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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: general thing, they don't use go-betweens. But, at any rate, you have
heard of Madame de Saint-Esteve?"
"Of course; her establishment is in the rue Neuve-Saint-Marc, and it
was she who got that pot of money out of Nucingen for La Torpille.
Isn't she some relation to the chief of detective police, who bears
the same name, and used to be one of the same kind as herself?"
"I don't know about that," said Desroches, "but what I can tell you is
that in her business as procuress--as it was called in days less
decorous than our own--the worthy woman has made a fortune, and now,
without any serious change of occupation, she lives magnificently in
the rue de Provence, where she carries on the business of a
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