| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: gone mad about her.
"I have often accompanied him," said Daniel, "to the opera. He would
make me run through the streets as far as her horses that he might see
the princess through the window of her coupe."
"Well, there you have a topic all ready for you," said Blondet,
smiling. "This is the very woman you need; she'll initiate you most
gracefully into the mysteries of elegance; but take care! she has
wasted many fortunes. The beautiful Diane is one of those spendthrifts
who don't cost a penny, but for whom a man spends millions. Give
yourself up to her, body and soul, if you choose; but keep your money
in your hand, like the old fellow in Girodet's 'Deluge.'"
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: ambassador, who had married the widow of the Comte de Kergarouet,
Mademoiselle Emilie de Fontaine.
Half lying on a sofa, her handkerchief in the other hand, her
breathing choked by repressed sobs, and with tearful eyes, the
countess had been making confidences such as are made only from sister
to sister when two sisters love each other; and these two sisters did
love each other tenderly. We live in days when sisters married into
such antagonist spheres can very well not love each other, and
therefore the historian is bound to relate the reasons of this tender
affection, preserved without spot or jar in spite of their husbands'
contempt for each other and their own social disunion. A rapid glance
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: know it well--I, so little."
Rezanov felt his breath short and his hands cold.
For a moment he made no reply. Then he smiled
charmingly and said in the conventional tone that
was ever at his command: "Of course you know
little of life in this Arcadia. One who hopes to be
numbered among the best of your friends prays
that you never may. Yes, senorita, life is strange
--strangely commonplace and disillusionizing--but
sometimes picturesque. Believe me when I say that
nothing stranger has ever befallen me than to find
Rezanov |
