| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: "Women alone know how to render such impressions," I said. "You would
be the despair of a poet, dear soul that I divine so well!"
"The extreme heat of mid-day casts into those three expressions of the
infinite an all-powerful color," said Pauline, smiling. "I can here
conceive the poesy and the passion of the East."
"And I can perceive its despair."
"Yes," she said, "this dune is a cloister,--a sublime cloister."
We now heard the hurried steps of our guide; he had put on his Sunday
clothes. We addressed a few ordinary words to him; he seemed to think
that our mood had changed, and with that reserve that comes of misery,
he kept silence. Though from time to time we pressed each other's
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: usually so calm, some symptoms of ill-disguised agitation. A chair was
vacant near hers, and the Colonel seated himself.
"I dare wager something has vexed you?" said he.
"A mere trifle, General. I want to be gone, for I have promised to go
to a ball at the Grand Duchess of Berg's, and I must look in first at
the Princesse de Wagram's. Monsieur de la Roche-Hugon, who knows this,
is amusing himself by flirting with the dowagers."
"That is not the whole secret of your disturbance, and I will bet a
hundred louis that you will remain here the whole evening."
"Impertinent man!"
"Then I have hit the truth?"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: between him and the Duke of Richmond at the high table which went
across the head of the hall. Guildhall is a beautiful old room with
a fine old traceried window, and the scene, with five tables going
the length of the hall and the upper one across the head, was very
gay and brilliant. There were a few toasts, and your father again
made a little speech, short and pleasant. We did not get home till
half-past three in the morning. . . . On Friday morning [July 14th]
many of the guests, the Duke of Richmond, etc., took their departure
and Mr. Hudson had to escort Prince Albert to town, but returned the
same evening. . . . The next day we all went to pay a visit to an
estate of Mr. Hudson's [name of estate indecipherable] for which he
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