| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: what he could not gain by force. We have said that his
plan was to penetrate into the town, make his way to the
Grand Duke, gain his confidence, and, when the time came,
give up the gates to the besiegers; and, that done, wreak his
vengeance on the brother of the Czar. The Tsigane San-
garre, who had accompanied him to the Angara, urged him
to put this plan in execution.
Indeed, it was necessary to act without delay. The Rus-
sian troops from the government of Yakutsk were advanc-
ing towards Irkutsk. They had concentrated along the
upper course of the Lena. In six days they would arrive.
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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 Facino Cane by Honore de Balzac: for me, that I have never been without it; I must have gold to toy
with and finger. As a young man I always wore jewelry, and I carried
two or three hundred ducats about me wherever I went."
He drew a couple of gold coins from his pocket and showed them to me
as he spoke.
"I can tell by instinct when gold is near. Blind as I am, I stop
before a jeweler's shop windows. That passion was the ruin of me; I
took to gambling to play with gold. I was not a cheat, I was cheated,
I ruined myself. I lost all my fortune. Then the longing to see Bianca
once more possessed me like a frenzy. I stole back to Venice and found
her again. For six months I was happy; she hid me in her house and fed
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