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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: be at the door at four o'clock. After the Bourse closes, go to her
rooms and take her for a little drive in the Bois de Boulogne. Well,
by that act the woman proclaims herself your mistress; she has
advertised herself to the eyes and knowledge of all Paris: A hundred
thousand francs.--You must dine with her--I know how to cook such a
dinner!--You must take her to the play, to the Varietes, to a stage-
box, and then all Paris will say, 'There is that old rascal Nucingen
with his mistress.' It is very flattering to know that such things are
said.--Well, all this, for I am not grasping, is included for the
first hundred thousand francs.--In a week, by such conduct, you will
have made some way----"
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