| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: "In Sicily?" Gertrude murmured.
"It is true," said Felix Young, "that they had spent their lives in Europe.
But they were very patriotic. And so are we."
"And you are Sicilian," said Gertrude.
"Sicilian, no! Let 's see. I was born at a little place--
a dear little place--in France. My sister was born at Vienna."
"So you are French," said Gertrude.
"Heaven forbid!" cried the young man. Gertrude's eyes were
fixed upon him almost insistently. He began to laugh again.
"I can easily be French, if that will please you."
"You are a foreigner of some sort," said Gertrude.
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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 Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: From the tenor of these remarks it was to be inferred that the
princess had the depth of a precipice, the grace of a queen, the
corruption of diplomatists, the mystery of a first initiation, and the
dangerous qualities of a siren. The two clever men of the world,
incapable of foreseeing the denouement of their joke, succeeded in
presenting Diane d'Uxelles as a consummate specimen of the Parisian
woman, the cleverest of coquettes, the most enchanting mistress in the
world. Right or wrong, the woman whom they thus treated so lightly was
sacred to d'Arthez; his desire to meet her needed no spur; he
consented to do so at the first word, which was all the two friends
wanted of him.
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