| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Pocket Diary Found in the Snow by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner: fetch a pot of tea from a neighbouring saloon. When the tray
arrived, he placed several good cigars upon it, and sent it in to
Muller. Taking a cigar himself, the commissioner leaned back in
his sofa corner to think over this first interesting case of his
short professional experience. That it concerned a lady in distress
made it all the more romantic.
In his little room the detective, put in good humour by the
thoughtful attention of his chief, sat down to read the book
carefully. While he studied its contents his mind went back over
his search in the silent street outside.
He and Amster had hurried out into the raw chill of the night,
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott: before whom she poured out the sparkling gems she had gathered
with such toil and care; but when the Spirits tried to form them
into crowns, they trickled from their hands like colored drops of dew,
and Ripple saw with fear and sorrow how they melted one by one away,
till none of all the many she had brought remained. Then the
Fire-Spirits looked upon her angrily, and when she begged them
to be merciful, and let her try once more, saying,--
"Do not keep me prisoner here. I cannot breathe the flames that
give you life, and but for this snow-mantle I too should melt away,
and vanish like the jewels in your hands. O dear Spirits, give me
some other task, but let me go from this warm place, where all is
Flower Fables |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: and shed secret tears not a few, and had the beauties of the
Furca Pass spoiled for me, and have been called an "incorrigible
Don Quixote," in allusion to the book-born madness of the knight.
For that spoil! They rustle, those bits of paper--some dozen of
them in all. In that faint, ghostly sound there live the
memories of twenty years, the voices of rough men now no more,
the strong voice of the everlasting winds, and the whisper of a
mysterious spell, the murmur of the great sea, which must have
somehow reached my inland cradle and entered my unconscious ear,
like that formula of Mohammedan faith the Mussulman father
whispers into the ear of his new-born infant, making him one of
Some Reminiscences |
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 Ten Years Later by Alexandre Dumas: hundred men are not enough for me to defend you with. A
hundred men! -- you ought to have ten thousand. I maintain,
then, these men in order that in public places, in
assemblies, no voice may be raised against you, and without
them, monsieur, you would be loaded with imprecations, you
would be torn to pieces, you would not last a week; no, not
a week, do you understand?"
"Ah! I did not know you were my champion to such an extent,
monsieur l'abbe."
"You doubt it!" cried the abbe. "Listen, then, to what
happened, no longer ago than yesterday, in the Rue de la
Ten Years Later |
