| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: was the object of his great contempt. The /chef's/ attentions were, in
fact, devoted to Louise, the Countess Steinbock's maid. The country
girl, thinking herself ill-used, complained bitterly that she was
always sent out of the way on some pretext when the /chef/ was
finishing a dish or putting the crowning touch to a sauce.
"I am out of luck," said she, "and I shall go to another place."
And yet she stayed though she had twice given notice to quit.
One night, Adeline, roused by some unusual noise, did not see Hector
in the bed he occupied near hers; for they slept side by side in two
beds, as beseemed an old couple. She lay awake an hour, but he did not
return. Seized with a panic, fancying some tragic end had overtaken
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: which still resounds in my heart, for at every hour its echo wakes.
I was working in the cabinet of the king, who was to drive out at four
o'clock. The Duc de Lenoncourt was on service. When he entered the
room the king asked him news of the countess. I raised my head hastily
in too eager a manner; the king, offended by the action, gave me the
look which always preceded the harsh words he knew so well how to say.
"Sire, my poor daughter is dying," replied the duke.
"Will the king deign to grant me leave of absence?" I cried, with
tears in my eyes, braving the anger which I saw about to burst.
"Go, MY LORD," he answered, smiling at the satire in his words, and
withholding his reprimand in favor of his own wit.
The Lily of the Valley |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: fortune to see her one day happy, rich, respected, and surrounded
by men of mark. Schinner had therefore chosen his friends among
the most honorable and distinguished men. Fastidious in the
selection of his intimates, he desired to raise still further a
position which his talent had placed high. The work to which he
had devoted himself from boyhood, by compelling him to dwell in
solitude--the mother of great thoughts--had left him the
beautiful beliefs which grace the early days of life. His
adolescent soul was not closed to any of the thousand bashful
emotions by which a young man is a being apart, whose heart
abounds in joys, in poetry, in virginal hopes, puerile in the
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