She left the ball about four o'clock in the morning. Her husband had been sleeping since midnight in a little deserted anteroom with three other gentlemen whose wives were enjoying the ball.

她是清晨四点钟光景离开的。她丈夫自从半夜十二点钟光景，就同着另外三位男宾在一间无人理会的小客厅里睡着了；这三位男宾的妻子也正舞得很快活。

He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought, the modest wraps of common life, the poverty of which contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress.

他对她的肩头上披上了那些为了上街而带来的衣裳，家常用的俭朴的衣裳，这些东西的寒伧意味是和跳舞会里的服装的豪华气派不相称的。

She felt this and wished to escape so as not to be remarked by the other women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs.

她感到了这一层，于是为了避免另外那些裹着珍贵皮衣的太太们注意，她竟想逃遁了。

Loisel held her back, saying: "Wait a bit. You will catch cold outside. I will call a cab." But she did not listen to him and rapidly descended the stairs.

骆塞尔牵住了她：“等着吧。你到外面会受寒。我去找一辆出租的街车来吧。” 不过她绝不听从他，匆匆忙忙下了台阶儿

When they reached the street they could not find a carriage and began to look for one, shouting after the cabmen passing at a distance. They went toward the Seine in despair, shivering with cold.

等到他俩走到街上竟找不着车了；于是他俩开始去寻觅，追着那些他们远远地望得见的车子。他俩向着塞纳河的河沿走下去，两个人感到失望，浑身冷得发抖。

At last they found on the quay one of those ancient night cabs which, as though they were ashamed to show their shabbiness during the day, are never seen round Paris until after dark.

末了，他俩在河沿上竟找着了一辆像是夜游病者一样的旧式轿车----这样的车子白天在巴黎如同感到自惭形秽，所以要到天黑以后才看得见它们。

It took them to their dwelling in the Rue des Martyrs, and sadly they mounted the stairs to their flat.

车子把他俩送到殉教街的寓所大门外了，他俩惆怅地上了楼。

All was ended for her. As to him, he reflected that he must be at the ministry at ten o'clock that morning.

在她，这算是结束了。而他呢，却想起了自己明天早上十点钟应当到部里去。

She removed her wraps before the glass so as to see herself once more in all her glory. But suddenly she uttered a cry. She no longer had the necklace around her neck!

她在镜子跟前脱下了那些围着肩头的大氅之类，想再次端详端详无比荣耀的自己。但是陡然间她发出了一声狂叫。她已经没有那串围着颈项的金刚钻项链了！

"What is the matter with you?" demanded her husband, already half undressed. She turned distractedly toward him.

她丈夫这时候已经脱了一半衣裳，连忙问：“你怎么了？”她发痴似地转过身来向着他：

"I have--I have--I've lost madame Forestier's necklace," she cried.

“我已经……我已经……我现在找不着伏来士洁太太那串项链了。”

He stood up, bewildered. "What!--how? Impossible!” They looked among the folds of her skirt, of her cloak, in her pockets, everywhere, but did not find it.

他张皇失措地站起来：“什么！……怎样！……哪儿会有这样的事！”于是他俩在那件裙袍的衣褶里，大氅的衣褶里，口袋里，都寻了一个遍。到处都找不到它。

"You're sure you had it on when you left the ball?" he asked. "Yes, I felt it in the vestibule of the minister's house.” "But if you had lost it in the street we should have heard it fall. It must be in the cab." "Yes, probably. Did you take his number?" "No. And you--didn't you notice it?” "No."

他问道：“你确定离开舞会的时候还挂着那东西吗？”“对呀，我在部里的过道里还摸过它。”“不过，倘若你在路上失掉了它，我们可以听得见它落下去的声响。它应当在车子里。”“对呀。这是可能的。你可曾记下车子的号码？”“没有。你呢，你当初也没有注意？”“没有。”

They looked, thunderstruck, at each other. At last Loisel put on his clothes.

他俩口呆目瞪地互相瞧着。末了，骆塞尔重新着好了衣裳。

"I shall go back on foot," said he, "over the whole route, to see whether I can find it." He went out.

“我去，”他说，“我去把我俩步行经过的路线再走一遍，看是不是可以找着它。” 于是他出街了。

She sat waiting on a chair in her ball dress, without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, without any fire, without a thought. Her husband returned about seven o'clock. He had found nothing.

她呢，连睡觉的气力都没有，始终没有换下那套参加晚会的衣裳，就靠在一把围椅上面，屋子里没有生火，脑子里什么也不想。她丈夫在七点钟回家。什么也没有找着。

He went to police headquarters, to the newspaper offices to offer a reward; he went to the cab companies--everywhere, in fact, whither he was urged by the least spark of hope.

他到警察总厅和各报馆里去悬赏，又走到各处出租小马车的公司，总而言之，凡是有一线希望的地方都走了一个遍。

She waited all day, in the same condition of mad fear before this terrible calamity. Loisel returned at night with a hollow, pale face. He had discovered nothing.

她对着这种骇人的大祸，在惊愕状态中间整整地等了一天。骆塞尔在傍晚的时候带着瘦削灰白的脸回来了；他什么也没有发现。

"You must write to your friend," said he, "that you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. That will give us time to turn round."

“你应该给你的朋友写信，”他说，“说你弄断了那串项链的搭钩，现在正叫人在那里修理。这样我们就可以有周转的时间。”

She wrote at his dictation. At the end of a week they had lost all hope.

她在他的口授之下写了这封信。一星期以后，他们任何希望都消失了。

Loisel, who had aged five years, declared: "We must consider how to replace that ornament."

并且骆塞尔像是老了五年，高声说道：“现在应当设法去赔这件宝贝了。”

The next day they took the box that had contained it and went to the jeweler whose name was found within. He consulted his books.

第二天，他们拿了盛那件宝贝的盒子，照着盒子里面的招牌到了珠宝店里。店里的老板查了许多账簿。

"It was not I, madame, who sold that necklace; I must simply have furnished the case."

“从前，太太，这串项链不是我店里卖出去的，我只做了这个盒子。”

Then they went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for a necklace like the other, trying to recall it, both sick with chagrin and grief.

于是他俩到一家家的首饰店去访问了，寻觅一件和失掉的那件首饰相同的东西，凭着自己的记忆力做参考，他俩因为伤心和忧愁都快要生病了。

They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost.

他们在故宫街一家小店里找到了一串用金刚钻镶成的念珠，他们觉得正像他们寻觅的那一串。

It was worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six. So they begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days yet.

它报价四万法郎。店里可以作三万六千让给他俩。他们所以央求那小店的老板在三天之内不要卖掉这东西。

And they made a bargain that he should buy it back for thirty-four thousand francs, in case they should find the lost necklace before the end of February.

并且另外说好了条件：店里用三万四千当郎收买这串回去，倘若原有的那串在二月底以前找回来。