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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: matter. Gold is the spiritual basis of existing society.--The ten of
us are bound by the ties of common interest; we meet on certain days
of the week at the Cafe Themis near the Pont Neuf, and there, in
conclave, we reveal the mysteries of finance. No fortune can deceive
us; we are in possession of family secrets in all directions. We keep
a kind of Black Book, in which we note the most important bills
issued, drafts on public credit, or on banks, or given and taken in
the course of business. We are the Casuists of the Paris Bourse, a
kind of Inquisition weighing and analyzing the most insignificant
actions of every man of any fortune, and our forecasts are infallible.
One of us looks out over the judicial world, one over the financial,
Gobseck |
