The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: Lord Iffield's whereabouts. He had rejoined her; he was close upon
her before I knew it or before she knew it herself. I felt at that
instant the strangest of all promptings: if it could have operated
more rapidly it would have caused me to dash between them in some
such manner as to give Flora a caution. In fact as it was I think
I could have done this in time had I not been checked by a
curiosity stronger still than my impulse. There were three seconds
during which I saw the young man and yet let him come on. Didn't I
make the quick calculation that if he didn't catch what Flora was
doing I too might perhaps not catch it? She at any rate herself
took the alarm. On perceiving her companion's nearness she made,
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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 Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: mistake somewhere, but surely that is all. If Mr. Wilson gave me an
envelope--and I remember now that he did--I still have it."
He took one out of his pocket, opened it, glanced at it, looked
surprised and worried, and stood silent a few moments. Then he
waved his hand in a wandering and mechanical way, and made an effort
or two to say something, then gave it up, despondently. Several
voices cried out:
"Read it! read it! What is it?"
So he began, in a dazed and sleep-walker fashion:
"'The remark which I made to the unhappy stranger was this: "You
are far from being a bad man. [The house gazed at him marvelling.]
 The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |