| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: I dreaded, after putting down the dishes ran up on deck busily.
This could not be dangerous. Presently he came down again;
and then it appeared that he had remembered a coat of mine
which I had thrown over a rail to dry after having been wetted
in a shower which had passed over the ship in the afternoon.
Sitting stolidly at the head of the table I became terrified at
the sight of the garment on his arm. Of course he made for my door.
There was no time to lose.
"Steward," I thundered. My nerves were so shaken that I
could not govern my voice and conceal my agitation.
This was the sort of thing that made my terrifically
The Secret Sharer |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: Lady Forester threw herself into her sister's arms, and, clasping
her to her bosom, thanked her a hundred times for the offer of
her company, while she declined with a melancholy gesture the
friendly advice with which it was accompanied.
When the hour of twilight arrived--which was the period when the
Paduan Doctor was understood to receive the visits of those who
came to consult with him--the two ladies left their apartments in
the Canongate of Edinburgh, having their dress arranged like that
of women of an inferior description, and their plaids disposed
around their faces as they were worn by the same class; for in
those days of aristocracy the quality of the wearer was generally
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Lucile by Owen Meredith: Of added appeal, or entreaty, indeed,
Had those gentle accents to win from his pale
And parch'd, trembling lips, as it rose, the brief tale
Of a life's early sorrow. The story is old,
And in words few as may be shall straightway be told.
XVI.
A few years ago, ere the fair form of Peace
Was driven from Europe, a young girl--the niece
Of a French noble, leaving an old Norman pile
By the wild northern seas, came to dwell for a while
With a lady allied to her race--an old dame
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