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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: about Madame Firmiani that he resolved to be presented to her under
the name of de Rouxellay, that of his estate in Touraine. The astute
old gentleman was careful to choose an evening when he knew that
Octave would be engaged in finishing a piece of work which was to pay
him well,--for this so-called lover of Madame Firmiani still went to
her house; a circumstance that seemed difficult to explain. As to
Octave's ruin, that, unfortunately, was no fable, as Monsieur de
Bourbonne had at once discovered.
Monsieur de Rouxellay was not at all like the provincial uncle at the
Gymnase. Formerly in the King's guard, a man of the world and a
favorite among women, he knew how to present himself in society with
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