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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: Marthe reached the pond about three in the morning, and left the dog
as sentinel on the bank. After half an hour's labor in clearing the
entrance she came with a dark lantern to the door of the cave, her
face covered with a mask, which she had found, as directed, on the
steps. The imprisonment of the senator seemed to have been long
premeditated. A hole about a foot square, which Marthe had never seen
before, was roughly cut in the upper part of the iron door which
closed the cave; but in order to prevent Malin from using the time and
patience all prisoners have at their command in loosening the iron bar
which held the door, it was securely fastened with a padlock.
The senator, who had risen from his bed of moss, sighed when he saw
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