| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: of a mile lower down, where you cross to the temple of Artemis, and there
is, I think, some sort of an altar of Boreas at the place.
PHAEDRUS: I have never noticed it; but I beseech you to tell me, Socrates,
do you believe this tale?
SOCRATES: The wise are doubtful, and I should not be singular if, like
them, I too doubted. I might have a rational explanation that Orithyia was
playing with Pharmacia, when a northern gust carried her over the
neighbouring rocks; and this being the manner of her death, she was said to
have been carried away by Boreas. There is a discrepancy, however, about
the locality; according to another version of the story she was taken from
Areopagus, and not from this place. Now I quite acknowledge that these
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: - how could he detect the forgeries?"
Kent did not reply at once; instead, he glanced keenly about the
living room. The detective had only switched on one of the reading
lamps and the greater part was in shadow. It was a pleasant and
home-like room, and Kent was conscious of a keener pang for the loss
of Jimmie Turnbull and the disappearance of Philip Rochester, as he
gazed around. The lawyer and the bank cashier had been, until that
winter, congenial comrades, sharing their business success and their
apartment in complete accord; and now a shadow as black as that
enveloping the unlighted apartment hung over their good names,
threatening one or the other with the charge of forgery and of
The Red Seal |
