| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lily of the Valley by Honore de Balzac: hazardous cases to a degree that alarmed me. Sometimes he showed
glimpses of the brave gentleman of Conde's army, parabolic flashes of
will such as may, in times of emergency, tear through politics like
bomb-shells, and may also, by virtue of honesty and courage, make a
man condemned to live buried on his property an Elbee, a Bonchamp, or
a Charette. In presence of certain ideas his nostril contracted, his
forehead cleared, and his eyes shot lightnings, which were soon
quenched. Sometimes I feared he might detect the language of my eyes
and kill me. I was young then and merely tender. Will, that force that
alters men so strangely, had scarcely dawned within me. My passionate
desires shook me with an emotion that was like the throes of fear.
The Lily of the Valley |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: the vapours cleared away, and the lakes of Tezcuco, Chalco, and
Xochicalco shone in the sunlight like giant mirrors. On their
banks stood many cities, indeed the greatest of these, Mexico,
seemed to float upon the waters; beyond them and about them were
green fields of corn and aloe, and groves of forest trees, while
far away towered the black wall of rock that hedges in the valley.
All day we journeyed swiftly through this fairy land. We passed
through the cities of Amaquem and Ajotzinco, which I will not stay
to describe, and many a lovely village that nestled upon the
borders of Lake Chalco. Then we entered on the great causeway of
stone built like a road resting on the waters, and with the
Montezuma's Daughter |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: against our will."
The lady smiled.
"I," said she, "am the Comtesse de Mahaut," and she rose with a
dignity that took the man's breath away. "Beware of bringing the
smallest trouble on your guests. Above all, respect the old man; I
have seen him in the company of your Lord the King, who entreated him
courteously; you will be ill advised to trouble him in any way. As to
my having been here--never breathe a word of it, as you value your
life."
She said no more, but relapsed into thought.
Presently she looked up, signed to Jacqueline, and together they went
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