| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Daisy Miller by Henry James: reckless class. It must be admitted that holding one's self to a belief
in Daisy's "innocence" came to seem to Winterbourne more and more a matter
of fine-spun gallantry. As I have already had occasion to relate, he was
angry at finding himself reduced to chopping logic about this young lady;
he was vexed at his want of instinctive certitude as to how far her
eccentricities were generic, national, and how far they were personal.
From either view of them he had somehow missed her, and now it was too late.
She was "carried away" by Mr. Giovanelli.
A few days after his brief interview with her mother, he encountered
her in that beautiful abode of flowering desolation known as the
Palace of the Caesars. The early Roman spring had filled the air
|
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 La Grande Breteche by Honore de Balzac: said he.
" 'Jean!' Monsieur de Merret called in a voice of thunder down the
passage. Jean, who was both coachman and confidential servant, left
his cards and came.
" 'Go to bed, all of you,' said his master, beckoning him to come
close; and the gentleman added in a whisper, 'When they are all asleep
--mind, /asleep/--you understand?--come down and tell me.'
"Monsieur de Merret, who had never lost sight of his wife while giving
his orders, quietly came back to her at the fireside, and began to
tell her the details of the game of billiards and the discussion at
the club. When Rosalie returned she found Monsieur and Madame de
La Grande Breteche |
