| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Master of Ballantrae by Robert Louis Stevenson: painted brightly on the darkness; and the outcry of the wind
appeared to mock at my inaction.
CHAPTER IX. - MR. MACKELLAR'S JOURNEY WITH THE MASTER.
The chaise came to the door in a strong drenching mist. We took
our leave in silence: the house of Durrisdeer standing with
dropping gutters and windows closed, like a place dedicate to
melancholy. I observed the Master kept his head out, looking back
on these splashed walls and glimmering roofs, till they were
suddenly swallowed in the mist; and I must suppose some natural
sadness fell upon the man at this departure; or was it some
provision of the end? At least, upon our mounting the long brae
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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 Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: The remark seemed so utterly irrelevant that I did not even take
the trouble to answer it. But I decided that if I made any
interesting and important discoveries--as no doubt I should--I
would keep them to myself, and surprise Poirot with the ultimate
result.
There are times when it is one's duty to assert oneself.
CHAPTER IX
Dr. BAUERSTEIN
I HAD had no opportunity as yet of passing on Poirot's message to
Lawrence. But now, as I strolled out on the lawn, still nursing
a grudge against my friend's high-handedness, I saw Lawrence on
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Faraday as a Discoverer by John Tyndall: But Faraday was more than a philosopher; he was a prophet, and often
wrought by an inspiration to be understood by sympathy alone.
The prophetic element in his character occasionally coloured,
and even injured, the utterance of the man of science; but
subtracting that element, though you might have conferred on him
intellectual symmetry, you would have destroyed his motive force.
But let us pass from the label of this casket to the jewel it contains.
'I have long,' he says, 'held an opinion, almost amounting to
conviction, in common, I believe, with many other lovers of natural
knowledge, that the various forms under which the forces of matter
are made manifest have one common origin; in other words, are so
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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 Tales and Fantasies by Robert Louis Stevenson: 'Oh, I had my pass-key,' says John.
'The deuce you had!' said Alexander. 'Ah, you lived in a
better world! There are no pass-keys going now.'
'Well, father was always averse to them,' sighed John. And
the conversation then broke down, and the brothers looked
askance at one another in silence.
'Well, and what the devil are we to do?' said Alexander. 'I
suppose if the authorities got wind of you, you would be
taken up?'
'It depends on whether they've found the body or not,'
returned John. 'And then there's that cabman, to be sure!'
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