| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Lady Baltimore by Owen Wister: seems."
But John and his Uncle Marston had between them given me my beginning,
and, as I sat sippmg my punch, I ceased to hear the anecdotes which
followed. I sat sipping and smoking, and was presently aware of the
deepening silence of the night, and of John no longer at the table, but
by the window, looking out into the forest, and muttering once more, "Oh,
the times, the times!"
"It's always a triangle," I began.
He turned round from his window. "Triangle?" He looked at my glass of
punch, and then at me. "Go easy with the Bombo," he repeated.
"Bombo?" I echoed. "You call this Bombo? You don't know how remarkable
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart: for you all day in the ruins! I've lunched and dined on horrors.
Give me something to rinse them down, Lollie."
He had fished the key of the cellarette from its hiding-place in my
shoe bag and was mixing himself what he called a Bernard Shaw - a
foundation of brandy and soda, with a little of everything else in
sight to give it snap. Now that I saw him clearly, he looked weary
and grimy. I hated to tell him what I knew he was waiting to hear,
but there was no use wading in by inches. I ducked and got it over.
"The notes are gone, Rich," I said, as quietly as I could. In
spite of himself his face fell.
"I - of course I expected it," he said. "But - Mrs. Klopton said
The Man in Lower Ten |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy: charity we are but tinkling simples; but this I do say, that her
going will be a blessed thing for a certain married couple who
remain."
The fire was lighted, and Fitzpiers sat down in front of it,
restless as the last leaf upon a tree. "A sort of sorrow in her
face, as if she reproached her own soul." Poor Felice. How
Felice's frame must be pulsing under the conditions of which he
had just heard the caricature; how her fair temples must ache;
what a mood of wretchedness she must be in! But for the mixing up
of his name with hers, and her determination to sunder their too
close acquaintance on that account, she would probably have sent
The Woodlanders |
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 Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy: rural population towards the large towns", being really
the tendency of water to flow uphill when forced by
machinery.
The cottage accommodation at Marlott having been in
this manner considerably curtailed by demolitions,
every house which remained standing was required by the
agriculturist for his work-people. Ever since the
occurrence of the event which had cast such a shadow
over Tess's life, the Durbeyfield family (whose descent
was not credited) had been tacitly looked on as one
which would have to go when their lease ended, if only
Tess of the d'Urbervilles, A Pure Woman |
