The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: that she looks down from her place among the blessed, sees you,
listens to your words, prays that your hard heart may be softened!
Remember her last farewell to you on earth, her hope of meeting
you--"
A cry of savage wrath checked her. Stretching one huge, bony hand,
as if to close her lips, trembling with rage and pain, livid and
convulsed in every feature of his face, Prince Alexis reversed the
whip in his right hand, and weighed its thick, heavy butt for one
crashing, fatal blow. Life and death were evenly balanced. For an
instant the Princess became deadly pale, and a sickening fear shot
through her heart. She could not understand the effect of her
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