| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: stood first in the list. Well it stands there again; I have the
naming of the figure, and I name a small one because of the
distance: but it wouldn't matter what I named; that would be
the price."
"It sounds mysterious enough," said I. "Is this public auction
conducted in a subterranean vault? Could a plain citizen--
myself, for instance--come and see?"
"O, everything's open and above board!" he cried indignantly.
"Anybody can come, only nobody bids against us; and if he
did, he would get frozen out. It's been tried before now, and
once was enough. We hold the plant; we've got the connection;
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: bound them for life. Had not something been left out? Was
not the whole affair cursory, superficial? It was
disappointing.
But Trina had no time to dwell upon this. Marcus Schouler,
in the manner of a man of the world, who knew how to act in
every situation, stepped forward and, even before Mr. or
Mrs. Sieppe, took Trina's hand.
"Let me be the first to congratulate Mrs. McTeague," he
said, feeling very noble and heroic. The strain of the
previous moments was relaxed immediately, the guests crowded
around the pair, shaking hands--a babel of talk arose.
McTeague |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: have toiled (let us say) for months, up early and down late;
my bag is ready, my clock set; a daring agent has hurried
with white face to deposit the instrument of ruin; we await
the fall of England, the massacre of thousands, the yell of
fear and execration; and lo! a snap like that of a child's
pistol, an offensive smell, and the entire loss of so much
time and plant! If,' he concluded, musingly, 'we had been
merely able to recover the lost bags, I believe with but a
touch or two, I could have remedied the peccant engine. But
what with the loss of plant and the almost insuperable
scientific difficulties of the task, our friends in France
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