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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: the cook in Esther's establishment, it seemed to him inexplicable that
the half-caste woman should have had a finger in the pie. Thus, for
the first time, these two artistic spies had come on a text that they
could not decipher, while suspecting a dark plot to the story.
After three bold attempts on the house in the Rue Taitbout, Contenson
still met with absolute dumbness. So long as Esther dwelt there the
lodge porter seemed to live in mortal terror. Asie had, perhaps,
promised poisoned meat-balls to all the family in the event of any
indiscretion.
On the day after Esther's removal, Contenson found this man rather
more amenable; he regretted the lady, he said, who had fed him with
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