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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: the history of many women."
The last few words were said in a tone of easy pleasantry which
recalled the presence of the woman of the world. D'Arthez was
dumbfounded. In his eyes convicts sent to the galleys for murder, or
aggravated robbery, or for putting a wrong name to checks, were saints
compared to the men and women of society. This atrocious elegy, forged
in the arsenal of lies, and steeped in the waters of the Parisian
Styx, had been poured into his ears with the inimitable accent of
truth. The grave author contemplated for a moment that adorable woman
lying back in her easy-chair, her two hands pendant from its arms like
dewdrops from a rose-leaf, overcome by her own revelation, living over
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