| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: called heroic if it had not been so simple. Whether policy,
diplomacy, simplicity, or just inspiration, he kept up his talk,
rather deliberate, with very few pauses. Then suddenly as if
recollecting himself:
"It's funny. I don't think you are annoyed with me for giving you
my company unasked. But why don't you say something?"
I asked Miss de Barral what answer she made to this query.
"I made no answer," she said in that even, unemotional low voice
which seemed to be her voice for delicate confidences. "I walked
on. He did not seem to mind. We came to the foot of the quarry
where the road winds up hill, past the place where you were sitting
Chance |
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 Little Britain by Washington Irving: see the merriment that took place here as we banqueted on the
grass under the trees. How we made the woods ring with
bursts of laughter at the songs of little Wagstaff and the merry
undertaker! After dinner, too, the young folks would play at
blind-man's-buff and hide-and-seek; and it was amusing to see
them tangled among the briers, and to hear a fine romping girl
now and then squeak from among the bushes. The elder folks
would gather round the cheesemonger and the apothecary to
hear them talk politics; for they generally brought out a
newspaper in their pockets, to pass away time in the country.
They would now and then, to be sure, get a little warm in
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