On the way home, Mathilde found that the necklace was gone. She was frightened to death because it was too expensive for her. She and her husband hurriedly returned and looked wherever she had been that night, but couldn't find it at all.
What would they do? They had to buy a diamond necklace exactly like the one she borrowed from Jeanne and returned it to her. It cost them 36,000 francs.
In order to pay off the debts, they suffered hunger and cold day and night. Ten years of hard work made young Mathilde so old that Jeanne could hardly recognize her when they happened to meet one day in a park. It was then that Mathilde found out the truth: the necklace she had borrowed from Jeanne was not a real diamond necklace. It was made of glass and cost only 500 francs at most!