The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Reef by Edith Wharton: down on the lounge at the foot of the bed. The pulsations
in her throat had ceased, but she knew they would begin
again if she tried to speak.
Darrow walked away and leaned against the mantelpiece. The
red-veiled lamp shone on his books and papers, on the arm-
chair by the fire, and the scattered objects on his
dressing-table. A log glimmered on the hearth, and the room
was warm and faintly smoke-scented. It was the first time
she had ever been in a room he lived in, among his personal
possessions and the traces of his daily usage. Every object
about her seemed to contain a particle of himself: the whole
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: have lived their bachelor life; they have been over head and ears in
pleasure, and make the most adorable wives that could be wished; they
have nothing to learn, they are formed, they are not in the least
prudish; they are well broken in, and indulgent. So I strongly
recommend everybody to take the "remains of a racer." I am the most
fortunate man on earth.'
"Du Bruel said this to me himself with Bixiou there to hear it.
" 'My dear fellow,' said the caricaturist, 'perhaps he is right to be
in the wrong.'
"About a week afterwards, du Bruel asked us to dine with him one
Tuesday. That morning I went to see him on a piece of theatrical
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