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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: sheds its doubtful and smoky gleam, and many blind alleys are not
lighted at all. Foot passengers are few, and walk fast. The shops are
shut, the few that are open are of a squalid kind; a dirty, unlighted
wineshop, or a seller of underclothing and eau-de-Cologne. An
unwholesome chill lays a clammy cloak over your shoulders. Few
carriages drive past. There are sinister places here, especially the
Rue de Langlade, the entrance to the Passage Saint-Guillaume, and the
turnings of some streets.
The municipal council has not yet been to purge this vast lazar-place,
for prostitution long since made it its headquarters. It is, perhaps,
a good thing for Paris that these alleys should be allowed to preserve
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