| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: Julius's glance went to the window.
"The window's open," he remarked. "Do you think----"
Tuppence shook her head.
"The balcony only goes along as far as the boudoir. We were
there."
"He might have slipped out----" suggested Julius.
But Sir James interrupted him.
"Mr. Brown's methods are not so crude. In the meantime we must
send for a doctor, but before we do so, is there anything in this
room that might be of value to us?"
Hastily, the three searched. A charred mass in the grate
 Secret Adversary |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from McTeague by Frank Norris: came. I was making some fillings--there, in the
'Parlors,' in the window--and the postman shoved it through
the door. I thought it was a number of the 'American System
of Dentistry' at first, and when I'd opened it and looked at
it I thought I'd better----"
"Say, Mac," interrupted Trina, looking up from the notice,
"DIDN'T you ever go to a dental college?"
"Huh? What? What?" exclaimed McTeague.
"How did you learn to be a dentist? Did you go to a
college?"
"I went along with a fellow who came to the mine once. My
 McTeague |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Hiero by Xenophon: to damage those of their opponents.
[8] Or, "that lie upon your borders," as Thebes and Megara were "nigh-
bordering" to Athens. Cf. Eur. "Rhes." 426; Soph. "Fr." 349.
And when, finally, the citizens discover it is not the habit of these
mercenaries to injure those who do no wrong, but their vocation rather
is to hinder all attempts at evil-doing; whereby they exercise a
kindly providence and bear the brunt of danger on behalf of the
community, I say it must needs be, the citizens will rejoice to pay
the expenses which the force entails. At any rate, it is for objects
of far less importance that at present guards[9] are kept in private
life.
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