| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: about the house, glancing in at David, having Minnie in the kitchen
pin and unpin her veil; and the next she was still and infinitely
mysterious, on her white bed. She had fallen outside the door of
David's room, and lay there, her arms still full of fresh bath
towels, and a fixed and intense look in her eyes, as though, outside
the door, she had come face to face with a messenger who bore
surprising news. Doctor Reynolds, running up the stairs, found her
there dead, and closed the door into David's room.
But David knew before they told him. He waited until they had
placed her on her bed, had closed her eyes and drawn a white
coverlet over her, and then he went in alone, and sat down beside
The Breaking Point |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Travels with a Donkey in the Cevenne by Robert Louis Stevenson: moonshine; and high overhead, in some lone house, there burned one
lighted window, one square spark of red in the huge field of sad
nocturnal colouring.
At a certain point, as I went downward, turning many acute angles,
the moon disappeared behind the hill; and I pursued my way in great
darkness, until another turning shot me without preparation into
St. Germain de Calberte. The place was asleep and silent, and
buried in opaque night. Only from a single open door, some
lamplight escaped upon the road to show me that I was come among
men's habitations. The two last gossips of the evening, still
talking by a garden wall, directed me to the inn. The landlady was
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: fellow of the name of Bamtz who apparently had settled there.'
"And again my friend wondered. 'Tell me,' he cried, 'what
connection can there be between Davidson and such a creature as
Bamtz?'
"I don't remember now what answer I made. A sufficient one could
have been given in two words: 'Davidson's goodness.' THAT never
boggled at unworthiness if there was the slightest reason for
compassion. I don't want you to think that Davidson had no
discrimination at all. Bamtz could not have imposed on him.
Moreover, everybody knew what Bamtz was. He was a loafer with a
beard. When I think of Bamtz, the first thing I see is that long
Within the Tides |
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 La Grenadiere by Honore de Balzac: ended, this adorable woman's sadness always seemed to be doubled; she
would cease to speak, and sit motionless and pensive, and her eyes
would fill with tears.
"Mother, why are you crying?" Louis asked one balmy June evening, just
as the twilight of a soft-lit night succeeded to a hot day.
Deeply moved by his trouble, she put her arm about the child's neck
and drew him to her.
"Because, my boy, the lot of Jameray Duval, the poor and friendless
lad who succeeded at last, will be your lot, yours and your brother's,
and I have brought it upon you. Before very long, dear child, you will
be alone in the world, with no one to help or befriend you. While you
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