| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: those urgent talks had not been altogether spiritual, but that, I
think, was a quite unworthy and unjust suspicion. The little
clergyman was as simple and honest as the day. My uncle was
simply generalising about his class.
But it may have been these talks that set loose some long dormant
string of ideas in my uncle's brain, ideas the things of this
world had long suppressed and hidden altogether. Near the end he
suddenly became clearminded and lucid, albeit very weak, and his
voice was little, but clear.
"George," he said.
"I'm here," I said, "close beside you."
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs: his quick, bright eyes scanning the interior of the palisade.
No one was in sight. His eyes rested upon the open doorway
of a nearby hut. He would take a look within, thought Tarzan,
and so, cautiously, he approached the low thatched building.
For a moment he stood without, listening intently. There was
no sound, and he glided into the semi-darkness of the interior.
Weapons hung against the walls--long spears, strangely
shaped knives, a couple of narrow shields. In the center of
the room was a cooking pot, and at the far end a litter of dry
grasses covered by woven mats which evidently served the
owners as beds and bedding. Several human skulls lay upon
Tarzan of the Apes |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: wonder what he would have said to all these foreign
marriages!"
Mrs. Archer ignored the allusion to the ancestral
cuisine and Mr. Jackson continued with deliberation:
"No, she was NOT at the ball."
"Ah--" Mrs. Archer murmured, in a tone that
implied: "She had that decency."
"Perhaps the Beauforts don't know her," Janey
suggested, with her artless malice.
Mr. Jackson gave a faint sip, as if he had been
tasting invisible Madeira. "Mrs. Beaufort may not--but
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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 Soul of a Bishop by H. G. Wells: felt he could not decide it upon his legs. He sat down, threw an
arm along the back of the seat and drummed with his fingers.
If the answer was "yes" then it was decidedly a pity that he
had not stayed in the church. It was ridiculous to strain at the
cathedral gnat and then swallow Lady Sunderbund's decorative
Pantechnicon.
For the first time, Scrope definitely regretted his apostasy.
A trivial matter, as it may seem to the reader, intensified
that regret. Three weeks ago Borrowdale, the bishop of Howeaster,
had died, and Scrope would have been the next in rotation to
succeed him on the bench of bishops. He had always looked forward
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