| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: silence, Retief proceeded:
"Young man and young woman, what are your names?"
"Don't ask silly questions, commandant," broke in Vrouw Prinsloo; "you
know their names well enough."
"Of course I do, aunt," he answered; "but for this purpose I must
pretend not to know them. Are you better acquainted with the law than I
am? But stay, where is the father, Henri Marais?"
Someone thrust Marais forward, and there he stood quite silent, staring
at us with a queer look upon his face and his gun in his hand, for he,
too, was ready to ride.
"Take away that gun," said Retief; "it might go off and cause
Marie |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: equable manner with every one, which very quickly made the
majority of the noblemen reverse the current opinion of his
supposed haughtiness. He was himself conscious that, except that
whimsical gentleman married to Kitty Shtcherbatskaya, who had a
propos de bottes poured out a stream of irrelevant absurdities
with such spiteful fury, every nobleman with whom he had made
acquaintance had become his adherent. He saw clearly, and other
people recognized it, too, that he had done a great deal to
secure the success of Nevyedovsky. And now at his own table,
celebrating Nevyedovsky's election, he was experiencing an
agreeable sense of triumph over the success of his candidate. The
Anna Karenina |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: "Could you get on without varnished boots?"
"Promise me you won't go, then!"
"What are you thinking of, Stephen?"
"I don't know," he stammered, the question giving unexpected form
to his intention. "It's all in the air yet, of course; but I
picked up a tip the other day--"
"You're not speculating?" she cried, with a kind of superstitious
terror.
"Lord, no. This is a sure thing--I almost wish it wasn't; I mean
if I can work it--" He had a sudden vision of the
comprehensiveness of the temptation. If only he had been less
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