| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Finished by H. Rider Haggard: break her heart."
"If it breaks half of her heart," I replied, "it will mend the
other half, for now her filial affection can't force her to marry
Rodd, and that is where you are in luck's way."
Then I told him all the story.
"Was he murdered or did he commit suicide?" he asked when I had
finished.
"I don't know, and to tell you the truth I don't want to know;
nor will you if you are wise, unless knowledge is forced upon
you. It is enough that he is dead, and for his daughter's sake
the less the circumstances of his end are examined into the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Court Life in China by Isaac Taylor Headland: described but has erected upon it a lofty, circular triple-roofed
temple ninety-nine feet in height, roofed with blue tiles, the
eaves painted in brilliant colours and protected from the birds
by a wire netting. In the centre, immediately in front of the
altar, is a circular stone, as in the open altar. The ceiling is
covered with gilded dragons in high relief, and the whole is
supported by immense pillars. It was this building that was
struck by lightning in 1890, but it was restored during the ten
years that followed. Being made the camp of the British during
the occupation of 1900, it received some small injuries from
curio seekers, but none of any consequence. The Sikh soldiers who
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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 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: in response to some sign we could not see, to some whisper we could
not hear, he frowned heavily, and that frown gave to his black
death-mask an inconeivably sombre, brooding, and menacing expression.
The lustre of inquiring glance faded swiftly into vacant glassiness.
`Can you steer?' I asked the agent eagerly. He looked very dubious;
but I made a grab at his arm, and he understood at once I
meant him to steer whether or no. To tell you the truth,
I was morbidly anxious to change my shoes and socks. `He is dead,'
murmured the fellow, immensely impressed. `No doubt about it,'
said I, tugging like mad at the shoe-laces. `And by the way,
I suppose Mr. Kurtz is dead as well by this time.'
Heart of Darkness |
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 The Street of Seven Stars by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Waldheim, or leaning, elbows on the rail, looking from the
balcony over the valley far below. Bitter and hard, that is,
during his absences; he had but to enter the room and her rage
died, to be replaced with yearning and little, shy, tentative
advances that he only tolerated. Wild thoughts came to Marie,
especially at night, when the stars made a crown over the Rax,
and in the hotel an orchestra played, while people dined and
laughed and loved.
She grew obstinate, too. When in his desperation Stewart
suggested that they go back to Vienna she openly scoffed.
"Why?" she demanded. "That you may come back here to her, leaving
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