| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: up at Barbara Fitzhugh and saying that in renting the house I had
not expected to be involved in any family scandal. At which she
turned purple.
The verdict was that Arnold Armstrong had met his death at the
hands of a person or persons unknown, and we all prepared to
leave. Barbara Fitzhugh flounced out without waiting to speak to
me, but Mr. Harton came up, as I knew he would.
"You have decided to give up the house, I hope, Miss Innes," he
said. "Mrs. Armstrong has wired me again."
"I am not going to give it up," I maintained, "until I understand
some things that are puzzling me. The day that the murderer is
The Circular Staircase |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: earth possesses him to make a clandestine match of it? Was he
afraid of your wife too?"
Fyne made an effort to rouse himself.
"Of course my brother-in-law, Captain Anthony, the son of . . . "
He checked himself as if trying to break a bad habit. "He would be
persuaded by her. We have been most friendly to the girl!"
"She struck me as a foolish and inconsiderate little person. But
why should you and your wife take to heart so strongly mere folly--
or even a want of consideration?"
"It's the most unscrupulous action," declared Fyne weightily--and
sighed.
Chance |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln by Helen Nicolay: territory more than a hundred miles square. Springfield and the
neighboring towns were in the eighth judicial circuit. Twice a
year the circuit judge traveled from one county-seat to another,
the lawyers who had business before the court following also. As
newspapers were neither plentiful nor widely read, members of the
legislature were often called upon, while on these journeys, to
explain the laws they had helped to make during the previous
winter, and thus became the political teachers of the people.
They had to be well informed and watchful. When, like Mr.
Lincoln, they were witty, and had a fund of interesting stories
besides, they were sure of a welcome and a hearing in the
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