| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from An Episode Under the Terror by Honore de Balzac: Prince de Conti, and he owes everything to him. So long as you stay in
the house, you are safer here than anywhere else in France. Do not go
out. Pious souls will minister to your necessities, and you can wait
in safety for better times. Next year, on the 21st of January,"--he
could not hide an involuntary shudder as he spoke,--"next year, if you
are still in this dreary refuge, I will come back again to celebrate
the expiatory mass with you----"
He broke off, bowed to the three, who answered not a word, gave a last
look at the garret with its signs of poverty, and vanished.
Such an adventure possessed all the interest of a romance in the lives
of the innocent nuns. So, as soon as the venerable abbe told them the
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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 Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker: scientific, occult? Any kind of hint will help me."
"Quite right. I shall try to tell you what I think; but I have not
put my thoughts on the subject in sequence, so you must forgive me
if due order is not observed in my narration. I suppose you have
seen the house at Diana's Grove?"
"The outside of it; but I have that in my mind's eye, and I can fit
into my memory whatever you may mention."
"The house is very old--probably the first house of some sort that
stood there was in the time of the Romans. This was probably
renewed--perhaps several times at later periods. The house stands,
or, rather, used to stand here when Mercia was a kingdom--I do not
 Lair of the White Worm |