| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: and imposing personage followed the man, who opened the door of the
drawing-room, announcing:
"Monsieur Crevel."
On hearing the name, singularly appropriate to the figure of the man
who bore it, a tall, fair woman, evidently young-looking for her age,
rose as if she had received an electric shock.
"Hortense, my darling, go into the garden with your Cousin Betty," she
said hastily to her daughter, who was working at some embroidery at
her mother's side.
After curtseying prettily to the captain, Mademoiselle Hortense went
out by a glass door, taking with her a withered-looking spinster, who
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce: which had lifted their boat -- all these made audible
music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the
rush of its body parting the water.
He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a
moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round,
himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge, the fort,
the soldiers upon the bridge, the captain, the sergeant, the
two privates, his executioners. They were in silhouette
against the blue sky. They shouted and gesticulated,
pointing at him. The captain had drawn his pistol, but did
not fire; the others were unarmed. Their movements were
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: Thenardier walked slowly towards the table, opened the drawer,
and took out the knife. Marius fretted with the handle of his pistol.
Unprecedented perplexity! For the last hour he had had two
voices in his conscience, the one enjoining him to respect his
father's testament, the other crying to him to rescue the prisoner.
These two voices continued uninterruptedly that struggle which
tormented him to agony. Up to that moment he had cherished a vague
hope that he should find some means of reconciling these two duties,
but nothing within the limits of possibility had presented itself.
However, the peril was urgent, the last bounds of delay had
been reached; Thenardier was standing thoughtfully a few paces
Les Miserables |
