The entire story is told as a conversation between four "cormorants" (the metaphor is Balzac's) who sit and drink in a private room while their talk is overheard through the paper-thin partition and reported to us by Balzac himself (or a fictional representative of the writer).

As in all of Balzac's tales of financial trickery, the machinations are incredibly involved and complex, with all their discounting of shares and floating of rumors -- yet their effects are devastating.

Better than any other writer, Balzac knows the weak point of those whose whole life is based on material concerns. If it is important to you to maintain a certain kind of carriage with fine horses and a picturesque "tiger" to help manage them, if you require thousands of francs per annum to refresh your wardrobe and furniture, if you want to marry into a noble and/or wealthy family, you are at risk unless you play your cards preternaturally well.