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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: below, the level of the Pozzi dungeons being several steps below the
threshold, it was possible gradually to raise the earthen floor
without exciting the warder's suspicions.
"The tremendous labor had profited nothing--nothing at least to him
that began it. The very fact that it was left unfinished told of the
unknown worker's death. Unless his devoted toil was to be wasted for
ever, his successor must have some knowledge of Arabic, but I had
studied Oriental languages at the Armenian Convent. A few words
written on the back of the stone recorded the unhappy man's fate; he
had fallen a victim to his great possessions; Venice had coveted his
wealth and seized upon it. A whole month went by before I obtained any
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