{"id":"01KG6G88AVTQGA5D18DM04QNV9","cid":"bafkreiey7zdtiekcjymkiglvqg7ujdjgpbxceozxpn4b76zlb36gjf3noy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9941,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:16.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":9870,"text":"position is, that within those undue limits the secret closet is\r\ncontained.’\r\n\r\nI eyed him in silence a moment; then spoke:\r\n\r\n‘Your survey is concluded, Mr. Scribe; be so good now as to lay your\r\nfinger upon the exact part of the chimney wall where you believe this\r\nsecret closet to be; or would a witch-hazel wand assist you, Mr.\r\nScribe?’\r\n\r\n‘No, sir, but a crowbar would,’ he, with temper, rejoined.\r\n\r\nHere, now, thought I to myself, the cat leaps out of the bag. I looked\r\nat him with a calm glance, under which he seemed somewhat uneasy. More\r\nthan ever now I suspected a plot. I remembered what my wife had said\r\nabout abiding by the decision of Mr. Scribe. In a bland way, I resolved\r\nto buy up the decision of Mr. Scribe.\r\n\r\n‘Sir,’ said I, ‘really, I am much obliged to you for this survey. It has\r\nquite set my mind at rest. And no doubt you, too, Mr. Scribe, must feel\r\nmuch relieved. Sir,’ I added, ‘you have made three visits to the\r\nchimney. With a business man, time is money. Here are fifty dollars, Mr.\r\nScribe. Nay, take it. You have earned it. Your opinion is worth it. And\r\nby the way’--as he modestly received the money--‘have you any objections\r\nto give me a--a--little certificate--something, say, like a steamboat\r\ncertificate, certifying that you, a competent surveyor, have surveyed my\r\nchimney, and found no reason to believe any unsoundness; in short,\r\nany--any secret closet in it. Would you be so kind, Mr. Scribe?’\r\n\r\n‘But, but, sir,’ stammered he with honest hesitation.\r\n\r\n‘Here, here are pen and paper,’ said I, with entire assurance.\r\n\r\nEnough.\r\n\r\nThat evening I had the certificate framed and hung over the dining-room\r\nfireplace, trusting that the continual sight of it would forever put at\r\nrest at once the dreams and stratagems of my household.\r\n\r\nBut, no. Inveterately bent upon the extirpation of that noble old\r\nchimney, still to this day my wife goes about it, with my daughter\r\nAnna’s geological hammer, tapping the wall all over, and then holding\r\nher ear against it, as I have seen the physicians of life insurance\r\ncompanies tap a man’s chest, and then incline over for the echo.\r\nSometimes of nights she almost frightens one, going about on this\r\nphantom errand, and still following the sepulchral response of the\r\nchimney, round and round, as if it were leading her to the threshold of\r\nthe secret closet.\r\n\r\n‘How hollow it sounds,’ she will hollowly cry. ‘Yes, I declare,’ with an\r\nemphatic tap, ‘there is a secret closet here. Here, in this very spot.\r\nHark! How hollow!’\r\n\r\n‘Psha! wife, of course it is hollow. Who ever heard of a solid chimney?’\r\n\r\nBut nothing avails. And my daughters take after, not me, but their\r\nmother.\r\n\r\nSometimes all three abandon the theory of the secret closet, and return\r\nto the genuine ground of attack--the unsightliness of so cumbrous a\r\npile, with comments upon the great addition of room to be gained by its\r\ndemolition, and the fine effect of the projected grand hall, and the\r\nconvenience resulting from the collateral running in one direction and\r\nanother of their various partitions. Not more ruthlessly did the Three\r\nPowers partition away poor Poland, than my wife and daughters would fain\r\npartition away my chimney.\r\n\r\nBut seeing that, despite all, I and my chimney still smoke our pipes, my\r\nwife reoccupies the ground of the secret closet, enlarging upon what\r\nwonders are there, and what a shame it is, not to seek it out and\r\nexplore it.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6G6QRNV5AAPS4GSY219DYD","peer_type":"article","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6G88AN4PXF2FTH6ZPEW3VT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6G88AVK2YGGH188CFG56AE","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:48:20.443Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:48:31.061Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}