| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Jolly Corner by Henry James: book. He was kept in sight while remaining himself - as regards
the essence of his position - sightless, and his only recourse then
was in abrupt turns, rapid recoveries of ground. He wheeled about,
retracing his steps, as if he might so catch in his face at least
the stirred air of some other quick revolution. It was indeed true
that his fully dislocalised thought of these manoeuvres recalled to
him Pantaloon, at the Christmas farce, buffeted and tricked from
behind by ubiquitous Harlequin; but it left intact the influence of
the conditions themselves each time he was re-exposed to them, so
that in fact this association, had he suffered it to become
constant, would on a certain side have but ministered to his
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: "You will never take it back?" she insisted.
"Never."
She put the ring on her finger. Martial, confident of coming
happiness, was about to put his hand round her waist, but she suddenly
rose, and said in a clear voice, without any agitation:
"I accept the diamond, monsieur, with the less scruple because it
belongs to me."
The Baron was speechless.
"Monsieur de Soulanges took it lately from my dressing-table, and told
me he had lost it."
"You are mistaken, madame," said Martial, nettled. "It was given me by
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Essays of Travel by Robert Louis Stevenson: had already failed. We were a shipful of failures, the broken men of
England. Yet it must not be supposed that these people exhibited
depression. The scene, on the contrary, was cheerful. Not a tear
was shed on board the vessel. All were full of hope for the future,
and showed an inclination to innocent gaiety. Some were heard to
sing, and all began to scrape acquaintance with small jests and ready
laughter.
The children found each other out like dogs, and ran about the decks
scraping acquaintance after their fashion also. 'What do you call
your mither?' I heard one ask. 'Mawmaw,' was the reply, indicating,
I fancy, a shade of difference in the social scale. When people pass
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