| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: receiving apologies, even when I know what they are for.
What yours are for, I can't imagine."
"You don't dislike me--you don't hate me?" Bernard suddenly broke out.
"You don't ask me that humbly. Excuse me therefore if I say I have other,
and more practical, things to do."
"You despise me," said Bernard.
"That is not humble either, for you seem to insist upon it."
"It would be after all a way of thinking of me, and I have a reason
for wishing you to do that."
"I remember very well that you used to have a reason for everything.
It was not always a good one."
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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 The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: Flamel, at the outset, must have guessed to whom the letters were
addressed; yet neither then nor afterward had he hesitated to
advise their publication. This thought drew Glennard to him in
fitful impulses of friendliness, from each of which there was a
sharper reaction of distrust and aversion. When Flamel was not at
the house, he missed the support of his tacit connivance; when he
was there, his presence seemed the assertion of an intolerable
claim.
Early in the winter the Glennards took possession of the little
house that was to cost them almost nothing. The change brought
Glennard the immediate relief of seeing less of his wife, and of
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