| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: that he was the Hippocrates of his young sister, whose delicate health
required great care.
"Monsieur is perhaps a medical man?" asked one of Emilie's sisters-in-
law with ironical meaning.
"Monsieur has left the Ecole Polytechnique," Mademoiselle de Fontaine
kindly put in; her face had flushed with richer color, as she learned
that the young lady of the ball was Monsieur Longueville's sister.
"But, my dear, he may be a doctor and yet have been to the Ecole
Polytechnique--is it not so, monsieur?"
"There is nothing to prevent it, madame," replied the young man.
Every eye was on Emilie, who was gazing with uneasy curiosity at the
|
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 Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: the pavement:
"The West End Horrors; Another Awful Suicide; Full
Details!"
Austin rushed down the stairs and bought a paper and
read out the paragraph to Villiers as the uproar in the street
rose and fell. The window was open and the air seemed full of
noise and terror.
"Another gentleman has fallen a victim to the terrible
epidemic of suicide which for the last month has prevailed in
the West End. Mr. Sidney Crashaw, of Stoke House, Fulham, and
King's Pomeroy, Devon, was found, after a prolonged search,
 The Great God Pan |