{"id":"01KG6YH9P3MNK5VRGY6X4YY7H9","cid":"bafkreiehrc4scgrj6rr4za5mz3l7a4b3szjhht6iq57dcp2n2kqyunfnvi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1697,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.409Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":1621,"text":"summoning sound, and in response a voice came to me from within—“Not\r\nyet; I am occupied.”\r\n\r\nIt was Bartleby.\r\n\r\nI was thunderstruck. For an instant I stood like the man who, pipe in\r\nmouth, was killed one cloudless afternoon long ago in Virginia, by\r\nsummer lightning; at his own warm open window he was killed, and\r\nremained leaning out there upon the dreamy afternoon till some one\r\ntouched him, when he fell.\r\n\r\n“Not gone!” I murmured at last. But again obeying that wondrous\r\nascendancy which the inscrutable scrivener had over me, and from which\r\nascendancy, for all my chafing, I could not completely escape, I slowly\r\nwent down stairs and out into the street, and while walking round the\r\nblock, considered what I should next do in this unheard-of perplexity.\r\nTurn the man out by an actual thrusting I could not; to drive him away\r\nby calling him hard names would not do; calling in the police was an\r\nunpleasant idea; and yet, permit him to enjoy his cadaverous triumph\r\nover me—this, too, I could not think of. What was to be done? or, if\r\nnothing could be done, was there anything further that I could _assume_\r\nin the matter? Yes, as before I had prospectively assumed that Bartleby\r\nwould depart, so now I might retrospectively assume that departed he\r\nwas. In the legitimate carrying out of this assumption, I might enter\r\nmy office in a great hurry, and pretending not to see Bartleby at all,\r\nwalk straight against him as if he were air. Such a proceeding would in\r\na singular degree have the appearance of a home-thrust. It was hardly\r\npossible that Bartleby could withstand such an application of the\r\ndoctrine of assumptions. But upon second thoughts the success of the\r\nplan seemed rather dubious. I resolved to argue the matter over with\r\nhim again.\r\n\r\n“Bartleby,” said I, entering the office, with a quietly severe\r\nexpression, “I am seriously displeased. I am pained, Bartleby. I had\r\nthought better of you. I had imagined you of such a gentlemanly\r\norganization, that in any delicate dilemma a slight hint would\r\nsuffice—in short, an assumption. But it appears I am deceived. Why,” I\r\nadded, unaffectedly starting, “you have not even touched that money\r\nyet,” pointing to it, just where I had left it the evening previous.\r\n\r\nHe answered nothing.\r\n\r\n“Will you, or will you not, quit me?” I now demanded in a sudden\r\npassion, advancing close to him.\r\n\r\n“I would prefer _not_ to quit you,” he replied gently emphasizing the\r\n_not_.\r\n\r\n“What earthly right have you to stay here? Do you pay any rent? Do you\r\npay my taxes? Or is this property yours?”\r\n\r\nHe answered nothing.\r\n\r\n“Are you ready to go on and write now? Are your eyes recovered? Could\r\nyou copy a small paper for me this morning? or help examine a few\r\nlines? or step round to the post-office? In a word, will you do\r\nanything at all, to give a coloring to your refusal to depart the\r\npremises?”\r\n\r\nHe silently retired into his hermitage.\r\n\r\nI was now in such a state of nervous resentment that I thought it but\r\nprudent to check myself at present from further demonstrations.\r\nBartleby and I were alone. I remembered the tragedy of the unfortunate\r\nAdams and the still more unfortunate Colt in the solitary office of the\r\nlatter; and how poor Colt, being dreadfully incensed by Adams, and\r\nimprudently permitting himself to get wildly excited, was at unawares\r\nhurried into his fatal act—an act which certainly no man could possibly\r\ndeplore more than the actor himself. Often it had occurred to me in my\r\nponderings upon the subject, that had that altercation taken place in\r\nthe public street, or at a private residence, it would not have\r\nterminated as it did. It was the circumstance of being alone in a\r\nsolitary office, up stairs, of a building entirely unhallowed by\r\nhumanizing domestic associations—an uncarpeted office, doubtless, of a\r\ndusty, haggard sort of appearance—this it must have been, which greatly\r\nhelped to enhance the irritable desperation of the hapless Colt.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGB7ZZ4F251SWKNDDK547","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YH9P3666SKMZSTM1TA03Q","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YH9P38MHRCFM5079NDXGY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:56.803Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:02.970Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}