| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Two Brothers by Honore de Balzac: to Max, as the wine was beginning to unloose all tongues,--
"You are threatened in your stronghold."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Max.
"Why, my grandmother has had a letter from Madame Bridau, who is her
goddaughter, saying that she and her son are coming here. My
grandmother has been getting two rooms ready for them."
"What's that to me?" said Max, taking up his glass and swallowing the
contents at a gulp with a comic gesture.
Max was then thirty-four years old. A candle standing near him threw a
gleam upon his soldierly face, lit up his brow, and brought out
admirably his clear skin, his ardent eyes, his black and slightly
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: descended till it reached the hips.
Within ten years England has made two little gifts to our language.
The /Incroyable/, the /Merveilleux/, the /Elegant/, the three
successes of the /petit-maitre/ of discreditable etymology, have made
way for the "dandy" and the "lion." The /lion/ is not the parent of
the /lionne/. The /lionne/ is due to the famous song by Alfred de
Musset:
Avez vou vu dans Barcelone
. . . . . .
C'est ma maitresse et ma lionne.
There has been a fusion--or, if you prefer it, a confusion--of the two
Albert Savarus |
