Madam Journalle, a fat and pot marked woman has a hold on Pierre and has charms to extract large amounts of money from him so as soon to make his estranged wife and children penniless if not stopped. Pierre will not listen to reasoning from his brother either as his brother or in his capacity as a lawyer. It seems the only way to stop him is to imply that he is insane.

Author: Honore de Balzac.