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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: aux-Fayes, in a circumference of twenty miles, the Cafe Socquard was
the only place where the guests could play billiards and drink the
punch so admirably concocted by the proprietor. There alone could be
found a display of foreign wines, fine liqueurs, and brandied fruits.
Its name resounded daily throughout the valley, accompanied by ideas
of superfine sensual pleasures such as men whose stomachs are more
sensitive than their hearts dream about. To all these causes of
popularity was added that of being an integral part of the great
festival of Soulanges. The Cafe de la Paix was to the town, in a
superior degree, what the tavern of the Grand-I-Vert was to the
peasantry,--a centre of venom; it was the point of contact and
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