| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: second self. There he was on the other side of the bulkhead,
four or five feet from us, no more, as we sat in the saloon.
I looked politely at Captain Archbold (if that was his name),
but it was the other I saw, in a gray sleeping suit, seated on
a low stool, his bare feet close together, his arms folded,
and every word said between us falling into the ears of his
dark head bowed on his chest.
"I have been at sea now, man and boy, for seven-and-thirty years,
and I've never heard of such a thing happening in an English ship.
And that it should be my ship. Wife on board, too."
I was hardly listening to him.
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from End of the Tether by Joseph Conrad: here and there about her decks. The voice of the Serang
pronounced distinctly above the confused murmurs--
"Eight fathom." He had heaved the lead.
Mr. Sterne cried out next in a strained pitch--
"Where the devil has she got to? Where are we?"
Captain Whalley replied in a calm bass--
"Amongst the reefs to the eastward."
"You know it, sir? Then she will never get out
again."
"She will be sunk in five minutes. Boats, Sterne.
Even one will save you all in this calm."
End of the Tether |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: because her inefficiency was spiritual, which was not the case with Miss
Bordereau's. I waited to see if she would offer to show me the rest
of the house, but I did not precipitate the question, inasmuch as my plan
was from this moment to spend as much of my time as possible in her society.
I only observed at the end of a minute:
"I have had better fortune than I hoped. It was very kind of her to see me.
Perhaps you said a good word for me."
"It was the idea of the money," said Miss Tita.
"And did you suggest that?"
"I told her that you would perhaps give a good deal."
"What made you think that?"
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