{"id":"01KG6YHB0QBFYWE44PGMR23DPQ","cid":"bafkreihr3prism7xc2xa467purftzafuvanw4jwz3wpg4ctldnta2vro7m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8168,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:55.413Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","start_line":8105,"text":"or thought he did, that it was not entirely rigid, but was, in a\r\nmanner, pliant. At last, when the hidden thing had attained its final\r\nheight, and, obscurely seen from below, seemed almost of itself to step\r\ninto the belfry, as if with little assistance from the crane, a shrewd\r\nold blacksmith present ventured the suspicion that it was but a living\r\nman. This surmise was thought a foolish one, while the general interest\r\nfailed not to augment.\r\n\r\nNot without demur from Bannadonna, the chief-magistrate of the town,\r\nwith an associate—both elderly men—followed what seemed the image up\r\nthe tower. But, arrived at the belfry, they had little recompense.\r\nPlausibly entrenching himself behind the conceded mysteries of his art,\r\nthe mechanician withheld present explanation. The magistrates glanced\r\ntoward the cloaked object, which, to their surprise, seemed now to have\r\nchanged its attitude, or else had before been more perplexingly\r\nconcealed by the violent muffling action of the wind without. It seemed\r\nnow seated upon some sort of frame, or chair, contained within the\r\ndomino. They observed that nigh the top, in a sort of square, the web\r\nof the cloth, either from accident or design, had its warp partly\r\nwithdrawn, and the cross threads plucked out here and there, so as to\r\nform a sort of woven grating. Whether it were the low wind or no,\r\nstealing through the stone lattice-work, or only their own perturbed\r\nimaginations, is uncertain, but they thought they discerned a slight\r\nsort of fitful, spring-like motion, in the domino. Nothing, however\r\nincidental or insignificant, escaped their uneasy eyes. Among other\r\nthings, they pried out, in a corner, an earthen cup, partly corroded\r\nand partly encrusted, and one whispered to the other, that this cup was\r\njust such a one as might, in mockery, be offered to the lips of some\r\nbrazen statue, or, perhaps, still worse.\r\n\r\nBut, being questioned, the mechanician said, that the cup was simply\r\nused in his founder’s business, and described the purpose; in short, a\r\ncup to test the condition of metals in fusion. He added, that it had\r\ngot into the belfry by the merest chance.\r\n\r\nAgain, and again, they gazed at the domino, as at some suspicious\r\nincognito at a Venetian mask. All sorts of vague apprehensions stirred\r\nthem. They even dreaded lest, when they should descend, the\r\nmechanician, though without a flesh and blood companion, for all that,\r\nwould not be left alone.\r\n\r\nAffecting some merriment at their disquietude, he begged to relieve\r\nthem, by extending a coarse sheet of workman’s canvas between them and\r\nthe object.\r\n\r\nMeantime he sought to interest them in his other work; nor, now that\r\nthe domino was out of sight, did they long remain insensible to the\r\nartistic wonders lying round them; wonders hitherto beheld but in their\r\nunfinished state; because, since hoisting the bells, none but the\r\ncaster had entered within the belfry. It was one trait of his, that,\r\neven in details, he would not let another do what he could, without too\r\ngreat loss of time, accomplish for himself. So, for several preceding\r\nweeks, whatever hours were unemployed in his secret design, had been\r\ndevoted to elaborating the figures on the bells.\r\n\r\nThe clock-bell, in particular, now drew attention. Under a patient\r\nchisel, the latent beauty of its enrichments, before obscured by the\r\ncloudings incident to casting, that beauty in its shyest grace, was now\r\nrevealed. Round and round the bell, twelve figures of gay girls,\r\ngarlanded, hand-in-hand, danced in a choral ring—the embodied hours.\r\n\r\n“Bannadonna,” said the chief, “this bell excels all else. No added\r\ntouch could here improve. Hark!” hearing a sound, “was that the wind?”\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6YGCCBQ15QDEM5CEG7CHSQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6YDDF6PTWG4P7JTS5THSTD","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG6YCG626JN4FCG8QK17CQCF","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6YHB0Q83SG0YEY0NHZFV8Z","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6YHB0Q61WXG28Q4K0Z2N8C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T07:57:58.167Z","ts":"2026-01-30T07:58:07.790Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}