| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from In the Cage by Henry James: doorstep of the Chambers gazed with a vagueness that our young
lady's little figure violently trembled, in the approach, with the
measure of its power to dissipate. Everything indeed grew in a
flash terrific and distinct; her old uncertainties fell away from
her, and, since she was so familiar with fate, she felt as if the
very nail that fixed it were driven in by the hard look with which,
for a moment, Captain Everard awaited her.
The vestibule was open behind him and the porter as absent as on
the day she had peeped in; he had just come out--was in town, in a
tweed suit and a pot hat, but between two journeys--duly bored over
his evening and at a loss what to do with it. Then it was that she
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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 Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: and besides, what chance was there of escaping ghost or goblin,
if such it was, which could ride upon the wings of the wind?
Summoning up, therefore, a show of courage, he demanded in
stammering accents, " Who are you?" He received no reply. He
repeated his demand in a still more agitated voice. Still there
was no answer. Once more he cudgelled the sides of the inflexible
Gunpowder, and, shutting his eyes, broke forth with involuntary
fervor into a psalm tune. Just then the shadowy object of alarm
put itself in motion, and with a scramble and a bound stood at
once in the middle of the road. Though the night was dark and
dismal, yet the form of the unknown might now in some degree be
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: "Hush," I said warningly. "Don't mention the arm, please; it is
asleep now. You may rouse it."
"If I only had a hat," she reflected. "It wouldn't need to be much
of one, but - " She gave a little cry and darted to the corner.
"Look," she said triumphantly, "the very thing. With the green
streamers tied up in a bow, like this - do you suppose the child
would mind? I can put five dollars or so here - that would buy a
dozen of them."
It was a queer affair of straw, that hat, with a round crown and
a rim that flopped dismally. With a single movement she had turned
it up at one side and fitted it to her head. Grotesque by itself,
The Man in Lower Ten |
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 Turn of the Screw by Henry James: close-curling, and a pale face, long in shape, with straight,
good features and little, rather queer whiskers that are as red
as his hair. His eyebrows are, somehow, darker; they look
particularly arched and as if they might move a good deal.
His eyes are sharp, strange--awfully; but I only know clearly
that they're rather small and very fixed. His mouth's wide,
and his lips are thin, and except for his little whiskers he's
quite clean-shaven. He gives me a sort of sense of looking
like an actor."
"An actor!" It was impossible to resemble one less, at least,
than Mrs. Grose at that moment.
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