| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: white cheeks; his eyes lost something of the sadness that dulled them,
and he said, in a peculiar tone of voice:--
"You are an angle of goodness-- But Labedoyere!" he added. "Oh,
Labedoyere!"
At this cry they all three looked at one another in silence, each
comprehending the others' thoughts. No longer friends of twenty
minutes only, they were friends of twenty years.
"Dear friend," said Servin, "can you save him?"
"I can avenge him."
Ginevra quivered. Though the stranger was handsome, his appearance had
not influenced her; the soft pity in a woman's heart for miseries that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: The next evening we were seated in front of a bright fire in a dainty
little salon, she on a couch, I on cushions almost at her feet,
looking up into her face. The street was silent. The lamp shed a soft
light. It was one of those evenings which delight the soul, one of
those moments which are never forgotten, one of those hours passed in
peace and longing, whose charm is always in later years a source of
regret, even when we are happier. What can efface the deep imprint of
the first solicitations of love?
"Go on," she said. "I am listening."
"But I dare not begin. There are passages in the story which are
dangerous to the narrator. If I become excited, you will make me hold
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