| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: trembling legs could carry me) round the corner to the Cafe de
Cluny. French waiters are deft and speedy; they were not deft
enough for me; and I had scarce decency to let the man set the
wine upon the table or put the butter alongside the bread,
before my glass and my mouth were filled. Exquisite bread of
the Cafe Cluny, exquisite first glass of old Pomard tingling to
my wet feet, indescribable first olive culled from the hors
d'oeuvre--I suppose, when I come to lie dying, and the lamp
begins to grow dim, I shall still recall your savour. Over the
rest of that meal, and the rest of the evening, clouds lie thick;
clouds perhaps of Burgundy; perhaps, more properly, of famine
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: should share the treasure-trove. But, unlike his infamous
predecessor, he was not content with seven. When he returned, it
was but as the van of a fast-swelling rabble. His erstwhile
companion, who had been backing steadily in front of me ever
since he left, and had, after a hurried consideration of the
respective merits of the booth and the box under Judy's arm,
rejected them both in favour of my nose, kept his eyes fastened
greedily upon that organ with so desperate an air of
concentration that I was quite relieved when he tripped over a
brick and fell on his back in the road.
And all this time our following grew. The news of our advent
The Brother of Daphne |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Chronicles of the Canongate by Walter Scott: the gentleman thus contributing would be called on for the money
next morning. He, for his part, had committed a blunder but it
might serve as a caution to those who may be present at the
dinner of next year. He had merely put in his name, written on a
slip of paper, without the money. But he would recommend that,
as some of the gentlemen might be in the same situation, the box
should be again sent round, and he was confident that they, as
well as he, would redeem their error.
Sir WALTER SCOTT said that the meeting was somewhat in the
situation of Mrs. Anne Page, who had L300 and possibilities. We
have already got, said he, L280, but I should like, I confess, to
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