| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: master be like the men, why, the fiend may take all, and yet have
no more than his due."
"Silence, good neighbours!" said the bailiff, "keep tongue
betwixt teeth; we shall know more by-and-by. But never will a
lord come to Woodstock so welcome as bluff old King Harry! He
would horsewhip a fellow one day with his own royal hand, and
then fling him an handful of silver groats, with his own broad
face on them, to 'noint the sore withal."
"Ay, rest be with him!" echoed the auditors; "it will be long
ere this Lady Elizabeth horsewhip any of us."
"There is no saying," answered the bailiff. "Meanwhile,
 Kenilworth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The American by Henry James: "I can't tell you--now," said Madame de Cintre.
"Nothing that need make you unhappy."
"Has the little Englishman been trying to make love to you?"
She hesitated, and then she uttered a grave "No! he's a very
honest little fellow."
"But you are agitated. Something is the matter."
"Nothing, I repeat, that need make you unhappy. My agitation is over.
Some day I will tell you what it was; not now. I can't now!"
"Well, I confess," remarked Newman, "I don't want to hear
anything unpleasant. I am satisfied with everything--
most of all with you. I have seen all the ladies and talked
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Melmoth Reconciled by Honore de Balzac: of hunger and thirst in her pit? Such things may be, but if any
heedless creature once enters in, it never comes out. All the wires
which could be pulled to induce action on the captain's part were
tried; appeals were made to the secret interested motives that always
come into play in such cases; they worked on Castanier's hopes and on
the weaknesses and vanity of human nature. Unluckily, he had praised
the daughter to her mother when he brought her back after a waltz, a
little chat followed, and then an invitation in the most natural way
in the world. Once introduced into the house, the dragoon was dazzled
by the hospitality of a family who appeared to conceal their real
wealth beneath a show of careful economy. He was skilfully flattered
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