| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Wrong Box by Stevenson & Osbourne: whole thing ready: the nurse, the doctor, the undertaker, all
bought, the certificate all ready but the date! Let him get wind
of this business, and you mark my words, Uncle Masterman will die
in two days and be buried in a week. But see here, Johnny; what
Michael can do, I can do. If he plays a game of bluff, so can I.
If his father is to live for ever, by God, so shall my uncle!'
'It's illegal, ain't it?' said John.
'A man must have SOME moral courage,' replied Morris with
dignity.
'And then suppose you're wrong? Suppose Uncle Masterman's alive
and kicking?'
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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 Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: that bore the hall-mark of wit was certain to please him; but he
nevertheless replied with one of those royal pleasantries whose
sweetness is more formidable than the anger of a rebuke. One of the
King's most intimate advisers took an opportunity of going up to the
fortune-seeking Vendeen, and made him understand by a keen and polite
hint that the time had not yet come for settling accounts with the
sovereign; that there were bills of much longer standing than his on
the books, and there, no doubt, they would remain, as part of the
history of the Revolution. The Count prudently withdrew from the
venerable group, which formed a respectful semi-circle before the
august family; then, having extricated his sword, not without some
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