| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: no less for what you have already done. I shall
make it a personal matter with the Tsar. You shall
have promotion and a substantial increase in pay,
besides the orders and Imperial thanks you so richly
deserve. Lest anything happen to me on my home-
ward journey, I shall write to St. Petersburg before
I leave."
The lieutenants, overcome as ever when he chose
to put forth his full powers, assured him of their
fidelity and, if with misgivings, vowed to mete out
vengeance to the Japanese. And although their
Rezanov |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Mountains by Stewart Edward White: All outside the insistence of the moment was blurred
and unimportant, like a specialized focus, so I cannot
tell you much about the scenery. The only outside
impression we received was that the canon floor
was slowly rising to meet us.
Then strangely enough, as it seemed, we stepped
off to level ground.
Our watches said half-past three. We had made
five miles in a little under seven hours.
Remained only the crossing of the river. This
was no mean task, but we accomplished it lightly,
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson: intellect and temper for a leading role. I was intended, I fear,
for a subaltern. Yet we have all something to command, Mr. Fritz,
if it be only our own temper; and a man about to marry must look
closely to himself. The husband's, like the prince's, is a very
artificial standing; and it is hard to be kind in either. Do you
follow that?'
'O yes, I follow that,' replied the young man, sadly chop-fallen
over the nature of the information he had elicited; and then
brightening up: 'Is it,' he ventured, 'is it for an arsenal that you
have bought the farm?'
'We'll see about that,' the Prince answered, laughing. 'You must
|
