| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Bronte Sisters: who, as he was riding that way, had desired him to call at the
Manor and beg the pleasure of my company to a friendly family
dinner to-morrow.
'There is no one to meet but ourselves,' said he; 'but Esther is
very anxious to see you; and my mother fears you will feel solitary
in this great house so much alone, and wishes she could persuade
you to give her the pleasure of your company more frequently, and
make yourself at home in our more humble dwelling, till Mr.
Huntingdon's return shall render this a little more conducive to
your comfort.'
'She is very kind,' I answered, 'but I am not alone, you see; - and
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from An International Episode by Henry James: some talk that he had had, on the second day, with Bessie Alden.
He had indeed had a good deal of talk with her, for she
was not literally always in conversation with Lord Lambeth.
He had meditated upon Mrs. Westgate's account of her sister,
and he discovered for himself that the young lady was clever,
and appeared to have read a great deal. She seemed very nice,
though he could not make out, as Mrs. Westgate had said, she was shy.
If she was shy, she carried it off very well.
"Mr. Beaumont," she had said, "please tell me something about Lord
Lambeth's family. How would you say it in England--his position?"
"His position?" Percy Beaumont repeated.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Vicar of Tours by Honore de Balzac: not in the middle of his bedside carpet as usual, the abbe took mental
notes of the state of Marianne's dress, which convinced him that she
had not got out of bed to open the door as she said she had. He then
recollected that for the last two weeks he had been deprived of
various little attentions which for eighteen months had made life
sweet to him. Now, as the nature of narrow minds induces them to study
trifles, Birotteau plunged suddenly into deep meditation on these four
circumstances, imperceptible in their meaning to others, but to him
indicative of four catastrophes. The total loss of his happiness was
evidently foreshadowed in the neglect to place his slipppers, in
Marianne's falsehood about the fire, in the unusual removal of his
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