| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad: feeling, the eternal origin of his pain. This woman had accepted him,
had abandoned him--had returned to him. And of all this he would never
know the truth. Never. Not till death--not after--not on judgment day
when all shall be disclosed, thoughts and deeds, rewards and
punishments, but the secret of hearts alone shall return, forever
unknown, to the Inscrutable Creator of good and evil, to the Master of
doubts and impulses.
He stood still to look at her. Thrown back and with her face turned
away from him, she did not stir--as if asleep. What did she think?
What did she feel? And in the presence of her perfect stillness, in
the breathless silence, he felt himself insignificant and powerless
Tales of Unrest |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Vision Splendid by William MacLeod Raine: understood that he desired the prayers of friends for that
relative who had not yet cast away the burden of his sins.
It became a point of honor with his cousin's circle to win Jeff
for the cause. There was no difficulty in getting him to attend
the meetings of the revivalist. But he sat motionless through the
emotional climax that brought to an end each meeting. To him it
seemed that this was not in any vital sense religion, but he was
careful not to suggest his feeling by so much as a word.
One or two of his companions invited him to come to Jesus. He
disconcerted them by showing an unexpected familiarity with the
Scriptures as a weapon of offense against them.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: an expression and an affection which made Rodolphe long to be so
caressed, even if it were without love.
The boat grounded; Rodolphe sprang on to the sand, offered his hand to
the Italian lady, escorted her to the door of the Bergmanns' house,
and went to dress and return as soon as possible.
When he joined the librarian and his wife, who were sitting on the
balcony, Rodolphe could scarcely repress an exclamation of surprise at
seeing the prodigious change which the good news had produced in the
old man. He now saw a man of about sixty, extremely well preserved, a
lean Italian, as straight as an I, with hair still black, though thin
and showing a white skull, with bright eyes, a full set of white
Albert Savarus |
