| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: 'They will be here presently,' I said coolly. Let us make the
most of the time. A little wine and food will do Madame good.'
She smiled rather sadly.
'I think that we have changed places,' she said. 'And that you
have turned host and we guests.'
'Let it be so,' I said cheerfully. 'I recommend some of this
ragout. Come, Mademoiselle, fasting can aid no one. A full meal
has saved many a man's life.'
It was clumsily said, perhaps; for she shuddered and looked at me
with a ghastly smile. But she persuaded her sister to take
something; and she took something on her own plate and raised her
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: line by line, as he ascended. The centre of each line produced the richest
pans, while the ends came where no colors showed in the pan. And as he
ascended the hillside the lines grew perceptibly shorter. The regularity with
which their length diminished served to indicate that somewhere up the slope
the last line would be so short as to have scarcely length at all, and that
beyond could come only a point. The design was growing into an inverted "V."
The converging sides of this "V" marked the boundaries of the gold-bearing
dirt.
The apex of the "V" was evidently the man's goal. Often he ran his eye along
the converging sides and on up the hill, trying to divine the apex, the point
where the gold-bearing dirt must cease. Here resided "Mr. Pocket"--for so the
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: pink of a Bengal rose. At the corners of the eyes, close to the nose,
sorrows had made two shining tracks like mother-of-pearl, where tears
had flowed; tears which effaced the marks of small-pox and glazed the
skin. Curiosity was invincibly attracted to that pearly spot, where
the blue threads of the little veins throbbed precipitately, as though
they were swelled by an influx of blood brought there, as it were, to
feed the tears. The circle round the eyes was now a dark-brown that
was almost black above the eyelids, which were horribly wrinkled. The
cheeks were hollow; in their folds lay the sign of solemn thoughts.
The chin, which in youth was full and round, the flesh covering the
muscles, was now shrunken, to the injury of its expression, which told
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