The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: of Margaret--Mrs. Redburn--when of course there was a large
property to be divided. Diligent search was made for Margaret in
America but her husband had declared to some person in Liverpool
that he had an engagement in Montreal. This place was thoroughly
canvassed, but without success. No trace of the runaways could be
discovered. Agents were sent to various parts of America, and no
tidings of Margaret had ever reached them.
About two year after her father's death, Jane--Mrs. Gordon--had
married a very wealthy gentleman from Baltimore. He was then a
widower with one child--Grace Gordon. She had come to America
with him, and resided in Baltimore till his death, a period of
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: "Perhaps it's not as bad as it sounds; perhaps it is just my
sensitiveness." In the half light of the drawing-room the smile seemed to
deepen in Anna's portrait, and to become secret, even cruel. "No," he
reflected, "that smile is not at all her happiest expression--it was a
mistake to let her have it taken smiling like that. She doesn't look like
my wife--like the mother of my son." Yes, that was it, she did not look
like the mother of a son who was going to be a partner in the firm. The
picture got on his nerves; he held it in different lights, looked at it
from a distance, sideways, spent, it seemed to Andreas afterwards, a whole
lifetime trying to fit it in. The more he played with it the deeper grew
his dislike of it. Thrice he carried it over to the fireplace and decided
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