| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Davis: will be free. I will live my own life--at last." Her
eyes shone with exultation.
"And---- Where are you going?" stammered Miss Vance,
dismayed.
"I don't know. There is so much--it has all been waiting
so long for me. There are the cathedrals--and the
mountains. Or the Holy Land. Perhaps I may try to write
again. There seems to be a dumb word or two in me.
Don't be angry with me, Clara," throwing her arms about
her cousin, the tears rushing to her eyes. "I may come
back to you and little Lucy some time. But just now I
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: The knocking kept up, and just as I was about to call Liddy, she
ran through the room and out into the hall. I got up then,
feeling weak and dizzy, and put on my dressing-gown. If it was
Arnold, I knew I must see him.
"It was very dark everywhere, but, of course, I knew my way. I
felt along for the stair-rail, and went down as quickly as I
could. The knocking had stopped, and I was afraid I was too
late. I got to the foot of the staircase and over to the door on
to the east veranda. I had never thought of anything but that it
was Arnold, until I reached the door. It was unlocked and opened
about an inch. Everything was black: it was perfectly dark
The Circular Staircase |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Fantastic Fables by Ambrose Bierce: brick-work, "are merely basic and fundamental."
Upon this assurance the people came forward with subscriptions to
build a second machine.
The Angel's Tear
AN Unworthy Man who had laughed at the woes of a Woman whom he
loved, was bewailing his indiscretion in sack-cloth-of-gold and
ashes-of-roses, when the Angel of Compassion looked down upon him,
saying:
"Poor mortal! - how unblest not to know the wickedness of laughing
at another's misfortune!"
So saying, he let fall a great tear, which, encountering in its
Fantastic Fables |
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 Child of Storm by H. Rider Haggard: for which they went to prepare.
Within two days, except for those regiments which Panda kept to guard
his person, scarcely a soldier was to be seen in the neighbourhood of
Nodwengu. The princes also departed to muster their adherents, Cetewayo
establishing himself among the Mandhlakazi that he commanded, and
Umbelazi returning to the kraal of Umbezi, which happened to stand
almost in the centre of that part of the nation which adhered to him.
Whether he took Mameena with him there I am not certain. I believe,
however, that, fearing lest her welcome at her birthplace should be
warmer than she wished, she settled herself at some retired and outlying
kraal in the neighbourhood, and there awaited the crisis of her fortune.
Child of Storm |
