| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from A Book of Remarkable Criminals by H. B. Irving: the sole author of the outrage.
The jury by their verdict assigned to the widow the greater share
of responsibility. She was found guilty in the full degree, but
to Gaudry were accorded extenuating circumstances. The widow was
condemned to fifteen years' penal servitude, her accomplice to
five years' imprisonment.
It is dreadful to think how very near the Widow Gras came to
accomplishing successfully her diabolical crime. A little less
percipitancy on her part, and she might have secured the fruits
of her cruelty. Her undoubted powers of fascination, in spite of
the fiendishness of her real character, are doubly proved by the
A Book of Remarkable Criminals |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Albert Savarus by Honore de Balzac: "But he is not a native of the Comte," said Monsieur de Watteville.
"So little is he a native of any place, that no one knows where he
comes from," said Madame de Chavoncourt.
"But who is he?" asked Madame de Watteville, taking the Abbe's arm to
go into the dining-room. "If he is a stranger, by what chance has he
settled at Besancon? It is a strange fancy for a barrister."
"Very strange!" echoed Amedee de Soulas, whose biography is here
necessary to the understanding of this tale.
In all ages France and England have carried on an exchange of trifles,
which is all the more constant because it evades the tyranny of the
Custom-house. The fashion that is called English in Paris is called
Albert Savarus |
