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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: the arm of his wife against his beating heart; his eye was no longer
glassy, for the light of pleasure once more brightened in it.
"At last," said Constance to her husband, "I see you again, my poor
Cesar. I think we have all behaved well enough to allow ourselves a
little pleasure now and then."
"Ought I?" said the poor man. "Ah! Constance, thy affection is all
that remains to me. Yes, I have lost even my old self-confidence; I
have no strength left; my only desire is that I may live to die
discharged of debt on earth. Thou, dear wife, thou who art my wisdom
and my prudence, thou whose eyes saw clear, thou who art
irreproachable, thou canst have pleasure. I alone--of us three--am
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
