{"id":"01KG8AK9Y5BJQ7CHVEE6SNTKP6","cid":"bafkreib7lexobej7mptu3ft5wua36qbqde5i44hfz3sa5fkmdhhjhvo2oe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2800,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":2739,"text":"CHAPTER XII.\r\n\r\nSTORY OF THE UNFORTUNATE MAN, FROM WHICH MAY BE GATHERED WHETHER OR NO\r\nHE HAS BEEN JUSTLY SO ENTITLED.\r\n\r\n\r\nIt appeared that the unfortunate man had had for a wife one of those\r\nnatures, anomalously vicious, which would almost tempt a metaphysical\r\nlover of our species to doubt whether the human form be, in all cases,\r\nconclusive evidence of humanity, whether, sometimes, it may not be a\r\nkind of unpledged and indifferent tabernacle, and whether, once for all\r\nto crush the saying of Thrasea, (an unaccountable one, considering that\r\nhe himself was so good a man) that \"he who hates vice, hates humanity,\"\r\nit should not, in self-defense, be held for a reasonable maxim, that\r\nnone but the good are human.\r\n\r\nGoneril was young, in person lithe and straight, too straight, indeed,\r\nfor a woman, a complexion naturally rosy, and which would have been\r\ncharmingly so, but for a certain hardness and bakedness, like that of\r\nthe glazed colors on stone-ware. Her hair was of a deep, rich chestnut,\r\nbut worn in close, short curls all round her head. Her Indian figure was\r\nnot without its impairing effect on her bust, while her mouth would have\r\nbeen pretty but for a trace of moustache. Upon the whole, aided by the\r\nresources of the toilet, her appearance at distance was such, that some\r\nmight have thought her, if anything, rather beautiful, though of a style\r\nof beauty rather peculiar and cactus-like.\r\n\r\nIt was happy for Goneril that her more striking peculiarities were less\r\nof the person than of temper and taste. One hardly knows how to reveal,\r\nthat, while having a natural antipathy to such things as the breast of\r\nchicken, or custard, or peach, or grape, Goneril could yet in private\r\nmake a satisfactory lunch on hard crackers and brawn of ham. She liked\r\nlemons, and the only kind of candy she loved were little dried sticks of\r\nblue clay, secretly carried in her pocket. Withal she had hard, steady\r\nhealth like a squaw's, with as firm a spirit and resolution. Some other\r\npoints about her were likewise such as pertain to the women of savage\r\nlife. Lithe though she was, she loved supineness, but upon occasion\r\ncould endure like a stoic. She was taciturn, too. From early morning\r\ntill about three o'clock in the afternoon she would seldom speak--it\r\ntaking that time to thaw her, by all accounts, into but talking terms\r\nwith humanity. During the interval she did little but look, and keep\r\nlooking out of her large, metallic eyes, which her enemies called cold\r\nas a cuttle-fish's, but which by her were esteemed gazelle-like; for\r\nGoneril was not without vanity. Those who thought they best knew her,\r\noften wondered what happiness such a being could take in life, not\r\nconsidering the happiness which is to be had by some natures in the very\r\neasy way of simply causing pain to those around them. Those who suffered\r\nfrom Goneril's strange nature, might, with one of those hyberboles to\r\nwhich the resentful incline, have pronounced her some kind of toad; but\r\nher worst slanderers could never, with any show of justice, have accused\r\nher of being a toady. In a large sense she possessed the virtue of\r\nindependence of mind. Goneril held it flattery to hint praise even of\r\nthe absent, and even if merited; but honesty, to fling people's imputed\r\nfaults into their faces. This was thought malice, but it certainly was\r\nnot passion. Passion is human. Like an icicle-dagger, Goneril at once\r\nstabbed and froze; so at least they said; and when she saw frankness and\r\ninnocence tyrannized into sad nervousness under her spell, according to\r\nthe same authority, inly she chewed her blue clay, and you could mark\r\nthat she chuckled. These peculiarities were strange and unpleasing; but\r\nanother was alleged, one really incomprehensible. In company she had a\r\nstrange way of touching, as by accident, the arm or hand of comely young\r\nmen, and seemed to reap a secret delight from it, but whether from the\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFFC66PQC4NV54P2R52","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK9XTSB068YKK7VFP3CYC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:59.941Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:07.905Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}