| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: King Solomon! Aramis, you certainly are full of wisdom!"
The young men burst into a laugh, and as may be supposed, the
affair had no other sequel. In a moment or two the conversation
ceased, and the three Guardsmen and the Musketeer, after having
cordially shaken hands, separated, the Guardsmen going one way
and Aramis another.
"Now is my time to make peace with this gallant man," said
D'Artagnan to himself, having stood on one side during the whole
of the latter part of the conversation; and with this good
feeling drawing near to Aramis, who was departing without paying
any attention to him, "Monsieur," said he, "you will excuse me, I
The Three Musketeers |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: "It is my purpose to make thee happy for ever," she said. "Thou art my
son."
We were sitting before the hearth, the ashes lay cold upon it; the old
shrunken woman grasped my hand so tightly in hers that I could not
choose but stay. I looked fixedly at her, striving to read the story
of her life from the things among which she was crouching. Had she
indeed any life in her? It was a mystery. Yet I saw plainly that once
she must have been young and beautiful; fair, with all the charm of
simplicity, perfect as some Greek statue, with the brow of a vestal.
"Ah! ah!" I cried, "now I know thee! Miserable woman, why hast thou
prostituted thyself? In the age of thy passions, in the time of thy
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Message by Honore de Balzac: wished for such a husband, for he was a Vicomte with an income of
twelve or fifteen thousand livres, "to say nothing of
expectations."
About a league out of Pouilly the coach was overturned. My
luckless comrade, thinking to save himself, jumped to the edge of
a newly-ploughed field, instead of following the fortunes of the
vehicle and clinging tightly to the roof, as I did. He either
miscalculated in some way, or he slipped; how it happened, I do
not know, but the coach fell over upon him, and he was crushed
under it.
We carried him into a peasant's cottage, and there, amid the
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