| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: with appetites and instincts, seeking to enlarge the boundaries of
their empire as a landowner seeks to increase his domain.
Presently the countess came down, and sat close to the backgammon
table, apparently for better light on her embroidery, though the
anxiety which led her to place her frame was ill-concealed. A piece of
fatal ill-luck which I could not prevent changed the count's face;
from gaiety it fell to gloom, from purple it became yellow, and his
eyes rolled. Then followed worse ill-luck, which I could neither avert
nor repair. Monsieur de Mortsauf made a fatal throw which decided the
game. Instantly he sprang up, flung the table at me and the lamp on
the floor, struck the chimney-piece with his fist and jumped, for I
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: world, the patrician class is now bound to win and keep
exclusively. They must head the new forces as they once headed
the material forces; how should they keep the position unless
they are worthy of it? How, unless they are the soul and brain
of a nation, shall they set its hands moving? How lead a people
without the power of command? And what is the marshal's baton
without the innate power of the captain in the man who wields it?
The Faubourg Saint-Germain took to playing with batons, and
fancied that all the power was in its hands. It inverted the
terms of the proposition which called it into existence. And
instead of flinging away the insignia which offended the people,
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: "Why do we have children? Ah! my wife, I love her! Luckily she's sound
and healthy; she's a Bertelliere."
"She has not a month to live."
Grandet struck his forehead, went a few steps, came back, cast a
dreadful look on Cruchot, and said,--
"What can be done?"
"Eugenie can relinquish her claim to her mother's property. Should she
do this you would not disinherit her, I presume?--but if you want to
come to such a settlement, you must not treat her harshly. What I am
telling you, old man, is against my own interests. What do I live by,
if it isn't liquidations, inventories, conveyances, divisions of
Eugenie Grandet |
