| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: as mistimed. Certainly that reserve was something of a shock to me
- certainly it puzzled me the more I thought of it and even though
I tried to explain it (with moments of success) by an imputation of
exalted sentiments, of superstitious scruples, of a refinement of
loyalty. Certainly it added at the same time hugely to the price
of Vereker's secret, precious as this mystery already appeared. I
may as well confess abjectly that Mrs. Corvick's unexpected
attitude was the final tap on the nail that was to fix fast my
luckless idea, convert it into the obsession of which I'm for ever
conscious.
But this only helped me the more to be artful, to be adroit, to
|
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 What is Man? by Mark Twain: any savage race of men; as a self-educated specialist in several
arts she is the superior of any savage race of men; and in one or
two high mental qualities she is above the reach of any man,
savage or civilized!
Y.M. Oh, come! you are abolishing the intellectual frontier
which separates man and beast.
O.M. I beg your pardon. One cannot abolish what does not exist.
Y.M. You are not in earnest, I hope. You cannot mean to
seriously say there is no such frontier.
O.M. I do say it seriously. The instances of the horse, the
gull, the mother bird, and the elephant show that those creatures
 What is Man? |