| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Heart of the West by O. Henry: gallery."
"Where's the bell?" asked McGuire, looking about.
"Bell for what?"
"Bell to ring for things. I can't--see here," he exploded in a sudden,
weak fury, "I never asked you to bring me here. I never held you up
for a cent. I never gave you a hard-luck story till you asked me. Here
I am fifty miles from a bellboy or a cocktail. I'm sick. I can't
hustle. Gee! but I'm up against it!" McGuire fell upon the cot and
sobbed shiveringly.
Raidler went to the door and called. A slender, bright-complexioned
Mexican youth about twenty came quickly. Raidler spoke to him in
Heart of the West |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: word had vaguely awakened a train. "She's not a bit myopic," he
said; "she doesn't blink or contract her lids." I fully recognised
this and I mentioned that she altogether denied the impeachment;
owing it to him moreover to explain the ground of my inquiry, I
gave him a sketch of the incident that had taken place before me at
the shop. He knew all about Lord Iffield; that nobleman had
figured freely in our conversation as his preferred, his injurious
rival. Poor Dawling's contention was that if there had been a
definite engagement between his lordship and the young lady, the
sort of thing that was announced in the Morning Post, renunciation
and retirement would be comparatively easy to him; but that having
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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 Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: And yet lay still, and feigned himself as dead,
That he might prove her to the uttermost,
And say to his own heart, 'She weeps for me.'
But in the falling afternoon returned
The huge Earl Doorm with plunder to the hall.
His lusty spearmen followed him with noise:
Each hurling down a heap of things that rang
Against his pavement, cast his lance aside,
And doffed his helm: and then there fluttered in,
Half-bold, half-frighted, with dilated eyes,
A tribe of women, dressed in many hues,
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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 Chouans by Honore de Balzac: army in Paris. The Directory, in consequence of a disturbance in the
Assembly, has made another clean sweep of our affairs. Those
pentarchs,--puppets, I call them,--those directors have just lost a
good blade; Bernadotte has abandoned them."
"Who will take his place?" asked Gerard, eagerly.
"Milet-Mureau, an old blockhead. A pretty time to choose to let fools
sail the ship! English rockets from all the headlands, and those
cursed Chouan cockchafers in the air! You may rely upon it that some
one behind those puppets pulled the wire when they saw we were getting
the worst of it."
"How getting the worst of it?"
The Chouans |
