|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: before the court of assizes; and this is how he rewards her to-day!"
Madame de Montcornet looked at d'Arthez with a surprise and curiosity
that were almost stupid, then she turned her eyes on Madame d'Espard
with a look which seemed to say: "He is bewitched!"
During this short conversation Madame de Cadignan was protected by
Madame d'Espard, whose protection was like that of the lightning-rod
which draws the flash. When d'Arthez returned to the general
conversation Maxime de Trailles was saying:--
"With Diane, depravity is not an effect but a cause; perhaps she owes
that cause to her exquisite nature; she doesn't invent, she makes no
effort, she offers you the choicest refinements as the inspiration of
| 
