| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: cotton curtains, a few chairs of stained wood covered with
Utrecht velvet, several wretched colored prints in frames, and
wall papers that a little suburban tavern would have disdained.
Possibly it was the careless generosity with which Father Goriot
allowed himself to be overreached at this period of his life
(they called him Monsieur Goriot very respectfully then) that
gave Mme. Vauquer the meanest opinion of his business abilities;
she looked on him as an imbecile where money was concerned.
Goriot had brought with him a considerable wardrobe, the gorgeous
outfit of a retired tradesman who denies himself nothing. Mme.
Vauquer's astonished eyes beheld no less than eighteen cambric-
Father Goriot |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe: and Lusum, where, it seems, nobody durst relieve the poor distressed
people for fear of the infection.
This notion having, as I said, prevailed with the people in that part
of the town, was in part the occasion, as I said before, that they had
recourse to ships for their retreat; and where they did this early and
with prudence, furnishing themselves so with provisions that they had
no need to go on shore for supplies or suffer boats to come on board
to bring them, - I say, where they did so they had certainly the safest
retreat of any people whatsoever; but the distress was such that people
ran on board, in their fright, without bread to eat, and some into ships
that had no men on board to remove them farther off, or to take the
A Journal of the Plague Year |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: fingers on my lips. Then:
"How d'ye do?" said Lord Brethe.
Berry swallowed, said " Er- oh, how d'ye do?" and took off his
hat.
The next moment he had himself in hand. Daphne got out of the
car, and Jonah and Jill came up. Greetings were exchanged
between them and the Brethes, and my mistress was introduced. I
sat as one in a trance. Then I heard the girl saying nervously:
"I don't know whether my chauffeur can be of any assistance." I
pulled myself together and got out of the car.
There never was such a situation. The Brethes knew nothing and
The Brother of Daphne |
