| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: blade of it, or recite "The Gipsy's Curse." The few
feuds I had ever seen or read about usually opened that
way. This one seemed to be presented with a new treat-
ment. Thus offered on the stage, it would have been
hissed off, and one of Belasco's thrilling melodramas
demanded instead.
"I wonder," said Sam, with a profoundly thoughtful
expression, "if the cook has any cold beans left over!"
He called Wash, the Negro cook, and finding that he
had some, ordered him to heat up the pot and make some
strong coffee. Then we went into Sam's private room,
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: might be about--Nina Carrington."
For a moment I thought he was going to strike me. He grew livid,
and a small crooked blood-vessel in his temple swelled and
throbbed curiously. Then he forced a short laugh.
"Who is Nina Carrington?" he asked.
"I am about to discover that," I replied, and he was quiet at
once. It was not difficult to divine that he feared Nina
Carrington a good deal more than he did the devil. Our leave-
taking was brief; in fact, we merely stared at each other over
the waiting-room table, with its litter of year-old
magazines. Then I turned and went out.
The Circular Staircase |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Domestic Peace by Honore de Balzac: clever as to keep up her reputation for smartness by always leaving a
ballroom in brilliant order, as she had entered it. Women whispered to
each other with a feeling of envy that she planned and wore as many
different dresses as the parties she went to in one evening.
On the present occasion Madame de Vaudremont was not destined to be
free to leave when she would the ballroom she had entered in triumph.
Pausing for a moment on the threshold, she shot swift but observant
glances on the women present, hastily scrutinizing their dresses to
assure herself that her own eclipsed them all.
The illustrious beauty presented herself to the admiration of the
crowd at the same moment with one of the bravest colonels of the
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