| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: "Ah!" he cried, recollecting one of the crazy actions of the last Duc
de Lorraine, "let me speak to you so long as I can hold this live coal
in my hand."
He stooped to the hearth and picking up a brand held it tightly.
Mademoiselle de Verneuil flushed, took her arm from that of the count,
and looked at the marquis in amazement. The count softly withdrew,
leaving them alone together. So crazy an action shook Marie's heart,
for there is nothing so persuasive in love as courageous folly.
"You only prove to me," she said, trying to make him throw away the
brand, "that you are willing to make me suffer cruelly. You are
extreme in everything. On the word of a fool and the slander of a
The Chouans |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: What are you going to do now? Are you going into a convent?
Are you going to be--A-a-h!"
And, suddenly, quickly, interrupting herself, Mrs. Gordon gave
a long, wondering cry. Bernard heard her spring to her feet,
and the two other ladies rise from their seats. Captain Lovelock got
up as well; Bernard heard him knock over his little gilded chair.
There was a pause, during which Blanche went through a little
mute exhibition of amazement and pleasure. Bernard turned round,
to receive half a dozen quick questions.
"What are you hiding away for? What are you blushing for?
I never saw you do anything like that before! Why do you look
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: for how many of the greatest enterprises in the
conquest of the earth had for their beginning just
such a bargaining away of the paternal cow for the
mirage or true gold far away! I have been telling
you more or less in my own words what I learned
fragmentarily in the course of two or three years,
during which I seldom missed an opportunity of a
friendly chat with him. He told me this story of
his adventure with many flashes of white teeth and
lively glances of black eyes, at first in a sort of anx-
ious baby-talk, then, as he acquired the language,
Amy Foster |
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 Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain: but their counsel and Aunt Patsy Cooper, and the day of trial
came at last--the heaviest day in Wilson's life; for with all his
tireless diligence he had discovered no sign or trace of the
missing confederate. "Confederate" was the term he had long ago
privately accepted for that person--not as being unquestionably
the right term, but as being the least possibly the right one,
though he was never able to understand why the twins did not
vanish and escape, as the confederate had done, instead of
remaining by the murdered man and getting caught there.
The courthouse was crowded, of course, and would remain so
to the finish, for not only in the town itself, but in the
|
