The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: really. Why weren't you there? That Persian tutor again! I'm
afraid you are working too hard. And what did the Rani do, Mr.
Holmcroft? It's like the Arabian Nights, only with real jewels--'
'Oh, I say, Holmcroft, this is too much luck, you know. Regular
sweepstakes, by Jove!' And Captain Drake lingered on the fringe of
the situation.
'Perhaps I have been greedy,' said the Assistant Secretary,
deprecatingly. 'I'll--'
'Not in the very least! That is,' exclaimed Mrs. Violet, pouting,
'if I'M to be considered. We'll sit out all but the waltzes, and
you shall tell me official secrets about the Rani. She put us up
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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 Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: recorded in the minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and others are
mentioned in contemporary chronicles.
At the species of singular combat which we have described the
Laird's Jock was unrivalled, and no champion of Cumberland,
Westmoreland, or Northumberland could endure the sway of the huge
two-handed sword which he wielded, and which few others could
even lift. This "awful sword," as the common people term it, was
as dear to him as Durindana or Fushberta to their respective
masters, and was nearly as formidable to his enemies as those
renowned falchions proved to the foes of Christendom. The weapon
had been bequeathed to him by a celebrated English outlaw named
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