| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Virginibus Puerisque by Robert Louis Stevenson: circulates in the shallow waters of the sanatorium. He sees
the country people come and go about their everyday affairs,
the foreigners stream out in goodly pleasure parties; the stir
of man's activity is all about him, as he suns himself inertly
in some sheltered corner; and he looks on with a patriarchal
impersonality of interest, such as a man may feel when he
pictures to himself the fortunes of his remote descendants, or
the robust old age of the oak he has planted over-night.
In this falling aside, in this quietude and desertion of
other men, there is no inharmonious prelude to the last
quietude and desertion of the grave; in this dulness of 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 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: "Of course, Miss Howard," I said, "I'll do everything I can, but
I'm sure you're excited and overwrought."
She interrupted me by slowly shaking her forefinger.
"Young man, trust me. I've lived in the world rather longer than
you have. All I ask you is to keep your eyes open. You'll see
what I mean."
The throb of the motor came through the open window, and Miss
Howard rose and moved to the door. John's voice sounded outside.
With her hand on the handle, she turned her head over her
shoulder, and beckoned to me.
"Above all, Mr. Hastings, watch that devil--her husband!"
 The Mysterious Affair at Styles |