{"id":"01KG6GMTCASH5W15SSNNM8BW20","cid":"bafkreib53eaolyg7755urnsz3reevaitr7ohnhpu5n5tpcrggvolsexq74","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11515,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:03.883Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 15","source_file":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","start_line":11469,"text":"club-house duly and accurately given. In brief, John Gentian is a\r\nbachelor having chambers on an upper story of the club-house, a\r\nprivilege which at his solicitation was cheerfully accorded him, as by\r\nseniority of membership, to say nothing of happy qualifications in his\r\ncharacter, Dean of the Chapter of _Burgundians_, for so do they\r\ndenominate themselves, the brethren of that congenial fraternity.\r\n\r\nThis captain of the good fellows belongs to a transplanted shoot of\r\nSouthern stock for two generations taking root and branching out in the\r\nNorth, within the borders of a State which, thanks to its relative\r\ngeographical position and circumstances originating in that, least\r\npartakes of a sectional spirit. For now a fair period, ever since the\r\nlatter part of 1865, the Dean has gone on in what would seem to be the\r\nafter-mission of his life, namely, the dispensing of those less\r\nabbreviated greetings on the Avenue and considerate old-school\r\nhospitalities of the board, hardly practicable for the ‘business-man’ of\r\nour day, or, for that matter, the man of leisure either, unless\r\nabounding in natural benevolence backed up by its desirable concomitant,\r\na comfortable bank account. Do not infer, however, that there is aught\r\nof Count D’Orsay superannuated, or Sir Charles Grandison, become senile,\r\nin our Dean of the Burgundians. He is no prodigal in airs and graces,\r\nand, on the contrary, sometimes takes singular liberties with etiquette,\r\nnot out of ignorance, to be sure, or the Leveller’s contempt; no, but\r\nfrom a certain impulsive straightforwardness at times, hardly compatible\r\nwith the abstract theory of a formalised gentlemanhood. Furthermore, he\r\nof late has permitted himself an easy latitude in his dress, evincing a\r\nlack of proper reverence for mercers and the mode. But yet more astray,\r\nhe will, upon provocation--say, at some story of perfidy or brutal\r\nbehaviour--incontinently rap out an expletive, startling to the ladies\r\nas Brandt’s flourished tomahawk at the London masked ball long ago. Then\r\nagain, as if there were no end to his derelictions, he, when convenient\r\nto him, thinks nothing of carrying a brown paper parcel in the street\r\nrather than trouble the shopkeeper to send some inexpensive small matter\r\nto his rooms. Notwithstanding these deviations from the conventionally\r\ncorrect, there is that in the look of Major Gentian, something in the\r\n‘cut of his jib,’ as the sailors say, if not in the end of his coat,\r\nthat involuntarily inspires respect, yes, even in cabby himself. Cabby,\r\nbefore club-house or theatre, poised on the curb, expectant of the prey,\r\nwould never dream of hailing him (_the Dean_) with the ambiguous\r\n‘_Gent._’ Should he do so, whether out of ignorance or sly impudence,\r\nthe Major would have to hold his temper well in hand to obviate a\r\nviolent breach of the peace. To _Boss_ he objects not, that Dutch\r\nmonosyllable having an honest bovine sound to it, and being, in fact, a\r\nnatural localism of a city first settled by the Hollander; and if\r\n_master_ be not the word’s exact equivalent, it would be difficult to\r\nfind one.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 15"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6GK9PNVA7517VNR0NXKXAW","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FXSCNX5F3D880P3YP3PKR","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG2T49K0H5GDRB0G4YDTPG8H","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6GMTCABKDMY34Z1CJCHSSJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6GMTCAW2EEZA26B87HJRZ1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:55:12.138Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:55:21.778Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}