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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: "If Mme. de Nucingen takes an interest in me, I will teach her
how to manage her husband. That husband of hers is a great
speculator; he might put me in the way of making a fortune by a
single stroke."
He did not say this bluntly in so many words; as yet, indeed, he
was not sufficient of a diplomatist to sum up a situation, to see
its possibilities at a glance, and calculate the chances in his
favor. These were nothing but hazy ideas that floated over his
mental horizon; they were less cynical than Vautrin's notions;
but if they had been tried in the crucible of conscience, no very
pure result would have issued from the test. It is by a
Father Goriot |
