| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: for a thousand francs! She would be so nice to me, she would talk to
me in that ingratiating tone peculiar to endorsers of bills, she would
pour out a torrent of coaxing words, perhaps she would beg and pray,
and I . . .' (here the old man turned his pale eyes upon me)--'and I
not to be moved, inexorable!' he continued. 'I am there as the
avenger, the apparition of Remorse. So much for hypotheses. I reached
the house.
" ' "Madame la Comtesse is asleep," says the maid.
" ' "When can I see her?"
" ' "At twelve o'clock."
" ' "Is Madame la Comtesse ill?"
Gobseck |
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 The Ruling Passion by Henry van Dyke: beget love and bind friendship, which a country house receives from
its surrounding landscape, the garden that embraces it, the stream
that runs near it, and the shaded paths that lead to and from its
door.
By this magic of pictures my narrow, upright slice of living-space
in one of the brown-stone strata on the eastward slope of Manhattan
Island is transferred to an open and agreeable site. It has windows
that look toward the woods and the sunset, watergates by which a
little boat is always waiting, and secret passageways leading into
fair places that are frequented by persons of distinction and charm.
No darkness of night obscures these outlets; no neighbour's house
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