| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Letters from England by Elizabeth Davis Bancroft: housekeepers may. I had Mr. Greville the other side of me, who
seemed much surprised that I, an American, should know the "Prayer
for Indifference," which he doubted if twenty persons in England
read in these modern days.
It is a great mystery to me yet how people get to know each other in
London. Persons talk to you whom you do not know, for no one is
introduced, as a general rule. I have sometimes quite an
acquaintance with a person, and exchange visits, and yet do not
succeed for a long time in putting their name and the person
together. . . . It is a great puzzle to a stranger, but has its
conveniences for the English themselves. We are endeavoring to
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Coxon Fund by Henry James: nothing less than your word of honour as to your conviction of
this. If you give it me," I said, "I'll engage to hand her the
letter before night."
Gravener took up his hat; turning it mechanically round he stood
looking a moment hard at its unruffled perfection. Then very
angrily honestly and gallantly, "Hand it to the devil!" he broke
out; with which he clapped the hat on his head and left me.
"Will you read it or not?" I said to Ruth Anvoy, at Wimbledon, when
I had told her the story of Mrs. Saltram's visit.
She debated for a time probably of the briefest, but long enough to
make me nervous. "Have you brought it with you?"
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