| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Awakening & Selected Short Stories by Kate Chopin: "Not before?--not to-night or to-morrow morning or tomorrow
noon or night? or the day after morning or noon? Can't you see
yourself, without my telling you, what an eternity it is?"
He had followed her into the hall and to the foot of the
stairway, looking up at her as she mounted with her face half
turned to him.
"Not an instant sooner," she said. But she laughed and looked
at him with eyes that at once gave him courage to wait and made it
torture to wait.
XXX
Though Edna had spoken of the dinner as a very grand affair,
 Awakening & Selected Short Stories |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: that he was familiar with the house; but he found that he had
thoughtlessly precipitated himself into a small room full of
dressers, where lamps were standing, and hot-water pipes, on
which towels were being dried; a dark passage and a back
staircase lay beyond it. Stifled laughter from the ante-chamber
added to his confusion.
"This way to the drawing-room, sir," said the servant, with the
exaggerated respect which seemed to be one more jest at his
expense.
Eugene turned so quickly that he stumbled against a bath. By good
luck, he managed to keep his hat on his head, and saved it from
 Father Goriot |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry: are wisest. They are the magi.
End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.
 The Gift of the Magi |