| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: dress would indicate, there would be small possibility of my
being able to gratify them by giving the information which they
come to seek."
"I can easily understand--" said Lady Bothwell.
"Pardon my boldness to interrupt you, milady," cried the Italian;
"your ladyship was about to say that you could easily understand
that I had got possession of your names by means of your
domestic. But in thinking so, you do injustice to the fidelity
of your servant, and, I may add, to the skill of one who is also
not less your humble servant--Baptista Damiotti."
"I have no intention to do either, sir," said Lady Bothwell,
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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 Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: the silence of the night, and thought of her being immortal and
never dying. The turquoise colour of the water, such as she had
never seen before, the sky, the river-banks, the black shadows,
and the unaccountable joy that flooded her soul, all told her
that she would make a great artist, and that somewhere in the
distance, in the infinite space beyond the moonlight, success,
glory, the love of the people, lay awaiting her. . . . When she
gazed steadily without blinking into the distance, she seemed to
see crowds of people, lights, triumphant strains of music, cries
of enthusiasm, she herself in a white dress, and flowers showered
upon her from all sides. She thought, too, that beside her,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: of Austria, which, by intermarriage, threatens to pervade Europe. The
old Vendeen was not to be discouraged in bringing forward suitors, so
much had he his daughter's happiness at heart, but nothing could be
more absurd than the way in which the impertinent young thing
pronounced her verdicts and judged the merits of her adorers. It might
have been supposed that, like a princess in the Arabian Nights, Emilie
was rich enough and beautiful enough to choose from among all the
princes in the world. Her objections were each more preposterous than
the last: one had too thick knees and was bow-legged, another was
short-sighted, this one's name was Durand, that one limped, and almost
all were too fat. Livelier, more attractive, and gayer than ever after
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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 A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum: miles and miles behind.
"What shall we do?" asked Wisk anxiously, all the mirth and mischief
banished from his wee face by this great calamity.
"We must go back at once and find our master," said Nuter the Ryl, who
thought and spoke with much deliberation.
"No, no!" exclaimed Peter the Knook, who, cross and crabbed though he
was, might always be depended upon in an emergency. "If we delay, or
go back, there will not be time to get the toys to the children before
morning; and that would grieve Santa Claus more than anything else."
"It is certain that some wicked creatures have captured him," added
Kilter thoughtfully, "and their object must be to make the children
A Kidnapped Santa Claus |
