| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: innumerable tricks of chance, carry with them their own particular
setting, which can be rendered artistically or simply by those who
narrate them, without their subjects losing any, even the least of
their charms. But there are some incidents in human experience to
which the heart alone is able to give life; there are certain details
--shall we call them anatomical?--the delicate touches of which cannot
be made to reappear unless by an equally delicate rendering of
thought; there are portraits which require the infusion of a soul, and
mean nothing unless the subtlest expression of the speaking
countenance is given; furthermore, there are things which we know not
how to say or do without the aid of secret harmonies which a day, an
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: utter ignorance of seamanship made them reluctantly come to the conclusion
that the more prudent policy was to make terms with the owner.
And now came a singular part of the story. Negrete and his
companions had meanwhile received a visit from two English officers
from Gibraltar. What passed between them the Jew did not know;
he only knew that, immediately after the conclusion of the interview,
Negrete came to him and ordered him to set sail at once
for the nearest point of Morocco. The Jew, afraid to disobey,
but with his eye ever upon the main chance, stipulated that at
the end of their voyage the Spaniards should pay for their passage--
terms to which, as they would to any other, they did not demur,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: known to both of us. The strange thing about the story is that my
false friend, in the hurry of his flight, forgot to take his
section of the map with him. I found it under the rock next day,
so that his vile treachery availed him nothing from a mercenary
point of view."
"Didn't take his half of the map with him. That's right funny,"
Bucky mused aloud.
"We never could understand why he didn't."
"Mebbe if you understood that a heap of things might be clear
that are dark now."
"Mebbe. Knowing Dave Henderson as I did, or, rather, as I thought
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