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: roadside. Then, abruptly drawing up, the Count exclaimed:
"Couldn't you get out of the way?"
"I beg your pardon, monsieur. But I did not know that it lay with me
to apologize to you because you almost rode me down."
"There, enough of that, my good fellow!" replied the sailor harshly,
in a sneering tone that was nothing less than insulting. At the same
time the Count raised his hunting-crop as if to strike his horse, and
touched the young fellow's shoulder, saying, "A liberal citizen is a
reasoner; every reasoner should be prudent."
The young man went up the bankside as he heard the sarcasm; then he
crossed his arms, and said in an excited tone of voice, "I cannot
|