| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: whose interior we have just shown. In 1657, Pope Alexander VII.
had authorized, by a special brief, the Bernardines of the Rue
Petit-Picpus, to practise the Perpetual Adoration like the Benedictine
nuns of the Holy Sacrament. But the two orders remained distinct
none the less.
CHAPTER XI
END OF THE PETIT-PICPUS
At the beginning of the Restoration, the convent of the Petit-Picpus
was in its decay; this forms a part of the general death of the order,
which, after the eighteenth century, has been disappearing like
all the religious orders. Contemplation is, like prayer, one of
Les Miserables |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: ribbons, technically known as "cabbages." She looked ravishing.
She had satin slippers on her bare feet, and was in the act of
polishing her nails.
"Well," she said, seeing Prudence, "have you seen the duke?"
"Yes, indeed."
"And what did he say to you?"
"He gave me--"
"How much?"
"Six thousand."
"Have you got it?"
"Yes.
Camille |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: less possible adoration of his sister-in-law for Nathan; but he was
one of those who denied it, thinking it incompatible with Raoul's
known relations with Florine. The actress would certainly drive off
the countess, or vice versa. But when, on coming home that evening, he
found his sister-in-law with a perturbed face, in consultation with
his wife about money, it occurred to him that Raoul had, in all
probability, confided to her his situation. The countess must
therefore love him; she had doubtless come to obtain from her sister
the sum due to old Gigonnet. Madame du Tillet, unaware, of course, of
the reasons for her husband's apparently supernatural penetration, had
shown such stupefaction when he told her the sum wanted, that du
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