| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Island Nights' Entertainments by Robert Louis Stevenson: heard the like."
"It's worse than that, you see," said Case. "You ain't tabooed - I
told you that couldn't be. The people won't go near you,
Wiltshire, and there's where it is."
"They won't go near me? What do you mean by that? Why won't they
go near me?" I cried.
Case hesitated. "Seems they're frightened," says he, in a low,
voice.
I stopped dead short. "Frightened?" I repeated. "Are you gone
crazy, Case? What are they frightened of?"
"I wish I could make out," Case answered, shaking his head.
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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 American by Henry James: I would, figuratively speaking, put his nose out of joint.
There was a matter of some sixty thousand dollars at stake.
If I put it out of his way, it was a blow the fellow would feel,
and he really deserved no quarter. I jumped into a hack and went
about my business, and it was in this hack--this immortal,
historical hack--that the curious thing I speak of occurred.
It was a hack like any other, only a trifle dirtier,
with a greasy line along the top of the drab cushions,
as if it had been used for a great many Irish funerals.
It is possible I took a nap; I had been traveling all night,
and though I was excited with my errand, I felt the want of sleep.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mucker by Edgar Rice Burroughs: and before he could fire again the warrior was upon him.
The girl saw the white man leap to one side to escape the
furious cut aimed at him by his foe, and then she saw him
turn with the agility of a panther and spring to close quarters
with the wild man. Byrne's left arm went around the Malay's
neck, and with his heavy right fist he rained blow after blow
upon the brown face.
The savage dropped his useless parang--clawing and biting
at the mighty creature in whose power he found himself; but
never once did those terrific, relentless blows cease to fall upon
his unprotected face.
The Mucker |
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 The Deserted Woman by Honore de Balzac: will turn with pleasure to an old woman whose friendship will
certainly be sweet and precious to you then; a friendship untried
by the extremes of passion and the disenchanting processes of
life; a friendship which noble thoughts and thoughts of religion
will keep pure and sacred. Farewell; do my bidding with the
thought that your success will bring a gleam of pleasure into my
solitude, and only think of me as we think of absent friends."
Gaston de Nueil read the letter, and wrote the following lines:--
"MADAME,--If I could cease to love you, to take the chances of
becoming an ordinary man which you hold out to me, you must admit
that I should thoroughly deserve my fate. No, I shall not do as
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