| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: she corresponds regularly with Mrs. Mainwaring. At any rate it must be
exaggerated. It is scarcely possible that two men should be so grossly
deceived by her at once.
Yours, &c.,
CATHERINE VERNON
VII
LADY SUSAN VERNON TO MRS. JOHNSON
Churchhill.
My dear Alicia,--You are very good in taking notice of Frederica, and I
am grateful for it as a mark of your friendship; but as I cannot have any
doubt of the warmth of your affection, I am far from exacting so heavy a
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Philosophy 4 by Owen Wister: about the Civil War. It was partly Grecian: a knot stood out behind to
a considerable distance. But this was not the whole plan. From front to
back ran a parting, clear and severe, and curls fell from this to the
temples in a manner called, I believe, by the enlightened, a l'Anne
d'Autriche. The color was gray, to be sure; but this propriety did not
save the structure from Billy's increasing observation. As bottles came
to stand on the table in greater numbers, the closer and the more
solemnly did Billy continue to follow the movements of Mrs. Diggs. They
would without doubt have noticed him and his foreboding gravity but for
Mr. Diggs's experiences in the Civil War.
The repast was finished--so far as eating went. Mrs. Diggs with
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: more easily. He slept hardly at all.
I have a confused memory of vigils and mornings and afternoons
spent by that bedside, and how the religieuse hovered about me,
and how meek and good and inefficient she was, and how horribly
black were her nails. Other figures come and go, and
particularly the doctor, a young man plumply rococo, in bicycling
dress, with fine waxen features, a little pointed beard, and the
long black frizzy hair and huge tie of a minor poet. Bright and
clear-cut and irrelevant are memories of the Basque hostess of
my uncle's inn and of the family of Spanish people who
entertained me and prepared the most amazingly elaborate meals
|
