| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: witnesses declare that honor is satisfied.'
"La Palferine owed his tailor a thousand francs, and the man instead
of going himself sent his assistant to ask for the money. The
assistant found the unfortunate debtor up six pairs of stairs at the
back of a yard at the further end of the Faubourg du Roule. The room
was unfurnished save for a bed (such a bed!), a table, and such a
table! La Palferine heard the preposterous demand--'A demand which I
should qualify as illegal,' he said when he told us the story, 'made,
as it was, at seven o'clock in the morning.'
" 'Go,' he answered, with the gesture and attitude of a Mirabeau,
'tell your master in what condition you find me.'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: neighbourhood or not, and uncertain how long they might have to
stay, it seemed incredible that soldiers should move from good
quarters to bad without motive.
I wandered down the garden, thinking sullenly of this, and
pettishly cutting off the heads of the flowers with my sheathed
sword. After all, if they found and arrested the man, what then?
I should have to make my peace with the Cardinal as I best might.
He would have gained his point, but not through me, and I should
have to look to myself. On the other hand, if I anticipated
them--and, as a fact, I believed that I could lay my hand on the
fugitive within a few hours--there would come a time when I must
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Twenty Years After by Alexandre Dumas: understanding," said D'Artagnan, with a look as if he spoke
against his conviction.
"Pooh!" replied Porthos, "I am what I am."
They rode on for an hour, till the horses were covered with
foam and dust.
"Zounds! what is yonder?" cried D'Artagnan.
"You are very lucky if you see anything such a night as
this," said Porthos.
"Something bright."
"I, too," cried Musqueton, "saw them also."
"Ah! ah! have we overtaken them?"
Twenty Years After |
