| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: its authority, and, instead of a letter, it were a confession.
To-day I am ill; I may die of this illness, for I have always had
the presentiment that I shall die young. My mother died of
consumption, and the way I have always lived could but increase
the only heritage she ever left me. But I do not want to die
without clearing up for you everything about me; that is, if,
when you come back, you will still trouble yourself about the
poor girl whom you loved before you went away.
This is what the letter contained; I shall like writing it over
again, so as to give myself another proof of my own
justification.
Camille |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: the lines beside it rose too high, toward her eyes.
But these eyes were charming: gray in color, brilliant,
quickly glancing, gently resting, full of intelligence.
Her forehead was very low--it was her only handsome feature;
and she had a great abundance of crisp dark hair, finely frizzled,
which was always braided in a manner that suggested some
Southern or Eastern, some remotely foreign, woman. She had
a large collection of ear-rings, and wore them in alternation;
and they seemed to give a point to her Oriental or exotic aspect.
A compliment had once been paid her, which, being repeated to her,
gave her greater pleasure than anything she had ever heard.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: they withdrew. As soon as he was left alone with the stranger, he went
towards him with a grave, gentle face, and said in fatherly tones:
"My son, if your hands are stained with the blood of the royal martyr,
confide in me. There is no sin that may not be blotted out in the
sight of God by penitence as sincere and touching as yours appears to
be."
At the first words the man started with terror, in spite of himself.
Then he recovered composure, and looked quietly at the astonished
priest.
"Father," he said, and the other could not miss the tremor in his
voice, "no one is more guiltless than I of the blood shed----"
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