| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pierrette by Honore de Balzac: "My brother! does he love Bathilde?" asked Sylvie.
"Madly,--and yet Bathilde is only after his money." ("One for you,
Vinet!" thought the colonel.) "I can't understand why he should have
told you that about Pierrette. No, Sylvie," he said, taking her hand
and pressing it in a certain way, "since you have opened this matter"
(he drew nearer to her), "well" (he kissed her hand; as a cavalry
captain he had already proved his courage), "let me tell you that I
desire no wife but you. Though such a marriage may look like one of
convenience, I feel, on my side, a sincere affection for you."
"But if I /wish/ you to marry Pierrette? if I leave her my fortune--
eh, colonel?"
|
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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: and, having the fragment of paper found in the grate fresh in my
mind, the possibility of a will--(a document almost certain to
contain that word)--occurred to me at once. This possibility was
confirmed by a further circumstance. In the general confusion,
the boudoir had not been swept that morning, and near the desk
were several traces of brown mould and earth. The weather had
been perfectly fine for some days, and no ordinary boots would
have left such a heavy deposit.
"I strolled to the window, and saw at once that the begonia beds
had been newly planted. The mould in the beds was exactly
similar to that on the floor of the boudoir, and also I learnt
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
