| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: Megales, a brave man. May the cards fall better for him next time
he plays."
The governor bowed ironically. "A brave man certainly, and you
might add: 'Who loses his stake without striking one honest blow
for it.' "
"We play with stacked cards, excellency. Who can forestall the
treachery of trusted associates?"
"Sir, your apology for me is very generous, no less so than the
terms you offer," returned Megales sardonically.
O'Halloran laughed. "Well, if you don't like my explanations I
shall have to let you make your own. And, by the way, may I
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: staircase.
The young man hesitated. He might have been a bedizened citizen's wife
craning her neck over a gutter swollen by the rain. But the hour was
not unpropitious for the indulgence of some discreditable whim.
Earlier, he might have been detected; later, he might find himself cut
out. Tempted by a glance which is encouraging without being inviting,
to have followed a young and pretty woman for an hour, or perhaps for
a day, thinking of her as a divinity and excusing her light conduct by
a thousand reasons to her advantage; to have allowed oneself to
believe in a sudden and irresistible affinity; to have pictured, under
the promptings of transient excitement, a love-adventure in an age
Gambara |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: breakfast, which the goodman took standing, the keeper from Froidfond,
to whom the promised indemnity had never yet been paid, made his
appearance, bearing a hare and some partridges shot in the park, with
eels and two pike sent as tribute by the millers.
"Ha, ha! poor Cornoiller; here he comes, like fish in Lent. Is all
that fit to eat?"
"Yes, my dear, generous master; it has been killed two days."
"Come, Nanon, bestir yourself," said Grandet; "take these things,
they'll do for dinner. I have invited the two Cruchots."
Nanon opened her eyes, stupid with amazement, and looked at everybody
in the room.
Eugenie Grandet |
