| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: dimness and solitude which kept no more trace of the three
strangers than if they had been the merest ghosts I seemed to hear
the ghostly murmur, Americain, Catholique et gentilhomne. Amer. .
. " Unseen by human eye I ran up the flight of steps swiftly and
on the first floor stepped into my sitting-room of which the door
was open . . . "et gentilhomme." I tugged at the bell pull and
somewhere down below a bell rang as unexpected for Therese as a
call from a ghost.
I had no notion whether Therese could hear me. I seemed to
remember that she slept in any bed that happened to be vacant. For
all I knew she might have been asleep in mine. As I had no matches
The Arrow of Gold |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: the earl is her liege lord, and she is his liege lady.
I am her father confessor and ghostly director:
I have taken on me to show her the way to the next world;
and how can I do that if I lose sight of her in this? seeing
that this is but the road to the other, and has so many
circumvolutions and ramifications of byeways and beaten paths
(all more thickly set than the true one with finger-posts
and milestones, not one of which tells truth), that a traveller
has need of some one who knows the way, or the odds go hard
against him that he will ever see the face of Saint Peter."
"But there must surely be some reason," said Sir Ralph,
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Camille by Alexandre Dumas: the other creditors were told the same; they asked for their
money, and seized some of the goods. Marguerite wanted to sell
everything, but it was too late, and besides I should have
opposed it. But it was necessary to pay, and in order not to ask
you for money, she sold her horses and her shawls, and pawned her
jewels. Would you like to see the receipts and the pawn tickets?"
And Prudence opened the drawer and showed me the papers.
"Ah, you think," she continued, with the insistence of a woman
who can say, I was right after all, "ah, you think it is enough
to be in love, and to go into the country and lead a dreamy,
pastoral life. No, my friend, no. By the side of that ideal life,
Camille |
