| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Mrs. Warren's Profession by George Bernard Shaw: individual Harpagons, but of the indifference of virtuous young
gentlemen to the condition of the city they live in, provided
they live at the west end of it on money earned by someone else's
labor. The notion that prostitution is created by the wickedness
of Mrs Warren is as silly as the notion--prevalent, nevertheless,
to some extent in Temperance circles--that drunkenness is created
by the wickedness of the publican. Mrs Warren is not a whit a
worse woman than the reputable daughter who cannot endure her.
Her indifference to the ultimate social consequences of her means
of making money, and her discovery of that means by the ordinary
method of taking the line of least resistance to getting it, are
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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 Red Inn by Honore de Balzac: convent, where she was finishing, rather late in the day, her
education. For a long time her father refused to recognize her. She
comes here for the first time. She is very beautiful and very rich."
These words were accompanied by a sardonic smile.
At this moment we heard violent, but smothered outcries; they seemed
to come from a neighboring apartment and to be echoed faintly back
through the garden.
"Isn't that the voice of Monsieur Taillefer?" I said.
We gave our full attention to the noise; a frightful moaning reached
our ears. The wife of the banker came hurriedly towards us and closed
the window.
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