| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: "His Majesty the Czar," said Ogareff, "was particularly
anxious that you should be warned of the criminal projects
of Ivan Ogareff against your person."
"Yes; of that the letter informs me."
"And His Majesty himself spoke to me of it, telling me
I was above all things to beware of the traitor."
"Did you meet with him?"
"Yes, your Highness, after the battle of Krasnoiarsk.
If he had only guessed that I was the bearer of a letter
addressed to your Highness, in which his plans were re-
vealed, I should not have got off so easily."
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: her light under a bushel," he continued; "I being the bushel!
Now I know you like me--you have certainly proved it.
But you think I am frivolous and penniless and shabby!
Granted--granted--a thousand times granted.
I have been a loose fish--a fiddler, a painter, an actor.
But there is this to be said: In the first place, I fancy
you exaggerate; you lend me qualities I have n't had.
I have been a Bohemian--yes; but in Bohemia I always passed
for a gentleman. I wish you could see some of my old camarades--
they would tell you! It was the liberty I liked,
but not the opportunities! My sins were all peccadilloes;
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: whom a strong passion survives the intellect.
"I said to myself, as he had said, 'To whom will all these riches go?'
. . . And then I think of the grotesque information he gave me as to
the present address of his heiress, I foresee that it will be my duty
to search all the houses of ill-fame in Paris to pour out an immense
fortune on some worthless jade. But, in the first place, know this--
that in a few days time Ernest de Restaud will come into a fortune to
which his title is unquestionable, a fortune which will put him in a
position to marry Mlle. Camille, even after adequate provision has
been made for his mother the Comtesse de Restaud and his sister and
brother."
Gobseck |
