| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: companions the graceful service of lifting the burden of conversation from
their shoulders.
"I suppose you were surprised to see us rushing out here
so suddenly," she observed in the course of the repast.
"We had said nothing about it when you last saw us,
and I believe we are supposed to tell you everything,
ain't we? I certainly have told you a great many things,
and there are some of them I hope you have n't repeated.
I have no doubt you have told them all over Paris, but I don't
care what you tell in Paris--Paris is n't so easily shocked.
Captain Lovelock does n't repeat what I tell him; I set him up
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: Couldn't the young man be induced to go on?
"Oh no," said his informant very freely; "he wouldn't be able
to get the young ladies to attend to him now."
There was something very friendly, Beaumont perceived,
in the attitude of the company; they looked at the young Englishmen
with an air of animated sympathy and interest; they smiled,
brightly and unanimously, at everything either of the visitors said.
Lord Lambeth and his companion felt that they were being made
very welcome. Mrs. Westgate seated herself between them, and,
talking a great deal to each, they had occasion to observe
that she was as pretty as their friend Littledale had promised.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells: He thought for an instant." There is that other thing
--the Crowd, the great mass of poor men. Will that
die out? That will not die out. And it suffers, its
suffering is a force that even you--"
Ostrog moved impatiently, and when he spoke, he
spoke rather less evenly than before.
"Don't you trouble about these things," he said.
Everything will be settled in a few days now. The
Crowd is a huge foolish beast. What if it does not
die out? Even if it does not die, it can still be tamed
and driven. I have no sympathy with servile men.
 When the Sleeper Wakes |