| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beast in the Jungle by Henry James: gloating of some of his companions, to be compared to the movements
of a dog sniffing a cupboard. It had an issue promptly enough in a
direction that was not to have been calculated.
It led, briefly, in the course of the October afternoon, to his
closer meeting with May Bartram, whose face, a reminder, yet not
quite a remembrance, as they sat much separated at a very long
table, had begun merely by troubling him rather pleasantly. It
affected him as the sequel of something of which he had lost the
beginning. He knew it, and for the time quite welcomed it, as a
continuation, but didn't know what it continued, which was an
interest or an amusement the greater as he was also somehow aware--
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: was about what it was.
"Yes, I am merry sometimes," he said with a laugh. "It's a habit
I have. Something occurred to me just then, something I had
forgotten. Hope you don't mind."
"Oh, no, there's no one here now, whistle all you like."
But Muller's whistle was not a continuous performance, and he had
now completely mastered the excitation of his nerves which had
called it forth. He threw another sharp look at the picture of the
man who lived in Marburg, and then asked: "And now where is the
button?"
"By the window there, beside the desk." Franz led the way with
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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 Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: galloped off to marry Jane Seymour) to Richmond Terrace, which is
ravishingly beautiful even at this season. . . . The next day the
gentleman all went to town, and Madam Van de Weyer and I passed the
day TETE-A-TETE, very pleasantly, as her experience in diplomatic
life is very useful to me. . . . Her manners are very pleasing and
entirely unaffected. She has great tact and quickness of
perception, great intelligence and amiability and is altogether
extremely well-fitted for the ROLE she plays in life. Her husband
is charming. . . . They have three children, very lovely. The
eldest, Victor, a fine boy of seven years old, Victoria, a girl of
four, for whom the Queen was sponsor, and Albert, to whom Prince
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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 Hated Son by Honore de Balzac: gloves, veils,--in fact all the inventions of coquetry in the
sixteenth century.
On the other side, by way of symmetry, was another piece of furniture,
somewhat similar in shape, where the countess kept her books, papers,
and jewels. Antique chairs covered with damask, a large and greenish
mirror, made in Venice, and richly framed in a sort of rolling toilet-
table, completed the furnishings of the room. The floor was covered
with a Persian carpet, the richness of which proved the gallantry of
the count; on the upper step of the bed stood a little table, on which
the waiting-woman served every night in a gold or silver cup a drink
prepared with spices.
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