| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Master of the World by Jules Verne: Two months before I had obtained a leave of absence. It had still two
weeks to run, unless indeed some unforeseen circumstance interrupted
it, some mission which could not be delayed. This leave, as I have
shown, had already been interrupted for four days by my exploration
of the Great Eyrie.
And now was it not my duty to abandon my vacation, and endeavor to
throw light upon the remarkable events of which the road to Milwaukee
and the shore of New England had been in turn the scene? I would have
given much to solve the twin mysteries, but how was it possible to
follow the track of this automobile or this boat?
Seated in my easy chair after breakfast, with my pipe lighted, I
|
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 Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: in which he mingles as much freedom as servitude: "They shall have for
their convent only the house of the sick; for cell only a hired room;
for chapel only their parish church; for cloister only the streets of
the town and the wards of the hospitals; for enclosure only obedience;
for gratings only the fear of God; for veil only modesty." This ideal
was realized in the living person of Sister Simplice: she had never
been young, and it seemed as though she would never grow old.
No one could have told Sister Simplice's age. She was a person--
we dare not say a woman--who was gentle, austere, well-bred, cold,
and who had never lied. She was so gentle that she appeared fragile;
but she was more solid than granite. She touched the unhappy
Les Miserables |
