{"id":"01KG6GMSTV8850QMB52TG64X9H","cid":"bafkreia6w4ro6ouazpumq5zqstymqvtqhh2ogxtrxnhfcqcsmjlrs3z6di","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10808,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.883Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":10709,"text":"She looked earnestly at the crack, leaning over it.\r\n\r\n‘Are you sure?’ said she, looking up, but still bent over.\r\n\r\n‘Sure, sure.’\r\n\r\nShe was silent. I began to think that the mystery of the thing began to\r\ntell even upon her. Yes, thought I, I shall presently see my wife\r\nshaking and shuddering, and, who knows, calling in some old dominie to\r\nexorcise the table, and drive out the spirits.\r\n\r\n‘I’ll tell you what we’ll do,’ said she suddenly, and not without\r\nexcitement.\r\n\r\n‘What, wife?’ said I, all eagerness, expecting some mystical\r\nproposition; ‘what, wife?’\r\n\r\n‘We will rub this table all over with that celebrated “roach powder”\r\nI’ve heard of.’\r\n\r\n‘Good gracious! Then you don’t think it’s spirits?’\r\n\r\n‘Spirits?’\r\n\r\nThe emphasis of scornful incredulity was worthy of Democritus himself.\r\n\r\n‘But this ticking--this ticking?’ said I.\r\n\r\n‘I’ll whip that out of it.’\r\n\r\n‘Come, come, wife,’ said I, ‘you are going too far the other way, now.\r\nNeither roach powder nor whipping will cure this table. It’s a queer\r\ntable, wife; there’s no blinking it.’\r\n\r\n‘I’ll have it rubbed, though,’ she replied, ‘well rubbed’; and calling\r\nBiddy, she bade her get wax and brush, and give the table a vigorous\r\nmanipulation. That done, the cloth was again laid, and we sat down to\r\nour morning meal; but my daughters did not make their appearance. Julia\r\nand Anna took no breakfast that day.\r\n\r\nWhen the cloth was removed, in a business-like way my wife went to work\r\nwith a dark-coloured cement, and hermetically closed the little hole in\r\nthe table.\r\n\r\nMy daughters looking pale, I insisted upon taking them out for a walk\r\nthat morning, when the following conversation ensued:\r\n\r\n‘My worst presentiments about that table are being verified, papa,’ said\r\nJulia; ‘not for nothing was that intimation of the cloven foot on my\r\nshoulder.’\r\n\r\n‘Nonsense,’ said I. ‘Let us go into Mrs. Brown’s, and have an\r\nice-cream.’\r\n\r\nThe spirit of Democritus was stronger on me now. By a curious\r\ncoincidence, it strengthened with the strength of the sunlight.\r\n\r\n‘But is it not miraculous,’ said Anna, ‘how a bug should come out of a\r\ntable?’\r\n\r\n‘Not at all, my daughter. It is a very common thing for bugs to come out\r\nof wood. You yourself must have seen them coming out of the ends of the\r\nbillets on the hearth.’\r\n\r\n‘Ah, but that wood is almost fresh from the woodland. But the table is\r\nat least a hundred years old.’\r\n\r\n‘What of that?’ said I, gaily. ‘Have not live toads been found in the\r\nhearts of dead rocks, as old as creation?’\r\n\r\n‘Say what you will, papa, I feel it is spirits,’ said Julia. ‘Do, do\r\nnow, my dear papa, have that haunted table removed from the house.’\r\n\r\n‘Nonsense,’ said I.\r\n\r\nBy another curious coincidence, the more they felt frightened, the more\r\nI felt brave.\r\n\r\nEvening came.\r\n\r\n‘This ticking,’ said my wife; ‘do you think that another bug will come\r\nof this continued ticking?’\r\n\r\nCuriously enough, that had not occurred to me before. I had not thought\r\nof there being twins of bugs. But now, who knew; there might be even\r\ntriplets.\r\n\r\nI resolved to take precautions, and, if there was to be a second bug,\r\ninfallibly secure it. During the evening, the ticking was again heard.\r\nAbout ten o’clock I clapped a tumbler over the spot, as near as I could\r\njudge of it by my ear. Then we all retired, and locking the door of the\r\ncedar-parlour, I put the key in my pocket.\r\n\r\nIn the morning, nothing was to be seen, but the ticking was heard. The\r\ntrepidation of my daughters returned. They wanted to call in the\r\nneighbours. But to this my wife was vigorously opposed. We should be the\r\nlaughing-stock of the whole town. So it was agreed that nothing should\r\nbe disclosed. Biddy received strict charges; and, to make sure, was not\r\nallowed that week to go to confession, lest she should tell the priest.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK9PNVA7517VNR0NXKXAW","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMS81F5AM9JR5S3DBD3Y5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMSTRK0HSS7QP2MZEVHSP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:11.579Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:21.237Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}