| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: phrase. What a splendid fortune to leave to two pals, though the two
old stagers would be sent back to the galleys within a few days! Le
Biffon and Fil-de-Soie would be sentenced for a term of fifteen years
for robbery with violence, without prejudice to the ten years' penal
servitude on a former sentence, which they had taken the liberty of
cutting short. So, though one had twenty-two and the other twenty-six
years of imprisonment to look forward to, they both hoped to escape,
and come back to find la Pouraille's mine of gold.
But the "Ten-thousand man" kept his secret; he did not see the use of
telling it before he was sentenced. He belonged to the "upper ten" of
the hulks, and had never betrayed his accomplices. His temper was well
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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 Deputy of Arcis by Honore de Balzac: arrondissement of Arcis, that old statesman would doubtless propose
for candidate some young man who could be induced to accept an
official function and then yield his place to Charles Keller,--a
parliamentary arrangement which renders the elect of the people
subject to re-election.
When Simon Giguet sounded the old notary Grevin, the faithful friend
of the Comte de Gondreville, on the subject of the elections, the old
man replied that, while he did not know the intentions of the Comte de
Gondreville, he should himself vote for Charles Keller and employ his
influence for that election.
As soon as this answer of old Grevin had circulated through Arcis, a
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