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The Necklace: Advice Column

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The Necklace: Advice Column
Dear Madame Loisel, I received your letter about the issue concerning your friend’s lost necklace. According to your worried note, you had gone to a ball and wore your friend Madame Forestier’s expensive diamond necklace and lost it. The clasp had broken and you didn’t realize it had fallen off until you returned home. My advice to you is to contact the people who hosted the ball and have them look around or ask if anyone found a necklace. If you have no luck, be completely honest and tell her what happened that night. Explain to her that you didn’t realize the necklace had broken and that you must have lost it at the party. Everyone knows that honesty is the best policy, and in your case, your only option. You explained in your letter that you and your husband aren’t that financially stable and couldn’t afford a new necklace to replace the original one. Even if you could afford to replace it with a new one, that would not be the right thing to do. You need to be honest with your friend. No friendship is worth jeopardizing over material possessions. In addition, if you had replaced the necklace, both you and your husband would have to work excessively for many years just to pay it off, and it wouldn’t be worth it! If I were you, I would offer to repay her by doing some work or making her dinner occasionally. I’m sure she won’t get angry and will forgive you. After all, it was an accident. If she really is your friend, she will understand.

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