The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: citizen that you want to give us, we should be fools to refuse it. In
my mother's absence, I accept," he added, striking the astonished inn-
keeper on the shoulder.
The charming heedlessness of youth disguised the haughty insolence of
the words, which drew the attention of every one present to the new-
comer. The landlord at once assumed the countenance of Pilate washing
his hands of the blood of that just man; he slid back two steps to
reach his wife's ear, and whispered, "You are witness, if any harm
comes of it, that it is not my fault. But, anyhow," he added, in a
voice that was lower still, "go and tell Monsieur Marche-a-Terre what
has happened."
The Chouans |