| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Edition of The Ambassadors by Henry James: he had brought out the words themselves, was he sure, for that
matter, that the present would be saved.
Book Fourth
I
"I've come, you know, to make you break with everything, neither
more nor less, and take you straight home; so you'll be so good as
immediately and favourably to consider it!"--Strether, face to
face with Chad after the play, had sounded these words almost
breathlessly, and with an effect at first positively disconcerting
to himself alone. For Chad's receptive attitude was that of a
person who had been gracefully quiet while the messenger at last
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: owner, for the purpose of negotiating a lease. As he sauntered through
the dusky labyrinth of the great market, thinking how to achieve a
rapid success, he suddenly came, in the Rue Aubry-le-Boucher, upon a
rare chance, and one of good omen, with which he resolved to regale
Cesar on the morrow. Soon after, while standing about the door of the
Hotel du Commerce, at the end of the Rue des Deux-Ecus, about
midnight, he heard, in the far distance of the Rue de Grenelle, a
vaudeville chorus sung by Gaudissart, with a cane accompaniment
significantly rapped upon the pavement.
"Monsieur," said Anselme, suddenly appearing from the doorway, "two
words?"
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: But I could not help reflecting that, if it should really have been
your father, and he had broken my head with his cudgel, your hopes
would have perished with me. For without me, what should you have
done, my poor children?"
A ripple of laughter from the audience had been steadily enheartening
him, and helping him to recover his natural impudence. It was clear
they found him comical. They were to find him far more comical than
ever he had intended, and this was largely due to a fortuitous
circumstance upon which he had insufficiently reckoned. The fear of
recognition by some one from Gavrillac or Rennes had been strong
upon him. His face was sufficiently made up to baffle recognition;
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