| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: any more than New York prohibition would be New York. Sit down for
a few minutes, Mr. Blakeley. Now, Miss Gardner, Westinghouse
Electric."
The nurse resumed her reading in a monotonous voice. She read
literally and without understanding, using initials and
abbreviations as they came. But the shrewd old man followed her
easily. Once, however, he stopped her.
"D-o is ditto," he said gently, "not do."
As the nurse droned along, I found myself looking curiously at a
photograph in a silver frame on the bed-side table. It was the
picture of a girl in white, with her hands clasped loosely before
The Man in Lower Ten |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: for a doctor?
Bella came to a dead stop on the upper step, with her mouth open.
She looked at Jim, at the inadequate barrel, and from them she
looked at me. Then she began to laugh, one of her hysterical
giggles, and she turned and went down again. As Jim and I stared
at each other we could hear her gurgling down the hall below.
She had violent hysterics for an hour, with Anne rubbing her
forehead and Aunt Selina burning a feather out of the feather
duster under her nose. Only Jim and I understood, and we did not
tell. Luckily, the next thing that occurred drove Bella and her
nerves from everybody's mind.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Elixir of Life by Honore de Balzac: gallery, a confused sound of voices, of stifled laughter and
light footfalls, and the rustling of silks--the sounds of a band
of revelers struggling for gravity. The door opened, and in came
the Prince and Don Juan's friends, the seven courtesans, and the
singers, disheveled and wild like dancers surprised by the dawn,
when the tapers that have burned through the night struggle with
the sunlight.
They had come to offer the customary condolence to the young
heir.
"Oho! is poor Don Juan really taking this seriously?" said the
Prince in Brambilla's ear.
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