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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: a little smoke from the village chimneys, that was all. The chateau
seemed as gloomy as its mistress. By some strange law all things about
a dwelling imitate the one who rules there; the owner's spirit hovers
over it. Madame Graslin--her mind grasped by the rector's words, her
soul struck by conviction, her heart affected in its tenderest
emotions by the angelic quality of that pure voice--stopped short. The
rector raised his arm and pointed to the forest. Veronique looked
there.
"Do you not think it has a vague resemblance to social life?" he said.
"To each its destiny. How many inequalities in that mass of trees!
Those placed the highest lack earth and moisture; they die first."
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