| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: with exposure as a thief and forger, Jimmie had committed suicide,
so would run the verdict; the fact of his suicide was proof of his
guilt of the crime Colonel McIntyre virtually charged him with, and
vice versa.
What had been discovered to point to murder? The finding of a
handkerchief, saturated with amyl nitrite, which had not belonged
to the dead man. Proof - bah! it was ridiculous! What more likely
than that Jimmie, while in the McIntyre house before his arrest as
a burglar, had picked up one of Barbara's handkerchiefs, stuffed
it inside his pocket, and when threatened with exposure on being
held for the grand jury, had, in desperation, crushed the amyl
The Red Seal |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: like all other times, it will only be a triumph without a struggle."
"Well, it is disappointing," said Madame d'Espard. "But we might evade
it."
"How?"
"Let me be your rival."
"Just as you please," replied the princess. "I've decided on my
course. Genius is a condition of the brain; I don't know what the
heart gets out of it; we'll talk about that later."
Hearing the last few words, which were wholly incomprehensible to her,
Madame d'Espard returned to the general conversation, showing neither
offence at that indifferent "As you please," nor curiosity as to the
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne: snow, reminded one of a stormy sea. If I looked westward, there the
ocean lay spread out in all its magnificence, like a mere
continuation of those flock-like summits. The eye could hardly tell
where the snowy ridges ended and the foaming waves began.
I was thus steeped in the marvellous ecstasy which all high summits
develop in the mind; and now without giddiness, for I was beginning
to be accustomed to these sublime aspects of nature. My dazzled eyes
were bathed in the bright flood of the solar rays. I was forgetting
where and who I was, to live the life of elves and sylphs, the
fanciful creation of Scandinavian superstitions. I felt intoxicated
with the sublime pleasure of lofty elevations without thinking of the
Journey to the Center of the Earth |
