| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: that it gave the effect of being beautifully staged.
The girl looked from one to the other of them with large
wondering eyes. Sir James spoke first.
"Miss Finn," he said, "this is your cousin, Mr. Julius P.
Hersheimmer."
A faint flush flitted over the girl's face, as Julius stepped
forward and took her hand.
"How do, Cousin Jane?" he said lightly.
But Tommy caught the tremor in his voice.
"Are you really Uncle Hiram's son?" she asked wonderingly.
Her voice, with the slight warmth of the Western accent, had an
Secret Adversary |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Paz by Honore de Balzac: her arms round his neck, and kissed him. "Dear treasure!" she said,
"how handsome he is! Well, what did Paz do?"
"Thaddeus turned pale," said the count, "but he didn't say a word."
"Oh! his name is Thaddeus, is it?"
"Yes; Thaddeus folded the paper and gave it back to me, and then he
said: 'I thought, Adam, that we were one for life or death, and that
we should never part. Do you want to be rid of me?' 'Oh!' I said, 'if
you take it that way, Thaddeus, don't let us say another word about
it. If I ruin myself you shall be ruined too.' 'You haven't fortune
enough to live as a Laginski should,' he said, 'and you need a friend
who will take care of your affairs, and be a father and a brother and
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Peter Pan by James M. Barrie: "Yes."
"Say, `Ay, ay, sir.'"
"Ay, ay, sir."
"There is one thing," Peter continued, "that every boy who
serves under me has to promise, and so must you."
John paled.
"It is this, if we meet Hook in open fight, you must leave him
to me."
"I promise," John said loyally.
For the moment they were feeling less eerie, because Tink was
flying with them, and in her light they could distinguish each
Peter Pan |
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 Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbot: with us is dull; aesthetically and artistically, very dull indeed.
How can it be otherwise, when all one's prospect, all one's
landscapes, historical pieces, portraits, flowers, still life,
are nothing but a single line, with no varieties except degrees of
brightness and obscurity?
It was not always thus. Colour, if Tradition speaks the truth,
once for the space of half a dozen centuries or more,
threw a transient splendour over the lives of our ancestors
in the remotest ages. Some private individual -- a Pentagon
whose name is variously reported -- having casually discovered
the constituents of the simpler colours and a rudimentary method
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions |
