“The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks.”
Variant translation:
She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born by a blunder of destiny in a family of employees. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, married by a man rich and distinguished; and she let them make a match for her with a little clerk in the Department of Education.
La Parure (The Necklace) (1884)
Context: The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no way of being known, understood, loved, married by any rich and distinguished man; so she let herself be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction.
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Guy De Maupassant 59
French writer 1850–1893Related quotes

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