| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: ."
On reading the letter my mother turned pale and began trembling
all over; then an expression of mingled tears and laughter came
into her face. She began crying and laughing. This conflict of
tears and laughter always reminds me of the flickering and
spluttering of a brightly burning candle when one sprinkles it
with water. Reading the letter once more, mother called together
all the household, and in a voice broken with emotion began
explaining to us that there had been four Gundasov brothers: one
Gundasov had died as a baby; another had gone to the war, and he,
too, was dead; the third, without offence to him be it said, was
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Exiles by Honore de Balzac: brother. Though of no more than middle height, he appeared tall; and,
looking him in the face he seemed a giant.
"The clock has struck, the boat is waiting; will you not come?"
At these words, spoken in bad French, but distinctly audible in the
silence, a little noise was heard in the other top room, and the young
man came down as lightly as a bird.
When Godefroid appeared, the lady's face turned crimson; she trembled,
started, and covered her face with her white hands.
Any woman might have shared her agitation at the sight of this youth
of about twenty, of a form and stature so slender that at a first
glance he might have been taken for a mere boy, or a young girl in
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