| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Drama on the Seashore by Honore de Balzac: heard Cambremer say to the lawyer. The mother threw herself at the
father's feet.
"'He is judged and condemned,' replied Pierre; 'you must now help me
carry him to the boat.'
"She refused; and Cambremer carried him alone; he laid him in the
bottom of the boat, tied a stone to his neck, took the oars and rowed
out of the cove to the open sea, till he came to the rock where he now
is. When the poor mother, who had come up here with her brother-in-
law, cried out, 'Mercy, mercy!' it was like throwing a stone at a
wolf. There was a moon, and she saw the father casting her son into
the water; her son, the child of her womb, and as there was no wind,
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini: intention."
"I think I had better make quite sure of you."
"0 my God! Have mercy, monsieur!" The knave was in a palsy of
terror. "I mean you no harm - I swear to Heaven I mean you no harm.
I will not say a word. I will not... "
"I would rather depend upon your silence than your assurances.
Still, you shall have your chance. I am a fool, perhaps, but I have
a reluctance to shed blood. Go into the house, Fresnel. Go, man.
I follow you."
In the shabby main room of that dwelling, Andre-Louis halted him
again. "Get me a length of rope," he commanded, and was readily
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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 Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: that the engagement was broken.
The shutting of a front door across the street almost directly behind me
attracted my attention because of its being the first sound that had hap-
pened in noiseless, empty High Walk since I had been strolling there; and
I turned from the parapet to see that I was no longer the solitary person
in the street. Two ladies, one tall and one diminutive, both in black and
with long black veils which they had put back from their faces, were
evidently coming from a visit. As the tall one bowed to me I recognized
Mrs. Gregory St. Michael, and took off my hat. It was not until they had
crossed the street and come up the stone steps near where I stood on High
Walk that the little lady also bowed to me; she was Mrs. Weguelin St.
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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 From London to Land's End by Daniel Defoe: purchase. Sometimes also dead bodies are cast up here, the
consequence of shipwrecks among those fatal rocks and islands; as
also broken pieces of ships, casks, chests, and almost everything
that will float or roll on shore by the surges of the sea.
Nor is it seldom that the voracious country people scuffle and
fight about the right to what they find, and that in a desperate
manner; so that this part of Cornwall may truly be said to be
inhabited by a fierce and ravenous people. For they are so greedy,
and eager for the prey, that they are charged with strange, bloody,
and cruel dealings, even sometimes with one another; but especially
with poor distressed seamen when they come on shore by force of a
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