| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Vendetta by Honore de Balzac: fled with the vision of him still before her eyes.
The next day was not a class-day, but Ginevra came to the studio, and
the prisoner was free to sit beside her easel. Servin, who had a
sketch to finish, played the part of mentor to the two young people,
who talked to each other chiefly in Corsican. The soldier related the
sufferings of the retreat from Moscow; for, at nineteen years of age,
he had made the passage of the Beresins, and was almost the last man
left of his regiment. He described, in words of fire, the great
disaster of Waterloo. His voice was music itself to the Italian girl.
Brought up as a Corsican, Ginevra was, in some sense, a child of
Nature; falseness was a thing unknown to her; she gave herself up
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis: dismaying to Babbitt to have such a person glower at him. He hastily praised
the congressman's wit, to Sidney Finkelstein, but for Dr. Dilling's benefit.
III
That afternoon three men shouldered into Babbitt's office with the air of a
Vigilante committee in frontier days. They were large, resolute, big-jawed
men, and they were all high lords in the land of Zenith--Dr. Dilling the
surgeon, Charles McKelvey the contractor, and, most dismaying of all, the
white-bearded Colonel Rutherford Snow, owner of the Advocate-Times. In their
whelming presence Babbitt felt small and insignificant.
"Well, well, great pleasure, have chairs, what c'n I do for you?" he babbled.
They neither sat nor offered observations on the weather.
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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 Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie: everything, but gave out only what he chose. A proof of that
occurred almost at once.
Immediately the first greetings were over Julius broke out into a
flood of eager questions. How had Sir James managed to track the
girl? Why had he not let them know that he was still working on
the case? And so on.
Sir James stroked his chin and smiled. At last he said:
"Just so, just so. Well, she's found. And that's the great
thing, isn't it? Eh! Come now, that's the great thing?"
"Sure it is. But just how did you strike her trail? Miss
Tuppence and I thought you'd quit for good and all."
Secret Adversary |
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 Moral Emblems by Robert Louis Stevenson: It pounded like a powder mill;
And marking how the world went round
A theory of theft it found.
Here is the key to right and wrong:
STEAL LITTLE, BUT STEAL ALL DAY LONG;
And this invaluable plan
Marks what is called the Honest Man.
When first I served with Doctor Pill,
My hand was ever in the till.
Now that I am myself a master,
My gains come softer still and faster.
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