| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: left comfort behind it. The next point came to the front: HAD he
rendered that service? Well, here was Goodson's own evidence as
reported in Stephenson's letter; there could be no better evidence
than that--it was even PROOF that he had rendered it. Of course.
So that point was settled. . . No, not quite. He recalled with a
wince that this unknown Mr. Stephenson was just a trifle unsure as
to whether the performer of it was Richards or some other--and, oh
dear, he had put Richards on his honour! He must himself decide
whither that money must go--and Mr. Stephenson was not doubting that
if he was the wrong man he would go honourably and find the right
one. Oh, it was odious to put a man in such a situation--ah, why
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: three windows of the house. Day after day this brief interview had the
hue of friendly sympathy which at last had acquired a sort of
fraternal kindness. Caroline and the stranger seemed to understand
each other from the first; and then, by dint of scrutinizing each
other's faces, they learned to know them well. Ere long it came to be,
as it were, a visit that the Unknown owed to Caroline; if by any
chance her Gentleman in Black went by without bestowing on her the
half-smile of his expressive lips, or the cordial glance of his brown
eyes, something was missing to her all day. She felt as an old man
does to whom the daily study of a newspaper is such an indispensable
pleasure that on the day after any great holiday he wanders about
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: marriages and feasts exist in that world; but in condescension to
men's grossness, he employed these names when he would make known
to them the future. So, as he telleth, the king with high
proclamation called all to come to the marriage to take their
fill of his wondrous store of good things. But many of them that
were bidden made light of it and came not, and busied themselves:
some went to their farms, some to their merchandize, and others
to their newly wedded wives, and thus deprived themselves of the
splendour of the bride chamber. Now when these had, of their own
choice, absented themselves from this joyous merriment, others
were bidden thereto, and the wedding was furnished with guests.
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