| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac: the hiccough of spasmodic indigestion as she drank her tea.
"How lucky it is that dear Betty should be living under my roof!" said
Madame Marneffe. "But for me, the poor thing would have died."
"You look as if you only half believed it," added Lisbeth, turning to
the Baron, "and that would be a shame----"
"Why?" asked the Baron. "Do you know the purpose of my visit?"
And he leered at the door of a dressing-closet from which the key had
been withdrawn.
"Are you talking Greek?" said Madame Marneffe, with an appealing look
of misprized tenderness and devotedness.
"But it is all through you, my dear cousin; yes, it is your doing that
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Charmides by Plato: knowledge of individuals, he sees the science, and this also will better
enable him to test the knowledge which others have of what he knows
himself; whereas the enquirer who is without this knowledge may be supposed
to have a feebler and weaker insight? Are not these, my friend, the real
advantages which are to be gained from wisdom? And are not we looking and
seeking after something more than is to be found in her?
That is very likely, he said.
That is very likely, I said; and very likely, too, we have been enquiring
to no purpose; as I am led to infer, because I observe that if this is
wisdom, some strange consequences would follow. Let us, if you please,
assume the possibility of this science of sciences, and further admit and
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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 Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: Was it only a phase of her thrilling excitement? Her swift
glance showed the faces of Nels and Monty and Nick to be
brooding, cold, watchful. She wondered why Stewart did not look
toward Bonita. He, too, was now dark-faced, cool, quiet, with
something ominous about him.
"Hawe, I'll submit to arrest without any fuss," he said, slowly,
"if you'll take the ropes off that girl."
"Nope," replied the sheriff. "She got away from me onct. She's
hawg-tied now, an' she'll stay hawg-tied."
Madeline thought she saw Stewart give a slight start. But an
unaccountable dimness came over her eyes, at brief intervals
The Light of Western Stars |
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 Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: blurred mass.
CHAPTER XIV
ST MARTIN'S EVE
It was late evening on the twenty-ninth of November when I rode
into Paris through the Orleans gate. The wind was in the north-
east, and a great cloud of vapour hung in the eye of an angry
sunset. The air seemed to be heavy with smoke, the kennels
reeked, my gorge rose at the city's smell; and with all my heart
I envied the man who had gone out of it by the same gate nearly
two months before, with his face to the south and the prospect of
riding day after day and league after league across heath and
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