| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Sarrasine by Honore de Balzac: one last thought my reflections, in which black and white, life and
death, were inextricably mingled. My wandering imagination, like my
eyes, contemplated alternately the festivities, which had now reached
the climax of their splendor, and the gloomy picture presented by the
gardens. I have no idea how long I meditated upon those two faces of
the human medal; but I was suddenly aroused by the stifled laughter of
a young woman. I was stupefied at the picture presented to my eyes. By
virtue of one of the strangest of nature's freaks, the thought half
draped in black, which was tossing about in my brain, emerged from it
and stood before me personified, living; it had come forth like
Minerva from Jupiter's brain, tall and strong; it was at once a
|
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 Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: have failed to notice the tightening of the lips beneath the blond
moustache, or the tenseness of the slight frame under the assumed
embonpoint. Muller's every nerve was tingling, but he had himself
completely in hand.
"What do we owe you?" asked Franz.
"They'll send you a bill from the office. It won't amount to much.
I must be getting on now."
Muller hastened out of the door and down the street to the nearest
cab stand. There were not very many cab stands in this vicinity,
and the detective reasoned that Mrs. Bernauer would naturally have
taken her cab from the nearest station. He had heard her return in
|
