| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: mention that there were various kinds of audacity. Oh, there are,
there are! . . . There is, for instance, the kind of audacity
almost indistinguishable from impudence. . . . I must believe
that in this case I have not been impudent for I am not conscious
of having been bitten.
The truth is that when "The Rescue" was laid aside it was not
laid aside in despair. Several reasons contributed to this
abandonment and, no doubt, the first of them was the growing
sense of general difficulty in the handling of the subject. The
contents and the course of the story I had clearly in my mind.
But as to the way of presenting the facts, and perhaps in a
The Rescue |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: shopping, and to see about some houses. They are very desirous we
should be in their neighborhood, in Portland Place, but I have a
fancy myself for the new part of town. I have been so used all my
life to see things fresh and clean-looking, that I cannot get
accustomed to the London dinge, and some of the finest houses look
to me as though I would like to give them a good scouring. Tell
Cousin M. never to come to England, she would be shocked every
minute, with all the grandeur. A new country is cleaner-looking,
though it may not be so picturesque.
I got your letters when I arrived here, and I wish this may give you
but a little pleasure they gave me. Pray never let a steamer come
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: lovable!" Thus, though the house was of glass, like all provincial
houses, it was discreet as a robber's cave.
A born confidant to all the little intrigues of the work-rooms, the
chevalier never passed the door, which usually stood open, without
giving something to his little ducks,--chocolate, bonbons, ribbons,
laces, gilt crosses, and such like trifles adored by grisettes;
consequently, the kind old gentleman was adored in return. Women have
an instinct which enables them to divine the men who love them, who
like to be near them, and exact no payment for gallantries. In this
respect women have the instinct of dogs, who in a mixed company will
go straight to the man to whom animals are sacred.
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