| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: theatres and balls."
"Never cared much for balls," said Teddy virtuously.
"You're getting old, Teddy. Your memory is failing.
Nobody ever knew you to miss a dance, unless it occurred
on the same night with another one which you attended.
And you showed such shocking bad taste, too, in dancing
too often with the same partner. Let me see, what was
that Forbes girl's name -- the one with wall eyes --
Mabel, wasn't it?"
"No; Adéle. Mabel was the one with the bony
elbows. That wasn't wall in Adéle's eyes. It was soul.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: desperation to a wealthy old maid, and met with a second refusal. Thus
failed the ambitious schemes with which he had started. He had lost
his hope of a marriage with Mlle. d'Esgrignon, which would have opened
the Faubourg Saint-Germain of the province to him; and after the
second rejection, his credit fell away to such an extent that it was
almost as much as he could do to keep his position in the second rank.
In 1805, M. de la Roche-Guyon, the oldest son of an ancient family
which had previously intermarried with the d'Esgrignons, made
proposals in form through Maitre Chesnel for Mlle. Marie Armande Clair
d'Esgrignon. She declined to hear the notary.
"You must have guessed before now that I am a mother, dear Chesnel,"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: it's all right. But for the time being, the operations
in London are so much more important. We should have nothing
to tell our shareholders, if we brought them together,
except that their one-pound shares are worth fifteen pounds,
and they know that already."
The Marquis had listened with a shrewdly attentive eye
upon the speaker's face. The nervous affection of his
eyelids gave him now a minute of blinking leisure in which
to frame his comment. "I have not heard that my shares
are worth fifteen pounds," he said then, with a direct,
meaning little smile.
 The Market-Place |