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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: ladies went into the boudoir for a game at backgammon. The glass
lustres were lighted; and then the flower of Mademoiselle Cormon's
company gathered before the fireplace, on sofas, and around the
tables, and each couple said to her as they arrived,--
"So you are going to-morrow to Prebaudet?"
"Yes, I really must," she replied.
On this occasion the mistress of the house appeared preoccupied.
Madame Granson was the first to perceive the quite unnatural state of
the old maid's mind,--Mademoiselle Cormon was thinking!
"What are you thinking of, cousin?" she said at last, finding her
seated in the boudoir.
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