The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Coxon Fund by Henry James: Miss Anvoy. I said to myself that our friend had gone out, but it
was a comfort that the presence of a comparative stranger deprived
us of the dreary duty of suggesting to each other, in respect of
his errand, edifying possibilities in which we didn't ourselves
believe. At ten o'clock he came into the drawing-room with his
waistcoat much awry but his eyes sending out great signals. It was
precisely with his entrance that I ceased to be vividly conscious
of him. I saw that the crystal, as I had called it, had begun to
swing, and I had need of my immediate attention for Miss Anvoy.
Even when I was told afterwards that he had, as we might have said
to-day, broken the record, the manner in which that attention had
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dark Lady of the Sonnets by George Bernard Shaw: excellent discretion.
THE LADY. Have I been in speech with you here?
THE MAN. Why, yes, fair lady. Have you forgot it?
THE LADY. I have walked in my sleep.
THE MAN. Walk ever in your sleep, fair one; for then your words drop
like honey.
THE LADY. _[with cold majesty]_ Know you to whom you speak, sir,
that you dare express yourself so saucily?
THE MAN. _[unabashed]_ Not I, not care neither. You are some lady
of the Court, belike. To me there are but two sorts of women: those
with excellent voices, sweet and low, and cackling hens that cannot
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