| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Market-Place by Harold Frederic: "Let us consider it as if it were in the air--a
possible contingency. This is what I would say--My--
'the lady we are speaking of' is by way of being
a difficult lady--'uncertain, coy, and hard to please'
as Scott says, you know--and it must be a very skilfully-
dressed fly indeed which brings her to the surface.
She's been hooked once, mind, and she has a horror of it.
Her husband was the most frightful brute and ruffian,
you know. I was strongly opposed to the marriage, but her
mother carried it through. But--yes--about her--I think
she is afraid to marry again. If she does ever consent,
The Market-Place |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: him smile.--"Not like this one," he said. "You made me notice how
quiet and still it was. Yes. Listen how still it is."
Both moved their heads slightly and seemed to lend an ear. There
was not a murmur, sigh, rustle, splash, or footfall. No whispers,
no tremors, not a sound of any kind. They might have been alone
on board the Emma, abandoned even by the ghost of Captain
Jorgenson departed to rejoin the Barque Wild Rose on the shore of
the Cimmerian sea.--"It's like the stillness of the end," said
Mrs. Travers in a low, equable voice.--"Yes, but that, too, is
false," said Lingard in the same tone.--"I don't understand,"
Mrs. Travers began, hurriedly, after a short silence. "But don't
The Rescue |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Flame and Shadow by Sara Teasdale: There you will not come at dusk on closing water lilies,
And the shadow of mountains will not fall on your heart.
"Did You Never Know?"
Did you never know, long ago, how much you loved me --
That your love would never lessen and never go?
You were young then, proud and fresh-hearted,
You were too young to know.
Fate is a wind, and red leaves fly before it
Far apart, far away in the gusty time of year --
Seldom we meet now, but when I hear you speaking,
I know your secret, my dear, my dear.
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