| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from At the Sign of the Cat & Racket by Honore de Balzac: fortune, or the time-honored experience of Monsieur Guillaume. Still,
the excellent merchant's daughters did not benefit as much as might be
supposed by the lessons the world has to offer to young spirits. At
these parties, which were indeed set down in the ledger to the credit
of the house, they wore dresses the shabbiness of which made them
blush. Their style of dancing was not in any way remarkable, and their
mother's surveillance did not allow of their holding any conversation
with their partners beyond Yes and No. Also, the law of the old sign
of the Cat and Racket commanded that they should be home by eleven
o'clock, the hour when balls and fetes begin to be lively. Thus their
pleasures, which seemed to conform very fairly to their father's
|
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 Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: revealed, however, on inspection, only the brick of the chimney
on one side and the outer wall of the house on the other; in
depth the space extended only to the flooring. The breach had
been made about four feet from the floor, and inside were all the
missing bits of plaster. It had been a methodical ghost.
It was very much of a disappointment. I had expected a secret
room, at the very least, and I think even Mr. Jamieson had
fancied he might at last have a clue to the mystery. There was
evidently nothing more to be discovered: Liddy reported that
everything was serene among the servants, and that none of them
had been disturbed by the noise. The maddening thing,
The Circular Staircase |
