| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: outwit the law.
It took about fifteen minutes to quiet the policeman. Nobody ever
knew what Mr. Harbison did to him, but for twenty-four hours he
was quite tractable. He changed after that, but that comes later
in the story. Anyhow, the Harbison man went upstairs and came
down with a Bagdad curtain and a cushion to match, and took them
into the furnace room, and came out and locked the door behind
him, and then we were ready for Bella's escape.
But there were four special officers and three reporters watching
the house, as a result of Max Reed's idiocy. Once, after trying
all the other windows and finding them guarded, we discovered a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: "Say what you please; it doesn't matter," Mary
interrupted angrily.
"I only speak at all because I love you. Your
common-sense should tell you that I speak with
reluctance. But now that I have spoken, let me beg of
you for your father's sake, for your dead mother's
sake, for my sake--I'm your one disinterested friend
and you know that my love is real--for the sake of your
own soul's salvation in this world and the next--don't
marry that brute! Commit suicide if you will--jump off
the bridge--take poison, cut your throat, blow your
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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 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: joint affliction, she put all the letters into Elinor's hands;
and then covering her face with her handkerchief,
almost screamed with agony. Elinor, who knew that such grief,
shocking as it was to witness it, must have its course,
watched by her till this excess of suffering had somewhat
spent itself, and then turning eagerly to Willoughby's letter,
read as follows:
"Bond Street, January.
"MY DEAR MADAM,
"I have just had the honour of receiving your
letter, for which I beg to return my sincere
Sense and Sensibility |
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 Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: not of those who weave dreams about Orleans? He has a sort of
party, a following largely recruited by the popular hatred of the
Queen and the known fact that she hates him. There are some who
have thought of making him regent, some even more; Robespierre is
of the number."
"Who?" asked Andre-Louis, to whom the name was unknown.
"Robespierre - a preposterous little lawyer who represents Arras,
a shabby, clumsy, timid dullard, who will make speeches through
his nose to which nobody listens - an ultra-royalist whom the
royalists and the Orleanists are using for their own ends. He
has pertinacity, and he insists upon being heard. He may be
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