| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: call flic-flac, a something that put you in mind of Mlle. Mars'
agreeable delivery, for all the Muses are sisters, and the dancer and
poet alike have their feet upon the earth. Isaure's feet spoke lightly
and swiftly with a clearness and precision which augured well for
things of the heart. 'Elle a duc flic-flac,' was old Marcel's highest
word of praise, and old Marcel was the dancing master that deserved
the epithet of 'the Great.' People used to say 'the Great Marcel,' as
they said 'Frederick the Great,' and in Frederick's time."
"Did Marcel compose any ballets?" inquired Finot.
"Yes, something in the style of Les Quatre Elements and L'Europe
galante."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield: dividing, sharing. One young girl has even a basket of strawberries, but
she does not eat them. "Aren't they dear!" She stares at the tiny pointed
fruits as if she were afraid of them. The Australian soldier laughs.
"Here, go on, there's not more than a mouthful." But he doesn't want her
to eat them, either. He likes to watch her little frightened face, and her
puzzled eyes lifted to his: "Aren't they a price!" He pushes out his
chest and grins. Old fat women in velvet bodices--old dusty pin-cushions--
lean old hags like worn umbrellas with a quivering bonnet on top; young
women, in muslins, with hats that might have grown on hedges, and high
pointed shoes; men in khaki, sailors, shabby clerks, young Jews in fine
cloth suits with padded shoulders and wide trousers, "hospital boys" in
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: dreamy, melancholy, pale, bending her head like a drooping flower; her
neighbor, on the contrary, tall, indolent, with Asiatic habits, long
eyes, moist and black, said but little, and reflected, glancing
covertly at the head of Antinous.
Among them, like the "jocoso" of a Spanish play, full of wit and
epigrammatic sallies, another girl was watching the rest with a
comprehensive glance, making them laugh, and tossing up her head, too
lively and arch not to be pretty. She appeared to rule the first group
of girls, who were the daughters of bankers, notaries, and merchants,
--all rich, but aware of the imperceptible though cutting slights
which another group belonging to the aristocracy put upon them. The
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