{"id":"01KG6YH3QEGPFVKZ5PKCS6T6KH","cid":"bafkreiddov3l7dtxpnlti437ppry2k6cheednq7horcdtmnbfzmyssyx5m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5528,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:45.581Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 11","source_file":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","start_line":5440,"text":"seen. It needed the optical sight of such a man to believe in the\r\npossibility of his existence.\"\r\n\r\n\"You rather like him, then,\" said Standard, with ironical dryness.\r\n\r\n\"I hugely love and admire him, Standard. I wish I were Hautboy.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah? That's a pity now. There's only one Hautboy in the world.\"\r\n\r\nThis last remark set me to pondering again, and somehow it revived my\r\ndark mood.\r\n\r\n\"His wonderful cheerfulness, I suppose,\" said I, sneering with spleen,\r\n\"originates not less in a felicitous fortune than in a felicitous\r\ntemper. His great good sense is apparent; but great good sense may\r\nexist without sublime endowments. Nay, I take it, in certain cases,\r\nthat good sense is simply owing to the absence of those. Much more,\r\ncheerfulness. Unpossessed of genius, Hautboy is eternally blessed.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah? You would not think him an extraordinary genius then?\"\r\n\r\n\"Genius? What! Such a short, fat fellow a genius! Genius, like Cassius,\r\nis lank.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah? But could you not fancy that Hautboy might formerly have had\r\ngenius, but luckily getting rid of it, at last fatted up?\"\r\n\r\n\"For a genius to get rid of his genius is as impossible as for a man in\r\nthe galloping consumption to get rid of that.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah? You speak very decidedly.\"\r\n\r\n\"Yes, Standard,\" cried I, increasing in spleen, \"your cheery Hautboy,\r\nafter all, is no pattern, no lesson for you and me. With average\r\nabilities; opinions clear, because circumscribed; passions docile,\r\nbecause they are feeble; a temper hilarious, because he was born to\r\nit--how can your Hautboy be made a reasonable example to a heady fellow\r\nlike you, or an ambitious dreamer like me? Nothing tempts him beyond\r\ncommon limit; in himself he has nothing to restrain. By constitution\r\nhe is exempted from all moral harm. Could ambition but prick him; had\r\nhe but once heard applause, or endured contempt, a very different man\r\nwould your Hautboy be. Acquiescent and calm from the cradle to the\r\ngrave, he obviously slides through the crowd.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ah?\"\r\n\r\n\"Why do you say _ah_ to me so strangely whenever I speak?\"\r\n\r\n\"Did you ever hear of Master Betty?\"\r\n\r\n\"The great English prodigy, who long ago ousted the Siddons and\r\nthe Kembles from Drury Lane, and made the whole town run mad with\r\nacclamation?\"\r\n\r\n\"The same,\" said Standard, once more inaudibly drumming on the slab.\r\n\r\nI looked at him perplexed. He seemed to be holding the master-key of\r\nour theme in mysterious reserve; seemed to be throwing out his Master\r\nBetty too, to puzzle me only the more.\r\n\r\n\"What under heaven can Master Betty, the great genius and prodigy, an\r\nEnglish boy twelve years old, have to do with the poor commonplace\r\nplodder Hautboy, an American of forty?\"\r\n\r\n\"Oh, nothing in the least. I don't imagine that they ever saw each\r\nother. Besides, Master Betty must be dead and buried long ere this.\"\r\n\r\n\"Then why cross the ocean, and rifle the grave to drag his remains into\r\nthis living discussion?\"\r\n\r\n\"Absent-mindedness, I suppose. I humbly beg pardon. Proceed with your\r\nobservations on Hautboy. You think he never had genius, quite too\r\ncontented and happy, and fat for that--ah? You think him no pattern for\r\nmen in general? affording no lesson of value to neglected merit, genius\r\nignored, or impotent presumption rebuked?--all of which three amount to\r\nmuch the same thing. You admire his cheerfulness, while scorning his\r\ncommonplace soul. Poor Hautboy, how sad that your very cheerfulness\r\nshould, by a by-blow, bring you despite!\"\r\n\r\n\"I don't say I scorn him; you are unjust. I simply declare that he is\r\nno pattern for me.\"\r\n\r\nA sudden noise at my side attracted my ear. Turning, I saw Hautboy\r\nagain, who very blithely reseated himself on the chair he had left.\r\n\r\n\"I was behind time with my engagement,\" said Hautboy, \"so thought I\r\nwould run back and rejoin you. But come, you have sat long enough here.\r\nLet us go to my rooms. It is only five minutes' walk.\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 11"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGBGKG15EQNWSZXFWPM05","peer_type":"segment","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDD8GKW0DRD5H2MY1NRZ7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH3QHRVVM3V0P1CFMW8SB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YH3QH81TJ5N8B72S2QC6T","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:50.702Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.833Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}