| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: charm the great Kraken to sleep; of the little children who catch
hold of the slippery porpoises and ride laughing upon their backs;
of the Mermaids who lie in the white foam and hold out their arms
to the mariners; and of the sea-lions with their curved tusks, and
the sea-horses with their floating manes.
And as she sang, all the tunny-fish came in from the deep to listen
to her, and the young Fisherman threw his nets round them and
caught them, and others he took with a spear. And when his boat
was well-laden, the Mermaid would sink down into the sea, smiling
at him.
Yet would she never come near him that he might touch her.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Night and Day by Virginia Woolf: some ten years ago--her mother had enthusiastically announced that
now, with a daughter to help her, the biography would soon be
published. Notices to this effect found their way into the literary
papers, and for some time Katharine worked with a sense of great pride
and achievement.
Lately, however, it had seemed to her that they were making no way at
all, and this was the more tantalizing because no one with the ghost
of a literary temperament could doubt but that they had materials for
one of the greatest biographies that has ever been written. Shelves
and boxes bulged with the precious stuff. The most private lives of
the most interesting people lay furled in yellow bundles of close-
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: was highly possible that it might prove to be Whittington.
Although she felt fairly confident that he would not recognize
her, yet she would have been better pleased had the guest proved
to be a total stranger. However, there was nothing for it but to
hope for the best.
At a few minutes past eight the front door bell rang, and
Tuppence went to answer it with some inward trepidation. She was
relieved to see that the visitor was the second of the two men
whom Tommy had taken upon himself to follow.
He gave his name as Count Stepanov. Tuppence announced him, and
Mrs. Vandemeyer rose from her seat on a low divan with a quick
 Secret Adversary |