| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: reality, if I am to live an obscure prisoner, without either
society or observance, and suffering in my character, as one of
dubious or disgraced reputation? I care not for all those
strings of pearl, which you fret me by warping into my tresses,
Janet. I tell you that at Lidcote Hall, if I put but a fresh
rosebud among my hair, my good father would call me to him, that
he might see it more closely; and the kind old curate would
smile, and Master Mumblazen would say something about roses
gules. And now I sit here, decked out like an image with gold
and gems, and no one to see my finery but you, Janet. There was
the poor Tressilian, too--but it avails not speaking of him."
Kenilworth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: "I have resolved, monsieur, not to kill you until Madame
shall have been delivered safely into her husband's hands."
"Kill me! Believe me, monsieur, your schoolmaster's rod does
not kill so easily."
"No," replied Raoul, sternly, "but M. d'Artagnan's sword
kills; and, not only do I possess his sword, but he has
himself taught me how to use it: and with that sword, when a
befitting time arrives, I will avenge his name ---a name you
have dishonored."
"Take care, monsieur," exclaimed De Wardes; "if you do not
immediately give me satisfaction, I will avail myself of
Ten Years Later |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: West could never feel as certain as he wished, that we two were
the only survivors. He used to make shuddering conjectures about
the possible actions of a headless physician with the power of
reanimating the dead.
West’s last quarters were in a venerable
house of much elegance, overlooking one of the oldest burying-grounds
in Boston. He had chosen the place for purely symbolic and fantastically
aesthetic reasons, since most of the interments were of the colonial
period and therefore of little use to a scientist seeking very
fresh bodies. The laboratory was in a sub-cellar secretly constructed
by imported workmen, and contained a huge incinerator for the
Herbert West: Reanimator |
