| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: have given up long ago all desire to please. And I was not trying
to get at your thoughts. Whatever else you may expect from me you
may count on my absolute respect for your privacy. But I suppose
with a mask such as you can make for yourself you really don't
care. The Man of Fate, I noticed, is not nearly as good at it as
you are."
"What a pretentious name. Do you call him by it to his face, Mr.
d'Alcacer?"
"No, I haven't the cheek," confessed d'Alcacer, equably. "And,
besides, it's too momentous for daily use. And he is so simple
that he might mistake it for a joke and nothing could be further
The Rescue |
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 A Footnote to History by Robert Louis Stevenson: never learn. But so much is plain: that while Becker was thus
outwardly straining decency in the interest of Tamasese, he was
privately intriguing, or pretending to intrigue, with Mataafa. In
his despatch of the 11th, he had given an extended criticism of
that chieftain, whom he depicts as very dark and artful; and while
admitting that his assumption of the name of Malietoa might raise
him up followers, predicted that he could not make an orderly
government or support himself long in sole power "without very
energetic foreign help." Of what help was the consul thinking?
There was no helper in the field but Germany. On the 15th he had
an interview with the victor; told him that Tamasese's was the only
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