| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pool of Blood in the Pastor's Study by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: killed more than a hundred people years ago in Paris, and I didn't
leave one of them the time for even a sigh. I was renowned for
that - I had a kind heart and a sure hand."
Muller interrupted the dreadful imaginings of the madman with a
question. "You got into the house through the crypt?"
"Yes, through the crypt. I found the window one night when I was
prowling around in the churchyard. When I knew that the pastor was
to be the next, I cut through the window bars. Gyuri went into the
church one day when nobody was there and found out that it was easy
to lift the stone over the entrance to the crypt. He also learned
that the doors from the church to the vestry were never locked. I
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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 Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table by Oliver Wendell Holmes: trial to reach the shore, - as some grave theologians have
maintained, - if, in plain English, men are the ghosts of dead
devils who have "died into life," (to borrow an expression from
Keats,) and walk the earth in a suit of living rags which lasts
three or four score summers, - why, there must have been a few good
spirits sent to keep them company, and these sweet voices I speak
of must belong to them.
- I wish you could once hear my sister's voice, - said the
schoolmistress.
If it is like yours, it must be a pleasant one, - said I.
I never thought mine was anything, - said the schoolmistress.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table |
