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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: some element of ruth or of hope; her manner suggested a secret, like
the expression of devout souls who pray in excess, or of a girl who
has killed her child and for ever hears its last cry. Nevertheless,
she was simple and clumsy in her ways; her vacant smile had nothing
criminal in it, and you would have pronounced her innocent only from
seeing the large red and blue checked kerchief that covered her
stalwart bust, tucked into the tight-laced bodice of a lilac- and
white-striped gown. 'No,' said I to myself, 'I will not quit Vendome
without knowing the whole history of la Grande Breteche. To achieve
this end, I will make love to Rosalie if it proves necessary.'
" 'Rosalie!' said I one evening.
La Grande Breteche |
