| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from An Historical Mystery by Honore de Balzac: Nevertheless, the government found its hand to a certain extent forced
by Georges Cadoudal, a man of action who took counsel of himself only,
and who was hiding in Paris with twenty-five /chouans/ for the purpose
of attacking the First Consul.
Laurence combined both hatred and love within her breast. To destroy
Bonaparte and bring back the Bourbons was to recover Gondreville and
make the fortune of her cousins. The two sentiments, one the
counterpart of the other, were sufficient, more especially at twenty-
three years of age, to excite all the faculties of her soul and all
the powers of her being. So, for the last two months, she had seemed
to the inhabitants of Cinq-Cygne more beautiful than at any other
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Father Damien by Robert Louis Stevenson: whether less than a half, or less than a quarter, or a fifth, or a
tenth - or, say a twentieth; and the next time you burst into print
you will be in a position to share with us the issue of your
calculations.
I imagine you to be one of those persons who talk with cheerfulness
of that place which oxen and wain-ropes could not drag you to
behold. You, who do not even know its situation on the map,
probably denounce sensational descriptions, stretching your limbs
the while in your pleasant parlour on Beretania Street. When I was
pulled ashore there one early morning, there sat with me in the
boat two sisters, bidding farewell (in humble imitation of Damien)
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: white teeth and laughed. 'Who is He of whom thou speakest?' he
asked.
'It matters not,' she answered. 'Go thou to-night, and stand under
the branches of the hornbeam, and wait for my coming. If a black
dog run towards thee, strike it with a rod of willow, and it will
go away. If an owl speak to thee, make it no answer. When the
moon is full I shall be with thee, and we will dance together on
the grass.'
'But wilt thou swear to me to tell me how I may send my soul from
me?' he made question.
She moved out into the sunlight, and through her red hair rippled
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