{"id":"01KG8AK6KVNA51AHSJWB60GSC6","cid":"bafkreifysmzwasoxcc7j6nzy27yot5ic5mjbzw7mf6bxtgzb4jfclcmtiu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":608,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:56.335Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 8","source_file":"01KG89J1C1N72JCD0ZBGTBX0EX","start_line":536,"text":"repose of night and early morning, smothered the sound. At the lurking\r\ninquietude of her companions, my wife was indignant; the more so, as\r\nshe seemed to glory in her own exemption from panic. When breakfast was\r\ncleared away she took my watch, and, placing it on the table, addressed\r\nthe supposed spirits in it, with a jocosely defiant air:\r\n\r\n\"There, tick away, let us see who can tick loudest!\"\r\n\r\nAll that day, while abroad, I thought of the mysterious table. Could\r\nCotton Mather speak true? Were there spirits? And would spirits haunt\r\na tea-table? Would the Evil One dare show his cloven foot in the bosom\r\nof an innocent family? I shuddered when I thought that I myself,\r\nagainst the solemn warnings of my daughters, had wilfully introduced\r\nthe cloven foot there. Yea, three cloven feet. But, towards noon, this\r\nsort of feeling began to wear off. The continual rubbing against so\r\nmany practical people in the street, brushed such chimeras away from\r\nme. I remembered that I had not acquitted myself very intrepidly either\r\non the previous night or in the morning. I resolved to regain the good\r\nopinion of my wife.\r\n\r\nTo evince my hardihood the more signally, when tea was dismissed, and\r\nthe three rubbers of whist had been played, and no ticking had been\r\nheard--which the more encouraged me--I took my pipe, and, saying that\r\nbed-time had arrived for the rest, drew my chair towards the fire, and,\r\nremoving my slippers, placed my feet on the fender, looking as calm and\r\ncomposed as old Democritus in the tombs of Abdera, when one midnight\r\nthe mischievous little boys of the town tried to frighten that sturdy\r\nphilosopher with spurious ghosts.\r\n\r\nAnd I thought to myself, that the worthy old gentleman had set a good\r\nexample to all times in his conduct on that occasion. For, when at the\r\ndead hour, intent on his studies, he heard the strange sounds, he did\r\nnot so much as move his eyes from his page, only simply said: \"Boys,\r\nlittle boys, go home. This is no place for you. You will catch cold\r\nhere.\" The philosophy of which words lies here: that they imply the\r\nforegone conclusion, that any possible investigation of any possible\r\nspiritual phenomena was absurd; that upon the first face of such\r\nthings, the mind of a sane man instinctively affirmed them a humbug,\r\nunworthy the least attention; more especially if such phenomena\r\nappear in tombs, since tombs are peculiarly the place of silence,\r\nlifelessness, and solitude; for which cause, by the way, the old man,\r\nas upon the occasion in question, made the tombs of Abdera his place of\r\nstudy.\r\n\r\nPresently I was alone, and all was hushed. I laid down my pipe, not\r\nfeeling exactly tranquil enough now thoroughly to enjoy it. Taking up\r\none of the newspapers, I began, in a nervous, hurried sort of way, to\r\nread by the light of a candle placed on a small stand drawn close to\r\nthe fire. As for the apple-tree table, having lately concluded that it\r\nwas rather too low for a reading-table, I thought best not to use it\r\nas such that night. But it stood not very distant in the middle of the\r\nroom.\r\n\r\nTry as I would, I could not succeed much at reading. Somehow I seemed\r\nall ear and no eye; a condition of intense auricular suspense. But ere\r\nlong it was broken.\r\n\r\nTick! tick! tick!\r\n\r\nThough it was not the first time I had heard that sound; nay, though I\r\nhad made it my particular business on this occasion to wait for that\r\nsound, nevertheless, when it came, it seemed unexpected, as if a\r\ncannon had boomed through the window.\r\n\r\nTick! tick! tick!\r\n\r\nI sat stock still for a time, thoroughly to master, if possible, my\r\nfirst discomposure. Then rising, I looked pretty steadily at the table;\r\nwent up to it pretty steadily; took hold of it pretty steadily; but let\r\nit go pretty quickly; then paced up and down, stopping every moment\r\nor two, with ear pricked to listen. Meantime, within me, the contest\r\nbetween panic and philosophy remained not wholly decided.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 8"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJJJM0754W6H0XDN0RWYE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1C1N72JCD0ZBGTBX0EX","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK6KVKGVKF1KE3N9WW1D0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK6M128BWM687CW2TG7VB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:56.539Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:04.217Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}