| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson: If I come to attend to ye, mistress!" And the maid fled the kitchen,
which had become practically dangerous, to attend on Innes' wants in the
front parlour.
TANTAENE IRAE? Has the reader perceived the reason? Since Frank's
coming there were no more hours of gossip over the supper tray! All his
blandishments were in vain; he had started handicapped on the race for
Mrs. Elliott's favour.
But it was a strange thing how misfortune dogged him in his efforts to
be genial. I must guard the reader against accepting Kirstie's epithets
as evidence; she was more concerned for their vigour than for their
accuracy. Dwaibly, for instance; nothing could be more calumnious.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: a question which would still require several days to decide.
The weather remained fine, and although a few clouds had accumulated,
and might have caused a trifling fall of the barometer, they were not
sufficiently threatening to delay the departure of the _Dobryna_.
Doubts now arose, and some discussion followed, whether or
not it was desirable for Ben Zoof to accompany his master.
There were various reasons why he should be left behind, not the least
important being that the schooner had no accommodation for horses,
and the orderly would have found it hard to part with Zephyr,
and much more with his own favorite Galette; besides, it was advisable
that there should be some one left to receive any strangers that
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: and restricted fashion. He was not scared away by the cadaverous
remains of opulence; not he! by degrees he became accustomed to the
threadbare condition of things. It never struck the young man that the
green silk damask and white ornaments in the drawing-room needed
refurnishing. The curtains, the tea-table, the knick-knacks on the
chimney-piece, the rococo chandelier, the Eastern carpet with the pile
worn down to the thread, the pianoforte, the little flowered china
cups, the fringed serviettes so full of holes that they looked like
open work in the Spanish fashion, the green sitting-room with the
Baroness' blue bedroom beyond it,--it was all sacred, all dear to him.
It is only your stupid woman with the brilliant beauty that throws
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