| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: behave herself decently finds that propriety puts her out of the running.
The men flock off to the other kind."
He was following me with watching eyes.
"And you know," I continued, "what an anxious Newport parent does on
finding her girl on the brink of being a failure."
"I can imagine," he answered, "that she scolds her like the dickens."
"Oh, nothing so ineffectual! She makes her keep up with the others, you
know. Makes her do things she'd rather not do."
"High-balls, you mean?"
"Anything, my friend; anything to keep up."
He had a comic suggestion. "Driven to drink by her mother! Well, it's, at
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: again, except during the daily ten minutes which I shall devote to my
old major-domo Philippe. I have made a study of life and its sharp
curves; there came a day when death also gave me harsh lessons. Now I
want to turn all this to account. My one occupation will be to please
/him/ and love /him/, to brighten with variety what to common mortals
is monotonously dull.
Gaston is still in complete ignorance. At my request he has, like
myself, taken up his quarters at Ville d'Avray; to-morrow we start for
the chalet. Our life there will cost but little; but if I told you the
sum I am setting aside for my toilet, you would exclaim at my madness,
and with reason. I intend to take as much trouble to make myself
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Damnation of Theron Ware by Harold Frederic: doesn't matter. I don't bring it up as a grievance.
I am very well able to take care of myself I have no
wish to recur to the incident in any way. So far as I
am concerned, the topic is dismissed."
"Listen to me!" broke in Alice, with eager gravity.
She hesitated, as he looked up with a nod of attention,
and reflected as well as she was able among her thoughts
for a minute or two. "This is what I want to say
to you. Ever since we came to this hateful Octavius,
you and I have been drifting apart--or no, that doesn't
express it--simply rushing away from each other.
The Damnation of Theron Ware |
