| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: Suddenly he noticed that something white had fluttered to the
ground at his feet. He stooped and picked up a small thin sheet
of note-paper, folded and sealed like an old-fashioned letter,
and bearing the superscription:--
To the Count Ottaviano Celsi.
Wyant stared at this mysterious document. Where had it come
from? He was distinctly conscious of having seen it fall through
the air, close to his feet. He glanced up at the dark ceiling of
the chapel; then he turned and looked about the church. There
was only one figure in it, that of a man who knelt near the high
altar.
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: I cannot tell you what I felt on hearing this sentence, based on such
clear explanations. You know that I have lived in Louise as much as in
my own life. I was simply crushed, and could not stir to escort to the
door these harbingers of evil. I don't know how long I remained lost
in bitter thoughts, the tears running down my cheeks, when I was
roused from my stupor by the words:
"So there is no hope for me!" in a clear, angelic voice.
It was Louise, with her hand on my shoulder. She made me get up, and
carried me off to her small drawing-room. With a beseeching glance,
she went on:
"Stay with me to the end; I won't have doleful faces round me. Above
|
