| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: all the more that, for the first time, I could see in
the aspect of others a confused reflection of the crisis.
What had happened naturally caused them all to stare;
there was too little of the explained, throw out whatever we might,
in the suddenness of my colleague's act. The maids and the men
looked blank; the effect of which on my nerves was an aggravation
until I saw the necessity of making it a positive aid.
It was precisely, in short, by just clutching the helm
that I avoided total wreck; and I dare say that, to bear up
at all, I became, that morning, very grand and very dry.
I welcomed the consciousness that I was charged with much to do,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ballads by Robert Louis Stevenson: Red glowed the cocoanut fires, and were buried and trodden down.
Thus did seven of the yottowas toil with their tale of the clan,
But the eighth wrought with his lads, hid from the sight of man.
In the deeps of the woods they laboured, piling the fuel high
In fagots, the load of a man, fuel seasoned and dry,
Thirsty to seize upon fire and apt to blurt into flame.
And now was the day of the feast. The forests, as morning came,
Tossed in the wind, and the peaks quaked in the blaze of the day
And the cocoanuts showered on the ground, rebounding and rolling away:
A glorious morn for a feast, a famous wind for a fire.
To the hall of feasting Hiopa led them, mother and sire
Ballads |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: he was filled with remorse for having suspected the purity of
this beautiful and simple girl. He went to his studio, passing
the door of the rooms where Adelaide was, and conscious of a pain
at his heart which no man can misapprehend. He loved Mademoiselle
de Rouville so passionately that, in spite of the theft of the
purse, he still worshiped her. His love was that of the Chevalier
des Grieux admiring his mistress, and holding her as pure, even
on the cart which carries such lost creatures to prison. "Why
should not my love keep her the purest of women? Why abandon her
to evil and to vice without holding out a rescuing hand to her?"
The idea of this mission pleased him. Love makes a gain 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 Mistress Wilding by Rafael Sabatini: "We are ver' much oblige'."
Suddenly from a little distance came the roll of drums. Other sounds
began to stir in the night outside to tell of a waking army.
Feversham stood listening. "It is Dunbarton's," he murmured. Then,
with some show of heat, "Ah, pardieu!" he cried. "But it was a dirty
t'ing t'is Monmoot' `ave prepare'. It is murder; it is not t'e war.
"And yet," said Wilding critically, "it is a little more like war
than the Bridgwater affair to which your lordship gave your sanction.
Feversham pursed his lips and considered the speaker. Wentworth
reentered, followed by the Earl's valet carrying an armful of garments.
His lordship threw off his dressing-gown and stood forth in shirt and
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