| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lesser Bourgeoisie by Honore de Balzac: shops, and it stands on a corner. Ah! that notary knows what he is
about in wishing to hold on to such pieces of property! But let
political events interfere, and down go the Funds! If I were you, I
should sell out all that you and Madame Thuillier have on the Grand
Livre and buy this fine piece of real estate for Thuillier, and I'd
recover the fortune of that poor, pious creature by savings from its
proceeds. Can the Funds go higher than they are to-day? One hundred
and twenty-two! it is fabulous; I should make haste to sell."
Brigitte licked her lips; she perceived the means of keeping her own
property intact, and of enriching her brother by this use of Madame
Thuillier's fortune.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: power of grasping external details so thoroughly that they never
detained me for a moment, and at once I passed beyond and through
them. I could enter into the life of the human creatures whom I
watched, just as the dervish in the /Arabian Nights/ could pass into
any soul or body after pronouncing a certain formula.
If I met a working man and his wife in the streets between eleven
o'clock and midnight on their way home from the Ambigu Comique, I used
to amuse myself by following them from the Boulevard du Pont aux Choux
to the Boulevard Beaumarchais. The good folk would begin by talking
about the play; then from one thing to another they would come to
their own affairs, and the mother would walk on and on, heedless of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: rendezvous to a portion of his men. Some of these he found
lingering round the door outside; others had pushed more boldly in,
and, choosing places as near as possible to where they saw their
comrade, gathered close about Lawless and the two shipmen. These,
to judge by the distempered countenance and cloudy eye, had long
since gone beyond the boundaries of moderation; and as Richard
entered, closely followed by Lord Foxham, they were all three
tuning up an old, pitiful sea-ditty, to the chorus of the wailing
of the gale.
The young leader cast a rapid glance about the shed. The fire had
just been replenished, and gave forth volumes of black smoke, so
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