| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: you--excuse my being so lurid--that it's quite worth your while to
buy me off. Come, therefore; buy me!" There was a point indeed at
which such flights had to drop again--the point of an unreadiness
to name, when it came to that, the purchasing medium. It wouldn't
certainly be anything so gross as money, and the matter accordingly
remained rather vague, all the more that SHE was not a bad girl.
It wasn't for any such reason as might have aggravated a mere minx
that she often hoped he would again bring Cissy. The difficulty of
this, however, was constantly present to her, for the kind of
communion to which Cocker's so richly ministered rested on the fact
that Cissy and he were so often in different places. She knew by
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: servants of the women's apartments, where the name is given to a
eunuch, who bears it to his mistress.
In the meantime the party has arrived. The mule is unhitched,
cart drawn to the gate, screen spread, servant descends from
front, and the Princess with the help of a couple of eunuchs is
escorted through a long covered walk into the court, where the
ladies of the household are waiting on the veranda to receive
her. As she enters the gateway the hostess begins slowly to
descend the steps. The others follow, and they meet in the centre
of the court. Low courtesies are made by each and formal
inquiries as to each other's health. There is a short stop and
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: "Adequately, let us hope; for the book's verily a masterpiece."
At this moment the parlour-maid appeared in the door that opened
from the garden: Paraday lived at no great cost, and the frisk of
petticoats, with a timorous "Sherry, sir?" was about his modest
mahogany. He allowed half his income to his wife, from whom he had
succeeded in separating without redundancy of legend. I had a
general faith in his having behaved well, and I had once, in
London, taken Mrs. Paraday down to dinner. He now turned to speak
to the maid, who offered him, on a tray, some card or note, while,
agitated, excited, I wandered to the end of the precinct. The idea
of his security became supremely dear to me, and I asked myself if
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