| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: predecessor's business. I had relations in Vendome; among others, a
wealthy aunt, who allowed me to marry her daughter.--Monsieur,' he
went on after a little pause, 'three months after being licensed by
the Keeper of the Seals, one evening, as I was going to bed--it was
before my marriage--I was sent for by Madame la Comtesse de Merret, to
her Chateau of Merret. Her maid, a good girl, who is now a servant in
this inn, was waiting at my door with the Countess' own carriage. Ah!
one moment! I ought to tell you that Monsieur le Comte de Merret had
gone to Paris to die two months before I came here. He came to a
miserable end, flinging himself into every kind of dissipation. You
understand?
La Grande Breteche |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg by Mark Twain: if there was anything else she could do toward making herself and
the money more safe. She listened awhile for burglars, then
surrendered to curiosity, and went back to the lamp and finished
reading the paper:
"I am a foreigner, and am presently going back to my own country, to
remain there permanently. I am grateful to America for what I have
received at her hands during my long stay under her flag; and to one
of her citizens--a citizen of Hadleyburg--I am especially grateful
for a great kindness done me a year or two ago. Two great
kindnesses in fact. I will explain. I was a gambler. I say I WAS.
I was a ruined gambler. I arrived in this village at night, hungry
The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg |
