| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: into a hansom cab any more that I don't expect to see the horse fly
up into the air. Well, Allie isn't going either. She turned down
Granger this afternoon, the Annapolis fellow you met on the stairs,
pigeon-breasted chap - and she always gets a headache on those
occasions.
He got up heavily and went to the door. "Granger is leaving," he
said, "I may be able to get his dinner coat for you. How well do
you know her?" he asked, with his hand on the knob.
"If you mean Dolly - ?"
"Alison."
"Fairly well," I said cautiously. "Not as well as I would like to.
The Man in Lower Ten |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Danny's Own Story by Don Marquis: that, mebby her and him won't suit so well now,
even if they does get their differences patched up.
Fur all the forgiving in the world ain't going to
change things, or make them no different. But, so
long as the doctor appeared to want to find her so
derned bad, I was awful glad I had been the means
of getting him and Miss Lucy together. He had
done a lot fur me, first and last, the doctor had, and
I felt like it helped pay him a little. Though if they
was to settle down like married folks I would feel
like a good old sport was spoiled in the doctor,
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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 Two Poets by Honore de Balzac: flowers, and there is a wonderful sky."
"Everything speaks to our heart," said David, trying to proceed to
love by way of analogy. "Those who love find infinite delight in
discovering the poetry of their own inmost souls in every chance
effect of the landscape, in the thin, clear air, in the scent of the
earth. Nature speaks for them."
"And loosens their tongues, too," Eve said merrily. "You were very
silent as we came through L'Houmeau. Do you know, I felt quite
uncomfortable----"
"You looked so beautiful, that I could not say anything," David
answered candidly.
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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 Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac: goodness of the wines were fully appreciated. It was half-past nine
o'clock when the company returned to the salons to take their coffee.
A few hackney-coaches had already brought the first impatient dancers.
An hour later the rooms were full, and the ball took the character of
a rout. Monsieur de Lacepede and Monsieur Vauquelin went away, much to
the grief of Cesar, who followed them to the staircase, vainly
entreating them to remain. He succeeded, however, in keeping Monsieur
Popinot the judge, and Monsieur de la Billardiere. With the exception
of three women who severally represented the aristocracy, finance, and
government circles,--namely, Mademoiselle de Fontaine, Madame Jules,
and Madame Rabourdin, whose beauty, dress, and manners were sharply
Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau |
