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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: Meantime the grace and freshness of her youth, the distinction of her
manners, her sacred ignorance, and the sweetness of a young girl, gave
a delicate glamour to her features which could not fail to mislead an
unthinking or superficial mind. Her mother had early taught her the
trick of agreeable talk which appears to imply superiority, replying
to arguments by clever jests, and attracting by the graceful
volubility beneath which a woman hides the subsoil of her mind, as
Nature disguises her barren strata beneath a wealth of ephemeral
vegetation. Natalie had the charm of children who have never known
what it is to suffer. She charmed by her frankness, and had none of
that solemn air which mothers impose on their daughters by laying down
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