| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: yet from first to last I never had a glimmer of an idea what
was going on; and even now, after full reflection, profess
myself at sea. That there was some obscure intrigue of the
cigar-box order, and that I, in the character of a wooden
puppet, set pen to paper in the interest of somebody, so
much, and no more, is certain.
Silverado, then under my immediate sway, belonged to one whom
I will call a Mr. Ronalds. I only knew him through the
extraordinarily distorting medium of local gossip, now as a
momentous jobber; now as a dupe to point an adage; and again,
and much more probably, as an ordinary Christian gentleman
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: understood him, could not lick him into shape. I should like to know
the mistress of this Sargine; tell me something about him that will
enable me to mystify him."
This couple, whispering as they watched the young man, became the
object of study to the square-shouldered domino.
"Dear Monsieur Chardon," said the Prefet of the Charente, taking the
dandy's hand, "allow me to introduce you to some one who wishes to
renew acquaintance with you----"
"Dear Comte Chatelet," replied the young man, "that lady taught me how
ridiculous was the name by which you address me. A patent from the
king has restored to me that of my mother's family--the Rubempres.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Madam How and Lady Why by Charles Kingsley: bailiff, and catches the poachers. Then comes the policeman, with
his sword at his side and his truncheon under his arm: and then
comes a "cheap journey" to Tralee Gaol, in which those foolish
poachers sit and reconsider themselves, and determine not to break
the salmon laws--at least till next time.
But why is it that this spurge, and St. Patrick's cabbage, grow
only here in the west? If they got here of themselves, where did
they come from? All outside there is sea; and they could not
float over that.
Come, I say, and sit down on this bench, and I will tell you a
tale,--the story of the Old Atlantis, the sunken land in the far
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