| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: reached the shore, I fell on my knees in the surf and laughed
till the eighth wave knocked me head over heels and the ninth
broke into my open jaws and choked me. The next moment the girl
caught me by the arm, and I stumbled out and lay down on the dry
sand with the shirt clasped to my breast. My hat had gone again
ages ago. Then I looked at the girl kneeling anxiously by my
side, and began to laugh again. She sat back on her heels, with
one hand to her lips and a scared expression on her face.
"He's mad," she said, half to herself, "mad! Must have been stung
by a jelly-fish or something. I've heard- "
I cut her short.
The Brother of Daphne |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: supposed, to the monarch's remembrance, he was no longer satisfied
with taking his family, as he had piously done every Sunday, to cry
"Vive le Roi" in the hall of the Tuileries when the royal family
passed through on their way to chapel; he craved the favor of a
private audience. The audience, at once granted, was in no sense
private. The royal drawing-room was full of old adherents, whose
powdered heads, seen from above, suggested a carpet of snow. There the
Count met some old friends, who received him somewhat coldly; but the
princes he thought ADORABLE, an enthusiastic expression which escaped
him when the most gracious of his masters, to whom the Count had
supposed himself to be known only by name, came to shake hands with
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Emma McChesney & Co. by Edna Ferber: of homebodies, I suppose. And they're happy. I suppose I might
have been one, too, if I hadn't been obliged to get out and
hustle. But it's too late to learn now. Besides, I don't want
to. If I do try, I'll be destroying the very thing that
attracted you to me in the first place. Remember what you said
about the Fifth Avenue girl?"
"But, Emma," interrupted Buck very quietly, "I don't want you
to try."
Emma, with a rush of words at her very lips, paused, eyed him for
a doubtful moment, asked a faltering question.
"But it was your plan--you said you wanted me to be here when
Emma McChesney & Co. |
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 Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: making no confession, tired not only the strength, but even
the fanaticism, of his executioners.
The judges, notwithstanding, acquitted Tyckelaer from every
charge; at the same time sentencing Cornelius to be deposed
from all his offices and dignities; to pay all the costs of
the trial; and to be banished from the soil of the Republic
for ever.
This judgment against not only an innocent, but also a great
man, was indeed some gratification to the passions of the
people, to whose interests Cornelius de Witt had always
devoted himself: but, as we shall soon see, it was not
The Black Tulip |
