| 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: Mr. Gilmore told Colonel McIntyre that these securities had been
given to Jimmie Turnbull last Saturday on his presentation of a
letter from McIntyre requesting that they be turned over to the
bank's cashier. McIntyre expressed his surprise and asked to see
the letter " - Clymer paused and took a paper from his desk. "Here
is the letter."
Kent took the paper and examined it closely.
"This is perfectly in order," he said. "A clear statement in
Colonel McIntyre's handwriting and on his stationery.
For the first time Colonel McIntyre addressed him.
"The letter is in order," he acknowledged, "and written on my
The Red Seal |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Chita: A Memory of Last Island by Lafcadio Hearn: centres of life and of death;--and long trains and steamships
rushed from the port, with heavy burden of fugitives.
Wealth might flee; yet even in flight there was peril. Men, who
might have been saved by the craft of experienced nurses at home,
hurriedly departed in apparent health, unconsciously carrying in
their blood the toxic principle of a malady unfamiliar to
physicians of the West and North;--and they died upon their way,
by the road-side, by the river-banks, in woods, in deserted
stations, on the cots of quarantine hospitals. Wiser those who
sought refuge in the purity of the pine forests, or in those near
Gulf Islands, whence the bright sea-breath kept ever sweeping
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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 When a Man Marries by Mary Roberts Rinehart: glances with which the announcement of Miss Knowles' presence was
met, the state of affairs seems rather clear. Wilson impresses me
as a spineless sort, anyhow, and when the lady of the basement
shut herself away from the rest today and I happened on "Jimmy,"
as they call him, pleading with her through the door, I very
nearly kicked him down the stairs. Oh, yes, I'll keep out, right
enough; it isn't my affair.
By the way, after the quarantine and with the policeman locked in
the furnace room, a pearl necklace and a diamond bracelet were
stolen! Just ten of us to divide the suspicion! Upon my word,
Hal, it's the queerest situation I ever heard of. Which of us did
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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 Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: no worse now, but I am still that; and I would not have your name
pinned to mine on Paris lips. Therefore, good-bye. God forbid I
should say more to you, or let you stay where foul tongues would
soon malign you.'
She looked at me in a kind of wonder; then, with a growing
smile,--
'It is too late,' she said gently.
'Too late?' I exclaimed. 'How, Mademoiselle?'
'Because--do you remember, M. de Berault, what you told me of
your love-story under the guide-post by Agen? That it could have
no happy ending? For the same reason I was not ashamed to tell
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