| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Roads of Destiny by O. Henry: money on my mind. Not that there was much need of being worried, for
the safe was a good one, and nobody but Bob and I knew the
combination. On Friday night there was about $6,500 in cash in the
bag. On Saturday morning I went to the office as usual. The safe was
locked, and Bob was writing at his desk. I opened the safe, and the
money was gone. I called Bob, and roused everybody in the court-house
to announce the robbery. It struck me that Bob took it pretty quiet,
considering how much it reflected upon both him and me.
"Two days went by and we never got a clew. It couldn't have been
burglars, for the safe had been opened by the combination in the
proper way. People must have begun to talk, for one afternoon in comes
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: we went aft again, his sister caused certain movements and rearrangements
to happen with chairs and people. I didn't know this at once, but I knew
it when I found myself somehow sitting with her and John, and saw
Hortense with Charley. Hortense looked over at Kitty with a something
that had in it both raised eyebrows and a shrug, though these visible
signs did not occur; and, indeed, so far as anything visible went (except
the look) you might have supposed that now Hortense had no thoughts for
any man in the world save Charley. And John was plainly more at ease with
Kitty! He began to make himself agreeable, so that once or twice she gave
him a glance of surprise. There was nothing to mark him out from the
others, except his paleness in the midst of their redness. Yachting
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