| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: Jerome honestly means to marry me--"
"But then," said Rosalie, "why meet at night?"
Mariette was dumfounded, and could make no reply.
"Listen, Mariette; I am in love too! In secret and without any return.
I am, after all, my father's and mother's only child. You have more to
hope for from me than from any one else in the world--"
"Certainly, mademoiselle, and you may count on us for life or death,"
exclaimed Mariette, rejoiced at the unexpected turn of affairs.
"In the first place, silence for silence," said Rosalie. "I will not
marry Monsieur de Soulas; but one thing I will have, and must have; my
help and favor are yours on one condition only."
Albert Savarus |
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 Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: Diane d'Uxelles cautiously avoided, as she would the wearing of a
yellow gown, all mention of d'Arthez. The marquise circled round and
round that topic like a Bedouin round a caravan. Diane amused herself;
the marquise fumed. Diane waited; she intended to utilize her friend
and use her in the chase. Of these two women, both so celebrated in
the social world, one was far stronger than the other. The princess
rose by a head above the marquise, and the marquise was inwardly
conscious of that superiority. In this, perhaps, lay the secret of
their intimacy. The weaker of the two crouched low in her false
attachment, watching for the hour, long awaited by feeble beings, of
springing at the throat of the stronger and leaving the mark of a
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