| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: reflexions, some of them mitigating. But she presently added: "Ah
perfection, perfection - how one ought to go in for it! I wish I
could."
"Every one can in his way," her companion opined.
"In HIS way, yes - but not in hers. Women are so hampered - so
condemned! Yet it's a kind of dishonour if you don't, when you
want to DO something, isn't it?" Miss Fancourt pursued, dropping
one train in her quickness to take up another, an accident that was
common with her. So these two young persons sat discussing high
themes in their eclectic drawing-room, in their London "season" -
discussing, with extreme seriousness, the high theme of perfection.
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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 Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: and leave you some time or other; and when that day comes, you will
think of me . . . your servant, my pretty lady!'
"All this was simmering below the surface. The slightest approach at
love-making was made quite on the sly. Not a soul suspected that the
trim little old fogy was smitten with Antonia; and so prudent was the
elderly lover, that no rival could have guessed anything from his
behavior in the reading-room. For a couple of months Croizeau watched
the retired custom-house official; but before the third month was out
he had good reason to believe that his suspicions were groundless. He
exerted his ingenuity to scrape an acquaintance with Denisart, came up
with him in the street, and at length seized his opportunity to
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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 The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Numa, ravenous with hunger, had long since learned the
futility of roaring and moaning as he searched for prey,
but now that it was as surely his as though already he had
felt the soft flesh beneath his still mighty paw, he opened his
huge jaws, and gave vent to his long-pent rage in a series of
deafening roars that made the air tremble.
"Run, Jane!" cried Clayton. "Quick! Run for the shelter!"
But her paralyzed muscles refused to respond, and she stood
mute and rigid, staring with ghastly countenance at the
living death creeping toward them.
Thuran, at the sound of that awful roar, had come to
The Return of Tarzan |
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 Master Key by L. Frank Baum: himself a prisoner of this piratical band, the members of which,
although temporarily disabled, would soon regain consciousness.
He sat in the bow, sadly thinking of his misfortunes, until he noticed
that one of the men began to stir. The effect of the electric shock
conveyed by the tube was beginning to wear away, and now the buccaneer
sat up, rubbed his head in a bewildered fashion and looked around him.
When he saw Rob he gave a shout of rage and drew his knife, but one
motion of the electric tube made him cringe and slip away to the
cabin, where he remained out of danger.
And now the other four sat up, groaning and muttering in their
outlandish speech; But they had no notion of facing Rob's tube a
The Master Key |
