| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Red Seal by Natalie Sumner Lincoln: office and would have walked unceremoniously into Kent's private
office had not John Sylvester stepped forward from behind his desk
in the corner.
"Good morning, Colonel," he said civilly. "Mr. Kent is not here.
Do you wish to leave any message?"
"Oh, good morning, Sylvester," McIntyre's manner was brusque. "When
do you expect Mr. Kent?"
"In about twenty minutes, Colonel." Sylvester glanced at the wall
clock. "Won't you sit down?"
McIntyre took the chair and planted it by the window. Never a very
patient man, he waited for Kent with increasing irritation, and at
The Red Seal |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Droll Stories, V. 1 by Honore de Balzac: excellent and opportune in life--to keep warm, to drink cool, to stand
up hard, and to swallow soft. Certain persons have accused him of
taking up with a dirty trollops; this is a notorious falsehood, since
all his mistresses, of whom one was legitimised, came of good houses
and had notable establishments. He did not go in for waste and
extravagance, always put his hand upon the solid, and because certain
devourers of the people found no crumbs at his table, they have all
maligned him. But the real collector of facts know that the said king
was a capital fellow in private life, and even very agreeable; and
before cutting off the heads of his friends, or punishing them--for he
did not spare them--it was necessary that they should have greatly
Droll Stories, V. 1 |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: Almost unconsciously she had now undone the parcel he
had just put into her hand, and seeing before her,
in all the niceness of jewellers' packing, a plain
gold chain, perfectly simple and neat, she could not help
bursting forth again, "Oh, this is beautiful indeed!
This is the very thing, precisely what I wished for!
This is the only ornament I have ever had a desire to possess.
It will exactly suit my cross. They must and shall be
worn together. It comes, too, in such an acceptable moment.
Oh, cousin, you do not know how acceptable it is."
"My dear Fanny, you feel these things a great deal too much.
Mansfield Park |
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 Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad: to fall in love. She's the daughter of one Isaac
Foster, who from a small farmer has sunk into a
shepherd; the beginning of his misfortunes dating
from his runaway marriage with the cook of his
widowed father--a well-to-do, apoplectic grazier,
who passionately struck his name off his will, and
had been heard to utter threats against his life.
But this old affair, scandalous enough to serve as
a motive for a Greek tragedy, arose from the simi-
larity of their characters. There are other trage-
dies, less scandalous and of a subtler poignancy,
Amy Foster |
