| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: him there again on a bench. It became for an hour a fantastic
vision with her that he might just have gone to sit and wait for
her. She could almost hear him, through the tick of the sounder,
scatter with his stick, in his impatience, the fallen leaves of
October. Why should such a vision seize her at this particular
moment with such a shake? There was a time--from four to five--
when she could have cried with happiness and rage.
Business quickened, it seemed, toward five, as if the town did wake
up; she had therefore more to do, and she went through it with
little sharp stampings and jerkings: she made the crisp postal-
orders fairly snap while she breathed to herself "It's the last
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Recruit by Honore de Balzac: sympathized with that of another. The old man now understood both the
hopes and the fears of the poor woman. The letter was from her son. He
had returned to France to share in Granville's expedition, and was
taken prisoner. The letter was written from his cell, but it told her
to hope. He did not doubt his means of escape, and he named to her
three days, on one of which he expected to be with her in disguise.
But in case he did not reach Carentan by the third day, she might know
some fatal difficulty had occurred, and the letter contained his last
wishes and a sad farewell. The paper trembled in the old man's hand.
"This is the third day," cried the countess, rising and walking
hurriedly up and down.
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Astoria by Washington Irving: Michilimackinac.
The attempt to obtain the goods did not, however, succeed; and I
cannot say how far the failure injured you. But the war proved
fatal to another much more extensive and important enterprise.
Previous to that time, but I also forget the year, you had
undertaken to carry on a trade on your own account, though I
believe under the New York charter of the American Fur Company,
with the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains. This project was
also communicated to government, and met, of course, with its
full approbation, and best wishes, for your success. You carried
it on, on the most extensive scale, sending several ships to the
|
