| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Another Study of Woman by Honore de Balzac: "A minute later, and apparently when the Colonel was snug in his couch
of straw or hay, he repeated, 'Rosina?'
"The tone of this second call was even more brutally questioning than
the first. The Colonel's strong burr, and the length which the Italian
language allows to be given to vowels and the final syllable,
concentrated all the man's despotism, impatience, and strength of
will. Rosina turned pale, but she rose, passed behind us, and went to
the Colonel.
"All the party sat in utter silence; I, unluckily, after looking at
them all, began to laugh, and then they all laughed too.--'/Tu ridi?/
--you laugh?' said the husband.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Foolish Virgin by Thomas Dixon: look for it. Don't you move now till I see--I know
you're a liar----"
She turned and with the quick trembling fingers of
her right hand tore the shirt back from the neck and
saw the scar. She still held the bag in her left hand.
The muscles slowly relaxed and the bag fell endwise to
the floor, the gold crashing and rolling over the
boards. She stared in stupor and threw both hands
above her streaming gray hair.
"Lord God Almighty!" she shrieked. "Why didn't I
think that he wuz somebody else's boy if he weren't
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