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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: present to the bride was a charming set of rubies. Isaure danced, a
happy wife, a girl no longer. The little Baroness was more than ever a
Shepherdess of the Alps. The ball was at its height when Malvina, the
Andalouse of Musset's poem, heard du Tillet's voice drily advising her
to take Desroches. Desroches, warmed to the right degree by Rastignac
and Nucingen, tried to come to an understanding financially; but at
the first hint of shares in the mines for the bride's portion, he
broke off and went back to the Matifat's in the Rue du Cherche-Midi,
only to find the accursed canal shares which Gigonnet had foisted on
Matifat in lieu of cash.
"They had not long to wait for the crash. The firm of Claparon did
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