| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac: you will have thirty or forty thousand francs. But there is a reverse
side to this beautiful medal. How if the Presidente comes to hear that
M. Pons' property is worth a million of francs, and that you mean to
have a bit out of it?--for there is always somebody ready to take that
kind of errand--" he added parenthetically.
This remark, and the little pause that came before and after it, sent
another shudder through La Cibot. She thought at once that Fraisier
himself would probably undertake that office.
"And then, my dear client, in ten minutes old Pillerault is asked to
dismiss you, and then on a couple of hours' notice--"
"What does that matter to me?" said La Cibot, rising to her feet like
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: one of their number, interrogated the now weary, hopeless
prisoner, and, by a large majority, condemned her to a punishment
that fell only just short of the supreme penalty. On the grounds
that she had wilfully and knowingly participated with her husband
in the fraudulent attempt to become possessed of the estate of
Buisson-Souef, and was strongly suspected of having participated
with him in his greater crime, she was sentenced to be publicly
flogged, branded on both shoulders with the letter V (Voleuse)
and imprisoned for life in the Salpetriere Prison. On March
13, in front of the Conciergerie Mme. Derues underwent the first
part of her punishment. The same day her hair was cut short, and
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: support of the revolution. At the same time, the Committee
reminded the Mensheviks that a continuation of their
counter-revolutionary work would force the Soviet
Government "to expel them to the territories of Kolchak's
democracy." This conclusion was greeted with laughter and
applause, and with that the meeting ended.
COMMISSARIAT OF LABOUR
February 28th.
This morning I went round to the Commissariat of Labour,
to see Schmidt, the Commissar. Schmidt is a
clean-shaven, intelligent young man, whose attention to business
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