| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: as beautiful in its calmness as it had been when agitated. Like the
rest of us, he was not disposed to question the sources of his
enjoyment.
It is difficult for a pretty woman to avoid the glances of her
companions in a carriage when their eyes fasten upon her as a visible
distraction to the monotony of a journey. Happy, therefore, in being
able to satisfy the hunger of his dawning passion, without offence or
avoidance on the part of its object, the young man studied the pure
and brilliant lines of the girl's head and face. To him they were a
picture. Sometimes the light brought out the transparent rose of the
nostrils and the double curve which united the nose with the upper
The Chouans |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: together in peace. There is no strife between them, no encroaching
on the neighbour's property. Each of them weaves herself a
rudimentary web, as far from the rest as possible, and here, rapt
in contemplation, as though indifferent to what the others are
doing, she awaits the hop of the Locust.
Nevertheless, these close quarters have their drawbacks when
laying-time arrives. The cords by which the different
establishments are hung interlace and criss-cross in a confused
network. When one of them shakes, all the others are more or less
affected. This is enough to distract the layer from her business
and to make her do silly things. Here are two instances.
The Life of the Spider |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: Paris.
"On quitting the stage when she, forgotten to-day, was yet in the
height of her fame, one thought possessed her--she meant du Bruel to
marry her; and at the time of this story, you must understand that the
marriage had taken place, but was kept a secret. How do women of her
class contrive to make a man marry them after seven or eight years of
intimacy? What springs do they touch? What machinery do they set in
motion? But, however comical such domestic dramas may be, we are not
now concerned with them. Du Bruel was secretly married; the thing was
done.
"Cursy before his marriage was supposed to be a jolly companion; now
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