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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: into an irregular life. He was struck by the beauty of the poor child
who had drifted by chance into his arms, and his determination to
rescue her from the life of the streets was half benevolent, half
selfish, as some of the thoughts of the best of men are apt to be.
Social conditions mingle elements of evil with the promptings of
natural goodness of heart, and the mixture of motives underlying a
man's intentions should be leniently judged. Castanier had just
cleverness enough to be very shrewd where his own interests were
concerned. So he concluded to be a philanthropist on either count, and
at first made her his mistress.
"Hey! hey!" he said to himself, in his soldierly fashion. "I am an old
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