| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Beauty and The Beast by Bayard Taylor: some Von Herisau. Perhaps a sentence in one of the sister's
letters--"Forget thy disappointment so far as _I_ am concerned, for
I never expected any thing"--referred to something of the kind. On
the whole, service seemed more likely than kinship; but in that
case the papers must have been stolen.
I had endeavored, from the start, to keep my sympathies out of
the investigation, lest they should lead me to misinterpret the
broken evidence, and thus defeat my object. It must have been the
Countess' letter, and the brief, almost stenographic, signs of
anxiety and unhappiness on the leaf of the journal, that first
beguiled me into a commiseration, which the simple devotion and
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: miserable dog howled or snarled abuse upon his neighbor. Once,
one of them approached the creeping man, but the man became
motionless. The dog came closer and sniffed, and came yet closer,
till its nose touched the strange object which had not been there
when darkness fell. Then Hitchcock, for it was Hitchcock,
upreared suddenly, shooting an unmittened hand out to the brute's
shaggy throat. And the dog knew its death in that clutch, and
when the man moved on, was left broken-necked under the stars. In
this manner Hitchcock made the chief's lodge. For long he lay in
the snow without, listening to the voices of the occupants and
striving to locate Sipsu. Evidently there were many in the tent,
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Collection of Antiquities by Honore de Balzac: France; from the loyal provincial noblesse, consigned to neglect with
most of those who had drawn sword and braved the storm for the cause.
"What have the Princes done for the du Guenics, or the Fontaines, or
the Bauvans, who never submitted?" he muttered to himself. "They fling
miserable pensions to the men who fought most bravely, and give them a
royal lieutenancy in a fortress somewhere on the outskirts of the
kingdom."
Evidently the Marquis doubted the reigning dynasty. Mlle. d'Esgrignon
was trying to reassure her brother as to the prospects of the journey,
when a step outside on the dry narrow footway gave them notice of
Chesnel's coming. In another moment Chesnel appeared; Josephin, the
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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 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: distinctive hand, and left large clear spaces between her words.
But if you look at the date at the top of the letter you will
notice that 'July 17th' is quite different in this respect. Do
you see what I mean?"
"No," I confessed, "I don't."
"You do not see that that letter was not written on the 17th, but
on the 7th--the day after Miss Howard's departure? The '1' was
written in before the '7' to turn it into the '17th'."
"But why?"
"That is exactly what I asked myself. Why does Miss Howard
suppress the letter written on the 17th, and produce this faked
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
