| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: that I am not paid in holy-water if I succeed; he will further a rich
marriage for his own sake."
"You are wily, Maxime, and you distrust me. But I like able men, and I
will attend to your affair."
They reached the Austrian embassy. The Comte de Rastignac saw the
minister of the interior in one of the salons and went to talk with
him in a corner. Comte Maxime de Trailles, meantime, was apparently
engrossed by the old Comtesse de Listomere, but he was, in reality,
following the course of the conversation between the two peers of
France; he watched their gestures, interpreted their looks, and ended
by catching a favorable glance cast upon him by the minister.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: outflanked Montecuculi, and Society will sanction the theft of
millions, shower ribbons upon the thief, cram him with honors, and
smother him with consideration.
Government, moreover, works harmoniously with this profoundly
illogical reasoner--Society. Government levies a conscription on the
young intelligence of the kingdom at the age of seventeen or eighteen,
a conscription of precocious brain-work before it is sent up to be
submitted to a process of selection. Nurserymen sort and select seeds
in much the same way. To this process the Government brings
professional appraisers of talent, men who can assay brains as experts
assay gold at the Mint. Five hundred such heads, set afire with hope,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lost Continent by Edgar Rice Burroughs: handed down to him either from the military number of an
ancestor who had served in the English ranks during the
Great War, or that originally it was the number of some
famous regiment with which a forbear fought.
Now that we were reunited, we held a council to determine
what course we should pursue in the immediate future.
Snider was still for setting out to sea and returning to
Pan-America, but the better judgment of Delcarte and Taylor
ridiculed the suggestion--we should not have lived a
fortnight.
To remain in England, constantly menaced by wild beasts and
Lost Continent |
