| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: of the day, if he is not at the Chamber, he is at the Privy Council,
or signing papers, or hearing a case. In the early morning he is out,
no one knows where. In the evening he has public and private
engagements. If every magistrate could claim a moment's interview
under any pretext that might occur to him, the Supreme Judge would be
besieged.
The purpose of a private and immediate interview is therefore
submitted to the judgment of one of those mediatory potentates who are
but an obstacle to be removed, a door that can be unlocked, so long as
it is not held by a rival. A woman at once goes to another woman; she
can get straight into her bedroom if she can arouse the curiosity of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: eating. I had acquired the habit too early. For twenty-seven years I
had been blindly rushing upon my fate, yielding to the insidious lures
of that deadly monster, food. It was too late. I was a ruminant biped
for keeps. It was lobster salad to a doughnut that my life was going
to be blighted by it.
"I continued to board at the Dugan tent, hoping that Mame would
relent. I had sufficient faith in true love to believe that since it
has often outlived the absence of a square meal it might, in time,
overcome the presence of one. I went on ministering to my fatal vice,
although I felt that each time I shoved a potato into my mouth in
Mame's presence I might be burying my fondest hopes.
Heart of the West |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: Deny (if you can) that you designed this money to evade my orders
with, and I will ask your pardon freely. If you cannot, you must
have the resolution to hear your conduct go by its own name."
"If you think I had any design but to save you - " I began.
"Oh! my old friend," said he, "you know very well what I think!
Here is my hand to you with all my heart; but of money, not one
rap."
Defeated upon this side, I went straight to my room, wrote a
letter, ran with it to the harbour, for I knew a ship was on the
point of sailing; and came to the Master's door a little before
dusk. Entering without the form of any knock, I found him sitting
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