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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: who talks to me of marriage as a foe to my peace of mind."
An uncle of Emilie's, a vice-admiral, whose fortune had just been
increased by twenty thousand francs a year in consequence of the Act
of Indemnity, and a man of seventy, feeling himself privileged to say
hard things to his grand-niece, on whom he doted, in order to mollify
the bitter tone of the discussion now exclaimed:
"Do not tease my poor little Emilie; don't you see she is waiting till
the Duc de Bordeaux comes of age!"
The old man's pleasantry was received with general laughter.
"Take care I don't marry you, old fool!" replied the young girl, whose
last words were happily drowned in the noise.
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