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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: time in his life the prince of travellers did not dine jovially. The
whole town of Vouvray was put in a ferment about the "affair" between
Monsieur Vernier and the apostle of Saint-Simonism. Never before had
the tragic event of a duel been so much as heard of in that benign and
happy valley.
"Monsieur Mitouflet, I am to fight to-morrow with Monsieur Vernier,"
said Gaudissart to his landlord. "I know no one here: will you be my
second?"
"Willingly," said the host.
Gaudissart had scarcely finished his dinner before Madame Fontanieu
and the assistant-mayor of Vouvray came to the Soleil d'Or and took
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