| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wheels of Chance by H. G. Wells: too painfully aware. Nevertheless, thank Heaven for the mounting!
He could not see her because it was so dangerous for him to look
round, but he could imagine her indignant and pitiless. He felt
an unspeakable idiot. One had to be so careful what one said to
Young Ladies, and he'd gone and treated her just as though she
was only a Larky Girl. It was unforgivable. He always WAS a fool.
You could tell from her manner she didn't think him a gentleman.
One glance, and she seemed to look clear through him and all his
presence. What rot it was venturing to speak to a girl like that!
With her education she was bound to see through him at once.
How nicely she spoke too! nice clear-cut words! She made him feel
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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 Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas: "And who has punished her?"
"We."
"She is in prison?"
"She is dead."
"Dead!" repeated the cardinal, who could not believe what he heard,
"dead! Did you not say she was dead?"
"Three times she attempted to kill me, and I pardoned her; but she
murdered the woman I loved. Then my friends and I took her, tried her,
and condemned her."
D'Artagnan then related the poisoning of Mme. Bonacieux in the convent
of the Carmelites at Bethune, the trial in the isolated house, and the
The Three Musketeers |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: The detective hitched his chair nearer. "I'm going to lay all my
cards on the table," he announced. "I need advice and you are the
man to give it to me. Listen, Mr. Kent, this Jimmie Turnbull
masquerades as a burglar night before last at the McIntyre house,
is arrested, a charge brought against him for house-breaking by Miss
Helen McIntyre, and shortly after he dies -"
"From angina pectoris," finished Kent, as the detective paused.
"So Mr. Rochester contended," admitted Ferguson. "We'll let that
go for a minute. Now, when Miss McIntyre saw Turnbull's body, she
demanded an autopsy. Why?"
"To discover the cause of death," answered Kent quietly. "That is
The Red Seal |
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 Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Sir John Mandeville: be travelling by sea and land, eleven months or twelve, from Genoa
or from Venice, or he come to Cathay. And yet is the land of
Prester John more far by many dreadful journeys.
And the merchants pass by the kingdom of Persia, and go to a city
that is Clept Hermes, for Hermes the philosopher founded it. And
after that they pass an arm of the sea, and then they go to another
city that is clept Golbache. And there they find merchandises, and
of popinjays, as great plenty as men find here of geese. And if
they will pass further, they may go sikerly enough. In that
country is but little wheat or barley, and therefore they eat rice
and honey and milk and cheese and fruit.
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