| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: interrogated. He maintained that he had not poisoned either
Mme. de Lamotte or her son; his only crime, he said, lay in
having concealed their deaths. Mme; Derues said: "It is
Buisson-Souef that has ruined us! I always told my husband that
he was mad to buy these properties--I am sure my husband is not a
poisoner--I trusted my husband and believed every word he said."
The court condemned Derues to death, but deferred judgment in his
wife's case on the ground of her pregnancy.
And now the frail, cat-like little man had to brace himself to
meet a cruel and protracted execution. But sanguine to the last,
he still hoped. An appeal lay from the Chatelet to the
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: the reproved buffoon is the most savage; and when grave issues are
involved, these petty stabs become unbearable. But Gondremark was a
man of iron; he showed nothing; he did not even, like the common
trickster, retreat because he had presumed, but held to his point
bravely. 'Madam,' he said, 'if, as you say, he prove exacting, we
must take the bull by the horns.'
'We shall see,' she said, and she arranged her skirt like one about
to rise. Temper, scorn, disgust, all the more acrid feelings,
became her like jewels; and she now looked her best.
'Pray God they quarrel,' thought Gondremark. 'The damned minx may
fail me yet, unless they quarrel. It is time to let him in. Zz -
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne: sail down before the wind in that manner--inasmuch as it appeared from the
register of Islaben in the county of Mansfelt, that Luther was not born in
the year 1483, but in 84; and not on the 22d day of October, but on the
10th of November, the eve of Martinmas day, from whence he had the name of
Martin.
(--I must break off my translation for a moment; for if I did not, I know I
should no more be able to shut my eyes in bed, than the abbess of
Quedlingberg--It is to tell the reader; that my father never read this
passage of Slawkenbergius to my uncle Toby, but with triumph--not over my
uncle Toby, for he never opposed him in it--but over the whole world.
--Now you see, brother Toby, he would say, looking up, 'that christian
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