| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James: it might already be too late. "Do you mean," I anxiously asked,
"that they HAVE met?"
At this she quite flushed. "Ah, miss, I'm not such a fool as that!
If I've been obliged to leave her three or four times,
it has been each time with one of the maids, and at present,
though she's alone, she's locked in safe. And yet--and yet!"
There were too many things.
"And yet what?"
"Well, are you so sure of the little gentleman?"
"I'm not sure of anything but YOU. But I have, since last evening,
a new hope. I think he wants to give me an opening.
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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 Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: whom I am betrothed--a fellow countryman, Djor Kantos."
"You mean, Tara of Helium," he cried, "that were it not for that
you would --"
"Stop!" she commanded. "You have no right to assume aught else
than my lips testify."
"The eyes are ofttimes more eloquent than the lips, Tara," he
replied; "and in yours I have read that which is neither hatred
nor contempt for Turan the panthan, and my heart tells me that
your lips bore false witness when they cried in anger: 'I hate
you!'"
"I do not hate you, Turan, nor yet may I love you," said the
The Chessmen of Mars |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Village Rector by Honore de Balzac: the viscount and the young wife had based certain hopes on the ill-
health of the banker which were now frustrated. The great agitations
which marked this period of Veronique's life, the anxieties which a
first childbirth causes in every woman, and which, it is said,
threatens special danger when she is past her first youth, made her
friends more attentive than ever to her; they vied with each other in
showing her those little kindnesses which proved how warm and solid
their affection really was.
V
TASCHERON
It was in this year that Limoges witnessed a terrible event and the
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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 Enemies of Books by William Blades: the body working upon the sides of their holes, push their horny jaws
against the opposing mass of paper. But when freed from the restraint,
which indeed to them is life, they CANNOT eat although surrounded
with food, for they have no legs to keep them steady, and their natural,
leverage is wanting.
Considering the numerous old books contained in the British Museum,
the Library there is wonderfully free from the worm.
Mr. Rye, lately the Keeper of the Printed Books there,
writes me "Two or three were discovered in my time, but they
were weakly creatures. One, I remember, was conveyed into
the Natural History Department, and was taken into custody
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