| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Tapestried Chamber by Walter Scott: father and grandfather's time, at least, the apartment which was
assigned to you last night had been shut on account of reports
that it was disturbed by supernatural sights and noises. When I
came, a few weeks since, into possession of the estate, I thought
the accommodation which the castle afforded for my friends was
not extensive enough to permit the inhabitants of the invisible
world to retain possession of a comfortable sleeping apartment.
I therefore caused the Tapestried Chamber, as we call it, to be
opened, and, without destroying its air of antiquity, I had such
new articles of furniture placed in it as became the modern
times. Yet, as the opinion that the room was haunted very
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: wished to stop.
" 'You are wounded, monsieur!'
" 'I disallow the /botte/,' said La Palferine, as coolly as if he had
been in the fencing-saloon; then as he riposted (sending the point
home this time), he added, 'There is the right thrust, monsieur!'
"His antagonist kept his bed for six months.
"This, still following on M. Sainte-Beuve's tracks, recalls the
/raffines/, the fine-edged raillery of the best days of the monarchy.
In this speech you discern an untrammeled but drifting life; a gaiety
of imagination that deserts us when our first youth is past. The prime
of the blossom is over, but there remains the dry compact seed with
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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 Duchesse de Langeais by Honore de Balzac: "Is there to be a ball tomorrow night?"
"You would grow accustomed to the life, I think. Very well.
Yes, we will go again tomorrow night."
There was not a happier man in the world than Armand when he went
out from her. Every evening he came to Mme de Langeais's at the
hour kept for him by a tacit understanding.
It would be tedious, and, for the many young men who carry a
redundance of such sweet memories in their hearts, it were
superfluous to follow the story step by step--the progress of a
romance growing in those hours spent together, a romance
controlled entirely by a woman's will. If sentiment went too
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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 Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne: reserving His miracles if this good man, whom a noble ob-
ject was urging onwards, had been allowed to perish so
miserably? Then anger would prevail over grief. The
scene of the affront so strangely borne by her companion
at the Ichim relay returned to her memory. Her blood
boiled at the recollection.
"Who will avenge him who can no longer avenge him-
self?" she said.
And in her heart, she cried, "May it be I!" If before
his death Michael had confided his secret to her, woman, aye
girl though she was, she might have been able to carry to a
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