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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: discern a female figure creeping in by the great north gap,
or public gateway. They met in the middle of the arena.
Neither spoke just at first--there was no necessity for
speech--and the poor woman leant against Henchard, who
supported her in his arms.
"I don't drink," he said in a low, halting, apologetic
voice. "You hear, Susan?--I don't drink now--I haven't
since that night." Those were his first words.
He felt her bow her head in acknowledgment that she
understood. After a minute or two he again began:
"If I had known you were living, Susan! But there was every
The Mayor of Casterbridge | 
