| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Under the Andes by Rex Stout: "You say the purple for reward, Paul?"
I nodded--I could not speak. Her hand touched the white cord
and passed on; the yellow, and again passed on. Then there was a
flash of the knife--another--and she approached the king and laid
at his feet the purple cord.
Then, without a glance toward us, she resumed her seat on the
golden throne.
A lump rose to my throat and tears to my eyes. Which was very
foolish, for the thing had been completely theatrical. It was
merely a tribute from one of nature's gamblers to the man who
"played fair, even with death"; nevertheless, there was feeling in
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: gondoliers, they believed they were serving the Republic. At daybreak
we set out.
"Once upon the open sea, when I thought of that night, when I
recollected all that I had felt, when the vision of that great hoard
rose before my eyes, and I computed that I had left behind thirty
millions in silver, twenty in gold, and many more in diamonds, pearls,
and rubies--then a sort of madness began to work in me. I had the gold
fever.
"We landed at Smyrna and took ship at once for France. As we went on
board the French vessel, Heaven favored me by ridding me of my
accomplice. I did not think at the time of all the possible
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde: LADY CHILTERN. Here?
MRS. CHEVELEY. Yes. I missed it when I got back to Claridge's, and
I thought I might possibly have dropped it here.
LADY CHILTERN. I have heard nothing about it. But I will send for
the butler and ask. [Touches the bell.]
MRS. CHEVELEY. Oh, pray don't trouble, Lady Chiltern. I dare say I
lost it at the Opera, before we came on here.
LADY MARKBY. Ah yes, I suppose it must have been at the Opera. The
fact is, we all scramble and jostle so much nowadays that I wonder we
have anything at all left on us at the end of an evening. I know
myself that, when I am coming back from the Drawing Room, I always
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