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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: unknown, felt, on first seeing him, a slight inclination to laugh,
they were soon touched by the old-fashioned grace with which he
greeted them. The words he used were full of that amenity which
amiable old men convey as much by the ideas they suggest as by the
manner in which they express them. The younger notary, with his
flippant tone, seemed on a lower plane. Mathias showed his superior
knowledge of life by the reserved manner with which he accosted Paul.
Without compromising his white hairs, he showed that he respected the
young man's nobility, while at the same time he claimed the honor due
to old age, and made it felt that social rights are natural. Solonet's
bow and greeting, on the contrary, expressed a sense of perfect
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