| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: but it was the sleep which tires rather than rests the body. From
time to time she uttered a cry, started up, and, after assuring
herself that I was beside her, made me swear that I would always
love her.
I could make nothing of these intermittent paroxysms of distress,
which went on till morning. Then Marguerite fell into a kind of
stupor. She had not slept for two nights.
Her rest was of short duration, for toward eleven she awoke, and,
seeing that I was up, she looked about her, crying:
"Are you going already?"
"No," said I, holding her hands; "but I wanted to let you sleep
Camille |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: overpoweringly conscious of being the object of general attention; she
could not disguise her discomfort, and lapsed a little into
provincialism, displaying her handkerchief and making involuntary
movements of which she had almost cured herself. At last, between the
second and third acts, a man had himself admitted to Dinah's box! It
was Monsieur de Clagny.
"I am happy to see you, to tell you how much I am pleased by your
promotion," said she.
"Oh! Madame, for whom should I come to Paris----?"
"What!" said she. "Have I anything to do with your appointment?"
"Everything," said he. "Since you left Sancerre, it had become
The Muse of the Department |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: CHAPTER XXII
Meanwhile, the city itself was deserted. There was hardly anyone
in the streets. The gates and shops were all closed, only here and
there round the taverns solitary shouts or drunken songs could be
heard. Nobody drove through the streets and footsteps were rarely
heard. The Povarskaya was quite still and deserted. The huge courtyard
of the Rostovs' house was littered with wisps of hay and with dung
from the horses, and not a soul was to be seen there. In the great
drawing room of the house, which had been left with all it
contained, were two people. They were the yard porter Ignat, and the
page boy Mishka, Vasilich's grandson who had stayed in Moscow with his
War and Peace |
