| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from When the World Shook by H. Rider Haggard: though lighter in colour.
For the rest this adorned recess which resembled that of a
large funeral vault, occupying the whole space beneath the base
of the statue that was supported on its arch, was empty save for
two flashing objects that lay side by side but with nearly the
whole width of the vault between them.
I pointed at them to Bickley with my finger, for really I could
not speak.
"Coffins, by Jove!" he whispered. "Glass or crystal coffins and
people in them. Come on!"
A few seconds later we were crawling into that vault while
When the World Shook |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: Hotchkiss. But McKnight interfered.
"There is no use trying to put the other man's identity on Stuart,
Mr. Hotchkiss," he protested. "He has been our confidential clerk
for six years, and has not been away from the office a day for a
year. I am afraid that the beautiful fabric we have pieced out of
all these scraps is going to be a crazy quilt." His tone was
facetious, but I could detect the undercurrent of real
disappointment.
I paid the constable for his trouble, and he departed. Stuart,
still indignant, left to go back to Washington Circle. He shook
hands with McKnight and myself magnanimously, but he hurled a look
The Man in Lower Ten |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: ease till he left Woodville Castle far behind him. He could not
refuse his friend's invitation, however; and the less so, that he
was a little ashamed of the peevishness which he had displayed
towards his well-meaning entertainer.
The General, therefore, followed Lord Woodville through several
rooms into a long gallery hung with pictures, which the latter
pointed out to his guest, telling the names, and giving some
account of the personages whose portraits presented themselves in
progression. General Browne was but little interested in the
details which these accounts conveyed to him. They were, indeed,
of the kind which are usually found in an old family gallery.
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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 In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: the stove, cooking breakfast. "Breathing into that, now, I suppose,"
thought Andreas, and was very short with the servant girl. She did not
notice. She was full of terrified joy and importance in the goings on
upstairs. She felt she was learning the secrets of life with every breath
she drew. Had laid the table that morning saying, "Boy," as she put down
the first dish, "Girl," as she placed the second--it had worked out with
the saltspoon to "Boy." "For two pins I'd tell the master that, to comfort
him, like," she decided. But the Master gave her no opening.
"Put an extra cup and saucer on the table," he said; "the doctor may want
some coffee."
"The doctor, sir?" The servant girl whipped a spoon out of a pan, and
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