| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Forged Coupon by Leo Tolstoy: tors were unavailing; in her hopelessness she
resolved to kill herself. But how was she to do
this, so that her death might seem natural? She
really desired to take her life, and imagined that
she had irrevocably decided on the step. So, ob-
taining some poison, she poured it into a glass,
and in another instant would have drunk it, had
not her sister's little son of five at that very mo-
ment run in to show her a toy his grandmother had
given him. She caressed the child, and, suddenly
stopping short, burst into tears.
The Forged Coupon |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Jerusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso: Quite naked to his foe leaves his left-side;
Tancred avoideth quick his furious charge,
And gave him eke a wound deep, sore and wide;
That done, himself safe to his ward retired,
His courage praised by all, his skill admired.
XLIV
The proud Circassian saw his streaming blood,
Down from his wound, as from a fountain, running,
He sighed for rage, and trembled as he stood,
He blamed his fortune, folly, want of cunning;
He lift his sword aloft, for ire nigh wood,
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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 Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: terre-a-terre."
"Directly, directly!" he cried to a footman who came in. But the
footman had not come to call them again, as he supposed. The
footman brought Vronsky a note.
"A man brought it from Princess Tverskaya."
Vronsky opened the letter, and flushed crimson.
"My head's begun to ache; I'm going home," he said to
Serpuhovskoy.
"Oh, good-bye then. You give me carte Blanche!"
"We'll talk about it later on; I'll look you up in Petersburg."
Chapter 22
Anna Karenina |
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 An International Episode by Henry James: of business. "They certainly do things quickly in New York,"
he observed to his cousin; and he added that Mr. Westgate
had seemed very uneasy lest his wife should miss her visitor--
he had been in such an awful hurry to send him back to her.
"I'm afraid you'll never come up to an American husband,
if that's what the wives expect," he said to Lord Lambeth.
Mrs. Westgate, however, was not to enjoy much longer the entertainment
with which an indulgent husband had desired to keep her provided.
On the 21st of August Lord Lambeth received a telegram from his mother,
requesting him to return immediately to England; his father had been
taken ill, and it was his filial duty to come to him.
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