| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: understood nothing of the circumstances; his client desired to
have his position regularized; but he would accept an antedated
cheque--antedated by two months, if Mr Finsbury chose.
'But I don't understand this,' said Morris. 'What made you pay
cent. per cent. for it today?'
Mr Moss had no idea; only his orders.
'The whole thing is thoroughly irregular,' said Morris. 'It is
not the custom of the trade to settle at this time of the year.
What are your instructions if I refuse?'
'I am to see Mr Joseph Finsbury, the head of the firm,' said Mr
Moss. 'I was directed to insist on that; it was implied you had
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: sculpture founded by the Marquis de Marigny, Madame de Pompadour's
brother, who did so much for art. Diderot praised Bouchardon's pupil's
statue as a masterpiece. Not without profound sorrow did the king's
sculptor witness the departure for Italy of a young man whose profound
ignorance of the things of life he had, as a matter of principle,
refrained from enlightening. Sarrasine was Bouchardon's guest for six
years. Fanatically devoted to his art, as Canova was at a later day,
he rose at dawn and went to the studio, there to remain until night,
and lived with his muse alone. If he went to the Comedie-Francaise, he
was dragged thither by his master. He was so bored at Madame
Geoffrin's, and in the fashionable society to which Bouchardon tried
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Aspern Papers by Henry James: "Oh, we read him--we HAVE read him," she quietly replied.
"He is my poet of poets--I know him almost by heart."
For an instant Miss Tita hesitated; then her sociability was
too much for her.
"Oh, by heart--that's nothing!" she murmured, smiling. "My aunt used
to know him--to know him"--she paused an instant and I wondered what she
was going to say--"to know him as a visitor."
"As a visitor?" I repeated, staring.
"He used to call on her and take her out."
I continued to stare. "My dear lady, he died a hundred years ago!"
"Well," she said mirthfully, "my aunt is a hundred and fifty."
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