| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from War and the Future by H. G. Wells: war, would need also to have power to intervene in the affairs of
any country or region in a state of open and manifest disorder,
for the protection of foreign travellers and of persons and
interests localised in that country but foreign to it.
Such an agreement as I have here sketched out would at once lift
international politics out of the bloody and hopeless squalor of
the present conflict. It is, I venture to assert, the peace of
the reasonable man in any country whatever. But it needs the
attention of such a disengaged people as the American people to
work it out and supply it with--weight. It needs putting before
the world with some sort of authority greater than its mere
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: amused you?" said Bixiou.
"AND fooled you," added Leon, making the gesture of gamins to express
the action of picking pockets.
ADDENDUM
The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Brambourg, Comte de
A Bachelor's Establishment
Cadine, Jenny
Cousin Betty
Beatrix
The Member for Arcis
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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 Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: The physician sat upright, his face had grown gray. "Mr. Kent," he
commenced indignantly, "are you aware what you are insinuating? Are
you, also, aware that Mrs. Brewster is my cousin, a charming,
honorable woman, without a stain on her character?"
Kent set the bottom of the box containing the pills in front of the
doctor.
"I have found out that this box, with its dangerous drug, was left
on the hall table in the McIntyre house; apparently any one had
access to its contents, therefore my remarks are not directed
against Mrs. Brewster any more than against any person in the
McIntyre household, from the Colonel to the servants. I found these
The Red Seal |
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 Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer: of isolation from my fellows--from the whole of the Western world.
My throat was parched with the fumes, my head ached.
The vicious atmosphere seemed contaminating. I was as one dropped--
Somewhere East of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
And there ain't no Ten Commandments and a man can raise a thirst.
Smith began to whisper softly.
"We have carried it through successfully so far," he said.
"I don't know if you have observed it, but there is a stair
just behind you, half concealed by a ragged curtain.
We are near that, and well in the dark. I have seen nothing
suspicious so far--or nothing much. But if there was anything
The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu |
