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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: "Do you want to show me something else?"
"Yes; you shall see the usuress of rats, marcheuses and great ladies,
--a woman who possesses more terrible secrets than there are gowns
hanging in her window," said Bixiou.
And he showed Gazonal one of those untidy shops which made an ugly
stain in the midst of the dazzling show-windows of modern retail
commerce. This shop had a front painted in 1820, which some bankrupt
had doubtless left in a dilapidated condition. The color had
disappeared beneath a double coating of dirt, the result of usage, and
a thick layer of dust; the window-panes were filthy, the door-knob
turned of itself, as door-knobs do in all places where people go out
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