| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: "No, no. Stay where I can see you. By Gad, it would be losing too
much not to have you to look at!"
At last the game was over. The gentleman pulled out his purse,
and, throwing two louis d'or on the table, not without temper--
"Forty francs," he exclaimed, "the exact sum.--Deuce take it! It
is eleven o'clock."
"It is eleven o'clock," repeated the silent figure, looking at
the painter.
The young man, hearing these words rather more distinctly than
all the others, thought it time to retire. Coming back to the
world of ordinary ideas, he found a few commonplace remarks to
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: admiration he showed in gazing at the modest flower, which contrasted
so well with the haughty Duchess. The young fop bowed in silence,
turned on the heels of his boots, and gracefully quitted the boudoir.
At this instant, Augustine, watching her rival, whose eyes seemed to
follow the brilliant officer, detected in that glance a sentiment of
which the transient expression is known to every woman. She perceived
with the deepest anguish that her visit would be useless; this lady,
full of artifice, was too greedy of homage not to have a ruthless
heart.
"Madame," said Augustine in a broken voice, "the step I am about to
take will seem to you very strange; but there is a madness of despair
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Illustrious Gaudissart by Honore de Balzac: humming, as he skipped along,--
"The King of the South,
He burned his mouth," etc.
CHAPTER V
The illustrious Gaudissart returned to the Soleil d'Or, where he
naturally conversed with the landlord while waiting for dinner.
Mitouflet was an old soldier, guilelessly crafty, like the peasantry
of the Loire; he never laughed at a jest, but took it with the gravity
of a man accustomed to the roar of cannon and to make his own jokes
under arms.
"You have some very strong-minded people here," said Gaudissart,
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