| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: hollyhocks under the south windows, with Madonna lilies in between.
But the lilies, after being transplanted, disappeared to my great dismay,
for how was I to know it was the way of lilies? And the hollyhocks turned
out to be rather ugly colours, so that my first summer was decorated
and beautified solely by sweet-peas. <16>
At present we are only just beginning to breathe after the bustle
of getting new beds and borders and paths made in time for this summer.
The eleven beds round the sun-dial are filled with roses,
but I see already that I have made mistakes with some.
As I have not a living soul with whom to hold communion on this or
indeed on any matter, my only way of learning is by making mistakes.
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: cold and unbelieving eye. She even went further and alleged that
in certain instances, individuals of her extinct race had been
able to pass through the ether and to visit other worlds in the
depths of space.
"Have you ever done that?" asked Bickley.
"Once or twice I dreamed that I did," she replied quietly.
"We can all dream," he answered.
As it was my lot to make acquaintance with this strange and
uncanny power at a later date, I will say no more of it now.
Telepathy, she declared, was also a developed gift among the
Sons of Wisdom; indeed, they seem to have used it as we use
When the World Shook |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: so that you could follow me to Paris, or go with me to America,--away
from the world where all is vanity; suppose I thus tested you, to know
if you loved me for myself as at this moment I love you? To say all in
a word, if I wished, instead of rising to your level, that you should
fall to mine, what would you do?"
"Hush, Marie, be silent, do not slander yourself," he cried. "Poor
child, I comprehend you. If my first desire was passion, my passion
now is love. Dear soul of my soul, you are as noble as your name, I
know it,--as great as you are beautiful. I am noble enough, I feel
myself great enough to force the world to receive you. Is it because I
foresee in you the source of endless, incessant pleasure, or because I
The Chouans |
