| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: I am quite of your mind in thinking that the sons of peers ought to
have an air peculiar to themselves, and perfectly distinctive manners.
Though nowadays no external sign stamps a man of rank, those young men
will have, perhaps, to you the indefinable something that will reveal
it. Then, again, you have your heart well in hand, like a good
horseman who is sure his steed cannot bolt. Luck be with you, my
dear!"
"You are making game of me, papa. Well, I assure you that I would
rather die in Mademoiselle de Conde's convent than not be the wife of
a peer of France."
She slipped out of her father's arms, and proud of being her own
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Unconscious Comedians by Honore de Balzac: great severity."
"Then we shall have the house with us, for a man of your weight and
your eloquence is certain to have the ear of the Chamber," said
Canalis. "I'll reply to you; but I shall do it sharply, to crush you."
"You could bring about a change of the cabinet, for on such ground you
can do what you like with the Chamber, and be master of the
situation."
"Maxime has trapped them both," said Leon to his cousin; "that fellow
is like a fish in water among the intrigues of the Chamber."
"Who is he?" asked Gazonal.
"An ex-scoundrel who is now in a fair way to become an ambassador,"
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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 Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton: to wear what were called "simple dinner dresses": a
close-fitting armour of whale-boned silk, slightly open
in the neck, with lace ruffles filling in the crack, and
tight sleeves with a flounce uncovering just enough
wrist to show an Etruscan gold bracelet or a velvet
band. But Madame Olenska, heedless of tradition, was
attired in a long robe of red velvet bordered about the
chin and down the front with glossy black fur. Archer
remembered, on his last visit to Paris, seeing a portrait
by the new painter, Carolus Duran, whose pictures
were the sensation of the Salon, in which the lady wore
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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 Lin McLean by Owen Wister: nudging me in the ribs. That it was the correct Lusk we had with us I
felt sure from his incompetent, healthy, vacant appearance, strong-bodied
and shiftless--the sort of man to weary of one trade and another, and
make a failure of wife beating between whiles. In Twenty-fourth Street--
the town's uttermost rim--the Governor met us, and stared at Lusk.
"Christopher!" was his single observation; but he never forgets a face--
cannot afford to, now that he is in politics; and, besides, Lusk
remembered him. You seldom really forget a man to whom you owe ten
dollars.
"So you've quit hauling poles?" said the Governor.
"Nothing in it, sir," said Lusk.
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