The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: soundless, hot night an argus pheasant screamed in the woods across
the stream. Davidson started violently, all his senses on the
alert at once.
"The candle was still burning in the house. Everything was quiet
again, but Davidson felt drowsy no longer. An uneasy premonition
of evil oppressed him.
"'Surely I am not afraid,' he argued with himself.
"The silence was like a seal on his ears, and his nervous inward
impatience grew intolerable. He commanded himself to keep still.
But all the same he was just going to jump out of the boat when a
faint ripple on the immensity of silence, a mere tremor in the air,
 Within the Tides |
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 Glasses by Henry James: the face of some splendid tragic mask, and I remembered for the
inconsequence of it what Mrs. Meldrum had said about her sight. I
had derived from this lady a worrying impulse to catechise her, but
that didn't seem exactly kind; so I substituted another question,
inquiring who the pretty young man in knickerbockers might happen
to be.
"Oh a gentleman I met at Boulogne. He has come over to see me."
After a moment she added: "Lord Iffield."
I had never heard of Lord Iffield, but her mention of his having
been at Boulogne helped me to give him a niche. Mrs. Meldrum had
incidentally thrown a certain light on the manners of Mrs. Floyd-
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