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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: liquidation of the "unfortunate" Roguin. Thus the total amount made
over to Cesar's creditors was two hundred and fifty-five thousand
francs. The debts amounted to four hundred and forty thousand;
consequently, the creditors received more than fifty per cent on their
claims.
Bankruptcy is a species of chemical transmutation, from which a clever
merchant tries to emerge in fresh shape. Birotteau, distilled to the
last drop in this retort, gave a result which made du Tillet furious.
Du Tillet looked to see a dishonorable failure; he saw an honorable
one. Caring little for his own gains, though he was about to get
possession of the lands around the Madeleine without ever drawing his
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
