| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eve and David by Honore de Balzac: brother, for David Sechard has been a brother to me. I drew those
bills that David could not meet! . . . I have ruined him. In my
terrible misery, I forgot the crime. A millionaire put an end to the
proceedings, and I quite believed that he had met the bills; but
nothing of the kind has been done, it seems." And Lucien told the tale
of his sorrows. The story, as he told it in his feverish excitement,
was worthy of the poet. He besought the cure to go to Angouleme and to
ask for news of Eve and his mother, Mme. Chardon, and to let him know
the truth, and whether it was still possible to repair the evil.
"I shall live till you come back, sir," he added, as the hot tears
fell. "If my mother, and sister, and David do not cast me off, I shall
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: I visit my Epeira at intervals. The mouth does not change its
place. I visit her for the last time at nine o'clock in the
evening. Matters stand exactly as they did: after six hours'
consumption, the mouth is still sucking at the lower end of the
right haunch. The fluid contents of the victim are transferred to
the ogress' belly, I know not how.
Next morning, the Spider is still at table. I take away her dish.
Naught remains of the Locust but his skin, hardly altered in shape,
but utterly drained and perforated in several places. The method,
therefore, was changed during the night. To extract the non-fluent
residue, the viscera and muscles, the stiff cuticle had to be
The Life of the Spider |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: here Grindot made a curious gesture. "Possibly I showed myself worthy
of that--signal--and royal--favor, by my services on the bench, and by
fighting for the Bourbons upon the steps of Saint-Roch on the 13th
Vendemiaire, where I was wounded by Napoleon. These claims--"
Constance, in a morning gown, here came out of her daughter's bedroom,
where she had been dressing; her first glance cut short Cesar's
eloquence just as he was about to formulate in flowing phrase, though
modestly, the tale of his merits.
"/Tiens, Mimi/, this is Monsieur /de/ Grindot, a young man
distinguished in his own sphere of life, and the possessor of a great
talent. Monsieur is the architect recommended to us by Monsieur de la
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
