The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: hands."
Paul was abashed; he fancied himself to blame, and he kissed Madame
Evangelista.
"Dear Paul," she said with much emotion, "why could not those two
sharks have settled this matter without dragging us into it, since it
was so easy to settle?"
"In that case I should not have known how grand and generous you can
be," replied Paul.
"Indeed she is, Paul," cried Natalie, pressing his hand.
"We have still a few little matters to settle, my dear son," said
Madame Evangelista. "My daughter and I are above the foolish vanities
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Menexenus by Plato: Corinthians and Argives and Boeotians, and the other states, were quite
willing to let them go, and swore and covenanted, that, if he would pay
them money, they would make over to him the Hellenes of the continent, and
we alone refused to give them up and swear. Such was the natural nobility
of this city, so sound and healthy was the spirit of freedom among us, and
the instinctive dislike of the barbarian, because we are pure Hellenes,
having no admixture of barbarism in us. For we are not like many others,
descendants of Pelops or Cadmus or Egyptus or Danaus, who are by nature
barbarians, and yet pass for Hellenes, and dwell in the midst of us; but we
are pure Hellenes, uncontaminated by any foreign element, and therefore the
hatred of the foreigner has passed unadulterated into the life-blood of 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 Pupil by Henry James: the readjustment of their affairs.
"We trust you - we feel we CAN," said Mrs. Moreen, slowly rubbing
her plump white hands and looking with compunction hard at Morgan,
whose chin, not to take liberties, her husband stroked with a
paternal forefinger.
"Oh yes - we feel that we CAN. We trust Mr. Pemberton fully,
Morgan," Mr. Moreen pursued.
Pemberton wondered again if he might pretend not to understand; but
everything good gave way to the intensity of Morgan's
understanding. "Do you mean he may take me to live with him for
ever and ever?" cried the boy. "May take me away, away, anywhere
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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 Coxon Fund by Henry James: exhibition might be on the part of a girl perceptibly so able to
think things out I found it great sport to forecast. It would have
been exciting to be approached by her, appealed to by her for
advice; but I prayed to heaven I mightn't find myself in such a
predicament. If there was really a present rigour in the situation
of which Gravener had sketched for me the elements, she would have
to get out of her difficulty by herself. It wasn't I who had
launched her and it wasn't I who could help her. I didn't fail to
ask myself why, since I couldn't help her, I should think so much
about her. It was in part my suspense that was responsible for
this; I waited impatiently to see whether she wouldn't have told
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