| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Commission in Lunacy by Honore de Balzac: a year."
"Should you think so, madame?" said the judge, looking much
astonished.
"Yes, at least," replied the Marquise.
"And the furniture, too, must have cost a lot of money?"
"More than a hundred thousand francs," replied Madame d'Espard, who
could not help smiling at the lawyer's vulgarity.
"Judges, madame, are apt to be incredulous; it is what they are paid
for, and I am incredulous. The Baron Jeanrenaud and his mother must
have fleeced M. d'Espard most preposterously, if what you say is
correct. There is a stable establishment which, by your account, costs
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: he was looking down at me oddly. All my bravado faded away and
there was a queerish ringing in my ears.
"I would like to!" he said tensely. "I would like, this
minute--I'm a fool, Mrs. Wilson," he finished miserably. "I ought
to be drawn and quartered, but when I see you like this I--I get
crazy. If you say the word, I'll--I'll go down and--" He clenched
his fist.
It was reprehensible, of course; he saw that in an instant, for
he shut his teeth over something that sounded very fierce, and
strode away from me, to stand looking out over the river, with
his hands thrust in his pockets. Of course the thing I should
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: done?" Jorgenson kept up his appearance of communing with
himself.
"I know what to do," he mumbled.
"You are lucky," said Mrs. Travers, with intense bitterness.
It seemed to her that she was abandoned by all the world. The
opposite shore of the lagoon had resumed its aspect of a painted
scene that would never roll up to disclose the truth behind its
blinding and soulless splendour. It seemed to her that she had
said her last words to all of them: to d'Alcacer, to her husband,
to Lingard himself--and that they had all gone behind the curtain
forever out of her sight. Of all the white men Jorgenson alone
The Rescue |
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 The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: the ship like a towering fragment of everlasting night.
On that enormous mass of blackness there was not a gleam to
be seen, not a sound to be heard. It was gliding irresistibly
towards us and yet seemed already within reach of the hand.
I saw the vague figures of the watch grouped in the waist,
gazing in awed silence.
"Are you going on, sir?" inquired an unsteady voice at my elbow.
I ignored it. I had to go on.
"Keep her full. Don't check her way. That won't do now,"
I said warningly.
"I can't see the sails very well," the helmsman answered me,
The Secret Sharer |
