| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: the present day corresponds to October 20, 1799, two young men,
leaving Bonn in the early morning, had reached by nightfall the
environs of Andernach, a small town standing on the left bank of the
Rhine a few leagues from Coblentz. At that time the French army,
commanded by Augereau, was manoeuvring before the Austrians, who then
occupied the right bank of the river. The headquarters of the
Republican division was at Coblentz, and one of the demi-brigades
belonging to Augereau's corps was stationed at Andernach.
The two travellers were Frenchmen. At sight of their uniforms, blue
mixed with white and faced with red velvet, their sabres, and above
all their hats covered with a green varnished-cloth and adorned with a
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: narrow-mindedness that stood confessed in the very way that her hair
grew, low on the forehead, which was slightly depressed; he discovered
in the perfect regularity of her features a certain set rigidity which
before long made him hate the assumed sweetness that had bewitched
him. Intuition told him that one day of disaster those thin lips might
say, "My dear, it is for your good!"
Madame de Granville's complexion was acquiring a dull pallor and an
austere expression that were a kill-joy to all who came near her. Was
this change wrought by the ascetic habits of a pharisaism which is not
piety any more than avarice is economy? It would be hard to say.
Beauty without expression is perhaps an imposture. This imperturbable
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: stomachs, passing the time by carrying on a desultory conversation, or
taking a few whiffs, slowly, and with care, from their pipes, for tobacco
was precious in the camp.
Under some bushes a few yards off lay a huge trooper, whose nationality was
uncertain, but who was held to hail from some part of the British Isles,
and who had travelled round the world. He was currently reported to have
done three years' labour for attempted rape in Australia, but nothing
certain was known regarding his antecedents. He had been up on guard half
the night, and was now taking his rest lying on his back with his arm
thrown over his face; but a slight movement could be noted in his jaw as he
slowly chewed a piece of tobacco; and occasionally when he turned it round
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