| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: the compliment implied by such an assertion, till his answer made
me aware of it.
'I am not so presumptuous as to believe that,' said he, 'though you
tell it me; but if it were so, I am rather particular in my notions
of a companion for life, and perhaps I might not find one to suit
me among the ladies you mention.'
'If you require perfection, you never will.'
'I do not - I have no right to require it, as being so far from
perfect myself.'
Here the conversation was interrupted by a water-cart lumbering
past us, for we were now come to the busy part of the sands; and,
Agnes Grey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ivanhoe by Walter Scott: and her tearless eye, which trembled as it remained
fixed on the lifeless form before her.''
``Who is this Lady Rowena,'' said Prince John,
``of whom we have heard so much?''
``A Saxon heiress of large possessions,'' replied
the Prior Aymer; ``a rose of loveliness, and a
jewel of wealth; the fairest among a thousand, a
bundle of myrrh, and a cluster of camphire.''
``We shall cheer her sorrows,'' said Prince John,
``and amend her blood, by wedding her to a Norman.
She seems a minor, and must therefore be
Ivanhoe |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: an incomprehensible tongue. Mrs. Smith had re-
fused to come downstairs till the madman was off
the premises; Amy Foster, far from within the dark
kitchen, watched through the open back door; and
he obeyed the signs that were made to him to the
best of his ability. But Smith was full of mistrust.
'Mind, sir! It may be all his cunning,' he cried
repeatedly in a tone of warning. When Mr.
Swaffer started the mare, the deplorable being sit-
ting humbly by his side, through weakness, nearly
fell out over the back of the high two-wheeled cart.
Amy Foster |
