| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Under the Red Robe by Stanley Weyman: Monsieur must overlook much, if he stays. Madame lives retired,
and the roads are ill-made and visitors few.'
'When the lion was ill the jackals left him,' I said.
Louis nodded. 'It is true,' he answered simply. He made no
boast or brag on his own account, I noticed; and it came home to
me that he was a faithful fellow, such as I love. I questioned
him discreetly, and learned that he and Clon and an older man who
lived over the stables were the only male servants left of a
great household. Madame, her sister-in-law, and three women
completed the family.
It took me some time to repair my wardrobe, so that I daresay it
|
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 Rezanov by Gertrude Atherton: should never marry because he could not marry
Concha Arguello, but he could think of her, see her
sometimes; and in a land where a man was neither
frozen in winter nor grilled in summer, where life
could be led in the open, and the tendency was to
idle and dream, domestic happiness called on a
feebler note than in less equable climes. In his
heart he was desperately jealous of Concha's fav-
ored cavaliers, but it was a jealousy without hatred,
and his kind, earnest, often humorous eyes, were
always assuring his lady of an imperishable desire
Rezanov |
