| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: his valet's house; and, by the way, he will be a hero to his valet to
the end of the chapter, even after the marriage that he proposes to
make. He belonged to three clubs, and dined at one of them whenever he
did not dine out. As a rule, he was to be found very seldom at his own
address--"
"He once said to me," interrupted La Palferine, " 'My one affectation
is the pretence that I make of living in the Rue Pigalle.' "
"Well," resumed Desroches, "he was one of the combatants; and now for
the other. You have heard more or less talk of one Claparon?"
"Had hair like this!" cried Bixiou, ruffling his locks till they stood
on end. Gifted with the same talent for mimicking absurdities which
|
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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: " 'Oh yes, sir. But my place here is the best in all the town of
Vendome.'
"This reply was such an one as judges and attorneys call evasive.
Rosalie, as it seemed to me, held in this romantic affair the place of
the middle square of the chess-board: she was at the very centre of
the interest and of the truth; she appeared to me to be tied into the
knot of it. It was not a case for ordinary love-making; this girl
contained the last chapter of a romance, and from that moment all my
attentions were devoted to Rosalie. By dint of studying the girl, I
observed in her, as in every woman whom we make our ruling thought, a
variety of good qualities; she was clean and neat; she was handsome, I
La Grande Breteche |
