| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: take them; they were like ice, like a dead woman's hands. Tullia, you
can understand, was playing to admiration the part of corpse that
women can play to show you that they refuse their consent to anything
and everything; that for you they are suppressing soul, spirit, and
life, and regard themselves as beasts of burden. Nothing so provokes a
man with a heart as this strategy. Women can only use it with those
who worship them.
"She turned to me. 'Do you suppose,' she said scornfully, 'that a
Count would have uttered such an insult even if the thought had
entered his mind? For my misfortune I have lived with dukes,
ambassadors, and great lords, and I know their ways. How intolerable
|
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 Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey: might be caught.
As the afternoon wore away Venters's concern diminished, yet he
kept close watch on the blacks and the trail and the sage. There
was no telling of what Jerry Card might be capable. Venters
sullenly acquiesced to the idea that the rider had been too quick
and too shrewd for him. Strangely and doggedly, however, Venters
clung to his foreboding of Card's downfall.
The wind died away; the red sun topped the far distant western
rise of slope; and the long, creeping purple shadows lengthened.
The rims of the canyons gleamed crimson and the deep clefts
appeared to belch forth blue smoke. Silence enfolded the scene.
Riders of the Purple Sage |
