| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini: of the circle and requested the committee
to examine the wrappings and the
leg and report if both were there. The
committee did so and reported in the
affirmative.
While this was going on, there was a
smile, almost seraphic in its beauty, on
Mr. Sothern's face.
After this an enormous hot iron, in the
shape of a horseshoe, was placed on Mr.
Sothern's body, where it cooled, without
 Miracle Mongers and Their Methods |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan by Honore de Balzac: (as some writers do), regarded her as a most superior woman. These
conversations, however, led away from Diane's object, and she tried to
get back to the region of confidences from which d'Arthez had
prudently retired after her coquettish rebuff; but it was not as easy
as she expected to bring back a man of his nature who had once been
startled away.
However, after a month of literary campaigning and the finest platonic
discourses, d'Arthez grew bolder, and arrived every day at three
o'clock. He retired at six, and returned at nine, to remain until
midnight, or one in the morning, with the regularity of an ardent and
impatient lover. The princess was always dressed with more or less
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