| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: Place Vendome, was startled from her sleep by a frightful dream. She
had seen her double. She had appeared to herself clothed in rags,
turning with a shrivelled, withered hand the latch of her own shop-
door, seeming to be at the threshold, yet at the same time seated in
her armchair behind the counter. She was asking alms of herself, and
heard herself speaking from the doorway and also from her seat at the
desk.
She tried to grasp her husband, but her hand fell on a cold place. Her
terror became so intense that she could not move her neck, which
stiffened as if petrified; the membranes of her throat became glued
together, her voice failed her. She remained sitting erect in the same
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: not do it; that is, he did not do it with his own hands. The man
who held the knife that struck down the pastor was Varna, the crazy
mechanician."
Janci beat his forehead. "Oh, I am a foolish and useless dreamer!"
he exclaimed; "of course it was Varna's hands that I saw. I have
seen them a hundred times when he came down into the village, and
yet when I saw them in the vision I did not recognise them."
"We're all dreamers, Janci - and our dreams are very useless
generally."
"Yours are not useless, sir," said the shepherd. "If I had as much
brains as you have, my dreams might be of some good."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: half-past two; but then they supped! One of the pleasures which
Mademoiselle Cormon valued most was (without meaning any malice,
although the fact certainly rests on egotism) the unspeakable
satisfaction she derived from seeing herself dressed as mistress of
the house to receive her guests. When she was thus under arms a ray of
hope would glide into the darkness of her heart; a voice told her that
nature had not so abundantly provided for her in vain, and that some
man, brave and enterprising, would surely present himself. Her desire
was refreshed like her person; she contemplated herself in her heavy
stuffs with a sort of intoxication, and this satisfaction continued
when she descended the stairs to cast her redoubtable eye on the
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