The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: Elshender the Recluse of Mucklestane-Moor."
"You are mad, Mr. Ratcliffe, or you mean to insult my misery by
an ill-timed jest!"
"I am as much in my senses, young lady," answered her adviser,
"as you are; and I am no idle jester, far less with misery, least
of all with your misery. I swear to you that this being (who is
other far than what he seems) actually possesses the means of
redeeming you from this hateful union."
"And of insuring my father's safety?"
"Yes! even that," said Ratcliffe, "if you plead his cause with
him--yet how to obtain admittance to the Recluse!"
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