| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: Evidently something very momentous had occurred that afternoon.
I tried to forget the few words I had overheard; but, do what I
would, I could not dismiss them altogether from my mind. What
was Mary Cavendish's concern in the matter?
Mr. Inglethorp was in the drawing-room when I came down to
supper. His face was impassive as ever, and the strange
unreality of the man struck me afresh.
Mrs. Inglethorp came down last. She still looked agitated, and
during the meal there was a somewhat constrained silence.
Inglethorp was unusually quiet. As a rule, he surrounded his
wife with little attentions, placing a cushion at her back, and
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Nana, Miller's Daughter, Captain Burle, Death of Olivier Becaille by Emile Zola: him for any length of time; he preferred to let the public enjoy the
benefit of her forthwith. But there was a deuce of a row going on
in his shop, which had been turned topsy-turvy by that big damsel's
advent. Rose Mignon, his star, a comic actress of much subtlety and
an adorable singer, was daily threatening to leave him in the lurch,
for she was furious and guessed the presence of a rival. And as for
the bill, good God! What a noise there had been about it all! It
had ended by his deciding to print the names of the two actresses in
the same-sized type. But it wouldn't do to bother him. Whenever
any of his little women, as he called them--Simonne or Clarisse, for
instance--wouldn't go the way he wanted her to he just up with his
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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 Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: He blinked at his wife knowingly.
"No," said Mrs Verloc in an unresonant voice, and without looking
at him at all. "What are you talking about?"
A great discouragement, the result of fatigue, came upon Mr Verloc.
He had had a very full day, and his nerves had been tried to the
utmost. After a month of maddening worry, ending in an unexpected
catastrophe, the storm-tossed spirit of Mr Verloc longed for
repose. His career as a secret agent had come to an end in a way
no one could have foreseen; only, now, perhaps he could manage to
get a night's sleep at last. But looking at his wife, he doubted
it. She was taking it very hard - not at all like herself, he
The Secret Agent |
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 An Old Maid by Honore de Balzac: blow. She had of course promised the poor seduced girl the support of
all charitable ladies and that of the members of the Maternity Society
in particular; she foresaw a dozen visits which would occupy her whole
day, and brew up a frightful storm on the head of the guilty du
Bousquier. The Chevalier de Valois, while foreseeing the turn the
affair would take, had really no idea of the scandal which would
result from his own action.
"My dear child," said Madame Granson to her son, "we are to dine, you
know, with Mademoiselle Cormon; do take a little pains with your
appearance. You are wrong to neglect your dress as you do. Put on that
handsome frilled shirt and your green coat of Elbeuf cloth. I have my
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