| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: sparkled as if it had been built of precious stones set cunningly. In
contrast to the roof with its alternating spaces of whiteness and
color, the two aisles lay to right and left in shadow so deep that the
faint gray outlines of their hundred shafts were scarcely visible in
the gloom. I gazed at the marvelous arcades, the scroll-work, the
garlands, the curving lines, and arabesques interwoven and interlaced,
and strangely lighted, until by sheer dint of gazing my perceptions
became confused, and I stood upon the borderland between illusion and
reality, taken in the snare set for the eyes, and almost light-headed
by reason of the multitudinous changes of the shapes about me.
Imperceptibly a mist gathered about the carven stonework, and I only
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Black Dwarf by Walter Scott: o' puir Grace, I would be content to be your slave for life, in
onything that didna touch my salvation. O, Elshie, speak, man,
speak!"
"Well, then," answered the Dwarf, as if worn out by his
importunity, "since thou hast not enough of woes of thine own,
but must needs seek to burden thyself with those of a partner,
seek her whom thou hast lost in the WEST."
"In the WEST? That's a wide word."
"It is the last," said the Dwarf, which I design to utter;" and
he drew the shutters of his window, leaving Hobbie to make the
most of the hint he had given.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: passed.
"I never come," replied Madame de l'Estorade.
"And I am most assiduous," said Madame d'Espard.
Then, pretending to a sudden recollection, she added,--
"Ah! I forgot; you have a special interest, I think, on this occasion.
A friend of yours is to be /judged/, is he not?"
"Yes; Monsieur de Sallenauve has been to our house several times."
"How sad it is," said the marquise, "to see a man who, Monsieur de
Ronquerolles tells me, had the making of a hero in many ways, come
down to the level of the correctional police."
"His crime so far," said Madame de l'Estorade, dryly, "consists solely
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