{"id":"01KG8AKAHTCSGGJGBJ1DNQNM6N","cid":"bafkreiheihhvxlnua426twxeijkxb5nvzfgtjcu2zcupfyi5am4vsh3wqq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3337,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:57.722Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","start_line":3247,"text":"Suddenly there is a rustling, then a creaking, one of the cradles swings\r\nout from a murky nook, a sort of wasted penguin-flipper is\r\nsupplicatingly put forth, while a wail like that of Dives is\r\nheard:--\"Water, water!\"\r\n\r\nIt was the miser of whom the merchant had spoken.\r\n\r\nSwift as a sister-of-charity, the stranger hovers over him:--\r\n\r\n\"My poor, poor sir, what can I do for you?\"\r\n\r\n\"Ugh, ugh--water!\"\r\n\r\nDarting out, he procures a glass, returns, and, holding it to the\r\nsufferer's lips, supports his head while he drinks: \"And did they let\r\nyou lie here, my poor sir, racked with this parching thirst?\"\r\n\r\nThe miser, a lean old man, whose flesh seemed salted cod-fish, dry as\r\ncombustibles; head, like one whittled by an idiot out of a knot; flat,\r\nbony mouth, nipped between buzzard nose and chin; expression, flitting\r\nbetween hunks and imbecile--now one, now the other--he made no response.\r\nHis eyes were closed, his cheek lay upon an old white moleskin coat,\r\nrolled under his head like a wizened apple upon a grimy snow-bank.\r\n\r\nRevived at last, he inclined towards his ministrant, and, in a voice\r\ndisastrous with a cough, said:--\"I am old and miserable, a poor beggar,\r\nnot worth a shoestring--how can I repay you?\"\r\n\r\n\"By giving me your confidence.\"\r\n\r\n\"Confidence!\" he squeaked, with changed manner, while the pallet swung,\r\n\"little left at my age, but take the stale remains, and welcome.\"\r\n\r\n\"Such as it is, though, you give it. Very good. Now give me a hundred\r\ndollars.\"\r\n\r\nUpon this the miser was all panic. His hands groped towards his\r\nwaist, then suddenly flew upward beneath his moleskin pillow, and\r\nthere lay clutching something out of sight. Meantime, to himself he\r\nincoherently mumbled:--\"Confidence? Cant, gammon! Confidence? hum,\r\nbubble!--Confidence? fetch, gouge!--Hundred dollars?--hundred devils!\"\r\n\r\nHalf spent, he lay mute awhile, then feebly raising himself, in a voice\r\nfor the moment made strong by the sarcasm, said, \"A hundred dollars?\r\nrather high price to put upon confidence. But don't you see I am a poor,\r\nold rat here, dying in the wainscot? You have served me; but, wretch\r\nthat I am, I can but cough you my thanks,--ugh, ugh, ugh!\"\r\n\r\nThis time his cough was so violent that its convulsions were imparted to\r\nthe plank, which swung him about like a stone in a sling preparatory to\r\nits being hurled.\r\n\r\n\"Ugh, ugh, ugh!\"\r\n\r\n\"What a shocking cough. I wish, my friend, the herb-doctor was here now;\r\na box of his Omni-Balsamic Reinvigorator would do you good.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ugh, ugh, ugh!\"\r\n\r\n\"I've a good mind to go find him. He's aboard somewhere. I saw his long,\r\nsnuff-colored surtout. Trust me, his medicines are the best in the\r\nworld.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ugh, ugh, ugh!\"\r\n\r\n\"Oh, how sorry I am.\"\r\n\r\n\"No doubt of it,\" squeaked the other again, \"but go, get your charity\r\nout on deck. There parade the pursy peacocks; they don't cough down here\r\nin desertion and darkness, like poor old me. Look how scaly a pauper I\r\nam, clove with this churchyard cough. Ugh, ugh, ugh!\"\r\n\r\n\"Again, how sorry I feel, not only for your cough, but your poverty.\r\nSuch a rare chance made unavailable. Did you have but the sum named, how\r\nI could invest it for you. Treble profits. But confidence--I fear that,\r\neven had you the precious cash, you would not have the more precious\r\nconfidence I speak of.\"\r\n\r\n\"Ugh, ugh, ugh!\" flightily raising himself. \"What's that? How, how? Then\r\nyou don't want the money for yourself?\"\r\n\r\n\"My dear, _dear_ sir, how could you impute to me such preposterous\r\nself-seeking? To solicit out of hand, for my private behoof, an hundred\r\ndollars from a perfect stranger? I am not mad, my dear sir.\"\r\n\r\n\"How, how?\" still more bewildered, \"do you, then, go about the world,\r\ngratis, seeking to invest people's money for them?\"\r\n\r\n\"My humble profession, sir. I live not for myself; but the world will\r\nnot have confidence in me, and yet confidence in me were great gain.\"\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJKFF88V28K6MV6GXX63Q","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JMR8XVKPA0G8ADAPC4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAH80YW8KQ1ASNMZ3WYW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKAHTC2YWEPNRTRW98CPC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:00.570Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:08.297Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}