| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: her to submit to his escort. Anybody but La Palferine would have been
frozen by his reception, and disconcerted by the lady's first efforts
to rid herself of her cavalier, by her chilly air, her curt speeches;
but no gravity, with all the will in the world, could hold out long
against La Palferine's jesting replies. The fair stranger went into
her milliner's shop. Charles Edward followed, took a seat, and gave
his opinions and advice like a man that meant to pay. This coolness
disturbed the lady. She went out.
"On the stairs she spoke to her persecutor.
" 'Monsieur, I am about to call upon one of my husband's relatives, an
elderly lady, Mme. de Bonfalot--'
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: drawing a finger along his eyebrow. He wished that he might have
heard nothing about all this. But he was not one to blink his
responsibility as a Christian server of the church militant.
"Am I right," he now slowly asked, "in believing that you think I
am a sincere man?"
"I don't believe anything about it. I know it."
"I should run away from Trampas," said the bishop.
"That ain't quite fair, seh. We all understand you have got to do
the things you tell other folks to do. And you do them, seh. You
never talk like anything but a man, and you never set yourself
above others. You can saddle your own horses. And I saw yu' walk
The Virginian |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain: hurt.
Marinel took the patients as they came. He ex-
amined the candidate; if he couldn't qualify he was
warned off; if he could he was passed along to the
king. A priest pronounced the words, "They shall
lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
Then the king stroked the ulcers, while the reading
continued; finally, the patient graduated and got his
nickel -- the king hanging it around his neck himself --
and was dismissed. Would you think that that would
cure? It certainly did. Any mummery will cure if
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court |
