| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: "Yes; disease," I admitted in a cheerful tone which seemed to shock him.
But my point was gained, because he had to raise his voice to give
me his tale. It is not worth while to record his version.
It was just over two months since all this had happened, and he had thought
so much about it that he seemed completely muddled as to its bearings,
but still immensely impressed.
"What would you think of such a thing happening on board your own ship?
I've had the Sephora for these fifteen years. I am a well-known shipmaster."
He was densely distressed--and perhaps I should have sympathized
with him if I had been able to detach my mental vision
from the unsuspected sharer of my cabin as though he were my
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: "By whom, my good Ferragus?"
"They are not all asleep," replied the chief of the Devourers; "it is
absolutely certain that some one in the house has neither eaten nor
drunk. . . . Look! see that light!"
"We have a plan of the house; from where does it come?"
"I need no plan to know," replied Ferragus; "it comes from the room of
the Marquise."
"Ah," cried De Marsay, "no doubt she arrived from London to-day. The
woman has robbed me even of my revenge! But if she has anticipated me,
my good Gratien, we will give her up to the law."
"Listen, listen! . . . The thing is settled," said Ferragus to Henri.
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: how fearfully her heart was beating.
Chapter 31
"A bell rang, some young men, ugly and impudent, and at the same
time careful of the impression they were making, hurried by.
Pyotr, too, crossed the room in his livery and top-boots, with
his dull, animal face, and came up to her to take her to the
train. Some noisy men were quiet as she passed them on the
platform, and one whispered something about her to another--
something vile, no doubt. She stepped up on the high step, and
sat down in a carriage by herself on a dirty seat that had been
white. Her bag lay beside her, shaken up and down by the
Anna Karenina |
