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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: he was there. Madame de Nucingen had dined at Madame d'Espard's with
her daughter, married a few months earlier to the Comte de Rastignac,
who had begun his political career by occupying the post of under-
secretary of state in the famous ministry of the late de Marsay, the
only real statesman produced by the Revolution of July.
Comte Maxime de Trailles alone knew how many disasters he had caused;
but he had always taken care to shelter himself from blame by
scrupulously obeying the laws of the Man-Code. Though he had
squandered in the course of his life more money than the four galleys
of France could have stolen in the same time, he had kept clear of
justice. Never had he lacked in honor; his gambling debts were paid
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