| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: is indeed like to the Hawaiian, with a change of certain letters;
and as soon as they had any freedom of speech, began to push the
bottle. You are to consider it was not an easy subject to
introduce; it was not easy to persuade people you were in earnest,
when you offered to sell them for four centimes the spring of
health and riches inexhaustible. It was necessary besides to
explain the dangers of the bottle; and either people disbelieved
the whole thing and laughed, or they thought the more of the darker
part, became overcast with gravity, and drew away from Keawe and
Kokua, as from persons who had dealings with the devil. So far
from gaining ground, these two began to find they were avoided in
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Confidence by Henry James: "She used to be so well--so bright," said Angela, who also appeared
to have the desire to say something kind and comfortable.
Gordon made no response to this; he only looked at her.
"I hope you are well, Miss Vivian," he broke out at last.
"Very well, thank you."
"Do you live in Paris?"
"We have pitched our tent here for the present."
"Do you like it?"
"I find it no worse than other places."
Gordon appeared to desire to talk with her; but he could think of nothing
to say. Talking with her was a pretext for looking at her; and Bernard,
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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 Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: "We are being told, one may suppose, that General Valdez is the
newly elected governor?"
"Right, your excellency, elected by a large majority to succeed
the late Governor Megales."
"Late!" The former governor lifted his eyebrows. "Am I also being
told that necessity demands the posting of the suicide bulletin,
after all?"
"Not at all. Sure, I gave you me word, excellency. And that is
one of the reasons why I am here. We have arranged to run a
special down the line to-night, in order to avoid the risk of the
news leaking out that you are still here. Can you make your
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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 Caesar's Commentaries in Latin by Julius Caesar: armis ius suum exequi conaretur multitudinemque hominum ex agris
magistratus cogerent, Orgetorix mortuus est; neque abest suspicio, ut
Helvetii arbitrantur, quin ipse sibi mortem consciverit.
Post eius mortem nihilo minus Helvetii id quod constituerant facere
conantur, ut e finibus suis exeant. Ubi iam se ad eam rem paratos esse
arbitrati sunt, oppida sua omnia, numero ad duodecim, vicos ad
quadringentos, reliqua privata aedificia incendunt; frumentum omne,
praeter quod secum portaturi erant, comburunt, ut domum reditionis spe
sublata paratiores ad omnia pericula subeunda essent; trium mensum molita
cibaria sibi quemque domo efferre iubent. Persuadent Rauracis et Tulingis
et Latobrigis finitimis, uti eodem usi consilio oppidis suis vicisque
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