The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: pursued: "You don't follow my figure. I'm not speaking of my dear
wife, who had a small fortune - which, however, was not my bribe.
I fell in love with her, as many other people have done. I refer
to the mercenary muse whom I led to the altar of literature.
Don't, my boy, put your nose into THAT yoke. The awful jade will
lead you a life!"
Our hero watched him, wondering and deeply touched. "Haven't you
been happy!"
"Happy? It's a kind of hell."
"There are things I should like to ask you," Paul said after a
pause.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: promise."
For an instant the room wavered and darkened; then she recovered
a torturing acuteness of vision. Every detail of her
surroundings pressed upon her: the tick of the clock, the slant
of sunlight on the wall, the hardness of the chair-arms that she
grasped, were a separate wound to each sense.
"My promise--" she faltered.
"Your part of our mutual agreement to set each other free if one
or the other should wish to be released."
She was silent again. He waited a moment, shifting his position
nervously; then he said, with a touch of irritability: "You
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