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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: love. "Listen to me carefully!"
"This will cost me my life!" she said, letting the tears that rolled
in her eyes flow down her cheeks. "The count will kill me,--to-night,
perhaps! But go to the king; tell him the tortures that his daughter
has endured these five years. He loved me well when I was little; he
called me 'Marie-full-of-grace,' because I was ugly. Ah! if he knew
the man to whom he gave me, his anger would be terrible. I have not
dared complain, out of pity for the count. Besides, how could I reach
the king? My confessor himself is a spy of Saint-Vallier. That is why
I have consented to this guilty meeting, to obtain a defender,--some
one to tell the truth to the king. Can I rely on-- Oh!" she cried,
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