| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Europeans by Henry James: She had thought it very likely Robert Acton would come and see her;
she had not met him since that infelicitous evening.
But the morning waned without his coming; several times she thought
she heard his step on the piazza; but it was only a window-shutter
shaking in a rain-gust. The Baroness, since the beginning
of that episode in her career of which a slight sketch has been
attempted in these pages, had had many moments of irritation.
But to-day her irritation had a peculiar keenness;
it appeared to feed upon itself. It urged her to do something;
but it suggested no particularly profitable line of action.
If she could have done something at the moment, on the spot,
|
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 Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: "The mothers of those young ladies are foolish women; if they had come
straight to me I should have explained the matter. But I don't care a
straw about it! Life is short, anyhow."
And the painter snapped his fingers above his head. Luigi, who had
heard part of the conversation, came in.
"You have lost all your scholars," he cried. "I have ruined you!"
The artist took Luigi's hand and that of Ginevra, and joined them.
"Marry one another, my children," he said, with fatherly kindness.
They both dropped their eyes, and their silence was the first avowal
they had made to each other of their love.
"You will surely be happy," said Servin. "There is nothing in life to
|
