The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: at long intervals. And as usual he stared through the port.
A breath of wind came now and again into our faces.
The ship might have been moored in dock, so gently and on an
even keel she slipped through the water, that did not murmur
even at our passage, shadowy and silent like a phantom sea.
At midnight I went on deck, and to my mate's great
surprise put the ship round on the other tack.
His terrible whiskers flitted round me in silent criticism.
I certainly should not have done it if it had been only a question
of getting out of that sleepy gulf as quickly as possible.
I believe he told the second mate, who relieved him,
 The Secret Sharer |
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 Emma by Jane Austen: and there was so striking a change in all this, and such an
ill-judged solemnity of leave-taking in his graceful acknowledgments,
as she thought, at first, could not escape her father's suspicion.
It did, however.--Her father was quite taken up with the surprize
of so sudden a journey, and his fears that Mr. Elton might never get
safely to the end of it, and saw nothing extraordinary in his language.
It was a very useful note, for it supplied them with fresh matter
for thought and conversation during the rest of their lonely evening.
Mr. Woodhouse talked over his alarms, and Emma was in spirits
to persuade them away with all her usual promptitude.
She now resolved to keep Harriet no longer in the dark. She had
 Emma |