| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: 'I know that,' I retorted. 'We must camp and do the best we
can.'
And as I said, we did. The daylight held until we gained the
skirts of the pine-wood at the head of the pass. Here I chose a
corner a little off the track, and well sheltered from the wind,
and bade him light a fire. I tethered the horses near this and
within sight. Then it remained only to sup. I had a piece of
bread: he had another and an onion. We ate in silence, sitting
on opposite sides of the fire.
But after supper I found myself in a dilemma; I did not see how I
was to sleep. The ruddy light which gleamed on the knave's swart
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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 The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: Four years of solitude and repose had restored the freshness of her
complexion. Besides, there are moments when the desire to please gives
an increase of beauty to women. The will is not without influence on
the variations of the face. If violent emotions have the power to
yellow the white tones of persons of bilious and melancholy
temperament, and to green lymphatic faces, shall we not grant to
desire, hope, and joy, the faculty of clearing the skin, giving
brilliancy to the eye, and brightening the glow of beauty with a light
as jocund as that of a lovely morning? The celebrated faintness of the
princess had taken on a ripeness which now made her seem more august.
At this moment of her life, impressed by her many vicissitudes and by
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