| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: the pulse in his cheek beating.
I had known him for a man of perfect honour before, and trusted
him. But this evident earnest anxiety on behalf of his friend
touched me not a little. Besides, I knew that I was treading on
slippery ground: that it behoved me to be careful.
'I will do it,' I said after a moment's reflection. 'He will
play me no tricks, I suppose? A letter of--'
'MON DIEU, no! He will understand,' Cocheforet answered eagerly.
'You will not repent it. Let us be going.'
'Well, but my horse?' I said, somewhat taken aback by this
extreme haste. 'How am I to--'
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: have very much of the quality of a very pretty and cheerful old
woman, it seemed exceptionally an outrage. And I made a special
pilgrimage to see how it was with that monument of Can Grande,
the equestrian Scaliger with the sidelong grin, for whom I
confess a ridiculous admiration. Can Grande, I rejoice to say,
has retired into a case of brickwork, surmounted by a steep roof
of thick iron plates; no aeroplane exists to carry bombs enough
to smash that covering; there he will smile securely in the
darkness until peace comes again.
All over Venetia the Austrian seaplanes are making the same sort
of idiot raid on lighted places that the Zeppelins have been
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: late the beloved learns, after all his pains and disagreeables, that 'As
wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves.' (Compare Char.) Here is
the end; the 'other' or 'non-lover' part of the speech had better be
understood, for if in the censure of the lover Socrates has broken out in
verse, what will he not do in his praise of the non-lover? He has said his
say and is preparing to go away.
Phaedrus begs him to remain, at any rate until the heat of noon has passed;
he would like to have a little more conversation before they go. Socrates,
who has risen, recognizes the oracular sign which forbids him to depart
until he has done penance. His conscious has been awakened, and like
Stesichorus when he had reviled the lovely Helen he will sing a palinode
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