| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: most harmless of maniacs, and this, in the long run--since it
covered so much ground--was his easiest description of their
friendship. He had a screw loose for her but she liked him in
spite of it and was practically, against the rest of the world, his
kind wise keeper, unremunerated but fairly amused and, in the
absence of other near ties, not disreputably occupied. The rest of
the world of course thought him queer, but she, she only, knew how,
and above all why, queer; which was precisely what enabled her to
dispose the concealing veil in the right folds. She took his
gaiety from him--since it had to pass with them for gaiety--as she
took everything else; but she certainly so far justified by her
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: romances discovered by Augustine in the cupboard of a cook Madame
Guillaume had lately discharged--/Hippolyte Comte de Douglas/ and /Le
Comte de Comminges/--may have contributed to develop the ideas of the
young girl, who had devoured them in secret, during the long nights of
the past winter.
And so Augustine's expression of vague longing, her gentle voice, her
jasmine skin, and her blue eyes had lighted in poor Lebas' soul a
flame as ardent as it was reverent. From an easily understood caprice,
Augustine felt no affection for the orphan; perhaps she did not know
that he loved her. On the other hand, the senior apprentice, with his
long legs, his chestnut hair, his big hands and powerful frame, had
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Sons of the Soil by Honore de Balzac: people and hence their characters. Madame de Montcornet, assisted by
the advice and experience of the Abbe Brossette, came, little by
little, to have a thorough and statistical knowledge of all the poor
families of the district, their respective condition, their wants,
their means of subsistence, and the sort of help she must give to each
to obtain work so as not to make them lazy or idle.
The countess had placed Genevieve Niseron, La Pechina, in a convent at
Auxerre, under pretext of having her taught to sew that she might
employ her in her own house, but really to save her from the shameful
attempts of Nicolas Tonsard, whom Rigou had managed to save from the
conscription. The countess also believed that a religious education,
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