The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Brother of Daphne by Dornford Yates: so I came to the Bananas. Yes, we were for the fete. There
should we be the livelong afternoon, giving free shows, and only
afterwards soliciting contribution from such as could afford to
give in a good cause. God save the King!
Then I called for mine host, and after ordering ginger beer for
Judy and old ale for myself, slapped silver into his hand, and
begged as many as would so honour her to drink the lady's health.
About that there was no difficulty, and when I had despatched
the original boy- who all this while had never wavered in his
constancy to my proboscis- for a small tin pail, I prepared to
get my burden once more upon my back. But this was not to be.
 The Brother of Daphne |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: whilst the sea, as though spattered with burning hailstones,
shone with a phosphorescence that was perfectly splendid.
So great, however, was the speed at which Gallia was receding
from the sun, that this meteoric storm lasted scarcely more than
four and twenty hours.
Next day the direct progress of the _Dobryna_ was arrested by a
long projection of land, which obliged her to turn southwards,
until she reached what formerly would have been the southern
extremity of Corsica. Of this, however, there was now no trace;
the Strait of Boni-facio had been replaced by a vast expanse of water,
which had at first all the appearance of being utterly desert;
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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 A Daughter of Eve by Honore de Balzac: ecstatic air a certain solemnity which was absolutely deceptive as to
his real nature; for he was capable of committing any silliness with
the most exemplary gravity. His clothes were a necessary envelope, to
which he paid not the slightest attention, for his eyes looked too
high among the clouds to concern themselves with such materialities.
This great unknown artist belonged to the kindly class of the self-
forgetting, who give their time and their soul to others, just as they
leave their gloves on every table and their umbrella at all doors. His
hands were of the kind that are dirty as soon as washed. In short, his
old body, badly poised on its knotted old legs, proving to what degree
a man can make it the mere accessory of his soul, belonged to those
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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 Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: simpleton?" she added, addressing Gazonal; "then pay me forty francs
and I'll talk four hundred worth."
Gazonal produced a forty-franc gold-piece, and Madame Nourrisson gave
him startling details as to the secret penury of certain so-called
fashionable women. This dealer in cast-off clothes, getting lively as
she talked, pictured herself unconsciously while telling of others.
Without betraying a single name or any secret, she made the three men
shudder by proving to them how little so-called happiness existed in
Paris that did not rest on the vacillating foundation of borrowed
money. She possessed, laid away in her drawers, the secrets of
departed grandmothers, living children, deceased husbands, dead
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