| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Modeste Mignon by Honore de Balzac: be paying a debt, my boy, to make the purchase easy for you," said the
notary.
Butscha was kissing Madame Mignon's hand, and his face was wet with
tears as Modeste opened the door of the salon.
"What are you doing to my Black Dwarf?" she demanded. "Who is making
him unhappy?"
"Ah! Mademoiselle Mignon, do we luckless fellows, cradled in
misfortune, ever weep for grief? They have just shown me as much
affection as I could feel for them if they were indeed my own
relations. I'm to be a notary; I shall be rich. Ha! ha! the poor
Butscha may become the rich Butscha. You don't know what audacity
 Modeste Mignon |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: sitting upon their blankets and smoking their long pipes, or lounging before
the warm blazes maintained a stolid indifference; the dusky maidens smiled
shyly, and the little Indian boys, with whom Isaac had always been a great
favorite, manifested their joy by yelling and running after him. One youngster
grasped Isaac round the leg and held on until he was pulled away.
In the center of the village were several lodges connected with one another
and larger and more imposing than the surrounding tepees. These were the
wigwams of the chief, and thither Isaac was conducted. The guards led him to a
large and circular apartment and left him there alone. This room was the
council-room. It contained nothing but a low seat and a knotted war-club.
Isaac heard the rattle of beads and bear claws, and as he turned a tall and
 Betty Zane |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare: 'That not a heart which in his level came
Could scape the hail of his all-hurting aim,
Showing fair nature is both kind and tame;
And, veil'd in them, did win whom he would maim:
Against the thing he sought he would exclaim;
When he most burned in heart-wish'd luxury,
He preach'd pure maid and prais'd cold chastity.
'Thus merely with the garment of a Grace
The naked and concealed fiend he cover'd,
That the unexperienc'd gave the tempter place,
Which, like a cherubin, above them hover'd.
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