The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Madame Firmiani by Honore de Balzac: and received (as a Cadignan) by the Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry, that
oracle of the noble faubourg, loved by her rivals the Duchesse de
Maufrigneuse her cousin, the Marquise d'Espard, and Madame de Macumer,
--Madame Firmiani gratified all the vanities which feed or excite
love. She was therefore sought by too many men not to fall a victim to
Parisian malice and its charming calumnies, whispered behind a fan or
in a safe aside. It was necessary to quote the remarks given at the
beginning of this history to bring out the true Firmiani in
contradistinction to the Firmiani of society. If some women forgave
her happiness, others did not forgive her propriety. Now nothing is so
dangerous in Paris as unfounded suspicions,--for the reason that it is
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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 Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: of a dealer in foreign silks.
Vas Kor entered the low-ceiling room. A man at the
far end motioned him toward an inner apartment, giving
no further sign of recognition until he had passed in
after the caller and closed the door.
Then he faced his visitor, saluting deferentially.
"Most noble--" he commenced, but Vas Kor silenced
him with a gesture.
"No formalities," he said. "We must forget that I
am aught other than your slave. If all has been as
carefully carried out as it has been planned, we have no
 Thuvia, Maid of Mars |