{"id":"01KG8AK4196PCDZ2AG6ZRPHRVV","cid":"bafkreifw3jvvcjkrggcabjmzvlij6gxjbrthn5vm7rxhhcpqn5hsc4tcwq","type":"section","properties":{"description":"# Bartleby's Continued Presence and Consequences\n\n## Overview\nThis section, titled \"Bartleby's Continued Presence and Consequences,\" is an excerpt from the short story \"Bartleby.\" It details the escalating problems caused by Bartleby's refusal to leave his former workplace and his subsequent impact on the narrator and other tenants. The text was extracted from the file `the_piazza_tales.txt` and is part of the `Melville Complete Works` collection.\n\n## Context\nThis section is situated within the chapter titled \"[Bartleby](arke:01KG8AJK1PKEBJJCANV911N8JS),\" which is part of the larger short story \"Bartleby.\" The narrative follows the narrator's attempts to distance himself from Bartleby after moving his offices. This section directly follows \"[Narrator's Decision to Move Offices](arke:01KG8AK419WQPWRC0330622KYR)\" and precedes \"[Narrator's Attempt to Persuade Bartleby](arke:01KG8AK41AFXWCHTEC4294TF8W).\"\n\n## Contents\nThe text describes a lawyer's visit to the narrator, informing him that Bartleby has been evicted from his new office but refuses to leave the building, now loitering in the common areas. The landlord and other tenants are distressed by Bartleby's presence, fearing a loss of clients and potential unrest. The narrator, despite his desire to be free of responsibility, feels compelled to intervene. He agrees to speak with Bartleby in the lawyer's office in an attempt to resolve the situation.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:54.360Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"Bartleby's Continued Presence and Consequences","end_line":1897,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:52.603Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Bartleby's Continued Presence and Consequences","source_file":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","start_line":1842,"text":"I thought all was going well, when a perturbed-looking stranger visited\r\nme, inquiring whether I was the person who had recently occupied rooms\r\nat No. —— Wall street.\r\n\r\nFull of forebodings, I replied that I was.\r\n\r\n“Then, sir,” said the stranger, who proved a lawyer, “you are\r\nresponsible for the man you left there. He refuses to do any copying;\r\nhe refuses to do anything; he says he prefers not to; and he refuses to\r\nquit the premises.”\r\n\r\n“I am very sorry, sir,” said I, with assumed tranquillity, but an\r\ninward tremor, “but, really, the man you allude to is nothing to me—he\r\nis no relation or apprentice of mine, that you should hold me\r\nresponsible for him.”\r\n\r\n“In mercy’s name, who is he?”\r\n\r\n“I certainly cannot inform you. I know nothing about him. Formerly I\r\nemployed him as a copyist; but he has done nothing for me now for some\r\ntime past.”\r\n\r\n“I shall settle him, then—good morning, sir.”\r\n\r\nSeveral days passed, and I heard nothing more; and, though I often felt\r\na charitable prompting to call at the place and see poor Bartleby, yet\r\na certain squeamishness, of I know not what, withheld me.\r\n\r\nAll is over with him, by this time, thought I, at last, when, through\r\nanother week, no further intelligence reached me. But, coming to my\r\nroom the day after, I found several persons waiting at my door in a\r\nhigh state of nervous excitement.\r\n\r\n“That’s the man—here he comes,” cried the foremost one, whom I\r\nrecognized as the lawyer who had previously called upon me alone.\r\n\r\n“You must take him away, sir, at once,” cried a portly person among\r\nthem, advancing upon me, and whom I knew to be the landlord of No. ——\r\nWall street. “These gentlemen, my tenants, cannot stand it any longer;\r\nMr. B——,” pointing to the lawyer, “has turned him out of his room, and\r\nhe now persists in haunting the building generally, sitting upon the\r\nbanisters of the stairs by day, and sleeping in the entry by night.\r\nEverybody is concerned; clients are leaving the offices; some fears are\r\nentertained of a mob; something you must do, and that without delay.”\r\n\r\nAghast at this torrent, I fell back before it, and would fain have\r\nlocked myself in my new quarters. In vain I persisted that Bartleby was\r\nnothing to me—no more than to any one else. In vain—I was the last\r\nperson known to have anything to do with him, and they held me to the\r\nterrible account. Fearful, then, of being exposed in the papers (as one\r\nperson present obscurely threatened), I considered the matter, and, at\r\nlength, said, that if the lawyer would give me a confidential interview\r\nwith the scrivener, in his (the lawyer’s) own room, I would, that\r\nafternoon, strive my best to rid them of the nuisance they complained\r\nof.\r\n\r","title":"Bartleby's Continued Presence and Consequences"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJK1PKEBJJCANV911N8JS","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1F4D8P9BBX9AMGZ7TX7","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK419WQPWRC0330622KYR","peer_type":"section","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK41AFXWCHTEC4294TF8W","peer_type":"section","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:53.897Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:54.759Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}