| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: only one, and I cannot afford to hang him. But for your liberty
that is another matter.'
I would have said something, pleaded something; but he turned
abruptly to the table, and sitting down wrote a few lines on a
piece of paper. Then he rang his bell, while I stood waiting and
confounded.
The man in black came from behind the screen.
'Take this letter and that gentleman to the upper guard-room,'
the Cardinal said sharply. 'I can hear no more,' he continued,
frowning and raising his hand to forbid interruption. 'The
matter is ended, M. de Berault. Be thankful.'
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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 Europeans by Henry James: of various nice-looking people who passed that way, and to whom
a distinguished, strikingly-dressed woman with a foreign air,
exclaiming upon the beauties of nature on a Boston street corner
in the French tongue, could not be an object of indifference.
Eugenia's spirits rose. She surrendered herself to a certain
tranquil gayety. If she had come to seek her fortune,
it seemed to her that her fortune would be easy to find.
There was a promise of it in the gorgeous purity of the western sky;
there was an intimation in the mild, unimpertinent gaze
of the passers of a certain natural facility in things.
"You will not go back to Silberstadt, eh?" asked Felix.
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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 A Personal Record by Joseph Conrad: "Doesn't look as if there were much time to think," he muttered,
sardonically, from under his hand.
"No, sir," I said, with some warmth. "Not on board a ship, I
could see. But so many accidents have happened that I really
can't remember what there's left for me to work with."
Still half averted, and with his eyes concealed, he made
unexpectedly a grunting remark.
"You've done very well."
"Have I the two anchors at the bow, sir?" I asked.
"Yes."
I prepared myself then, as a last hope for the ship, to let them
A Personal Record |
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 Dreams by Olive Schreiner: that it seemed to have piled over it for centuries.
And I looked very curiously at it. And there stood one beside me watching.
And I said to him, "What is this huge creature who lies here on the sand?"
And he said, "This is woman; she that bears men in her body."
And I said, "Why does she lie here motionless with the sand piled round
her?"
And he answered, "Listen, I will tell you! Ages and ages long she has lain
here, and the wind has blown over her. The oldest, oldest, oldest man
living has never seen her move: the oldest, oldest book records that she
lay here then, as she lies here now, with the sand about her. But listen!
Older than the oldest book, older than the oldest recorded memory of man,
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