| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: to look out a word, instead of asking it of Pemberton. "You can't
go on like this, you know."
"Like what, my boy?"
"You know they don't pay you up," said Morgan, blushing and turning
his leaves.
"Don't pay me?" Pemberton stared again and feigned amazement.
"What on earth put that into your head?"
"It has been there a long time," the boy replied rummaging his
book.
Pemberton was silent, then he went on: "I say, what are you
hunting for? They pay me beautifully."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Intentions by Oscar Wilde: hearken to her and try to borrow her wings.
'And when that day dawns, or sunset reddens, how joyous we shall
all be! Facts will be regarded as discreditable, Truth will be
found mourning over her fetters, and Romance, with her temper of
wonder, will return to the land. The very aspect of the world will
change to our startled eyes. Out of the sea will rise Behemoth and
Leviathan, and sail round the high-pooped galleys, as they do on
the delightful maps of those ages when books on geography were
actually readable. Dragons will wander about the waste places, and
the phoenix will soar from her nest of fire into the air. We shall
lay our hands upon the basilisk, and see the jewel in the toad's
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Pierre Grassou by Honore de Balzac: his rent and provision-bills with bourgeois punctuality.
Having lived all his life in toil and poverty, he had never had the
time to love. Poor and a bachelor, until now he did not desire to
complicate his simple life. Incapable of devising any means of
increasing his little fortune, he carried, every three months, to his
notary, Cardot, his quarterly earnings and economies. When the notary
had received about three thousand francs he invested them in some
first mortgage, the interest of which he drew himself and added to the
quarterly payments made to him by Fougeres. The painter was awaiting
the fortunate moment when his property thus laid by would give him the
imposing income of two thousand francs, to allow himself the otium cum
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