| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: her rings, and gave him advice about the setting. There was no
special custom, she told him, ruling such rings as this he
desired to bestow. The gem might be the lady's favorite or the
lover's favorite; and to choose the lady's month stone was very
well indeed.
Very well indeed, the Virginian thought. But not quite well
enough for him. His mind now busied itself with this lore
concerning jewels, and soon his sentiment had suggested something
which he forthwith carried out.
When the ring was achieved, it was an opal, but set with four
small embracing diamonds. Thus was her month stone joined with
The Virginian |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells: "It wouldn't be a bad idea to hand him over to
some public body--the British Museum Trustees, or
the Royal College of Physicians. Sounds a bit odd,
of course, but the whole situation is odd."
"The difficulty is to induce them to take him."
"Red tape, I suppose? "
"Partly."
Pause. " It's a curious business, certainly," said
Isbister. "And compound interest has a way of
mounting up."
"It has," said Warming. "And now the gold supplies
When the Sleeper Wakes |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: that none but nobles should have the right to wear the antique French
costume, which was so becoming to the courtiers of Louis XV. To hear
her, it was a misfortune for France, perhaps, that there was no
outward and visible difference between a merchant and a peer of
France. And a hundred more such pleasantries, easy to imagine, were
rapidly poured out when any accident brought up the subject.
But those who loved Emilie could see through all her banter a tinge of
melancholy. It was clear that Maximilien Longueville still reigned
over that inexorable heart. Sometimes she would be as gentle as she
had been during the brief summer that had seen the birth of her love;
sometimes, again, she was unendurable. Every one made excuses for her
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