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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: a supper, because the officers who took part in them must be
fortified for immediate service, and even in Paris might be
called upon to leave the ballroom for the battlefield. This
arrangement had gone out of fashion under the Monarchy, and
Eugene had so far only been asked to dances. The self-possession
which pre-eminently distinguished him in later life already stood
him in good stead, and he did not betray his amazement. Yet as he
saw for the first time the finely wrought silver plate, the
completeness of every detail, the sumptuous dinner, noiselessly
served, it was difficult for such an ardent imagination not to
prefer this life of studied and refined luxury to the hardships
Father Goriot |
