| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: "The young man pulled out his card. La Palferine dropped it. 'It has
been carried too long in the pocket. Be good enough to give me
another.'
"On the ground he received a thrust; blood was drawn; his antagonist
wished to stop.
" 'You are wounded, monsieur!'
" 'I disallow the /botte/,' said La Palferine, as coolly as if he had
been in the fencing-saloon; then as he riposted (sending the point
home this time), he added, 'There is the right thrust, monsieur!'
"His antagonist kept his bed for six months.
"This, still following on M. Sainte-Beuve's tracks, recalls the
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu: secret desire for mystery; and what in my father is the genius of
curiosity--the very essence of all scientific genius--in me is
the desire for beauty. Do you remember Pater's phrase about
Leonardo da Vinci, 'curiosity and the desire of beauty'?"
It was the desire of beauty that made her a poet; her "nerves of
delight" were always quivering at the contact of beauty. To
those who knew her in England, all the life of the tiny figure
seemed to concentrate itself in the eyes; they turned towards
beauty as the sunflower turns towards the sun, opening wider and
wider until one saw nothing but the eyes.
She was dressed always in clinging dresses of Eastern silk, and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: John was neither timid by nature, nor nervous by constitution, nor
superstitious from habit, yet he continued to gaze in stupid horror
on this singular picture, till, aroused by his uncle's cough, he
hurried into his room. The old man swallowed the wine. He
appeared a little revived; it was long since he had tasted such a
cordial,--his heart appeared to expand to a momentary confidence.
"John, what did you see in that room?" "Nothing, Sir." "That's a
lie; everyone wants to cheat or to rob me." "Sir, I don't want to
do either." "Well, what did you see that you--you took notice of?"
"Only a picture, Sir." "A picture, Sir!--the original is still
alive." John, though under the impression of his recent feelings,
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