| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: "Whether to catch the criminal or not?" I asked facetiously.
But, to my great surprise, Poirot nodded gravely.
" 'To speak or not to speak,' as your so great Shakespeare says,
'that is the question.' "
I did not trouble to correct the quotation.
"You are not serious, Poirot?"
"I am of the most serious. For the most serious of all things
hangs in the balance."
"And that is?"
"A woman's happiness, mon ami," he said gravely.
I did not quite know what to say.
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "Yes. I took a little horseback trip into the mountains. My knees
are still not on speaking terms.''
The Sheriff chuckled. Then he sobered.
"Come and sit down," he said. "I'm going to watch who goes in and
out of here for a while."
Bassett followed him unwillingly to two chairs that faced the desk
and the lobby. He had the key of Dick's room in his pocket, but he
knew that if he wakened he could easily telephone and have his door
unlocked. But that was not his only anxiety. He had a sudden
conviction that the Sheriff's watch was connected with Dick himself.
Wilkins, from a friendly and gregarious fellow-being, had suddenly
The Breaking Point |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson: He left me filled with horror and fear. Which way to turn I knew
not; whether first to warn the Padre, or to carry my ill-news
direct to the threatened inhabitants of the residencia. Fate was
to decide for me; for, while I was still hesitating, I beheld the
veiled figure of a woman drawing near to me up the pathway. No
veil could deceive my penetration; by every line and every movement
I recognised Olalla; and keeping hidden behind a corner of the
rock, I suffered her to gain the summit. Then I came forward. She
knew me and paused, but did not speak; I, too, remained silent; and
we continued for some time to gaze upon each other with a
passionate sadness.
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