| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson: unbearable; the unjust might go his way, delivered from the
aspirations and remorse of his more upright twin; and the just
could walk steadfastly and securely on his upward path, doing the
good things in which he found his pleasure, and no longer exposed
to disgrace and penitence by the hands of this extraneous evil.
It was the curse of mankind that these incongruous faggots were
thus bound together--that in the agonised womb of consciousness,
these polar twins should be continuously struggling. How, then
were they dissociated?
I was so far in my reflections when, as I have said, a side
light began to shine upon the subject from the laboratory table.
 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde |
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 Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: confraternity, who had probably made them over to him (Gobseck) at a
considerably reduced figure.
"The young man growled out something, in which the words 'Old
scoundrel!' were audible. Daddy Gobseck did not move an eyebrow. He
drew a pair of pistols out of a pigeon-hole, remarking coolly:
" 'As the insulted man, I fire first.'
" 'Maxime, you owe this gentleman an explanation,' cried the trembling
Countess in a low voice.
" 'I had no intention of giving offence,' stammered Maxime.
" 'I am quite sure of that,' Gobseck answered calmly; 'you had no
intention of meeting your bills, that was all.'
 Gobseck |