|
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: as she asked to what fortunate circumstance she owed his visit. Though
curious to know the secret of my unexpected appearance, she looked at
neither of us,--her eyes were fixed on the river; and yet you could
have told by the way she listened that she was able to recognize, as
the blind do, the agitations of a neighboring soul by the
imperceptible inflexions of the voice.
Monsieur de Chessel gave my name and biography. I had lately arrived
at Tours, where my parents had recalled me when the armies threatened
Paris. A son of Touraine to whom Touraine was as yet unknown, she
would find me a young man weakened by excessive study and sent to
Frapesle to amuse himself; he had already shown me his estate, which I
 The Lily of the Valley |