| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: "If I succeed in managing the election of Arcis according to the
wishes of those who have sent me here, you, my dear friend, will be
made a prefect. Here, read these"; and he held out two letters to his
visitor.
"Very good, Monsieur le comte," said Antonin, returning them.
"Make a list of all the votes on which the ministry may count. Above
all, let no one suspect that you and I understand each other. I am a
speculator in land, and I don't care a fig for elections."
"I will send the commissary of police to force you to inscribe your
name on Poupart's register."
"So do. Adieu, monsieur. Heavens! what a region this is," said the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy: where the air is so soft and the soil so rich that the
effort of growth requires but superficial aid by
comparison with the tillage at Flintcomb-Ash, and where
to Tess the human world seemed so different (though it
was much the same). It was purely for security that
she had been requested by Angel to send her
communications through his father, whom he kept pretty
well informed of his changing addresses in the country
he had gone to exploit for himself with a heavy heart.
"Now," said old Mr Clare to his wife, when he had read
the envelope, "if Angel proposes leaving Rio for a
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman |
