| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: whereas Madame d'Espard was forty-four, and, in spite of the careful
dissimulations of the toilet, her beauty was fairly at an end.
"You do not often come here, I think," said Madame d'Espard, after the
usual conventional phrases about the /pleasure/ of their meeting had
passed.
"I never come," replied Madame de l'Estorade.
"And I am most assiduous," said Madame d'Espard.
Then, pretending to a sudden recollection, she added,--
"Ah! I forgot; you have a special interest, I think, on this occasion.
A friend of yours is to be /judged/, is he not?"
"Yes; Monsieur de Sallenauve has been to our house several times."
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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 Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: mere boy.
It was just after he had left that three shots in rapid
succession rang out in the still night air.
The red-bandannaed one and his companion, who had apparently been
waiting for the signal, retreated backward to the end of the car,
still keeping the passengers covered. They flung rapidly two or
three bullets through the roof, and under cover of the smoke
slipped out into the night. A moment later came the thud of
galloping horses, more shots, and, when the patter of hoofs had
died away--silence.
The sheriff was the first to break it. He thrust his brown hands
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