| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: draper's assistant. Not much, is it? A counter-jumper."
"A draper's assistant isn't a position to be ashamed of," she
said, recovering, and not quite understanding yet what this all
meant.
"Yes, it is," he said, "for a man, in this country now. To be
just another man's hand, as I am. To have to wear what clothes
you are told, and go to church to please customers, and
work--There's no other kind of men stand such hours. A drunken
bricklayer's a king to it."
"But why are you telling me this now?"
"It's important you should know at once."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: at the Sign of the Pilon d'Or, to carry out M. d'Artagnan's Idea
After a moment's silence, in which D'Artagnan appeared to be
collecting, not one idea, but all his ideas -- "It cannot
be, my dear Planchet," said he, "that you have not heard of
his majesty Charles I. of England?"
"Alas! yes, monsieur, since you left France in order to
assist him, and that, in spite of that assistance, he fell,
and was near dragging you down in his fall."
"Exactly so; I see you have a good memory, Planchet."
"Peste! the astonishing thing would be, if I could have lost
that memory, however bad it might have been. When one has
Ten Years Later |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Lady Susan by Jane Austen: we were before. One point only is gained. Sir James Martin is dismissed.
What are we now to look forward to? I am indeed disappointed; Reginald was
all but gone, his horse was ordered and all but brought to the door; who
would not have felt safe? For half an hour I was in momentary expectation
of his departure. After I had sent off my letter to you, I went to Mr.
Vernon, and sat with him in his room talking over the whole matter, and
then determined to look for Frederica, whom I had not seen since breakfast.
I met her on the stairs, and saw that she was crying. "My dear aunt," said
she, "he is going--Mr. De Courcy is going, and it is all my fault. I am
afraid you will be very angry with me. but indeed I had no idea it would
end so." "My love," I replied, "do not think it necessary to apologize to
Lady Susan |
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 Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner: through his half-closed eyelids, he saw, as it were, one faint line, thin
as a hair's width, that edged the hill tops. And he whispered in the
darkness to his fellows: 'The dawn is coming.' But they, with fast-closed
eyelids murmured, 'He lies, there is no dawn.'
"Nevertheless, day broke."
The stranger was silent. The fire burnt up in red tongues of flame that
neither flickered nor flared in the still night air. Peter Halket crept
near to the stranger.
"When will that time be?" he whispered; "in a thousand years' time?"
And the stranger answered, "A thousand years are but as our yesterday's
journey, or as our watch tonight, which draws already to its close. See,
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