| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: sometimes go to walk in the garden of la Grande Breteche.'
" 'Yes, monsieur.'
" 'One moment!' said he, repeating his gesture. 'That constitutes a
misdemeanor. Monsieur, as executor under the will of the late Comtesse
de Merret, I come in her name to beg you to discontinue the practice.
One moment! I am not a Turk, and do not wish to make a crime of it.
And besides, you are free to be ignorant of the circumstances which
compel me to leave the finest mansion in Vendome to fall into ruin.
Nevertheless, monsieur, you must be a man of education, and you should
know that the laws forbid, under heavy penalties, any trespass on
enclosed property. A hedge is the same as a wall. But, the state in
La Grande Breteche |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: a damp sleep. It was probably midnight when I roused again. I had
been dreaming of the wreck, and it was inexpressibly comforting to
feel the stability of my bed, and to realize the equal stability of
Mrs. Klopton, who sat, fully attired, by the night light, reading
Science and Health.
"Does that book say anything about opening the windows on a hot
night?" I suggested, when I had got my bearings.
She put it down immediately and came over to me. If there is one
time when Mrs. Klopton is chastened - and it is the only time - it
is when she reads Science and Health. "I don't like to open the
shutters, Mr. Lawrence," she explained. "Not since the night you
The Man in Lower Ten |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: which he expresses; you are conscious that he keeps an eye on
something else, that he does not shake off the world, nor quite
forget himself. Hence arise occasional disappointments; even an
occasional unfairness for his companions, who find themselves one
day giving too much, and the next, when they are wary out of
season, giving perhaps too little. Purcel is in another class from
any I have mentioned. He is no debater, but appears in
conversation, as occasion rises, in two distinct characters, one of
which I admire and fear, and the other love. In the first, he is
radiantly civil and rather silent, sits on a high, courtly hilltop,
and from that vantage-ground drops you his remarks like favours.
|
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 War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells: "But where are we to go?" said my wife in terror.
I thought perplexed. Then I remembered her cousins at
Leatherhead.
"Leatherhead!" I shouted above the sudden noise.
She looked away from me downhill. The people were
coming out of their houses, astonished.
"How are we to get to Leatherhead?" she said.
Down the hill I saw a bevy of hussars ride under the
railway bridge; three galloped through the open gates of
the Oriental College; two others dismounted, and began
running from house to house. The sun, shining through the
War of the Worlds |
