| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: Vidame de Chartres and the Prince de Conde first came to court,
Francois I. gave them--what? The office of chamberlain, with a paltry
salary of twelve hundred crowns a year, the same that he gave to the
simplest gentlemen. Though Diane de Poitiers offered an immense dowry,
a fine office under the crown, and the favor of the king, the vidame
refused. After which, this Bourbon, already factious, married Jeanne,
daughter of the Baron d'Estissac, by whom he had no children. This act
of pride naturally commended him to Catherine, who greeted him after
that with marked favor and made a devoted friend of him.
Historians have compared the last Duc de Montmorency, beheaded at
Toulouse, to the Vidame de Chartres, in the art of pleasing, in
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: At seven o'clock I was at the Vaudeville. Never had I gone to a
theatre so early. The boxes filled one after another. Only one
remained empty, the stage box. At the beginning of the third act
I heard the door of the box, on which my eyes had been almost
constantly fixed, open, and Marguerite appeared. She came to the
front at once, looked around the stalls, saw me, and thanked me
with a look.
That night she was marvellously beautiful. Was I the cause of
this coquetry? Did she love me enough to believe that the more
beautiful she looked the happier I should be? I did not know, but
if that had been her intention she certainly succeeded, for when
Camille |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter by Beatrix Potter: the policeman. They had nearly run
against him round a corner. Pigling
Bland pulled out his paper; Alexander,
after fumbling, handed over
something scrumply--
"To 2 1/2 oz. conversation sweeties
at three farthings"--"What's this?
this ain't a license?" Alexander's
nose lengthened visibly, he had lost
it. "I had one, indeed I had, Mr.
Policeman!"
|
