|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: Bauvan and the Comte de Serizy.--We sat together, Monsieur de Serizy,
the Count, and I, from six in the evening till six this morning,
taking it in turns to go from the drawing-room to Madame de Serizy's
bedside, fearing each time that we might find her dead or irremediably
insane. Desplein, Bianchon, and Sinard never left the room, and she
has two nurses. The Count worships his wife. Imagine the night I have
spent, between a woman crazy with love and a man crazy with despair.
And a statesman's despair is not like that of an idiot. Serizy, as
calm as if he were sitting in his place in council, clutched his chair
to force himself to show us an unmoved countenance, while sweat stood
over the brows bent by so much hard thought.--Worn out by want of
|
