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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: as the ant-lion excavates its funnel in the sand and lies in wait at
the bottom for its victim. Suppose that no one strays, after all, into
that carefully constructed labyrinth? Suppose that the ant-lion dies
of hunger and thirst in her pit? Such things may be, but if any
heedless creature once enters in, it never comes out. All the wires
which could be pulled to induce action on the captain's part were
tried; appeals were made to the secret interested motives that always
come into play in such cases; they worked on Castanier's hopes and on
the weaknesses and vanity of human nature. Unluckily, he had praised
the daughter to her mother when he brought her back after a waltz, a
little chat followed, and then an invitation in the most natural way
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