| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: I felt I had him on the run, and I meant to keep him on the run.
My polite insistence must have had something menacing in it,
because he gave in suddenly. And I did not let him off a single item;
mate's room, pantry, storerooms, the very sail locker which was
also under the poop--he had to look into them all. When at last I
showed him out on the quarter-deck he drew a long, spiritless sigh,
and mumbled dismally that he must really be going back to his ship now.
I desired my mate, who had joined us, to see to the captain's boat.
The man of whiskers gave a blast on the whistle which he used
to wear hanging round his neck, and yelled, "Sephora's away!"
My double down there in my cabin must have heard, and certainly
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Summer by Edith Wharton: He pressed her hands lightly and let them go. "Why, to
make things pleasanter for you here; and better for the
books. I'm sorry if my cousin twisted around what I
said. She's excitable, and she lives on trifles: I
ought to have remembered that. Don't punish me by
letting her think you take her seriously."
It was wonderful to hear him speak of Miss Hatchard as
if she were a querulous baby: in spite of his shyness
he had the air of power that the experience of cities
probably gave. It was the fact of having lived in
Nettleton that made lawyer Royall, in spite of his
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: the Keeper of the Seals, one evening, as I was going to bed--it was
before my marriage--I was sent for by Madame la Comtesse de Merret, to
her Chateau of Merret. Her maid, a good girl, who is now a servant in
this inn, was waiting at my door with the Countess' own carriage. Ah!
one moment! I ought to tell you that Monsieur le Comte de Merret had
gone to Paris to die two months before I came here. He came to a
miserable end, flinging himself into every kind of dissipation. You
understand?
" 'On the day when he left, Madame la Comtesse had quitted la Grand
Breteche, having dismantled it. Some people even say that she had
burnt all the furniture, the hangings--in short, all the chattels and
La Grande Breteche |
