| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Firm of Nucingen by Honore de Balzac: cups, the fringed serviettes so full of holes that they looked like
open work in the Spanish fashion, the green sitting-room with the
Baroness' blue bedroom beyond it,--it was all sacred, all dear to him.
It is only your stupid woman with the brilliant beauty that throws
heart, brain, and soul into the shade, who can inspire forgetfulness
like this; a clever woman never abuses her advantages; she must be
small-natured and silly to gain such a hold upon a man. Beaudenord
actually loved the solemn old Wirth--he has told me so himself!
"That old rogue regarded his future master with the awe which a good
Catholic feels for the Eucharist. Honest Wirth was a kind of Gaspard,
a beer-drinking German sheathing his cunning in good-nature, much as a
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: had misjudged his own strength, and he paid
for the foolhardy act with his life, for he had
no sooner delivered the ball than he grasped
his side and moaned with pain. He had hardly
sufficient strength to get back to the ship,
where he went immediately to bed and died
shortly afterward. An examination showed
that he had ruptured an artery.
Kellar and Ling Look had much difficulty
in persuading the captain to take the body to
Hong Kong, but he finally consented. On the
Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
