The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Bureaucracy by Honore de Balzac: Should he, des Lupeaulx, use this singular document to destroy him, or
should he keep it as a weapon to succeed with the wife? The mystery
that lay behind this paper was all darkness to des Lupeaulx, who read
with something akin to terror page after page, in which the men of his
acquaintance were judged with unerring wisdom. He admired Rabourdin,
though stabbed to his vitals by what he said of him. The breakfast-
hour suddenly cut short his meditation.
"His Excellency is waiting for you to come down," announced the
minister's footman.
The minister always breakfasted with his wife and children and des
Lupeaulx, without the presence of servants. The morning meal affords
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