| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Pair of Blue Eyes by Thomas Hardy: persisted in thinking so, and was frightened more than enough.'
'Stephen, do you love her now?'
'Well, I like her; I always shall, you know,' he said evasively,
and with all the strategy love suggested. 'But I have not seen
her for so long that I can hardly be expected to love her. Do you
love her still?'
'How shall I answer without being ashamed? What fickle beings we
men are, Stephen! Men may love strongest for a while, but women
love longest. I used to love her--in my way, you know.'
'Yes, I understand. Ah, and I used to love her in my way. In
fact, I loved her a good deal at one time; but travel has a
A Pair of Blue Eyes |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Talisman by Walter Scott: reverentially on his knee, he heard the sound of the lauds, or
earliest office of the Catholic Church, sung by female voices,
which united together in the performance as they had done in the
former service. The knight was soon aware that the voices were
no longer stationary in the distance, but approached the chapel
and became louder, when a door, imperceptible when closed, like
that by which he had himself entered, opened on the other side of
the vault, and gave the tones of the choir more room to swell
along the ribbed arches of the roof.
The knight fixed his eyes on the opening with breathless anxiety,
and, continuing to kneel in the attitude of devotion which the
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: timber-dealer that there should occur no hitch or disappointment
on their arrival, that not the smallest detail remained undone.
To make it all complete a ground-floor room had been fitted up as
a surgery, with an independent outer door, to which Fitzpiers's
brass plate was screwed--for mere ornament, such a sign being
quite superfluous where everybody knew the latitude and longitude
of his neighbors for miles round.
Melbury and his wife welcomed the twain with affection, and all
the house with deference. They went up to explore their rooms,
that opened from a passage on the left hand of the staircase, the
entrance to which could be shut off on the landing by a door that
The Woodlanders |
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 Voice of the City by O. Henry: they told me."
"I've been in since the last of April," said Lyn-
nette. "And I'm going on the road with a 'Fatal
Inheritance' company. We open next week in Eliz-
abeth. I thought you'd quit the stage, Lee. Tell
me about yourself."
Rosalie settled herself with a skilful wriggle on
the top of Miss D'Armande's wardrobe trunk, and
leaned her head against the papered wall. From
long habit, thus can peripatetic leading ladies
and their sisters make themselves as comfort.
The Voice of the City |
