| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Gentle Grafter by O. Henry: name of the little man who went to Denver--the one you and Bill met at
the station?"
"Alfred E. Ricks," said Jeff, "was the toad's designation."
"I see," said I, "the president of this mining company signs himself
A. L. Fredericks. I was wondering--"
"Let me see that stock," said Jeff quickly, almost snatching it from
me.
To mitigate, even though slightly, the embarrassment I summoned the
waiter and ordered another bottle of the Barbera. I thought it was the
least I could do.
XII
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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 Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson: the hills in glad simplicity; gave not a thought to coquetry
or to material cares; and if my eye rested on my own image in
a mirror or some sylvan spring, it was to seek and recognise
the features of my parents. But the fears which had long
pressed on others were now to be laid on my youth. I had
thrown myself, one sultry, cloudy afternoon, on a divan; the
windows stood open on the verandah, where my mother sat with
her embroidery; and when my father joined her from the
garden, their conversation, clearly audible to me, was of so
startling a nature that it held me enthralled where I lay.
'The blow has come,' my father said, after a long pause.
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