| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: prisoner being sentenced to twenty years of hard labor.
The convict, one of those men who have been in the hands of justice
more than once, and whose temper is apt at terrible revenge, had said
to the girl in open court:
"In ten years, as sure as you live, Prudence" (Europe's name was
Prudence Servien), "I will return to be the death of you, if I am
scragged for it."
The President of the Court tried to reassure the girl by promising her
the protection and the care of the law; but the poor child was so
terror-stricken that she fell ill, and was in hospital nearly a year.
Justice is an abstract being, represented by a collection 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 The Hidden Masterpiece by Honore de Balzac: white face of the old man was so cruel that he was constrained to
point to the canvas and utter the word, "See!"
Frenhofer looked at his picture for a space of a moment, and
staggered.
"Nothing! nothing! after toiling ten years!"
He sat down and wept.
"Am I then a fool, an idiot? Have I neither talent nor capacity? Am I
no better than a rich man who walks, and can only walk? Have I indeed
produced nothing?"
He gazed at the canvas through tears. Suddenly he raised himself
proudly and flung a lightning glance upon the two painters.
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