| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: had known I should come.
"I beg your pardon," I said softly. "I am so glad you have not
gone yet, Ivan Ivanitch. I forgot to ask you, do you know the
Christian name of the president of our Zemstvo?"
"Andrey Stanislavovitch. Yes. . . ."
"_Merci_," I said, took out my notebook, and wrote it down.
There followed a silence during which my wife and Ivan Ivanitch
were probably waiting for me to go; my wife did not believe that
I wanted to know the president's name -- I saw that from her
eyes.
"Well, I must be going, my beauty," muttered Ivan Ivanitch, after
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Gambara by Honore de Balzac: whether I or my wife has stood over the fire. And what is the
consequence? Of sixty-odd customers whom I used to see at my table
every day when I first started in this wretched place, I now see
twenty on an average, and give them credit for the most part. The
Piedmontese, the Savoyards, have deserted, but the connoisseurs, the
true Italians, remain. And there is no sacrifice that I would not make
for them. I often give them a dinner for five and twenty sous which
has cost me double."
Signore Giardini's speech had such a full flavor of Neapolitan cunning
that the Count was delighted, and could have fancied himself at
Gerolamo's.
Gambara |
