| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Lesson of the Master by Henry James: manuscript of the first chapters of his new book out of his table-
drawer, to insert it into a pocket of his portmanteau. This led to
his catching a glimpse of certain pages he hadn't looked at for
months, and that accident, in turn, to his being struck with the
high promise they revealed - a rare result of such retrospections,
which it was his habit to avoid as much as possible: they usually
brought home to him that the glow of composition might be a purely
subjective and misleading emotion. On this occasion a certain
belief in himself disengaged itself whimsically from the serried
erasures of his first draft, making him think it best after all to
pursue his present trial to the end. If he could write as well
|
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 Breaking Point by Mary Roberts Rinehart: floats me."
He was self-confident and slightly insolent; the hands with which
he lighted a fresh cigarette no longer trembled, and the glance
he threw at Dick was triumphant and hostile.
"As a man sows, Clark !" he said. "You sowed hell for a number of
people once."
Bassett had to restrain an impulse to kick him out of the door.
When he had gone Bassett turned to Dick with assumed lightness.
"Well," he said, "here we are, all dressed up and nowhere to go!"
He wandered around the room, restless and disappointed. He knew,
and Dick knew, that they had come to the end of the road, and that
The Breaking Point |
