| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Atheist's Mass by Honore de Balzac: after he had a relapse; in spite of the utmost care, in spite of
the greatest exertions of science, he succumbed. No king was ever
nursed as he was. Yes, Bianchon, to snatch that man from death I
tried unheard-of things. I wanted him to live long enough to show
him his work accomplished, to realize all his hopes, to give
expression to the only need for gratitude that ever filled my
heart, to quench a fire that burns in me to this day.
"Bourgeat, my second father, died in my arms," Desplein went on,
after a pause, visibly moved. "He left me everything he possessed
by a will he had had made by a public scrivener, dating from the
year when we had gone to live in the Cour de Rohan.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: against the wall. If he chooses, you shall shudder; you shall believe
that this broom has just been the instrument of crime, and is dripping
with blood; it shall be the broom which the widow Bancal used to clean
out the room where Fualdes was murdered. Yes, the painter will touzle
that broom like a man in a rage; he will make each hair of it stand
on-end as though it were on your own bristling scalp; he will make it
the interpreter between the secret poem of his imagination and the
poem that shall have its birth in yours. After terrifying you by the
aspect of that broom, to-morrow he will draw another, and lying by it
a cat, asleep, but mysterious in its sleep, shall tell you that this
broom is that on which the wife of a German cobbler rides off to the
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: recognized his room-mate when he was defending him in court?"
"No, I cannot," and observing Parker's blank expression, she added,
"why don't you ask Mr. Rochester?"
"Because I can't locate him; he seems to have vanished off the face
of the globe." The reporter rose. "You can't tell me where's he's
gone, I suppose?"
"I haven't the faintest idea," answered Barbara truthfully. "I was
at his office this -" she stopped abruptly on finding that Mrs.
Brewster was standing just behind her. Had the widow by chance
overheard her remark? If so, her father would probably learn of her
visit to the office of Rochester and Kent that morning.
The Red Seal |
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 Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy: a smile.
"And who's this?"
"Himself."
"And is this his mother?"
"No, his aunt. Would you not have known me?"
"Never. The whole face is altered. Why, it must be 10 years since
then."
"Not years, but a lifetime," said Maslova. And suddenly her
animation went, her face grew gloomy, and a deep line appeared
between her brows.
"Why so? Your way of life must have been an easy one."
Resurrection |
