| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Octopus by Frank Norris: you. How is it, all of a sudden you talk about honour? How is
it that all at once you're so clean and straight? You weren't so
particular at Sacramento just before the nominations. How was
the Board elected? I'm a bribe-eater, am I? Is it any worse
than GIVING a bribe? Ask Magnus Derrick what he thinks about
that. Ask him how much he paid the Democratic bosses at
Sacramento to swing the convention."
He went out, slamming the door.
Presley followed. The whole affair made him sick at heart,
filled him with infinite disgust, infinite weariness. He wished
to get away from it all. He left the dining-room and the
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: repeat the verses once more. At the end of the sixth verse I saw from the
window the sister of the Baroness and the scarred youth disappearing
through the front gate, which enabled me to thank the poet so charmingly
that he offered to write me out a copy.
But we were living at too high pressure in those days. Swinging from our
humble pension to the high walls of palaces, how could we help but fall?
Late one afternoon the Frau Doktor came upon me in the writing-room and
took me to her bosom.
"She has been telling me all about her life," whispered the Frau Doktor.
"She came to my bedroom and offered to massage my arm. You know, I am the
greatest martyr to rheumatism. And, fancy now, she has already had six
|
