The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: Now when, under these circumstances, the father of the family is above
bribery, it would be hard if the electors did not esteem him. Electors
wax enthusiastic over a /beau ideal/ of parliamentary virtue, just as
the audience in the pit do at the representation of the generous
sentiments they so little practise.
Madame de Chavoncourt, at this time a woman of forty, was one of the
beauties of Besancon. While the Chamber was sitting, she lived
meagrely in one of their country places to recoup herself by economy
for Monsieur de Chavoncourt's expenses in Paris. In the winter she
received very creditably once a week, on Tuesdays, understanding her
business as mistress of the house. Young Chavoncourt, a youth of two-
 Albert Savarus |