| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: suddenly, and was indeed one of the chief surprises of my life. He
had been several times abroad, and was now beginning to walk a
little with an arm, when it chanced I should be left alone with him
upon the terrace. He turned to me with a singular furtive smile,
such as schoolboys use when in fault; and says he, in a private
whisper and without the least preface: "Where have you buried
him?"
I could not make one sound in answer.
"Where have you buried him?" he repeated. "I want to see his
grave."
I conceived I had best take the bull by the horns. "Mr. Henry,"
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: yourself."
"What ground have you for these charges?"
"Thy vanity, dear poet, is so great that it intrudes itself even into
thy friendships!" cried Fulgence. "All vanity of that sort is a
symptom of shocking egoism, and egoism poisons friendship."
"Oh! dear," said Lucien, "you cannot know how much I love you all."
"If you loved us as we love you, would you have been in such a hurry
to return the money which we had such pleasure in lending? or have
made so much of it?"
"We don't lend here; we give," said Joseph Bridau roughly.
"Don't think us unkind, dear boy," said Michel Chrestien; "we are
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