| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: penetrate her disguise as she had penetrated his, if she were Gypsy
Nan and Danglar's wife to him, her threat would be valid enough,
and - and he would be at her mercy!
A flush, half shamed, half angry, dyed the grime that was part of
Gypsy Nan's disguise upon her face. What was she saying to herself?
What was she thinking? That he did not know she loved him! How
would he? How could he? Had a word, an act, a single look of hers
ever given him a hint that, when she had been with him as the White
Moll, she cared! It was unjust, unfair, to fling such a taunt at
herself. It seemed as though she had lost nearly everything in
life, but she had not yet lost her womanliness and her pride.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Glasses by Henry James: without a fresh appointment he was to reappear six months later
under protection no less powerful than that of our young lady
herself. I had seen her repeatedly for months: she had grown to
regard my studio as the temple of her beauty. This miracle was
recorded and celebrated there as nowhere else; in other places
there was occasional reference to other subjects of remark. The
degree of her presumption continued to be stupefying; there was
nothing so extraordinary save the degree in which she never paid
for it. She was kept innocent, that is she was kept safe, by her
egotism, but she was helped also, though she had now put off her
mourning, by the attitude of the lone orphan who had to be a law
|
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Off on a Comet by Jules Verne: that Saturn completes his revolution round the sun in a period
of 29 years and 167 days, traveling at the rate of more than
21,000 miles an hour along an orbit measuring 5,490 millions
of miles in length. His circumference is about 220,000 miles;
his superficies, 144,000 millions of square miles; his volume,
143,846 millions of cubic miles. Saturn is 735 times larger
than the earth, consequently he is smaller than Jupiter;
in mass he is only 90 times greater than the earth,
which gives him a density less than that of water.
He revolves on his axis in 10 hours 29 minutes, causing his own
year to consist of 86,630 days; and his seasons, on account
|
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 Christ in Flanders by Honore de Balzac: wallet, on a great coil of rope that lay in the prow. One of the
rowers, an old sailor, who had known her in the days of her beauty and
prosperity, had let her come in "for the love of God," in the
beautiful phrase that the common people use.
"Thank you kindly, Thomas," the old woman had said. "I will say two
/Paters/ and two /Aves/ for you in my prayers to-night."
The skipper blew his horn for the last time, looked along the silent
shore, flung off the chain, ran along the side of the boat, and took
up his position at the helm. He looked at the sky, and as soon as they
were out in the open sea, he shouted to the men: "Pull away, pull with
all your might! The sea is smiling at a squall, the witch! I can feel
|
