| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Research Magnificent by H. G. Wells: a hitch.
"But it's good at tennis," she said. "You DO play tennis, Mr.
Prothero?"
"I--I gesticulate," said Prothero.
Lady Marayne, still in flight from that pause, went off at a
tangent.
"Poff, my dear," she said, "I've had a diving-board put at the deep
end of the pond."
The remark hung unanswered for a moment. The transition had been
too quick for Benham's state of mind.
"Do you swim, Mr. Prothero?" the lady asked, though a moment before
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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 Little Rivers by Henry van Dyke: plumber, the paper-hanger, and the gas-man. It is not immovably
bound to one dull spot of earth by the chains of a cellar and a
system of water-pipes. It has a noble freedom of locomotion. It
follows the wishes of its inhabitants, and goes with them, a
travelling home, as the spirit moves them to explore the
wilderness. At their pleasure, new beds of wild flowers surround
it, new plantations of trees overshadow it, and new avenues of
shining water lead to its ever-open door. What the tent lacks in
luxury it makes up in liberty: or rather let us say that liberty
itself is the greatest luxury.
Another thing is worth remembering--a family which lives in a tent
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