| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Catherine de Medici by Honore de Balzac: conspirators carry it out. They have no suspicion that we know it;
they are so sure of surprising us that the leaders may possibly show
themselves then. My advice is to allow ourselves to be beaten for
forty-eight hours."
"Half an hour would be too much," cried the cardinal, alarmed.
"So this is your courage, is it?" retorted the Balafre.
The cardinal, quite unmoved, replied: "Whether the Prince de Conde is
compromised or not, if we are certain that he is the leader, we should
strike him down at once and secure tranquillity. We need judges rather
than soldiers for this business--and judges are never lacking. Victory
is always more certain in the parliament than on the field, and it
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Little Britain by Washington Irving: holiday games and customs of yore. The inhabitants most
religiously eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, hot-cross-buns on
Good Friday, and roast goose at Michaelmas; they send love-
letters on Valentine's Day, burn the pope on the fifth of
November, and kiss all the girls under the mistletoe at
Christmas. Roast beef and plum pudding are also held in
superstitious veneration, and port and sherry maintain their
grounds as the only true English wines; all others being
considered vile, outlandish beverages.
Little Britain has its long catalogue of city wonders, which its
inhabitants consider the wonders of the world: such as the
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Yates Pride by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman: finally quieted the child, holding the little thing in his arms.
But the baby, before that, cried so long and lustily that all the
women in the Glynn house opposite were on the alert, and also
some of the friends who were calling there. Abby Simson was one.
"Harry Lawton has been there over an hour now," said Abby, while
the wailing continued, "and I know as well as I want to that
there will be a wedding."
"I wonder he doesn't object to that adopted baby," said Julia
Esterbrook.
"I know one thing," said Abby Simson. "It must be a boy baby, it
hollers so."
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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 The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: feeling had worked a change in her, her demeanor had lost all its
affectations. Being simple and natural, she must, no doubt, have
seemed more beautiful. Some of her sisters, and an old lady, a friend
of the family, saw in this behavior a refinement of art. They supposed
that Emilie, judging the man worthy of her, intended to delay
revealing her merits, so as to dazzle him suddenly when she found that
she pleased him. Every member of the family was curious to know what
this capricious creature thought of the stranger; but when, during
dinner, every one chose to endow Monsieur Longueville with some fresh
quality which no one else had discovered, Mademoiselle de Fontaine sat
for some time in silence. A sarcastic remark of her uncle's suddenly
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