| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Maitre Cornelius by Honore de Balzac: of Sainte-Anne, about two hundred feet from the entrance to Plessis.
"Who is that?" said the king.
The two courtiers questioned each other with a look of surprise.
"He is dreaming," said Coyctier, in a low voice.
"Pasques-Dieu!" cried Louis XI., "do you think me mad? People are
crossing the bridge. It is true I am near the chimney, and I may hear
sounds more easily than you. That effect of nature might be utilized,"
he added thoughtfully.
"What a man!" said de Daim.
Louis XI. rose and went toward one of the windows that looked on the
town. He saw the grand provost, and exclaimed:--
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Seraphita by Honore de Balzac: this vehemence?" when on his way to her he had sworn she should be
his. Wilfrid was, however, strong enough to raise the cry of revolt to
which he had given utterance in Monsieur Becker's study. The narrative
of the old pastor had calmed him. Sceptical and derisive as he was, he
saw belief like a sidereal brilliance dawning on his life. He asked
himself if Seraphita were not an exile from the higher spheres seeking
the homeward way. The fanciful deifications of all ordinary lovers he
could not give to this lily of Norway in whose divinity he believed.
Why lived she here beside this fiord? What did she? Questions that
received no answer filled his mind. Above all, what was about to
happen between them? What fate had brought him there? To him,
Seraphita |
