| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: breakfast and did not eat for luncheon, and then to his reserve
power, which at sixty-five becomes a matter for thought. And so,
in a wide circle, back to where we started, the picture.
"Father was a rascal," John Gilmore said, picking up the frame.
"The happiest day of my life was when I knew he was safely dead in
bed and not hanged. If the child had looked like him, I - well, she
doesn't. She's a Gilmore, every inch. Supposed to look like me."
"Very noticeably," I agreed soberly.
I had produced the notes by that time, and replacing the picture Mr.
Gilmore gathered his spectacles from beside it. He went over the
four notes methodically, examining each carefully and putting it
The Man in Lower Ten |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: he saw their preparations for his visit, but it was at once repressed.
He heard mass, said his prayer, and then disappeared, declining, with
a few polite words, Mademoiselle de Langeais' invitation to partake of
the little collation made ready for him.
After the 9th Thermidor, the Sisters and the Abbe de Marolles could go
about Paris without the least danger. The first time that the abbe
went out he walked to a perfumer's shop at the sign of The Queen of
Roses, kept by the Citizen Ragon and his wife, court perfumers. The
Ragons had been faithful adherents of the Royalist cause; it was
through their means that the Vendean leaders kept up a correspondence
with the Princes and the Royalist Committee in Paris. The abbe, in the
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare: 'O Jove,' quoth she, 'why was not I a flood!'
VII.
Fair is my love, but not so fair as fickle;
Mild as a dove, but neither true nor trusty;
Brighter than glass, and yet, as glass is brittle;
Softer than wax, and yet, as iron, rusty:
A lily pale, with damask dye to grace her,
None fairer, nor none falser to deface her.
Her lips to mine how often hath she joined,
Between each kiss her oaths of true love swearing!
How many tales to please me bath she coined,
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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 The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: simple souls, little accustomed to compromise with their consciences,
that the grandfather and grandmother, the father and the mother, the
daughters and their husbands and the sons, in short, all who bore and
had borne the name of Tascheron or were closely allied to it made
ready to leave the country.
This emigration grieved the whole community. The mayor entreated the
rector to do his best to retain these worthy people. According to the
new Code the father was not responsible for the son, and the crime of
the father was no disgrace to the children. Together with other
emancipations which have weakened paternal power, this system has led
to the triumph of individualism, which is now permeating the whole of
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