| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: short, black, shiny jacket. Hoopdriver was caught. He made no
attempt to turn and run for it. "I've been giving your machines a
wipe over, sir," said the man, recognising the suit, and touching
his cap. Hoopdriver's intelligence now was a soaring eagle; he
swooped on the situation at once. "That's right," he said, and
added, before the pause became marked, "Where is mine? I want to
look at the chain."
The man led him into an open shed, and went fumbling for a
lantern. Hoopdriver moved the lady's machine out of his way to
the door, and then laid hands on the man's machine and wheeled it
out of the shed into the yard. The gate stood open and beyond was
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: "Mrs. Westgate or--a-- her sister?" asked Percy Beaumont modestly,
yet in the tone of an inquiring traveler.
"Oh, I mean my wife," said Mr. Westgate. "I don't suppose
my sister-in-law knows much about them. She has always led
a very quiet life; she has lived in Boston."
Percy Beaumont listened with interest. "That, I believe,"
he said, "is the most--a-- intellectual town?"
"I believe it is very intellectual. I don't go there much,"
responded his host.
"I say, we ought to go there," said Lord Lambeth to his companion.
"Oh, Lord Lambeth, wait till the great heat is over,"
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: on the first floor stepped into my sitting-room of which the door
was open . . . "et gentilhomme." I tugged at the bell pull and
somewhere down below a bell rang as unexpected for Therese as a
call from a ghost.
I had no notion whether Therese could hear me. I seemed to
remember that she slept in any bed that happened to be vacant. For
all I knew she might have been asleep in mine. As I had no matches
on me I waited for a while in the dark. The house was perfectly
still. Suddenly without the slightest preliminary sound light fell
into the room and Therese stood in the open door with a candlestick
in her hand.
The Arrow of Gold |
