| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: know it. It makes meeting him--at Cocker's, since it's that I want
to stay on for--more interesting."
"It makes it mighty interesting for ME!" Mr. Mudge freely declared.
"Yet he didn't follow you?" he asked. "I would!"
"Yes, of course. That was the way you began, you know. You're
awfully inferior to him."
"Well, my dear, you're not inferior to anybody. You've got a
cheek! What's he in danger of?"
"Of being found out. He's in love with a lady--and it isn't right-
-and I've found him out."
"That'll be a look-out for ME!" Mr. Mudge joked. "You mean she has
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: with complicated pedaling; his body swayed to and fro; the
perspiration poured down his face while he toiled to produce a great
/crescendo/ with the feeble means the thankless instrument placed at
his command. He stamped, puffed, shouted; his fingers were as swift as
the serpent's double tongue; and finally, at the last crash on the
keys, he fell back in his chair, resting his head on the top of it.
"/Per Bacco!/ I am quite stunned," said the Count as he left the
house. "A child dancing on the keyboard would make better music."
"Certainly mere chance could not more successfully avoid hitting two
notes in concord than that possessed creature has done during the past
hour," said Giardini.
Gambara |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart: YOU, keep your views to yourself."
Harmony, a bruised and wounded thing, crept into Jimmy's room and
sank on her knees beside the bed. One small hand lay on the
coverlet; she dared not touch it for fear of waking him--but she
laid her cheek close to it for comfort. When Peter came in, much
later, he found the boy wide awake and Harmony asleep, a crumpled
heap beside the bed.
"I think she's been crying," Jimmy whispered. "She's been sobbing
in her sleep. And strike a match, Peter; there may be more mice."
CHAPTER XVIII
Mrs. Boyer, bursting with indignation, went to the Doctors' Club.
|
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Persuasion by Jane Austen: "It would not be a great match for Henrietta, but Charles has
a very fair chance, through the Spicers, of getting something from
the Bishop in the course of a year or two; and you will please to remember,
that he is the eldest son; whenever my uncle dies, he steps into very
pretty property. The estate at Winthrop is not less than
two hundred and fifty acres, besides the farm near Taunton,
which is some of the best land in the country. I grant you,
that any of them but Charles would be a very shocking match for Henrietta,
and indeed it could not be; he is the only one that could be possible;
but he is a very good-natured, good sort of a fellow; and whenever Winthrop
comes into his hands, he will make a different sort of place of it,
Persuasion |
