| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: ten thousand francs a year on it, you can earn six, your librarianship
will bring you in four.--Can you do better for yourself?
"If you were to marry a lamb without spot, it might be a light woman
by the end of two years. What is the damage?--an anticipated dividend!
It is quite the fashion.
"Take my word for it, you can do no better than come to dine with
Malaga to-morrow. You will meet your father-in-law; he will know the
secret has been let out--by Malaga, with whom he cannot be angry--and
then you are master of the situation. As to your wife!--Why her
misconduct leaves you as free as a bachelor----"
"Your language is as blunt as a cannon ball."
The Muse of the Department |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Ferragus by Honore de Balzac: man; he saw the wise dissimulation that must be practised in dealing
with the great interests of life. To be silent about our own secret is
nothing; but to be silent from the start, to forget a fact as Ali
Pacha did for thirty years in order to be sure of a vengeance waited
for for thirty years, is a fine study in a land where there are few
men who can keep their own counsel for thirty days. Monsieur de
Maulincour literally lived only through Madame Jules. He was
perpetually absorbed in a sober examination into the means he ought to
employ to triumph in this mysterious struggle with these mysterious
persons. His secret passion for that woman grew by reason of all these
obstacles. Madame Jules was ever there, erect, in the midst of his
Ferragus |
