| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Love and Friendship by Jane Austen: my Attention to an object which so cruelly reminds me of my
Augustus's blue sattin waistcoat striped in white! In pity to
your unhappy freind avoid a subject so distressing." What could I
do? The feelings of Sophia were at that time so exquisite, and
the tenderness she felt for Augustus so poignant that I had not
power to start any other topic, justly fearing that it might in
some unforseen manner again awaken all her sensibility by
directing her thoughts to her Husband. Yet to be silent would be
cruel; she had intreated me to talk.
From this Dilemma I was most fortunately releived by an accident
truly apropos; it was the lucky overturning of a Gentleman's
Love and Friendship |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: to indulgence. As the artists stood in a window recess, it was
difficult to distinguish their faces except at close quarters, and I
kept away at first; but when I came nearer (I hardly know why) I
thought of nothing else; the wedding party and the music ceased to
exist, my curiosity was roused to the highest pitch, for my soul
passed into the body of the clarionet player.
The fiddle and the flageolet were neither of them interesting; their
faces were of the ordinary type among the blind--earnest, attentive,
and grave. Not so the clarionet player; any artist or philosopher must
have come to a stop at the sight of him.
Picture to yourself a plaster mask of Dante in the red lamplight, with
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: advertise in the Exchange and Mart tomorrow. How's the ankle?"
"A little stiff."
"Let me rub it, please. It's the only thing."
"Oh, no, thanks."
"Don't be ungrateful," I said. "What about my ear?"
She set a small foot on the opposite seat. I tcok off the little
shoe. At length:
"I say," she said suddenly, "what about dinner?"
"Dinner!" I exclaimed. "Oh, dinner's gone right out. Simply not
done in the best circles. Dinner indeed. My dear, you surprise
me!"
The Brother of Daphne |
