| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Man of Business by Honore de Balzac: mother-of-pearl and gold wire, the Brussels carpets, a mediaeval
bedstead worth three thousand francs, a Boule clock, candelabra in the
four corners of the dining-room, silk curtains, on which Chinese
patience had wrought pictures of birds, and hangings over the doors,
worth more than the portress that opened them.
" 'And that is what /you/ ought to have, my pretty lady.--And that is
what I should like to offer you,' he would conclude. 'I am quite aware
that you scarcely care a bit about me; but, at my age, we cannot
expect too much. Judge how much I love you; I have lent you a thousand
francs. I must confess that, in all my born days, I have not lent
anybody /that/ much----'
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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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: love is a vaccination which protects us from a second."
The conversation stopped there. We had now reached my own door, and I
invited Monsieur Dorlange to come in. He accepted my politeness,
remarking that Monsieur de l'Estorade had probably returned and he
could thus take leave of him.
My husband was at home. I don't know whether Lucas, forestalling the
rebuke I intended to give him, had made out a story to excuse himself,
or whether Monsieur de l'Estorade for the first time in his life,
felt, in view of my maternal escapade, a movement of jealousy. It is
certain, however, that his manner of receiving me was curt; he called
it an unheard-of thing to go out at such an hour, in such weather, to
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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 St. Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'I have no patience! You cannot understand what I am suffering!'
she said. 'What are you to say to Ronald, to Major Chevenix, to my
aunt?'
Your aunt?' I cried, with a start. 'PECCAVI! is she here?'
'She is in the card-room at whist,' said Flora.
'Where she will probably stay all the evening?' I suggested.
'She may,' she admitted; 'she generally does!'
'Well, then, I must avoid the card-room,' said I, 'which is very
much what I had counted upon doing. I did not come here to play
cards, but to contemplate a certain young lady to my heart's
content - if it can ever be contented! - and to tell her some good
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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 Oscar Wilde Miscellaneous by Oscar Wilde: officer, unaware that Dr. Strauss was composing an opera on the
theme of Salome, wrote another music drama to accompany Wilde's
text. The exclusive musical rights having been already secured by
Dr. Strauss, Lieutenant Marriotte's work cannot be performed
regularly. One presentation, however, was permitted at Lyons, the
composer's native town, where I am told it made an extraordinary
impression. In order to give English readers some faint idea of the
world-wide effect of Wilde's drama, my friend Mr. Walter Ledger has
prepared a short bibliography of certain English and Continental
translations.
At the time of Wilde's trial the nearly completed MS. of La Sainte
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