| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Wrecker by Stevenson & Osbourne: long as I might save my money. At the worst, there was flight,
flight to some of those blest countries where the serpent,
extradition, has not yet entered in.
On no condition is extradition
Allowed in Callao!
--the old lawless words haunted me; and I saw myself hugging
my gold in the company of such men as had once made and
sung them, in the rude and bloody wharfside drinking-shops of
Chili and Peru. The run of my ill-luck, the breach of my old
friendship, this bubble fortune flaunted for a moment in my
eyes and snatched again, had made me desperate and (in the
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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 Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: "Child!" sighed Mercedes.
"Alas, dear mother," said the young man, "I have unhappily
spent too much of your money not to know the value of it.
These 3,000 francs are enormous, and I intend building upon
this foundation a miraculous certainty for the future."
"You say this, my dear boy; but do you think we ought to
accept these 3,000 francs?" said Mercedes, coloring.
"I think so," answered Albert in a firm tone. "We will
accept them the more readily, since we have them not here;
you know they are buried in the garden of the little house
in the Allees de Meillan, at Marseilles. With 200 francs we
The Count of Monte Cristo |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: brow contracted, his air gloomy. Elizabeth soon observed, and
instantly understood it. Her power was sinking; everything
MUST sink under such a proof of family weakness, such an
assurance of the deepest disgrace. She could neither wonder
nor condemn, but the belief of his self-conquest brought nothing
to her consolatory to her bosom, afforded no palliation of her
distress. It was, on the contrary, exactly calculated to make her
understand her own wishes; and never had she so honestly felt
that she could have loved him, as now, when all love must be
vain.
But self, though it would intrude, could not engross her. Lydia--
Pride and Prejudice |
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 Figure in the Carpet by Henry James: premonitory symptoms would be peculiarly visible in the husband.
Taking for granted the splendour of the other party's nuptial gift,
I expected to see him make a show commensurate with his increase of
means. I knew what his means had been - his article on "The Right
of Way" had distinctly given one the figure. As he was now exactly
in the position in which still more exactly I was not I watched
from month to month, in the likely periodicals, for the heavy
message poor Corvick had been unable to deliver and the
responsibility of which would have fallen on his successor. The
widow and wife would have broken by the rekindled hearth the
silence that only a widow and wife might break, and Deane would be
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