| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: flagstaff; in front, on an artificial islet, the gaol played the
part of a martello. Even upon this first and distant view, the
place had scarce the air of what it truly was, a village; rather of
that which it was also, a petty metropolis, a city rustic and yet
royal.
The lagoon is shoal. The tide being out, we waded for some quarter
of a mile in tepid shallows, and stepped ashore at last into a
flagrant stagnancy of sun and heat. The lee side of a line island
after noon is indeed a breathless place; on the ocean beach the
trade will be still blowing, boisterous and cool; out in the lagoon
it will be blowing also, speeding the canoes; but the screen of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Blix by Frank Norris: everything she saw, quite indifferent as to whether or no Condy
listened. Now it was a queer bit of seaweed, now it was a group
of gulls clamoring over a dead fish, now a purple starfish, now a
breaker of unusual size. Her splendid vitality carried her away.
She was excited, alive to her very finger-tips, vibrant to the
least sensation, quivering to the least impression.
"Let's get up here and sit down somewhere," said Condy, at length.
They left the beach and climbed up the slope of the hills, near a
point where a long arm of land thrust out into the sea and shut
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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: should entangle me in mortal sin between the moment of my death
and the time of my anointing with the holy oil, gave me a flask
that contains a little of the holy water that once issued from
the rock in the wilderness. I have kept the secret of this
squandering of a treasure belonging to Holy Church, but I am
permitted to reveal the mystery in articulo mortis to my son. You
will find the flask in a drawer in that Gothic table that always
stands by the head of the bed. . . . The precious little crystal
flask may be of use yet again for you, dearest Felipe. Will you
swear to me, by your salvation, to carry out my instructions
faithfully?"
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