| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Bride of Lammermoor by Walter Scott: assume the open and courteous brow of a well-pleased host. It
has been often remarked, that when a man commences by acting a
character, he frequently ends by adopting it in good earnest. In
the course of an hour or two, Ravenswood, to his own surprise,
found himself in the situation of one who frankly does his best
to entertain welcome and honoured guests. How much of this
change in his disposition was to be ascribed to the beauty and
simplicity of Miss Ashton, to the readiness with which she
accommodated herself to the inconveniences of her situation; how
much to the smooth and plausible conversation of the Lord Keeper,
remarkably gifted with those words which win the ear, must be
The Bride of Lammermoor |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Outlaw of Torn by Edgar Rice Burroughs: intended victim, or to cause the grim executioner a pang
of remorse.
When he found the old hag she was already dressed
to go upon the street, in fact he intercepted her at the
very door of the building. Still clad as he was in the
mantle and wimple of an old woman, Til did not, at
first, recognize him, and when he spoke she burst into
a nervous, cackling laugh, as one caught in the perpe-
tration of some questionable act, nor did her manner
escape the shrewd notice of the wily master of fence.
"Whither, old hag?" he asked.
The Outlaw of Torn |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: so aptly, kings have their fates and happiness is not to them more
than to any other of the sons of men. Indeed, it is not at all, as
my benefactor Fonseca once said to me; true happiness is but a
dream from which we awake continually to the sorrows of our short
laborious day.
Then my thoughts flew to the vision of that most lovely maid, the
princess Otomie, who, as I believed, had looked on me so kindly,
and I found that vision sweet, for I was young, and the English
Lily, my own love, was far away and lost to me for ever. Was it
then wonderful that I should find this Indian poppy fair? Indeed,
where is the man who would not have been overcome by her sweetness,
Montezuma's Daughter |
