| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Wilson, Miss La Rue, and myself disembarked, while von Schoenvorts
and his German crew returned to refine the oil. The next day
Plesser and two other Germans came down overland for ammunition.
Plesser said they had been attacked by wild men and had exhausted
a great deal of ammunition. He also asked permission to get some
dried meat and maize, saying that they were so busy with the work
of refining that they had no time to hunt. I let him have
everything he asked for, and never once did a suspicion of their
intentions enter my mind. They returned to the oil-well the same
day, while we continued with the multitudinous duties of camp life.
For three days nothing of moment occurred. Bradley did not
The Land that Time Forgot |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: The strange man appeared overwhelmed with astonishment. "She doesn't?" he
cried. "She is out, you mean!"
"No, she's not living here," answered Viola.
"But--pardon--one moment." He moved from the door lintel, standing
squarely in front of her. He unbuttoned his greatcoat and drew a slip of
paper from the breast pocket, smoothing it in his gloved fingers before
handing it to her.
"Yes, that's the address, right enough, but there must be a mistake in the
number. So many lodging-houses in this street, you know, and so big."
Drops of water fell from her hair on to the paper. She burst out laughing.
"Oh, HOW dreadful I must look--one moment!" She ran back to the washstand
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: become the property of my heirs, for, as you know, a notary cannot
take a bequest. Otherwise la Grande Breteche reverts to the heirs-at-
law, but on condition of fulfilling certain conditions set forth in a
codicil to the will, which is not to be opened till the expiration of
the said term of fifty years. The will has not been disputed, so----'
And without finishing his sentence, the lanky notary looked at me with
an air of triumph; I made him quite happy by offering him my
congratulations.
" 'Monsieur,' I said in conclusion, 'you have so vividly impressed me
that I fancy I see the dying woman whiter than her sheets; her
glittering eyes frighten me; I shall dream of her to-night.--But you
La Grande Breteche |
