|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: salon, and marking by her manner the proper grades of welcome, from
eager cordiality to a coldness that verged on disdain. To her best
friends she gave her hand in truly English style; for the rest she had
smiles, apportioned to the degrees of intimacy,--simple inclination of
the head for unknown guests or those of less account; with little
speeches now and then, and delicious mamma-like airs for the tiny
children whom it is necessary to ask to these juvenile routs, however
dangerous and difficult to manage that element may be.
With the fathers and mothers of her guests, as the ball was not given
for them, Nais as a general thing reversed the nature of the Gospel
invocation, /Sinite parvulos venire ad me/, and was careful not to
|
