| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Shadow out of Time by H. P. Lovecraft: to dislodge it amidst a shower of gritty flakes, and ease it over
toward myself without any violent noise.
Like the other case
I had handled, it was slightly more than twenty by fifteen inches
in size, with curved mathematical designs in low relief. In thickness
it just exceeded three inches.
Crudely wedging it between myself
and the surface I was climbing, I fumbled with the fastener and
finally got the hook free. Lifting the cover, I shifted the heavy
object to my back, and let the hook catch hold of my collar. Hands
now free, I awkwardly clambered down to the dusty floor, and prepared
Shadow out of Time |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: "And matches?"
"I pretended that I had a disorder of the skin, and asked
for a little sulphur, which was readily supplied." Dantes
laid the different things he had been looking at on the
table, and stood with his head drooping on his breast, as
though overwhelmed by the perseverance and strength of
Faria's mind.
"You have not seen all yet," continued Faria, "for I did not
think it wise to trust all my treasures in the same
hiding-place. Let us shut this one up." They put the stone
back in its place; the abbe sprinkled a little dust over it
The Count of Monte Cristo |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Pupil by Henry James: "Not a penny."
"Are you such a fool as to work for nothing?"
"You ought surely to know that."
Mrs. Moreen stared, then she coloured a little. Pemberton saw she
had quite forgotten the terms - if "terms" they could be called -
that he had ended by accepting from herself; they had burdened her
memory as little as her conscience. "Oh yes, I see what you mean -
you've been very nice about that; but why drag it in so often?"
She had been perfectly urbane with him ever since the rough scene
of explanation in his room the morning he made her accept HIS
"terms" - the necessity of his making his case known to Morgan.
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