| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: to Count Ladislas Kasincsky, and I temporarily added his family
name to the writer of the French letter, assuming her to be his
wife. "Jean" appeared to be a servant, and "Henri" I set down as
the son whom Otto was instructing in the castle or family seat in
the country, while the parents were in warsaw. Plausible, so far;
but the letter was not such a one as a countess would have written
to her son's tutor, under similar circumstances. It was addressed
to a social equal, apparently to a man younger than herself, and
for whom--supposing him to have been a tutor, secretary, or
something of the kind--she must have felt a special sympathy. Her
mention of "the papers" and "your secret" must refer to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from 1492 by Mary Johntson: would not have sailed on the _Santa Maria_!
In his many years at sea he must many times have met
men who had put to sea out of fear of land. He would
have sailed with many whose names, he knew, were not
those given them at birth. He must have learned to take reasons
for granted and to go on--where he wished to go on.
So we gazed at each other.
``I had written down,'' he said, ``that you greatly helped
the sick, and upon Bernardo Nunez's going to the _Nina_, became
our physician. But I will write no more of you, and
that written will pass in the flood of things to come.'' After
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