| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: had exchanged glances in which fear lurked, on both sides, under an
expression of amity. In the moment of danger, Rastignac, it is clear,
would have been delighted to provide the vehicle that should convey
Jacques Collin to the scaffold. From all this it may be understood
that Carlos heard of the Baron's passion with a glow of sombre
satisfaction, while he perceived in a single flash all the advantage a
man of his temper might derive by means of a hapless Esther.
"Go on," said he to Lucien. "The Devil is mindful of his chaplain."
"You are smoking on a powder barrel."
"Incedo per ignes," replied Carlos with a smile. "That is my trade."
The House of Grandlieu divided into two branches about the middle of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: Affecting a calmness which the tones of his voice, his gestures, and
looks contradicted, he rose hastily, wrapped himself in a dressing-
gown which lay on a chair, and began by locking a door near the
chimney through which the state bedroom was entered from the reception
rooms which communicated with the great staircase.
Seeing her husband pocket that key, the countess had a presentiment of
danger. She next heard him open the door opposite to that which he had
just locked and enter a room where the counts of Herouville slept when
they did not honor their wives with their noble company. The countess
knew of that room only by hearsay. Jealousy kept her husband always
with her. If occasionally some military expedition forced him to leave
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: All crooked swings the ham.
'Alas,' he cries and shakes his head,
'I see by every sign,
There soon all be the deuce to pay,
With this estate of mine.'
Poem: III - THE DISPUTATIOUS PINES
The first pine to the second said:
'My leaves are black, my branches red;
I stand upon this moor of mine,
A hoar, unconquerable pine.'
The second sniffed and answered: 'Pooh!
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