| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: into my very ear, anxiously.
His anxiety was in answer, a sufficient answer, to the question
I had put to him. An answer containing all the difficulty
of that situation. I closed the porthole quietly, to make sure.
A louder word might have been overheard.
"Who's that?" he whispered then.
"My second mate. But I don't know much more of the fellow than you do."
And I told him a little about myself. I had been appointed to take
charge while I least expected anything of the sort, not quite
a fortnight ago. I didn't know either the ship or the people.
Hadn't had the time in port to look about me or size anybody up.
 The Secret Sharer |
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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: Monsieur, I am Monsieur Regnault.'
" I was encouraging myself by saying to myself, '/Il bondo cani!/
Seek!'
" 'I am,' he went on, 'notary at Vendome.'
" 'I am delighted to hear it, monsieur,' I exclaimed. 'But I am not in
a position to make a will for reasons best known to myself.'
" 'One moment!' said he, holding up his hand as though to gain
silence. 'Allow me, monsieur, allow me! I am informed that you
sometimes go to walk in the garden of la Grande Breteche.'
" 'Yes, monsieur.'
" 'One moment!' said he, repeating his gesture. 'That constitutes a
 La Grande Breteche |