| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: Birotteau does hereby engage, in consideration of certain sums of
money advanced by the undersigned Sophie Gamard, to leave her, as
indemnity, all the household property of which he may die possessed,
or to transfer the same to her should he, for any reason whatever or
at any time, voluntarily give up the apartment now leased to him, and
thus derive no further profit from the above-named engagements made by
Mademoiselle Gamard for his benefit--"
"Confound her! what an agreement!" cried the old gentleman. "The said
Sophie Gamard is armed with claws."
Poor Birotteau never imagined in his childish brain that anything
could ever separate him from that house where he expected to live and
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Four Arthurian Romances by Chretien DeTroyes: will? All pass over him in silence, even the heralds, who
proclaim the brave, but discard the cowards." When my lord Kay
had spoken thus, my lord Gawain made this reply: "My lord Kay,
have some mercy now! Since my lord Yvain is not here, you do not
know what business occupies him. Indeed. he never so debased
himself as to speak any ill of you compared with the gracious
things he has said." "Sire," says Kay, "I'll hold my peace.
I'll not say another word to-day, since I see you are offended by
my speech." Then the King, in order to see the rain, poured a
whole basin full of water upon the stone beneath the pine, and at
once the rain began to pour. It was not long before my lord Yvain
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from American Notes by Rudyard Kipling: I'm sick of interviewing night editors who lean their chair
against the wall, and, in response to my demand for the record of
a prominent citizen, answer: "Well, you see, he began by keeping
a saloon," etc. I prefer to believe that my informants are
treating me as in the old sinful days in India I was used to
treat the wandering globe-trotter. They declare that they speak
the truth, and the news of dog politics lately vouchsafed to me
in groggeries inclines me to believe, but I won't. The people
are much too nice to slangander as recklessly as I have been
doing.
Besides, I am hopelessly in love with about eight American
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