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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: undertake the case."
"What! life?" cried the lad, lifting his swaddled hands towards the
damp vault of the cell.
"My little Madeleine, prepare to be lagged for life (penal
servitude)," replied Jacques Collin. "You can expect no less; they
won't crown you with roses like a fatted ox. When they first set us
down for Rochefort, it was because they wanted to be rid of us! But if
I can get you ticketed for Toulon, you can get out and come back to
Pantin (Paris), where I will find you a tidy way of living."
A sigh such as had rarely been heard under that inexorable roof struck
the stones, which sent back the sound that has no fellow in music, to
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