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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: woman bowed her head, faintness overcame her; presently she waved her
hands as if summoning the clergy and her children and the servants to
her presence, and then, with an imploring gesture, she showed me the
desolate count and the children beside him. The sight of that father,
the secret of whose insanity was known to us alone, now to be left
sole guardian of those delicate beings, brought mute entreaties to her
face, which fell upon my heart like sacred fire. Before receiving
extreme unction she asked pardon of her servants if by a hasty word
she had sometimes hurt them; she asked their prayers and commended
each one, individually, to the count; she nobly confessed that during
the last two months she had uttered complaints that were not Christian
The Lily of the Valley |
