| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: than at the present hour. Your husband I abhor, Reginald I despise, and I
am secure of never seeing either again. Have I not reason to rejoice?
Mainwaring is more devoted to me than ever; and were we at liberty, I doubt
if I could resist even matrimony offered by HIM. This event, if his wife
live with you, it may be in your power to hasten. The violence of her
feelings, which must wear her out, may be easily kept in irritation. I rely
on your friendship for this. I am now satisfied that I never could have
brought myself to marry Reginald, and am equally determined that Frederica
never shall. To-morrow, I shall fetch her from Churchhill, and let Maria
Mainwaring tremble for the consequence. Frederica shall be Sir James's wife
before she quits my house, and she may whimper, and the Vernons may storm,
Lady Susan |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Long Odds by H. Rider Haggard: as wicked as it is possible to conceive. Slowly I stepped backwards,
trying to push in the new case, and as I did so she moved on in little
runs, dropping down after each run. The danger was imminent, and the
case would not go in. At the moment I oddly enough thought of the
cartridge maker, whose name I will not mention, and earnestly hoped that
if the lion got _me_ some condign punishment would overtake _him._ It
would not go in, so I tried to pull it out. It would not come out
either, and my gun was useless if I could not shut it to use the other
barrel. I might as well have had no gun.
"Meanwhile I was walking backward, keeping my eye on the lioness, who
was creeping forward on her belly without a sound, but lashing her tail
Long Odds |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: me as the translated impulse of the desire to lay hands on the
manuscript, and this led me to indulge in a quick anticipatory grab
which may very well have seemed ungraceful, or even impertinent,
and which at any rate left Mr. Paraday's two admirers very erect,
glaring at each other while one of them held a bundle of papers
well behind him. An instant later Mr. Morrow quitted me abruptly,
as if he had really carried something off with him. To reassure
myself, watching his broad back recede, I only grasped my
manuscript the tighter. He went to the back door of the house, the
one he had come out from, but on trying the handle he appeared to
find it fastened. So he passed round into the front garden, and by
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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 My Aunt Margaret's Mirror by Walter Scott: in anything but imposture.
"I care not," said the deserted wife, "what degree of ridicule I
may incur; if there be any one chance out of a hundred that I may
obtain some certainty of my husband's fate, I would not miss that
chance for whatever else the world can offer me."
Lady Bothwell next urged the unlawfulness of resorting to such
sources of forbidden knowledge.
"Sister," replied the sufferer, "he who is dying of thirst cannot
refrain from drinking even poisoned water. She who suffers under
suspense must seek information, even were the powers which offer
it unhallowed and infernal. I go to learn my fate alone, and
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