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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: d'Espard snatched it. The world knew nothing beyond this of the
private live of the Marquise d'Espard. She seemed likely to shine for
long on the Parisian horizon, like the sun near its setting, but which
will never set.
The Marquise was on terms of great intimacy with a duchess as famous
for her beauty as for her attachment to a prince just now in
banishment, but accustomed to play a leading part in every prospective
government. Madame d'Espard was also a friend of a foreign lady, with
whom a famous and very wily Russian diplomate was in the habit of
discussing public affairs. And then an antiquated countess, who was
accustomed to shuffle the cards for the great game of politics, had
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