| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Familiar Studies of Men and Books by Robert Louis Stevenson: serious operation just as modern stockjobbers form a
syndicate for an important loan. Nor were they at all
particular to any branch of misdoing. They did not
scrupulously confine themselves to a single sort of theft, as
I hear is common among modern thieves. They were ready for
anything, from pitch-and-toss to manslaughter. Montigny, for
instance, had neglected neither of these extremes, and we
find him accused of cheating at games of hazard on the one
hand, and on the other of the murder of one Thevenin Pensete
in a house by the Cemetery of St. John. If time had only
spared us some particulars, might not this last have
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: triumphant, curled Princess Gandolphini's lips, and at a moment when
she did not feel herself observed she looked at Rodolphe with an
expression which seemed to ask his pardon for having deceived him as
to her rank.
When the song was ended Rodolphe could make his way to the Prince, who
graciously led him to his wife. Rodolphe went through the ceremonial
of a formal introduction to Princess and Prince Colonna, and to
Francesca. When this was over, the Princess had to take part in the
famous quartette, /Mi manca la voce/, which was sung by her with
Tinti, with the famous tenor Genovese, and with a well-known Italian
Prince then in exile, whose voice, if he had not been a Prince, would
Albert Savarus |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: table, old-fashioned in shape, and worn at the edges. A small
stove, whose thin straight pipe was scarcely visible, stood in
front of the chimney-place, but the hearth was occupied by a
cupboard. By a strange contrast the chairs showed some remains of
former splendor; they were of carved mahogany, but the red
morocco seats, the gilt nails and reeded backs, showed as many
scars as an old sergeant of the Imperial Guard.
This room did duty as a museum of certain objects, such as are
never seen but in this kind of amphibious household; nameless
objects with the stamp at once of luxury and penury. Among other
curiosities Hippolyte noticed a splendidly finished telescope,
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