|
The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: ringing."
Madame de Mortsauf gave me a frightened look. Madeleine clung to my
hand.
"Suppose we play a game of backgammon?" I said. "Let us go back; the
rattle of the dice will drown the sound of the bells."
We returned to Clochegourde, conversing by fits and starts. Once in
the salon an indefinable uncertainty and dread took possession of us.
The count flung himself into an armchair, absorbed in reverie, which
his wife, who knew the symptoms of his malady and could foresee an
outbreak, was careful not to interrupt. I also kept silence. As she
gave me no hint to leave, perhaps she thought backgammon might divert
The Lily of the Valley |
