She was a great hit at the party. Everyone admired her. She danced till 4 a.m. and then went home tired, but happy. On reaching home, she decided to take a final look at herself. She was terribly shocked when she found the necklace was missing. They looked everywhere for it, but it was nowhere to be found. They went to the police and also put an advertisement in the papers. In the meantime, they wrote to Madame Forestier that the clasp was broken and also that they would get the necklace repaired and return it.
When the necklace was not found, they decided to replace it with a similar necklace. They bought it for forty thousand Francs, and had to take a loan for it. In order to repay the loan, and work for 10 years by the end of which Mrs. Loisel looked old and scruffy.
One day she happened to meet Mrs. Forestier who still looked young. Matilda told her the whole story. Shocked at the story, Mrs. Forestier told her a shocking truth i.e. the diamond necklace that she had lent to Matilda had been made of artificial diamonds and was worth only five hundred francs.