| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: room. "And I want to let yez have it right off the bat that if
you've been leading that little Mexican senorita into trouble
you've got a quarrel on with Mike O'Halloran."
"Keep your shirt on, old fire-eater. Who told you I was wronging
her any?"
"Are you married to her?"
"You bet I ain't. You see, Mick, that handsome lady you're going
to lick the stuffing out of me about is only a plumb ornery sassy
young boy, after all."
"No!" denied Mick, his eyes two excited interrogation-points.
"You can't stuff me with any such fairy-tale, me lad."
|
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 Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart: dressing-gown dragging loose from one sleeve of her night-dress,
and the heavy braid of her dark hair stretching its length a
couple of steps above her head, as if she had slipped down.
She was not dead: Halsey put her down on the floor, and began to
rub her cold hands, while Gertrude and Liddy ran for stimulants.
As for me, I sat there at the foot of that ghostly staircase--
sat, because my knees wouldn't hold me--and wondered where
it would all end. Louise was still unconscious, but she was
breathing better, and I suggested that we get her back to bed
before she came to. There was something grisly and horrible to
me, seeing her there in almost the same attitude and in the same
 The Circular Staircase |