The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: ledge, and with it the sense that he was lost if he looked more
than a step ahead.
"I'm sure I don't know," he said; then, summoning a smile, he
passed his hand through her arm. "I didn't have tea at the
Dreshams, you know; won't you give me some now?" he suggested.
That evening Glennard, under pretext of work to be done, shut
himself into the small study opening off the drawing-room. As he
gathered up his papers he said to his wife: "You're not going to
sit indoors on such a night as this? I'll join you presently
outside."
But she had drawn her armchair to the lamp. "I want to look at my
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Start in Life by Honore de Balzac: to him as to a hope, and always went to see him once every three
months and talked to him of Oscar, the nephew of the late respectable
Madame Cardot; and she took the boy to call upon him three times
during each vacation. At each of these visits the old gentleman had
given Oscar a dinner at the Cadran-Bleu, taking him, afterwards, to
the Gaiete, and returning him safely to the rue de la Cerisaie. On one
occasion, having given the boy an entirely new suit of clothes, he
added the silver cup and fork and spoon required for his school
outfit.
Oscar's mother endeavored to impress the old gentleman with the idea
that his nephew cherished him, and she constantly referred to the cup
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