| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: ended by finding hope in that tranquillity. The roar of the tempest,
now descending in torrents of rain, seemed to her no more than a
melancholy moan; her fears and her pains both yielded her a momentary
respite. Contemplating the man to whom her life was bound, the
countess allowed herself to float into a reverie, the sweetness of
which was so intoxicating that she had no strength to break its charm.
For a moment, by one of those visions which in some way share the
divine power, there passed before her rapid images of a happiness lost
beyond recall.
Jeanne in her vision saw faintly, and as if in a distant gleam of
dawn, the modest castle where her careless childhood had glided on;
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley: a fright, for he thought he might be taken up for killing the
turnip.
But, on the contrary, the turnip's parents were highly delighted,
and considered him a saint and a martyr, and put up a long
inscription over his tomb about his wonderful talents, early
development, and unparalleled precocity. Were they not a foolish
couple? But there was a still more foolish couple next to them,
who were beating a wretched little radish, no bigger than my thumb,
for sullenness and obstinacy and wilful stupidity, and never knew
that the reason why it couldn't learn or hardly even speak was,
that there was a great worm inside it eating out all its brains.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: obliged to change the opera in consequence of la Tinti's being ill;
and the Duke was not to be seen in the theatre.
Was this a clever trick on the part of the management, to secure two
full houses by bringing out Genovese and Tinti separately, or was
Clarina's indisposition genuine? While this was open to discussion by
others, Emilio might be better informed; and though the announcement
caused him some remorse, as he remembered the singer's beauty and
vehemence, her absence and the Duke's put both the Prince and the
Duchess very much at their ease.
And Genovese sang in such a way as to drive out all memories of a
night of illicit love, and to prolong the heavenly joys of this
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