| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: reside in Sweden, and we wished to throw you off the track."
"Will you continue the explanation yourself?" asked Jacques
Bricheteau, who spoke, as you may have observed, my dear friend, with
elegance and fluency.
"No, no, go on," said the marquis; "you are giving it admirably."
"Feeling certain that your equivocal position as to family would
injure the political career your father desired you to enter, I made
that remark to him in one of my letters. He agreed with me, and
resolved to hasten the period of your legal recognition, which,
indeed, the extinction of the family in its other branch rendered
desirable. But the recognition of a natural son is a serious act which
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Critias by Plato: which now exists may compare with any region in the world for the variety
and excellence of its fruits and the suitableness of its pastures to every
sort of animal, which proves what I am saying; but in those days the
country was fair as now and yielded far more abundant produce. How shall I
establish my words? and what part of it can be truly called a remnant of
the land that then was? The whole country is only a long promontory
extending far into the sea away from the rest of the continent, while the
surrounding basin of the sea is everywhere deep in the neighbourhood of the
shore. Many great deluges have taken place during the nine thousand years,
for that is the number of years which have elapsed since the time of which
I am speaking; and during all this time and through so many changes, there
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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 Paz by Honore de Balzac: and defects, but the mutual comprehension of our souls has tightened
the bond already close between us. It is quite possible to save a
man's life and kill him afterwards if we find him a bad fellow; but
Paz and I know THAT of each other which makes our friendship
indissoluble. There's a constant exchange of happy thoughts and
impressions between us; and really, perhaps, such a friendship as ours
is richer than love."
A pretty hand closed the count's mouth so promptly that the action was
somewhat like a blow.
"Yes," he said, "friendship, my dear angel, knows nothing of bankrupt
sentiments and collapsed joys. Love, after giving more than it has,
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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 The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson: strangely disturbed. The silence, in that upper storey of the
house, was only broken by the flickering of the flames and the
hissing of a green log in the chimney; but presently, to Dick's
strained hearing, there came the sound of some one walking with
extreme precaution; and soon after the door opened, and a little
black-faced, dwarfish fellow, in Lord Shoreby's colours, pushed
first his head, and then his crooked body, into the chamber. His
mouth was open, as though to hear the better; and his eyes, which
were very bright, flitted restlessly and swiftly to and fro. He
went round and round the room, striking here and there upon the
hangings; but Dick, by a miracle, escaped his notice. Then he
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