| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Lock and Key Library by Julian Hawthorne, Ed.: the words of Ayesha had warned me; with one rapid hand I seized the
noose before it could tighten too closely, with the other I tore
the bandage away from my eyes, and, wheeling round on the dastardly
foe, struck him down with one spurn of my foot. His hand, as he
fell, relaxed its hold on the noose; I freed my throat from the
knot, and sprang from the copse into the broad sunlit plain. I saw
no more of the armed men or the Strangler. Panting and breathless,
I paused at last before the fence, fragrant with blossoms, that
divided my home from the solitude.
The windows of Lilian's room were darkened; all within the house
seemed still.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: or two of my writing, and after we had met I am glad to think he
liked me still. He used to point out to me with great
earnestness, and even with some severity, that "a boy ought to
have a dog." I suspect that he was shocked at my neglect of
parental duties. Ultimately it was he who provided the dog.
Shortly afterwards, one day, after playing with the child on the
rug for an hour or so with the most intense absorption, he raised
his head and declared firmly: "I shall teach your boy to ride."
That was not to be. He was not given the time.
But here is the dog--an old dog now. Broad and low on his bandy
paws, with a black head on a white body and a ridiculous black
Some Reminiscences |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: what you should know, one of the things I am here to speak of, is
the persecution he must bear in private. Your back is not turned
before one whom I dare not name to you falls upon him with the most
unfeeling taunts; twits him - pardon me, my lord - twits him with
your partiality, calls him Jacob, calls him clown, pursues him with
ungenerous raillery, not to be borne by man. And let but one of
you appear, instantly he changes; and my master must smile and
courtesy to the man who has been feeding him with insults; I know,
for I have shared in some of it, and I tell you the life is
insupportable. All these months it has endured; it began with the
man's landing; it was by the name of Jacob that my master was
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