| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: blotted from the field of possibility. Despair, which was my first
sentiment, did not, however, endure for more than a moment. I saw
that my companions had indeed succeeded in their unlikely design;
and that I was supposed to have accompanied and perished along with
them by shipwreck - a most probable ending to their enterprise. If
they thought me at the bottom of the North Sea, I need not fear
much vigilance on the streets of Edinburgh. Champdivers was
wanted: what was to connect him with St. Ives? Major Chevenix
would recognise me if he met me; that was beyond bargaining: he had
seen me so often, his interest had been kindled to so high a point,
that I could hope to deceive him by no stratagem of disguise.
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Elizabeth and her German Garden by Marie Annette Beauchamp: Far from caring, it filled me with a reckless, Backfisch pleasure
in being dirty, a delicious feeling that I had not had for years.
Alice in Wonderland, after she had drunk the contents of
the magic bottle, could not have grown smaller more suddenly
than I grew younger the moment I passed through that magic door.
Bad habits cling to us, however, with such persistency that I
did mechanically pull out my handkerchief and begin to rub
off the welcoming smudge, a thing I never would have dreamed
of doing in the glorious old days; but an artful scent of
violets clinging to the handkerchief brought me to my senses,
and with a sudden impulse of scorn, the fine scorn for scent
Elizabeth and her German Garden |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte: would not give me time to examine, but, saying I must look at them
some other day, insisted upon my admiring the little jewelled watch
she had purchased in Geneva; and then she took me round the room to
point out sundry articles of VERTU she had brought from Italy: an
elegant little timepiece, and several busts, small graceful
figures, and vases, all beautifully carved in white marble. She
spoke of these with animation, and heard my admiring comments with
a smile of pleasure: that soon, however, vanished, and was
followed by a melancholy sigh; as if in consideration of the
insufficiency of all such baubles to the happiness of the human
heart, and their woeful inability to supply its insatiate demands.
Agnes Grey |
