| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: "Madame, why did you not prevent her from coming out?" said the tutor
to the old mother, august and sacred in her silent grief.
As Veronique advanced majestically with her naturally fine and
graceful step, Madame Sauviat, driven by despair at the thought of
surviving her daughter, allowed the secret of many things that
awakened curiosity to escape her.
"How can she walk like that," she cried, "wearing a horrible horsehair
shirt, which pricks into her skin perpetually?"
The words horrified the young man, who was not insensible to the
exquisite grace of Veronique's movements; he shuddered as he thought
of the constant and terrific struggle of the soul to maintain its
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: Italy; he was gigantic.
"But I--when shall I be in Heaven?" said Godefroid, kneeling on one
knee before the immortal poet, like an angel before the sanctuary.
"Come to Florence," said Dante in compassionate tones. "Come! when you
see its lovely landscape from the heights of Fiesole you will fancy
yourself in Paradise."
The soldier smiled. For the first time, perhaps for the only time in
his life, Dante's gloomy and solemn features wore a look of joy; his
eyes and brows expressed the happiness he has depicted so lavishly in
his vision of Paradise. He thought perhaps that he heard the voice of
Beatrice.
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