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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: Captain Merle now keenly regretted having adopted Mademoiselle de
Verneuil's idea that a rapid journey by night would be a safe one,--an
error which had led him to reduce his escort from Mayenne to sixty
men. He at once, under Gerard's orders, divided his little troop into
two columns, one on each side of the road, which the two officers
marched at a quick step among the gorse hedges, eager to meet the
assailants, though ignorant of their number. The Blues beat the thick
bushes right and left with rash intrepidity, and replied to the
Chouans with a steady fire.
Mademoiselle de Verneuil's first impulse was to jump from the carriage
and run back along the road until she was out of sight of the battle;
The Chouans |
