| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: cardinal, the lieutenant-general, and the chancellor spared Christophe
that additional suffering.
The /proces verbal/ was begun; the provost dictated a few sentences as
he walked up and down with a meditative air, asking Christophe his
name, baptismal name, age, and profession; then he inquired the name
of the person from whom he had received the papers he had given to the
queen.
"From the minister Chaudieu," answered Christophe.
"Where did he give them to you?"
"In Paris."
"In giving them to you he must have told you whether the queen-mother
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Professor by Charlotte Bronte: what then? How would you have liked celibacy?"
"Not much, certainly. An old maid's life must doubtless be void
and vapid--her heart strained and empty. Had I been an old maid I
should have spent existence in efforts to fill the void and ease
the aching. I should have probably failed, and died weary and
disappointed, despised and of no account, like other single
women. But I'm not an old maid," she added quickly. "I should
have been, though, but for my master. I should never have suited
any man but Professor Crimsworth--no other gentleman, French,
English, or Belgian, would have thought me amiable or handsome;
and I doubt whether I should have cared for the approbation of
The Professor |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: their hero by such service, whilst he that is held worthy of these
services is truly honoured. And for my part I can but offer my
congratulations to him. "God bless him," say I, perceiving that so far
from being the butt of foul conspiracy, he is an object of anxiety to
all, lest evil should betide him; and so he pursues the even tenour of
his days in happiness exempt from fears and jealousy[17] and risk. But
the current of the tyrant's life runs differently. Day and night, I do
assure you, Simonides, he lives like one condemned by the general
verdict of mankind to die for his iniquity.
[14] Lit. "Honours would seem to be the outcome and expression of
conditions utterly remote from these, in fact their very
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