| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: were calculated to reach the heart; and they did reach that of
d'Arthez. There was no question of himself in the matter; this woman
was seeking to rehabilitate herself in favor of the dead. She had been
calumniated; and she evidently wanted to know if anything had
tarnished her in the eyes of him who had loved her; had he died with
all his illusions?
"Michel," replied d'Arthez, "was one of those men who love absolutely,
and who, if they choose ill, can suffer without renouncing the woman
they have once elected."
"Was I loved thus?" she said, with an air of exalted beatitude.
"Yes, madame."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from One Basket by Edna Ferber: "Yes. Of course. You act like a frightened schoolboy."
So they had in for dinner certain friends and acquaintances of
fitting age. They spoke of them as "splendid girls." Between
thirty-six and forty. They talked awfully well, in a firm, clear
way, about civics, and classes, and politics, and economics, and
boards. They rather terrified Jo. He didn't understand much
that they talked about, and he felt humbly inferior, and yet a
little resentful, as if something had passed him by. He escorted
them home, dutifully, though they told him not to bother, and
they evidently meant it. They seemed capable not only of going
home quite unattended but of delivering a pointed lecture to any
One Basket |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: the stranger asked with a bewildered look. "There is the private
soldier commanded to fall into line--is he actually responsible?"
The priest hesitated. The stranger was glad; he had put the Royalist
precisian in a dilemma, between the dogma of passive obedience on the
one hand (for the upholders of the Monarchy maintained that obedience
was the first principle of military law), and the equally important
dogma which turns respect for the person of a King into a matter of
religion. In the priest's indecision he was eager to see a favorable
solution of the doubts which seemed to torment him. To prevent too
prolonged reflection on the part of the reverend Jansenist, he added:
"I should blush to offer remuneration of any kind for the funeral
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