| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: once seen to, there was not much else to detain them.
The barkentine was only a coaster like many others which had begun to
fill the sea a little more of late years, and presently host and guest
were riding homeward. Side by side they rode, companions to the eye, but
wide apart in mood; within the turbulent young figure of Gaston dwelt a
spirit that could not be more at ease, while revolt was steadily kindling
beneath the schooled and placid mask of the Padre.
Yet still the strangeness of his situation in such a remote, resourceless
place came back as a marvel into the young man's lively mind. Twenty
years in prison, he thought, and hardly aware of it! And he glanced at
the silent priest. A man so evidently fond of music, of theaters, of the
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Purse by Honore de Balzac: till nightfall and got away. When I came back to France Bonaparte
was not yet in power, and I was refused a pension. When I applied
again for it, quite lately, I was sternly informed that if the
Baron de Rouville had emigrated I should not have lost him; that
by this time he would have been a rear-admiral; finally, his
Excellency quoted I know not what degree of forfeiture. I took
this step, to which I was urged by my friends, only for the sake
of my poor Adelaide. I have always hated the idea of holding out
my hand as a beggar in the name of a grief which deprives a woman
of voice and strength. I do not like this money valuation for
blood irreparably spilt----"
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