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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: gardener's son and for Gothard. Though blamed for this imprudence by
Monsieur d'Hauteserre, the housekeeper took great pleasure in seeing
the dinner served on the festival of Saint-Laurence, the countess's
fete-day, with almost as much style as in former times.
This slow and difficult restoration of departed things was the delight
of Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre and the Durieus. Laurence smiled
at what she thought nonsense. But the worthy old d'Hauteserre did not
forget the more solid matters; he repaired the buildings, put up the
walls, planted trees wherever there was a chance to make them grow,
and did not leave an inch of unproductive land. The whole valley
regarded him as an oracle in the matter of agriculture. He had managed
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