| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: " 'Who is Monsieur Regnault?'
" 'What, sir, do you not know Monsieur Regnault?--Well, that's odd,'
said she, leaving the room.
"On a sudden I saw a man appear, tall, slim, dressed in black, hat in
hand, who came in like a ram ready to butt his opponent, showing a
receding forehead, a small pointed head, and a colorless face of the
hue of a glass of dirty water. You would have taken him for an usher.
The stranger wore an old coat, much worn at the seams; but he had a
diamond in his shirt frill, and gold rings in his ears.
" 'Monsieur,' said I, 'whom have I the honor of addressing?'--He took
a chair, placed himself in front of my fire, put his hat on my table,
La Grande Breteche |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Case of The Lamp That Went Out by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: as his mind was so busy that no mere physical sensation could
divert his attention for a moment. Muller never seemed to need
sleep or food when he was on the trail, particularly not in the
fascinating first stages of the case when it was his imagination
alone, catching at trifles unnoticed by others, combining them in
masterly fashion to an ordered whole, that first led the seekers
to the truth. Now he went over once more all the little apparently
trivial incidents that had caused him first to watch the Thorne
household and then had drawn his attention, and his suspicion,
to Adele Bernauer. It was the broken willow twig that had first
drawn his attention to the old garden next the Thorne property.
|
