| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad: would never refuse a blessing to a good Legitimist.' So stern as
that! And when I think that I was perhaps the only girl of the
family or in the whole world that he ever in his priest's life
patted on the head! When I think of that I . . . I believe at that
moment I was as wretched as he was himself. I handed him an
envelope with a big red seal which quite startled him. I had asked
the Marquis de Villarel to give me a few words for him, because my
uncle has a great influence in his district; and the Marquis penned
with his own hand some compliments and an inquiry about the spirit
of the population. My uncle read the letter, looked up at me with
an air of mournful awe, and begged me to tell his excellency that
The Arrow of Gold |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Massimilla Doni by Honore de Balzac: for Diana, the chaste Diana, loved! Jupiter alone could hold his own
with his divine better-half, on whom many English ladies model
themselves.
Emilio set his mistress far too high ever to touch her. A year hence,
perhaps, he might not be a victim to this noble error which attacks
none but very young or very old men. But as the archer who shoots
beyond the mark is as far from it as he whose arrow falls short of it,
the Duchess found herself between a husband who knew he was so far
from reaching the target, that he had ceased to try for it, and a
lover who was carried so much past it on the white wings of an angel,
that he could not get back to it. Massimilla could be happy with
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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 Tom Grogan by F. Hopkinson Smith: Then she broke down.
Another woman would have managed it differently, perhaps,--by a
laugh, a smile of contempt, or a frigid refusal. This mere child,
stung to the quick by Quigg's insult, had only her tears in
defense. The Walking Delegate turned his head and looked out of
the window. Then he caught up his hat and without a word to the
sobbing girl hastily left the room.
Tom was just entering the lower gate. Quigg saw her and tried to
dodge behind the tool-house, but it was too late, so he faced her.
Tom's keen eye caught the sly movement and the quickly altered
expression. Some new trickery was in the air, she knew; she
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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 Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: presently after having got her boat again, she came before the wind and
was headed directly for the Base. This was very troublesome to Andie
and the Highlanders; the whole business of my sequestration was
designed for privacy, and here, with a navy captain perhaps blundering
ashore, it looked to become public enough, if it were nothing worse. I
was in a minority of one, I am no Alan to fall upon so many, and I was
far from sure that a warship was the least likely to improve my
condition. All which considered, I gave Andie my parole of good
behaviour and obedience, and was had briskly to the summit of the rock,
where we all lay down, at the cliff's edge, in different places of
observation and concealment. The SEAHORSE came straight on till I
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