| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: I not caress it?"
"Wait till he is eighteen years old to caress him in that way,"
replied Beauvouloir, recovering the sense of his importance. "But," he
added, thinking of his own safety, for he had recognized the Comte
d'Herouville, who in his rage had forgotten to disguise his voice,
"have him baptized at once and do not speak of his danger to the
mother, or you will kill her."
The gesture of satisfaction which escaped the count when the child's
death was prophesied, suggested this speech to the bonesetter as the
best means of saving the child at the moment. Beauvouloir now hastened
to carry the infant back to its mother who had fainted, and he pointed
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Last War: A World Set Free by H. G. Wells: And it's a bother, this illness and having to come down to
oneself. This doorway and the row of windows is well done; the
gray granite and just the line of gold, and then those mountains
beyond through that arch. It's very well done....'
Section 2
Karenin lay on the bed with a soft white rug about him, and
Fowler, who was to be his surgeon sat on the edge of the bed and
talked to him. An assistant was seated quietly in the shadow
behind the bed. The examination had been made, and Karenin knew
what was before him. He was tired but serene.
'So I shall die,' he said, 'unless you operate?'
 The Last War: A World Set Free |