| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: sound of music, and they all began singing. But suddenly a storm
came on, chromatic scales and diminished sevenths were heard in the
orchestra, everyone ran off, again dragging one of their number
away, and the curtain dropped. Once more there was a terrible noise
and clatter among the audience, and with rapturous faces everyone
began shouting: "Duport! Duport! Duport!" Natasha no longer thought
this strange. She look about with pleasure, smiling joyfully.
"Isn't Duport delightful?" Helene asked her.
"Oh, yes," replied Natasha.
CHAPTER X
During the entr'acte a whiff of cold air came into Helene's box, the
 War and Peace |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: flirtation he had as yet perceived in her. She only replied: "Ah
yes, but I don't think he'll come. He recommended me not to expect
him." Then she gaily but all gently added: "He said it wasn't
fair to you. But I think I could manage two."
"So could I," Paul Overt returned, stretching the point a little to
meet her. In reality his appreciation of the occasion was so
completely an appreciation of the woman before him that another
figure in the scene, even so esteemed a one as St. George, might
for the hour have appealed to him vainly. He left the house
wondering what the great man had meant by its not being fair to
him; and, still more than that, whether he had actually stayed away
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