h chi̍t-kōaⁿ phoa̍h-liān, chāi in khòaⁿ, choa̍t-tùi kap in teh chhōe ê kāng-khoán. He tēng-kè 40,000 franc. Kóng-kè liáu, 36,000 khéng bē.
In khún-kiû tiàm-thâu-ke, saⁿ-kang lāi mài bē chhut-khì. In koh kap i kóng tiâu-kiāⁿ, tī jī-goe̍h té í-chêng, nā chhōe tio̍h goân-lâi ê, thâu-ke khéng kō͘ 34,000 kā bé tò tńg-lâi.
Loisel ū in lāu-pē lâu hō͘ i ê 18,000 franc. Bô-kàu ê i tio̍h khì chioh.
I khì chioh-chîⁿ ah, chia chioh 1,000 franc, hia chioh 500, chia 5-ê kim-pè, hia 3-ê kim-pè. I chhiam chioh-tiâu, tēng chia̍h-la̍t ê ha̍p-iok, mā kap pàng tāng-lāi ê, kap chióng-chióng tāi-khoán-jîn chih-chiap. I koán bē-tio̍h āu-pòaⁿ sì-lâng, chhiam-miâ mā m̄-chai chò ē-kàu bô; tī bī-lâi ê khó͘-náu, boeh kàu ê kan-lân, bah-thé ê khó͘-chhó͘, cheng-sîn ê chiat-bôa tt ê ap-pek chi-hā, i kā 36,000 franc khǹg chhiūⁿ chu-pó tiàm ê kūi-tâi, kā hit-kōaⁿ sin ê soān-chio̍h phoa̍h-liān bé lo̍h-lâi.
Loisel Tt the̍h phoa̍h-liān khì hêng ê sî, Forester Tt kō͘ chi̍t-ê kòa-chhì ê khùi-kháu kóng:
"Lí eng-kai khah chá the̍h lâi hêng, in-ūi góa hoān-sè ài iōng tio̍h."
Yi bô phah-khui a̍p-á, hêng ê lâng chiok kiaⁿ yi phah-khui lâi khòaⁿ. Nā hoat-hiān he sī thè-ōaⁿ-phín, yi ē án-chóaⁿ siūⁿ, án-chóaⁿ kóng neh? Yi kám bē kā pêng-iú tòng-chò chha̍t?
Loisel Tt jīn-bat sàn-chhiah-lâng ê kan-khó͘ seng-oa̍h ah. Yi hián-chhut eng-hiông khì-khài, sêng-khún chiap-siū kàu-hùn. Khó-phà ê chè-bū tio̍h ài hêng. Yi boeh lâi hêng. In sî-tiāu ka-po̍k; in ōaⁿ tòa ê pâng-keng; in poaⁿ khì tòa chhù-téng ê lâu-kông keng.
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4.買仝款 ê 袚鍊去還
兩个人 sio-siòng, 心情 jû cháng-cháng. 落尾, Loisel koh kā 衫穿好.
"我來去," 伊講, "kō͘ 行 ê, 沿路巡倒轉, 看會當揣著無."
自 án-ne 伊行出去. 她留 tī hia, 舞會 ê 衫猶穿著, 無氣力去眠床, 愣愣坐 tī 椅仔, 無心無 chiâⁿ, 頭殼空空.
七點左右, yin 翁轉來, 啥 mā 無揣著.
後來, 伊去警察局, 去幾若間報社提供賞金, mā 去馬車行; 總是, 任何有一屑仔希望 ê 所在伊 lóng 去 ah.
面對這个可怕 ê 災難, 她仝款規日驚惶, tī 厝等規工.
欲暗 ê 時, Loisel 轉來, 面肉瘦 koh 白; 雙手空空.
"你著寫批予恁朋友," 伊講, "講你 kā 袚鍊 ê 搭鉤創歹去 ah, tng-teh 送去修理. Án-ne 咱才有時間通轉踅."
她照伊講 ê 去寫.
過一禮拜, in 失去所有 ê 希望. Loisel ná 像老五歲 ah, án-ne 講:
"咱著想辦法來賠償這件珠寶."
第二工, in 提原本貯袚鍊 ê 盒仔, 照頂面 ê 店號去揣彼間珠寶店.
"夫人, 這捾袚鍊毋是阮 chia 賣出去 ê. 阮賣 ê 干焦是這个盒仔."
自 án-ne, in ùi 這間珠寶店到彼間珠寶店, 照 in ê 記持欲揣一捾仝款 ê 袚鍊 -- 雙人 lóng 憂愁 koh 著急 kah 強欲破病.
Tī Palais Royal (皇宮) 街 ê 一間店, in 揣著一捾袚鍊, 在 in 看, 絕對 kap in teh 揣 ê 仝款. He 定價 40,000 franc. 講價了, 36,000 肯賣.
In 懇求店頭家, 三工內莫賣出去. In koh kap 伊講條件, tī 二月底以前, 若揣著原來 ê, 頭家肯 kō͘ 34,000 kā 買倒轉來.
Loisel 有 in 老爸留予伊 ê 18,000 franc. 無夠 ê 伊著去借.
伊去借錢 ah, chia 借 1,000 franc, hia 借 500, chia 5 个金幣, hia 3 个金幣. 伊簽借條, 訂食力 ê 合約, mā kap 放重利 ê, kap 種種貸款人 chih 接. 伊管袂著後半世人, 簽名 mā 毋知做會到無; tī 未來 ê 苦惱, 欲到 ê 艱難, 肉體 ê 苦楚, 精神 ê 折磨 tt ê 壓迫之下, 伊 kā 36,000 franc 囥上珠寶店 ê 櫃台, kā 彼捾新 ê 璇石袚鍊買落來.
Loisel Tt 提袚鍊去還 ê 時, Forester Tt kō͘ 一个掛刺 ê 氣口講:
"你應該較早提來還, 因為我凡勢愛用著."
她無拍開盒仔, 還 ê 人足驚她拍開來看. 若發現彼是替換品, 她會按怎想, 按怎講 neh? 她敢袂 kā 朋友當做賊?
Loisel Tt 認捌散赤人 ê 艱苦生活 ah. 她顯出英雄氣概, 誠懇接受教訓. 可怕 ê 債務著愛還. 她欲來還. In 辭掉家僕; in 換蹛 ê 房間; in 搬去蹛厝頂 ê 樓栱間.
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4.
They gazed at each other, crushed. At last Loisel dressed himself again.
“I’m going,” he said, “back the whole distance we came on foot, to see if I cannot find it.”
And he went out. She stayed there, in her ball dress, without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, on a chair, without a fire, without a thought.
Her husband came back about seven o’clock. He had found nothing.
Then he went to police headquarters, to the newspapers to offer a reward, to the cab company; he did everything, in fact, that a trace of hope could urge him to.
She waited all day, in the same dazed state in face of this horrible disaster.
Loisel came back in the evening, with his face worn and white; he had discovered nothing.
“You must write to your friend,” he said, “that you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it repaired. That will give us time to turn around.”
She wrote as he dictated.
At the end of a week they had lost all hope. And Loisel, aged by five years, declared:—
“We must see how we can replace those jewels.”
The next day they took the case which had held them to the jeweler whose name was in the cover. He consulted his books.
“It was not I, madam, who sold this necklace. I only supplied the case.”
Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, looking for a necklace like the other, consulting their memory,—sick both of them with grief and anxiety.
In a shop in the Palais Royal, they found a diamond necklace that seemed to them absolutely like the one they were seeking. It was priced forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six.
They begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days. And they made a bargain that he should take it back for thirty-four thousand, if the first was found before the end of February.
Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He had to borrow the remainder.
He borrowed, asking a thousand francs from one, five hundred from another, five here, three louis there. He gave promissory notes, made ruinous agreements, dealt with usurers, with all kinds of lenders. He compromised the end of his life, risked his signature without even knowing whether it could be honored; and, frightened by all the anguish of the future, by the black misery which was about to settle down on him, by the perspective of all sorts of physical deprivations and of all sorts of moral tortures, he went to buy the new diamond necklace, laying down on the jeweler’s counter thirty-six thousand francs.
When Mme. Loisel took back the necklace to Mme. Forester, the latter said, with an irritated air:—
“You ought to have brought it back sooner, for I might have needed it.”
She did not open the case, which her friend had been fearing. If she had noticed the substitution, what would she have thought? What would she have said? Might she not have been taken for a thief?
Mme. Loisel learned the horrible life of the needy. She made the best of it, moreover, frankly, heroically. The frightful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed the servant; they changed their rooms; they took an attic under the roof.
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