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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: wit than her brother, for she did not even look as if she were hiding
a secret, and kept the conversation to subjects unconnected with
personal interests, while, at the same time, she gave it so much charm
that Mademoiselle de Fontaine was almost envious, and called her "the
Siren." Though Emilie had intended to make Clara talk, it was Clara,
in fact, who questioned Emilie; she had meant to judge her, and she
was judged by her; she was constantly provoked to find that she had
betrayed her own character in some reply which Clara had extracted
from her, while her modest and candid manner prohibited any suspicion
of perfidy. There was a moment when Mademoiselle de Fontaine seemed
sorry for an ill-judged sally against the commonalty to which Clara
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