| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Kenilworth by Walter Scott: The dews of summer night did fall,
The moon, sweet regent of the sky,
Silver'd the walls of Cumnor Hall,
And many an oak that grew thereby. MICKLE.
[This verse is the commencement of the ballad already quoted, as
what suggested the novel.]
Four apartments; which, occupied the western side of the old
quadrangle at Cumnor Place, had been fitted up with extraordinary
splendour. This had been the work of several days prior to that
on which our story opened. Workmen sent from London, and not
permitted to leave the premises until the work was finished, had
 Kenilworth |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: such rapidity and impatience that the young Poussin fancied a demon,
encased with the body of this singular being, was working his hands
fantastically like those of a puppet without, or even against, the
will of their owner. The unnatural brightness of his eyes, the
convulsive movements which seemed the result of some mental
resistance, gave to this fancy of the youth a semblance of truth which
reacted upon his lively imagination. The old man worked on, muttering
half to himself, half to his neophyte:--
"Paf! paf! paf! that is how we butter it on, young man. Ah! my little
pats, you are right; warm up that icy tone. Come, come!--pon, pon,
pon,--" he continued, touching up the spots where he had complained of
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: himself wishing it lay within the bounds of fitness to transmit
them, as a final tribute, to the one woman he knew who was
unfailingly certain to enjoy a good thing. It was perhaps the
one drawback to his new situation that it might develop good
things which it would be impossible to hand on to Margaret
Vervain.
The fact that he had made the mistake of underrating his friend's
powers, the consciousness that his writing must have betrayed his
distrust of her efficiency, seemed an added reason for turning
down her street instead of going on to the club. He would show
her that he knew how to value her; he would ask her to achieve
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