| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: gentleman, purposely misunderstanding his motive, overwhelmed him
with so many apologies and expressions of regret at the irksome
and perhaps inconvenient delay "which you suffer from through
your good-natured acceptance of our invitation" that the other
was obliged to refrain from pursuing the subject further.
"Even my regard for you, my dear d'Alcacer, could not induce me
to submit to such a bare-faced attempt at extortion," affirmed
Mr. Travers with uncompromising virtue. "The man wanted to force
his services upon me, and then put in a heavy claim for salvage.
That is the whole secret--you may depend on it. I detected him at
once, of course." The eye-glass glittered perspicuously. "He
The Rescue |
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 Moon-Face and Other Stories by Jack London: mediaeval. Yet she could not shake off the instinctive fear that arose in
her--man's inheritance from the wild and howling ages when his hairy, apelike
prototype was afraid of the dark and personified the elements into things of
fear.
But as the mysterious influence seized her hand and sent it meriting across
the paper, all the unusual passed out of the situation and she was unaware of
more than a feeble curiosity. For she was intent on another visioning--this
time of her mother, who was also unremembered in the flesh. Not sharp and
vivid like that of her father, but dim and nebulous was the picture she shaped
of her mother--a saint's head in an aureole of sweetness and goodness and
meekness, and withal, shot through with a hint of reposeful determination, of
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