| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: various places, were covered with a species of fluff which made them
offensive to the eye. Whether it was that his damp clothes exhaled a
fetid odor, or that he had in his normal condition the "poor smell"
which belongs to Parisian tenements, just as offices, sacristies, and
hospitals have their own peculiar and rancid fetidness, of which no
words can give the least idea, or whether some other reason affected
them, those in the vicinity of this man immediately moved away and
left him alone. He cast upon them and also upon the officer a calm,
expressionless look, the celebrated look of Monsieur de Talleyrand, a
dull, wan glance, without warmth, a species of impenetrable veil,
beneath which a strong soul hides profound emotions and close
Ferragus |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: was known only to me and that other. Yet Zikali is very clever
and may have learned these things in some way unguessed by me,
and what he has learned, others may have learned also. King and
Councillors, I do not think that what we saw was the spirit of
Mameena. I think it a woman not unlike to her who had been
taught her lesson. I have nothing more to say, and therefore I
pray you not to ask me any further questions about Mameena of
whose name I grow weary."
At this point Zikali seemed to wake out of his indifference, or
his torpor, for he looked up and said darkly--
"It is strange that the cleverest are always those who first fall
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: I had to exercise a sudden self-control, as one puts on a brake, to
prevent myself jumping up to stride about, shout, gesticulate, make
her a scene. What for? What about? I had no idea. It was just
the relief of violence that I wanted; and I lolled back in my
chair, trying to keep my lips formed in a smile; that half-
indulgent, half-mocking smile which was my shield against the
shafts of her contempt and the insulting sallies flung at me by the
old woman.
She drank the water at a draught, with the avidity of raging
thirst, and let herself fall on the nearest chair, as if utterly
overcome. Her attitude, like certain tones of her voice, had in it
'Twixt Land & Sea |
